Third man convicted of 2016 Latrobe murder gets 10 to 20 years in prison

The third of three men convicted in the January 2016 murder of Daniel McNerny was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison Monday.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said she would not overrule a jury verdict that found Colin Gearhart guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors sought a second-degree finding and argued during a March trial that McNerny was shot while trying to intervene in a robbery in front of Gearhart’s home on St. Clair Street in Latrobe.

Gearhart, now 21, for the first time since his arrest following the fatal shooting, addressed the McNerny family during Monday’s sentencing hearing.

“I’m sorry for what happened. I really didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know how it would affect you. I am really sorry,” Gearhart said.

Bilik-DeFazio ordered Gearhart to serve 10 to 20 years in prison. Because Gearhart has been in jail since his arrest following the Jan. 20, 2016, shooting, he will be eligible for parole in less than seven years.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck asked for a sentence of 30 to 60 years that would have included consecutive prison terms for the murder as well as for conspiracy and robbery.

“The jury obviously agreed there was a robbery and a conspiracy. The defendant was a full and active participant in this crime. He was really the linchpin,” Peck said.

McNerny, 20, was gunned down as he stepped between the intended robbery victim and a masked man with a gun. Witnesses said McNerny identified Zachary McGrath of Latrobe as the robber and was shot as a scuffle over the gun ensued. McNerny was not part of the robbery plot nor its intended victim.

Prosecutors said Gearhart lured the would-be robbery victim to his home and, after the shooting, declined to promptly call for medical assistance for McNerny. Instead, Gearhart and others in the home worked to remove all drug evidence from the scene as McNerny lay bleeding from his two gunshot wounds.

Gearhart’s mother, Jennifer Stitt, pleaded with the judge for mercy. She said Gearhart has changed since his time in jail.

“He’s grown a lot over the last three years. He’s not the same person as he was when this happened,” Stitt said.

McNerny’s parents and sister, as they have at two prior sentencing hearings for the two other men convicted in the murder, talked about their sorrow since the murder.

“It is important to me to keep his memory alive. I miss him so much,” mother Jennifer McNerny said.

Prosecutors contended the robbery plot was hatched in retaliation for a verbal slight made by its intended target. Witnesses said Austin Krinock was upset at being called a derogatory name and obtained guns for his friends. Gearhart lured the robbery victim to Latrobe, where McGrath waited to execute the heist, prosecutors said.

Both Krinock and Gearhart were juveniles at the time of their arrests.

Krinock, 21, was convicted of second-degree murder last year and sentenced to 34 years to life in prison. McGrath, 24, was also found guilty of second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.