Richfield man pleads guilty to killing

December 03, 2008 06:32 pm

— MIDDLEBURG -- A 27-year-old Richfield man could spend at least 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in Snyder County Court with the March 22 shooting death of his girlfriend's stepfather.
Travis D. Graham, of RR2 Richfield, entered the plea Wednesday afternoon in the killing of Jeffrey Stock, 46, who was shot to death while smoking a cigarette on the porch of his Seven Stars Road home in West Perry Township.
He pleaded guilty to third degree murder in the shooting death.
The plea hearing was held at the request of Graham's attorney, George H. Matangos, of Lemoyne.
Snyder County District Attorney Michael Sholley had announced his intention to seek the death .
Graham has been held without bail in Snyder County Prison since his March 31 arrest on an open count of homicide.
In an interview with The Daily Item last spring, Graham's girlfriend, Jessica R. Lehman, said Stock and Graham had a bad relationship and that her boyfriend feared her allegedly abusive stepfather.
According to preliminary hearing testimony from state police trooper Rob Reeves, Graham confessed to the shooting, but said he was only trying to only scare Stock when he aimed a high-powered rifle at the older man's stomach as he smoked a cigarette on the porch of his home.
The shooting happened at 10:30 p.m. and Graham allegedly fired the weapon from a distance of about 150 yards, police said.
Standing a few feet away inside the home was Stock's longtime girlfriend, Brenda Soder. She was unharmed.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.