As H. Paul Visnansky pleaded guilty to double homicide yesterday, his former fiancee, Michelle Machusko, sat a few feet away in the courtroom, surrounded by her family and those of her two slain friends, students at Robert Morris University.

Spared presenting his case in court by Mr. Visnansky's guilty plea, Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli nevertheless shared some of it.

In the North Fayette apartment they had shared, Mr. Visnansky shot Ms. Machusko seven times and left her for dead. She now is permanently paralyzed on her right side.

He also shot and killed Jonathan Gilbert, 22, of Monaca, and Michael Tatolovich, 20, of Aliquippa, who were studying with Ms. Machusko, 20.

And Mr. Tranquilli told the court about Mr. Visnansky's seemingly remorseless reaction to the shootings, as he sat smiling and laughing in the police car on that cold January night in North Fayette.

He admitted then to police that he had killed Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Tatolovich with a semiautomatic Sig Sauer handgun.

About 20 of the victims' family members and friends, seated in the jury box, wept during the proceeding, but Ms. Machusko kept an icy stare. Because she has difficulty speaking, she directed Mr. Tranquilli to read her statement, in which she described Mr. Visnansky holding her face down to shoot her in the head.

"I am angry with what he is putting our families through," she wrote. "I will never forgive him for doing this to us."

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski sentenced Mr. Visnansky to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murders, plus 20 to 40 years for the attempted homicide. Prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for his plea.

Mr. Visnansky, 23, of West View, wearing a dark suit and a Mohawk haircut, did not speak in his own defense.

Several members of his family were in the courtroom as well, and his attorney, Chuck LoPresti, offered apologies from the Visnansky family to those of the victims.

In summarizing the case he would have presented, Mr. Tranquilli told how Mr. Visnansky's friends were concerned about him even before the shootings. He had recently lost another friend to suicide and was extremely jealous of Ms. Machusko, they said.

North Fayette police officers were on their way to check on Mr. Visnansky at the Settlers Place apartment complex, responding to a worried phone call from a friend, when they received a call for shots fired at the apartment.

When they arrived, officers found that Mr. Visnansky had blocked the front door with a chair.

He was caught jumping off the back porch of the apartment. When confronted by the officer, he put his hands up and tossed the murder weapon, which by then he had reloaded, into the air.

Inside, police found Ms. Manchusko and Mr. Gilbert's body in the living room, and Mr. Tatolovich's body in the back bedroom. Investigators would eventually find 13 shell casings, and Mr. Visnansky's locked gun safes, which contained several more semiautomatics and assault rifles.

Mr. Visnansky admitted to officers that he was the shooter, saying, "I killed all three of them." Later, when speaking to detectives, he said he didn't remember anything after returning to the apartment that night other than that the gunpowder smelled bad.

"A lot of stuff goes on in my head, and unfortunately this was the way it turned out," Mr. Visnansky told police.

According to police statements, Mr. Visnansky smiled and laughed in the police car as the bodies were wheeled out and more police and rescue workers arrived.

In an interview after the court proceeding, Mr. LoPresti said some of Mr. Visnansky's expressions were misinterpreted and a smile was merely his reaction to stressful circumstances.

Mr. Visnansky had a mental health evaluation last week but elected not to attempt an insanity defense. He vacillated about whether or not to take the deal, and he did not fully make up his mind until yesterday morning, after speaking with his family.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Borkowski heard statements, read by Mr. Tranquilli, from Mr. Tatolovich's father, Wayne, and Sean Battisti, a longtime friend of Mr. Gilbert. Neither was in court.

Wayne Tatolovich stated that the family had established a memorial scholarship in Michael's honor at RMU and was committed to honoring his kind, generous legacy.

On the other hand, Mr. Tatolovich stated, "Paul's legacy to his family is that he is a murderer with a demented and evil mind and he will be tormented in jail for the rest of his life."

Mr. Gilbert's mother read a statement of her own.

"When this evil creature pulled the trigger that night and shot my son, he not only physically killed Jonathan, but he also emotionally and spiritually killed me as well," Lorraine Gilbert said through her tears. "Now, trying to live every day is very difficult. My heart is filled with sorrow. I love my son and now I have to find a way to live knowing that my son is no longer here."

Ms. Machusko's statement also spoke of the loss of her ability to drive, work a normal job or pursue her passion of ballet. She will not be able to return to college because of permanent brain damage. Her head was shaven from reconstructive surgery on her skull that Ms. Machusko had Friday, and she wore a rainbow-colored brace on her right leg.

"Michelle, she's got a long road left," Mr. Tranquilli said after the plea.

More than an hour passed during the grisly retelling of the crime and emotional statements, after which Judge Borkowski read his sentence with some harsh words for Mr. Visnansky.

"May God have mercy on your soul," he said. "There is none coming from this court, nor should there be."