<s> this is SICK </s>

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A man who beat his 79-year-old mother to death, cut her open and ate some of her heart was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison.

Joey Cala, 41, had pleaded guilty Monday to murder in the 2001 death of Lydia Cala, a 76-pound retired teacher and church volunteer.

According to Cala's sister, he wanted their mother's money. But there was no indication the inheritance amounted to much. The woman lived in a modest, one-story house.

Cala's attorney, Robert Ford, had been planning an insanity defense before reaching a plea bargain that spared Cala a life sentence.

State Judge George Gallagher chose the upper end of the 20- to 30-year range specified in the plea bargain. Cala will be eligible for parole in 15 years.

A medical examiner testified that Cala bludgeoned his mother to death, probably with his fists or feet, then cut open her chest and abdomen and removed some organs.

Police found Cala standing over his mother's body, both of them covered in blood, in her bedroom in the home they shared in suburban Hurst. An officer saw Cala eat what appeared to be an organ, police said.

According to police, Cala said that he worshipped the devil and that they had interrupted his sacrifice.

The house had been ransacked, and police found his mother's will on a chair.