4/11/18
by News Department on 04/11/18Marchalk wants trial moved...
Michael D. Marchalk, who is charged with first degree murder in the beating death of his father, wants his trial held outside the county.
Marchalk, who has admitted to beating to death Gary D. Marchalk on Father’s Day 2017, told Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin he wants the change of venue because of pretrial publicity and that his father was a well-known defense attorney who practiced in the county.
Baldwin called the request premature, stating that potential jurors would be questioned at jury selection to determine whether they have been swayed by news reports.
Baldwin also said that Marchalk’s father having practiced law in the county and before Baldwin was irrelevant.
Marchalk fled the state after the beating and was apprehended in Atlantic City on June 23, 2017.
