A Carnegie man received a life sentence today for fatally stabbing his roommate and beheading, dismembering and eviscerating him before concealing the body in a shallow grave.

"No one could have known when he answered the ad 'Roommate Wanted' off his college bulletin board that he was walking into an ambush resulting in his death," the 19-year-old victim's mother, Sarah A. Memel, told the court prior to sentencing. She said she had suffered a heart attack and had been hospitalized 10 times. The victim's father, Craig H. Martin, testified he'd been hospitalized 12 times and had attempted suicide three times since the brutal attack on their son, Brendon Martin, a freshman at CCAC North Allegheny.

The defendant, James M. Baldwin, 24, told the court he didn't have anything to say. His new attorney, Kevin Abramovitz, said his client planned to file post-sentencing motions and appeal the conviction.

Allegheny County Judge Kathleen A. Durkin then sentenced Mr. Baldwin to life without parole following his jury conviction in February for first degree murder. The judge added one to two years for his conviction on abuse of a corpse. The defense counsel at trial asked the jurors to find that the defendant, who had no adult criminal record, was insane and suffering from a schizophrenic disorder at the time of the slaying.

The University of Pittsburgh junior confessed to county police detectives that he had a fight with his roommate of five months because he believed Mr. Martin's marijuana use had caused Mr. Baldwin's girlfriend to have a miscarriage. He told police he stabbed Mr. Martin multiple times with a 12-inch survival knife as Mr. Martin lay on the floor coughing up blood and asking "Why?"

He told officials he beheaded, eviscerated and dismembered the victim and concealed the remains and cutting tools in trash bags which he buried in a shallow grave in an isolated area in Collier. Mr. Baldwin said he returned home and cleaned up the scene of the slaying.