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A New York hardware clerk who pleaded guilty to abducting, smothering and dismembering an 8-year-old boy was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years to life behind bars on charges of second degree murder and kidnapping in the second degree, CNN reported.

As part of a plea deal, Levi Aron will be eligible for parole after 40 years, though could serve life in prison.

Aron was accused of snatching Leiby Kletzky last summer from the Brooklyn boy's neighborhood.

His attorney, Howard Greenberg, said he asked for protective custody for Aron "because there are a lot of sick and demented people."

The "sentence was 40 years, not life."

Police say Leiby's dismembered body was found in Aron's freezer and inside a suitcase in a nearby trash bin.

New York City's chief medical examiner said the Brooklyn boy was drugged before he was slain.

The autopsy results for Leiby listed a cocktail of four prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the boy's system: cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant; quetiapine, an antipsychotic drug; hydrocodone, a pain medication; and acetaminophen, the drug in Tylenol.

Both Aron and Leiby were members of the borough's close-knit Orthodox Jewish community, although police say it doesn't appear that they knew each other.

Kletzky's family released a statement saying they have "finally received some partial closure on one aspect of this nightmare."