MIDDLEBURG -- Walking into Snyder County Court Wednesday afternoon to plead guilty to third-degree murder for fatally shooting his girlfriend's stepfather in March, Travis D. Graham said he didn't mean to kill the man.
"I was just trying to scare him," the 27-year-old RR2 Richfield man said as he was escorted into the courthouse by a sheriff's deputy.
Graham was originally charged with an open count of homicide, two counts of felony aggravated assault, and firearm possession in the March 22 shooting of Jeffrey Stock, 46, of Richfield.
Under an agreement with District Attorney Michael Sholley, Graham pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and possession of a firearm in exchange for a 20-year to 40-year state prison sentence followed by 10 years of probation.
President Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr. is waiting for a pre-sentence report before he'll decide whether to accept the plea. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26.
Graham's attorney, George Matangos, of Lemoyne, declined to comment after the plea.
"Considering the circumstances, the resolution is extremely appropriate," Sholley said of the plea.
Sholley said the Stock family, including the victim's longtime girlfriend, Brenda Soder, who was standing about eight feet away from Stock when he was shot, approved of it.
About 10 relatives and friends of Graham attended the hearing and would not talk to the media.
Graham's girlfriend, Jessica "Renee" Lehman, of Richfield, the mother of his two children, also declined to comment.
In prior interviews, Lehman told The Daily Item that the two men did not get along and had fought a year before the shooting about visitation with the young couple's two children and Lehman's eldest son from a prior relationship.
At a preliminary hearing last spring, trooper Rob Reeves of the state police at Selinsgrove testified that Graham said he feared Stock and was trying to scare him the night of the shooting.
Police said Graham was about 150 yards away when he aimed a high-powered rifle at the older man's stomach as he smoked a cigarette outside on the porch of his Seven Stars Road home in West Perry Township. Soder was a few feet away inside the home.
Sholley had initially filed an intent to seek the death penalty if Graham was convicted of first-degree homicide.
"The facts at the time indicated there were aggravating circumstances," the prosecutor said.
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Shooter pleads guilty in Snyder County slaying
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