A man police say stabbed a 45-year-old woman who offered him a ride pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder. The plea means James A. Boyer will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Police said on June 15, after Boyer, 45, crashed into a ditch along Route 26 a motorist stopped to help. He got in Linda L. Worrick's car, stabbed her, pushed her body out of the door on the driver's side and drove on, police said.

Boyer agreed to a plea bargain with Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar. Gricar had requested the death penalty but agreed to drop the request if Boyer pleaded guilty.

Boyer went before Centre County President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr. on Dec. 23 and accepted the charge of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"I was surprised (Boyer) did it," Gricar said. "He seemed to be satisfied at avoiding any chance of the death penalty, but in my opinion he really wasn't running any chance of getting it."

Gricar said the defense had some strong mitigating circumstances, such as state of mind and lack of a previous criminal record, that would probably have prevented a jury from agreeing to the death penalty.

Centre County First Assistant Public Defender Deborah Lux, Boyer's attorney, could not comment on Boyer's motivation for his plea. But she said the death penalty was not out of the question if his case had gone to trial.

"You just never know what a jury is going to do," she said.

Lux said Boyer's decision came after a forensic psychologist determined Boyer was not insane at the time of the murder.

"Just because they came back and said he was sane did not leave him defenseless," Gricar said. In fact, a trial may have resulted in a lesser sentence, he said.

Gricar said because Boyer couldn't have known Worrick was going to offer him a ride, a jury may have decided the murder was not premeditated. The charge could have then been reduced to third-degree murder and Boyer could have been eligible for parole in 10 years, Gricar said.

Boyer, who was in Centre County Prison yesterday, will eventually be transferred to a state correctional institution, a prison official said.