Convicted murderer Michael D. Marchalk will be “a senior citizen” before he’s eligible for parole, Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin ruled Tuesday.

“Only you know what happened in your father’s bedroom that night,” Baldwin said to Marchalk. “You said the relationship (with your father) was strained, but over the course of your life he gave you a place to live and helped out when you needed it.”

On Dec. 13, 2018, a Schuylkill County jury found Marchalk guilty of third-degree murder, theft, unauthorized use of credit/debit cards, and possession of an instrument of crime.

Marchalk killed his father, Gary D. Marchalk, Barnesville, 60, a respected, well-known defense attorney, by beating him with a baseball bat in the bedroom of his home on June 18, 2017.

Baldwin sentenced Marchalk, 38, to 20 to 40 years on the third-degree murder charge, 2-4 years on the theft charge, 1½ to 3 years on access device fraud (the credit/debit cards) and 1-2 years on the possession of an instrument of crime. The sentences are to run consecutively.

Marchalk must also repay $18,510 to Progressive Insurance, $6,481 to the victims’ program fund, and $500 to Schuylkill County Treasurer Linda Marchalk, Gary’s wife.

The restitution to Progressive is for Gary Marchalk’s vehicle, which Michael Marchalk stole after the murder and drove to Atlantic City, where he was captured. The driver’s seat was removed during the ensuing investigation. The seat and the vehicle remain as part of state’s evidence; the vehicle has been ruled a loss by the insurance company.

Two victims presented statements to the court before sentencing: Michael Marchalk’s brother Matthew, who took the stand and read from a prepared statement; and Scott Santee, Gary Marchalk’s nephew, whose statement was read by Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Elo, who prosecuted the case.

As his brother, at times overcome with emotion, read from his statement, Michael Marchalk pointedly kept his head turned to the left, staring at the courtroom wall. He maintained the same posture as Elo read the statement from Santee.

After those statements concluded, Baldwin asked Marchalk if he had anything to say.

“I just sat here for 25 minutes and listened to people do nothing but bash me; these are people who haven’t bothered with me for 20 years,” Marchalk said. “The only one saying something honest in this courtroom is me.”

After the sentencing, Marchalk asked Baldwin how to retain counsel; Baldwin explained that his public defender Andrea Thompson could continue to represent him. Shackled hand and foot, Marchalk was escorted from the courtroom by Schuylkill County sheriffs. He’ll be taken to the State Department of Corrections at Camp Hill for processing and has not yet been assigned permanent residence in a state prison.

Matthew Marchalk’s statement

“No sentence you could impose would bring my father back for myself and my children,” Matthew Marchalk said.

He said his father’s death was a “far-reaching loss.” He told the court that he’d had a telephone conversation with Michael, shortly after he was caught.

During that conversation, Matthew said Michael told him that their father “wouldn’t give him money.”

It was Matthew Marchalk who found his father’s body.

“I had seen the obvious violence that took place,” he said, losing his composure. “Not once did remorse enter his mind.”

“He took my best friend, my role model, my hero, my father,” Matthew Marchalk said. “I helped the police, because I thought he might harm someone else.”

Matthew Marchalk described his father as “the type of man who helped others, always there for friends, his wife, his kids, always on our side” who proved the value of “hard work and a huge heart.”

“He put his heart and soul into the work he did, to help others, not for personal financial gain,” he added. He said his son cries often, and that the only comfort he can offer him is that Gary Marchalk is in heaven, watching over them.

“I struggle,” Matthew Marchalk said. “I hope my dad is in some wonderful place.”

He said that his brother was not “an abused child” as he portrayed himself during his trial.

“He was angry, and he was selfish, as he’s always been,” Matthew Marchalk said of his brother. “I don’t believe Mike is sorry; I do believe he’s sorry he was found guilty.

Scott Santee’s statement

In his statement to the court, Scott Santee wrote that Michael Marchalk always made excuses for turning to drugs.

Santee included excerpts from letters Michael Marchalk wrote to their grandmother during a period of time from 2002 to 2008. In the letters, Michael Marchalk complains about his father not giving him money.

In one letter, Marchalk expresses a fear of further incarceration at a state prison because “there are murderers there.”

He concluded his letter to the court by directing a statement to Michael Marchalk, “You have no one to blame but yourself for where you are today.”

Elo asked Baldwin to hand down the maximum possible sentence.

“He’s shown a lack of remorse and a lack of responsibility,” she said. “He took from everyone around him, and it was always someone else’s fault.”