On Wednesday, Michael D. Marchalk described to a Schuylkill County jury how he hit his father in the head with an aluminum baseball bat five or six times on June 18, 2017, crushing the Barnesville defense lawyer’s head.

On Thursday, after deliberating for almost 11 hours, jurors returned verdicts of third-degree murder, theft, unauthorized use of credit/debit cards, and possession of an instrument of crime.

The jury of six men and six women found Marchalk not guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and robbery.

President Judge William E. Baldwin ordered a presentence investigation before imposing Marchalk’s punishment.

Third-degree murder carries a penalty of up to 40 years; first-degree or second-degree murder convictions carry life sentences.

Jurors broke their grueling deliberations several times to ask Baldwin questions, including one about intent and how it related to the charges of second-degree murder and robbery. They also wanted to know what time Gary Marchalk died, but Baldwin said that was not known.

To convict Marchalk of third-degree murder, the jury had to find that he committed the crime with malice.

The verdict followed three days of testimony, during which prosecutors Deputy Attorney General Rebecca A. Elo and Senior Deputy Attorney General Christopher P. Phillips called 15 witnesses, including state troopers, police officers, a forensic pathologist who described in detail Gary Marchalk’s mortal wounds, and Marchalk’s brother younger Matthew Marchalk, who testified that Michael had wanted their father dead, and had in early May stood at the foot of Gary Marchalk’s bed in the middle of the night, holding a knife and contemplating whether to kill him. Michael Marchalk denied that testimony, calling it “ridiculous.”

Marchalk’s public defender, Andrea L. Thompson, called a psychologist and a psychiatrist, both of whom said decades of opiate addiction had likely affected his ability to control his impulses and use sound judgment.

Thompson also called one of Marchalk’s former neighbors and his aunt, both of whom told jurors of Gary Marchalk’s harsh emotional and verbal treatment of his son, beginning when he was a toddler.

Marchalk himself testified, telling the jury of a childhood of relentless taunting, coldness and bullying by his father.

Marchalk also told the jury of his mother’s suicide when he was 17, and his subsequent drug and alcohol addiction.

He had moved back to Schuylkill County in November 2016 after living near Pittsburgh for a few years, in a house bought by his father, who, along with Michael’s stepmother, Linda Marchalk, paid the bills.

He lived off and on with Matthew in a house, again purchased by their father, in Frackville.

On Friday, June 16, Michael stayed with Gary Marchalk in Gary’s home at 21 Pear St., Barnesville, with plans to enter drug rehab on the morning of June 19.

According to Marchalk’s testimony, he was beginning to withdraw from heroin, and on Sunday, June 18, asked his father for money to buy the drug to “take the edge off.”

The two argued, and Gary Marchalk tossed Michael $38 he had in his wallet, and let him use his truck to go to Hazleton to buy heroin.

All Michael’s dealer had was crack cocaine. Michael took that, and drove to the Walmart parking lot in Hometown, where he smoked the drug and debated going back to his father’s house.

Eventually, he did, and after talking with his father, went upstairs to where Gary Marchalk was lying on his bed, dressed only in jeans and socks.

Gary Marchalk sat up abruptly, and swung the bat he always kept by his side at Michael, hitting him twice on the arm, blows Michael said didn’t hurt him.

Michael threw an iron at Gary, but missed.

The two struggled, with Michael gaining control of the bat.

He hit Gary several times in the face and head, and Gary rolled off the bed, landing face-first in the floor.

Michael testified that he didn’t check to see if his father was still alive. Instead, he took Gary’s wallet and car keys, and drove to Philadelphia, then took a bus from there to Atlantic City, where he was taken into custody on June 22.

Marchalk was charged by state police at Frackville.