Man who held 3 women pleads

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland bus driver who repeatedly sexually abused three women he held prisoner for about a decade, said he knew his life was over when he first spoke to authorities after his arrest in May. On Friday, he formally pleaded guilty to more than 900 counts of criminal behavior and accepted a plea deal that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life, but will spare him the death penalty.

During more than two hours of televised proceedings, Castro, 53, firmly answered a barrage of questions from Judge Michael J. Russo seeking to ensure that he knew what was coming.

Unlike previous court appearances, Castro this time appeared engaged, looking up at the judge rather than down at the floor and speaking clearly. He wore glasses for the first time and said he was able to see his surroundings.

The result was inevitable, Castro told the court. He said he knew after his arrest May 6 that he was "going to get the book thrown at me."

Assured by the defendant that he understood he was admitting to hundreds of horrendous acts and acknowledging that he understood his life will end behind bars, Russo formally accepted Castro's guilty plea and set sentencing for next Thursday.

The recommended sentence as part of the plea agreement is life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years.

After the news broke that the three women had managed to escape from Castro's house in a poor section of Cleveland, the city and the nation were shocked by the degree and duration of the captivity. Many sought to understand how the imprisonment could have gone on and why it began.

"My addiction to pornography and my sexual problem has really taken a toll on my mind," Castro said in court.

The women - Amanda Berry, 27; Gina DeJesus, 23; and Michelle Knight, 32 - were held in seclusion, sometimes chained within the home. The women disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when each was in her teens or early 20s.

Castro fathered a daughter with Berry, who told police that none of them ever saw a doctor. When the child was born on Christmas Day in 2006, Castro raped one of the other women, who had helped deliver the baby, officials said.

Knight said each of her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved and repeatedly punched her, the grounds for the charges that could have brought the death penalty.

As part of the plea deal, Castro's home will be turned over to the county and will be demolished.