Man convicted of 3rd-degree murder in father's slaying

POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- A man has been convicted of third-degree murder in the baseball bat beating death of his father in Pennsylvania on Father's Day last year.

Jurors deliberated for almost 11 hours before convicting 38-year-old Michael Marchalk in the June 2017 slaying of 59-year-old Gary Marchalk, husband of county treasurer Linda Marchalk.

Marchalk said he was disappointed by Thursday night's verdict but relieved that jurors acquitted him of first- and second-degree murder, which would have meant a mandatory term of life without parole.

Authorities in Schuylkill County said the defendant had been staying with his father in Barnesville and was supposed to enter drug treatment the following day. He was arrested several days later in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Assistant Public Defender Andrea Thompson called the slaying "a textbook case of manslaughter."