The Indiana County District Attorney’s office yesterday filed its brief opposing an appeal by David Yingling, the Arcadia man who is asking State Superior Court for relief from his prison sentence for killing his roommate in April of 2017.
The 64-year-old Yingling pleaded guilty to third degree murder in the shotgun shooting death of 50-year-old Elwood Skillman, who was killed as he slept in his bed in a remote home along Arcadia Road in Montgomery Township. The body was left lying in its bed for days before police acting on a tip from an informant found it. Yingling admitted he shot his housemate because he said Skillman was bullying his mentally challenged younger brother.
In March of last year, Yingling filed a Motion for Post-Conviction Collateral Relief from his 17-and-a-half to 35-year state prison sentence, and his court-appointed attorney then filed an amended motion to the same effect in July. Judge Thomas Bianco denied the motion in September, prompting the appeal the Superior Court by a new attorney.
After yesterday’s prosecution filing, the case is now listed as “awaiting consideration” by a three-judge Superior Court panel, which typically consists of three judges.
