Pennsylvania’s Superior Court has denied an appeal from convicted murderer Michael David Marchalk, 38, who used a baseball bat June 18, 2017, to kill his father, 60-year-old Gary Marchalk, of Barnesville, a well-known and respected defense attorney.

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

In January 2019, Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin sentenced Marchalk 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 consecutive.

On appeal, Marchalk’s argument centered on jury instruction. He had been charged with first- and third-degree murder; when the jury was charged, Marchalk asked that they also be instructed as to voluntary manslaughter. Several hours into deliberations, the jury had questions, and the instructions as to various degrees of murder and voluntary manslaughter were repeated to them.

“After a thorough review of the certified record, the parties’ briefs and the pertinent law, we discern no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court,” the Supreme Court ruled. “We affirm the judgment of sentence on the basis of the cogent and well-reasoned opinion that Honorable William E. Baldwin entered on April 26, 2019.”