State Superior Court has rejected David Yingling’s appeal for post collateral relief from his conviction and sentence for the murder of his housemate in Arcadia in May of 2016.
The 64-year-old Yingling pleaded guilty to third degree murder in January of 2017 in the shooting death of 50-year-old Elwood Skillman, who was shot with both a rifle and a shotgun as he slept. The body was left lying in its bed for several days before police were tipped off and found it.
Yingling claimed in his appeal that his attorneys had provided ineffective counsel because they failed to consider his mental health at the time of the plea, that they should have pursued a verdict of guilty but mentally ill, and that they failed to tell him that his prior criminal history would be considered during his sentencing.
Superior Court denied all three claims, calling Judge Thomas Bianco’s opinions in the original PCRA hearing “well-reasoned”. The court panel found that a mental health expert’s report on Yingling’s competency to stand trial was sufficient, that guilty but mentally ill was a sound legal strategy, and that he was advised in detail of the sentencing ramifications of his previous record.
Yingling is serving 17-and-a-half to 35 years in SCI Forest County.
