Most high profile cases like the one you have here get "special" placement in the prison system. He won't be in general population for a loooong time (if ever) if he is sentenced to life without parole. He'll actually have it pretty "nice" as far as prison goes. He might be someone's special friend, but I doubt he'd ever see gen pop. Too much liability for the state. I worked in a jail and a state pen. during a majority of my college years, and I've seen it happen too many times. These criminals who wind up as lifers have it pretty decent (as much as you can in a prison remember), especially if there's a lot of media attention on their case. However, I have seen people "gotten to" even in these "protected" environments. Just depends on how bad somebody wants to get him I suppose. I can say from experience that the inmate/convict world is very, very different from what most of us know. I have personally seen many things that I wouldn't believe had I not seen them myself. It's literally a different world.
My prayers go out to the victim's family.