HONOLULU -- Prosecutors on Tuesday asked the Hawaii Paroling Authority Board to keep a convicted murderer behind bars for 120 years.

A Circuit Court judge convicted Kirki Lankford for the 2007 killing of Japanese national Masumi Watanabe.

The prosecutor called Lankford a "sociopath and a liar."

During the trial, Lankford claimed he slightly injured Watanabe with his truck on the North Shore, that she fell and hit her head on a rock and then tossed her body in to the ocean because he did not want to lose his job.

The defense attorney said 120 years is a long time for a second-degree attempted murder conviction.

Watanabe's parents, Hideichi and Fumiko, attended Tuesday's parole hearing.

The parole board is expected to take a month