EL PASO, Texas -- The family of slain 21-year-old Jose Nunez has been spared the anguish of a trial after his killer pleaded guilty to stabbing him in 2006 after a fight over cigarette smoke.

Matthew Addison Long, 23, will be sentenced to 50 years for the murder of Nunez, as well as a separate aggravated assault charge and four separate drug charges stemming from cocaine possession.

Socorro Nunez, Jose Nunez’s mother, is still trying to cope with the death of her son over two years later.

"I try to be strong. But it's really hard,” Socorro Nunez said. “I can't understand it. Not now, and I don't think I'll never be able to."

Jose Nunez was attending a birthday party in San Elizario in late-2006 when, according to witnesses, Long got angry because Nunez blew cigarette smoke toward him. A fight ensued, and it ended with Long stabbing Nunez multiple times.

“It doesn't make sense. Something so small that someone would take someone's life; because of cigarette smoke," Socorro Nunez said.

Jose Nunez’s brother Rodrigo was at the same party and held his brother as he died.

"There are people in this world that are not worth living, like [Long]. They're just out there to do harm to others,” Rodrigo Nunez said.

Avoiding a trial and seeing Long going to jail offers some consolation to Jose Nunez’s mother.

"I feel a little more at peace that he's going to spend a lot of years in jail," Socorro Nunez said.

But his brother sees it differently.

"To me justice would be for [Long] to get the same punishment my brother got,” Rodrigo Nunez said.

For Socorro Nunez, her son will remain with her always. His ashes are in a heart pendant she wears around her neck.

“Until the day that I die, my son will always be with me,” she said.

Long will be eligible for parole in 25 years.