ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Joseph Barton will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of 69-year-old Julian Townsend of Shadyside.

Barton learned his fate Tuesday, when Belmont County Common Pleas Judge Frank Fregiato handed down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The sentencing took place after a trial that lasted almost two weeks before a jury convicted him of aggravated murder.

During the trial, jurors heard forensic testimony concerning the state of Townsend’s body. They also learned about other evidence found when first responders arrived at Townsend’s burning trailer on Oct. 15, 2012. An autopsy showed Townsend had been bludgeoned, stabbed and shot. His body also had been dismembered before his residence was set on fire.

Townsend’s daughter, Misty Whitlatch, spoke Tuesday about the loss of her father and about his life.

“He was a kind and generous man. He would help anyone who would ask for it,” she said, recounting the impact Townsend had on those who knew him and the mental, emotional and physical pain his family endured in the aftermath of his death.

“This is the type of person you took the life of,” she told Barton.

Whitlatch expressed regret that Townsend would not see the accomplishments of his grandchildren and other family members and asked that justice be served.

Prosecutor Dan Fry had asked for a sentence of life without parole.

“Mr. Barton needs to understand when he walks out of this room today that at age 32, in an instant, for whatever reason motivated him, he not only took Mr. Townsend’s life, he also took his life. He ruined his life, because he should never walk on the face of this earth a free man again,” Fry said.

Public Defender Frank Pierce asked Fregiato to consider that the state’s theory was that Barton had committed the crime on impulse after drinking, not as a result of premeditation, and that the law reserves the worst punishments for those who participate in the calculated planning of a murder.

Barton, 35, maintained his innocence throughout the trial, which included his own testimony when he took the stand. He repeated this claim during his statement to the court Tuesday.

“I send my condolences to the families,” Barton said. “I did not murder Julian Townsend.”

Fregiato said a sentence of life without parole was appropriate for the crime.

“It is this court’s conclusion that at the hands of Joseph Barton, an elderly, harmless, fragile gentleman was brutally beaten, shot twice, stabbed, decapitated, dismembered with a power saw, and his remains and multiple pieces were burned and torched. It doesn’t get any worse than this,” the judge said. “I rule that this defendant will never walk the streets of Belmont County, or anywhere else, again. He will remain in prison for life without ever even a chance at parole.”