DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) – A twice-convicted killer who fled a life sentence 20 years ago and became a poet in Chicago pleaded guilty Friday to an escape charge and was sentenced to three more years in prison.

The new sentence will begin after Norman Porter completes a life sentence for the 1960 murder of John “Jackie” Pigott, a 22-year-old store clerk he shot to death during a clothing store robbery in Saugus.

Judge Isaac Borenstein took the unusual step of telling Porter his sentence first, then letting Porter decide whether he would plead guilty and accept that sentence, or opt to go to trial. Typically, a judge hands down a sentence after a defendant pleads guilty or is convicted by a jury.

While awaiting trial in Pigott’s murder, Porter and another inmate escaped from jail. During the escape, jail officer David S. Robinson was fatally shot.

Porter later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killings of both Pigott and Robinson, and was given two life sentences. Porter was not accused of pulling the trigger in Robinson’s killing.

While in prison, Porter earned his high school diploma as well as a bachelor’s degree from Boston University. He started a prison radio station and newspaper and in 1975, Gov. Michael Dukakis commuted his sentence in the Robinson case.

Ten years later, after a failed bid to have his second sentence commuted, Porter walked away from a prerelease center and went to Chicago, where he assumed the name “Jacob J.J. Jameson” and became known as a community activist, poet and anti-war protester.

He was arrested there in March after Massachusetts authorities received a tip on his whereabouts.

Before sentencing Porter, Borenstein said his 1985 escape showed “a certain arrogance,” noting that it was the second time Porter had escaped from prison.

“It is as though you were saying, Mr. Porter, The laws were not working for me as I would like, so I am going to do as I please,’ ” Borenstein said.

Borenstein rejected a request from Porter’s lawyers to allow him to serve a sentence on the escape charge concurrently with his sentence on the second-degree murder charge, which could have helped Porter get out of prison sooner if granted parole.

But Borenstein also rejected a request from prosecutors to sentence Porter to 9 to 10 years after he completes his sentence on the murder charge. The maximum term he faced was 10 years.

Borenstein said he took into account Porter’s life as a “model prisoner,” and good deeds he did after his escape to Chicago, when he was a popular community activist.

Borenstein said he believes that Porter is no longer dangerous.

At a hearing last month, Porter apologized to the Pigott and Robinson families and accepted responsibility for the killings, but he did not acknowledge pulling the trigger in either case.

“The fact is people would be alive today if it wasn’t for my behavior,” he said.

Porter also apologized for escaping, saying he was “simply worn out.”

The second-degree murder charge for which Porter is serving a life sentence allows consideration of parole after serving 15 years. Porter’s lawyer, Gordon Walker, said that with “good time” he accumulated in prison, he only has about three to four years left to serve on that sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

On the three additional years he was given on the escape charge, he would become eligible for parole in one to two years, Walker said. All told, he could be free in about five years, if he is granted parole, Walker said.

But family and friends of Pigott and Robinson said they would try to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“Our family’s position now is any time he comes up for parole we will be at every parole board meeting to make sure he stays in prison where he belongs,” said Joan Robinson, the slain jailer’s daughter.

Claire Wilcox, who was engaged to Pigott when he was killed, said she was disappointed in the 3-year sentence.

“He got away with 20 years by escaping. I think he should have gotten a longer sentence for that,” Wilcox said.

“Now we will focus our attention on the parole board,” she said.

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Editors’ Note: Denise Lavoie is a Boston-based reporter covering the courts and legal issues. She can be reached at dlavoie(at)ap.org

AP-ES-10-14-05 1523EDT