A Stamford man pleaded guilty Thursday of murdering a 21-year-old woman in a Stamford hotel.

Juan Botello, 20, admitted to stabbing Layla Banks to death at the Sheraton Stamford Hotel in October. Botello will be formally sentenced in early 2009, though he is expected to serve 40 years in prison.

Florence Banks, the mother of the victim, agreed with prosecutors to offer a 40-year sentence, despite the horrific nature of the crime. Layla Banks suffered 90 wounds.

?That's why I accepted it,? Banks says. ?Because there's no chance of him getting probation, parole or an appeal.?

Banks says she was hoping Botello would receive the maximum punishment of life in prison, but to spare herself the exhaustion of a long legal process and to spare Layla?s friends the agony of testifying, she agreed to the plea deal.