The former Blenheim bar owner who admitted the manslaughter of a patron at his second trial has been sentenced to 12 months' home detention - the same punishment handed out following his first trial.

Kevin King, 52, was sentenced to the non-prison term when he appeared in the High Court at Wellington on Monday, Radio Live reports.

Matthew Heagney, 24, died from head injuries when he hit the footpath after being removed from Shapeshifters bar in Blenheim in 2009.

In 2010, a jury found Kevin King, 52, guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to 12 months' home detention.

However, King successfully appealed the conviction, saying it was unfair for the Crown to have combined a choke-hold allegation with the dropping allegation to form one charge.

Two days after his retrial began last month, he changed his plea to guilty after a new manslaughter charge was laid.

The new charge pertained to how King released Mr Heagney once he was outside the bar.

It was accepted that King was lawfully entitled to remove Mr Heagney and did not commit criminal assault when he ejected him.