OAKLAND -- An Oakland man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for murdering a 22-year-old college student by stabbing her in the head and the chest during the course of a robbery near a BART station more than eight years ago.

Marques Lott, 29, had faced a possible death sentence after being convicted on June 1 of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of murder during the course of a robbery for killing Lisa Smith in the early morning hours of June 10, 1997, as she walked home from the Rockridge BART station in Oakland.

But at the end of the penalty phase of his trial on July 19, after just over two days of deliberations, jurors recommended life in prison for Lott instead of the death penalty.

Thursday's sentencing, at which Lott was guarded by five bailiffs, therefore was just a formality because Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer, who presided over the case, didn't have the option of changing the jury's recommendation and imposing the death penalty.

According to prosecutor Matthew Golde, Lott has a long history of robbing people, and decided to target someone who arrived at the Rockridge station late at night.

Smith grew up in Rocklin, was a senior English major at St. Mary's College in Orinda and was taking summer Chinese language courses at the University of California, Berkeley. She had sublet an apartment on Manila Avenue in Oakland for less than two weeks before she was killed.

Jurors also convicted Lott of escaping from the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland on Nov. 6, 1997, at the conclusion of his preliminary hearing, and of mayhem and assault for attacking and biting off the ear of a fellow inmate at the Santa Rita county jail in Dublin on Feb. 14, 2001.

Hymer sentenced Lott to eight years and eight months in prison for those crimes. That sentence is to be served concurrently to Lott's life sentence.

In his closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial in July, Golde told jurors that he believed Lott deserved the death penalty, both for murdering a Smith and for engaging in a long career of crime and violence.

Golde also said that Lott has also been involved in 10 other violent or dangerous incidents: two robberies, three high-speed car chases with police, two more jail incidents, a battery on a woman and two cases in which razor blades were found in his jail cell.

But defense attorney Michael Berger, who represented Lott along with co-counsel Alex Selvin, said in his closing argument that Lott shouldn't get the death penalty because he had a terrible upbringing and suffers from schizophrenia.

Berger told jurors, "You have to ask yourself if it's right to execute someone who's mentally ill."

According to Golde, Lott followed Smith after she arrived at the Rockridge station late at night and walked toward her residence. The prosecutor said Lott was looking for someone to rob and waited until after Smith left crowded College Avenue and turned onto the quieter Manila Avenue before he robbed her.

When Smith resisted, Lott stabbed her with such force that he broke her ribs, Golde said.

Smith's family members and friends attended much of Lott's trial but didn't return to court after they spoke at the penalty phase in July about how much her death has affected them.

Prosecutor Angela Backers, who stood in for Golde at Thursday's hearing, said, "That was their opportunity to speak," and they didn't feel a need to come back for Lott's sentencing.

Berger said he believes jurors "evaluated the evidence appropriately and did the appropriate thing" in recommending life in prison instead of the death penalty.

Hymer recommended to the Department of Corrections "in the strongest terms" that Lott be given anti-psychotic medication while he's in prison.

Berger said Lott behaves well when he's on medication but acts out when he's not.

Berger said Lott "is truly sorry for all the harm he caused to the victim and her family."