RIDGWAY – A St. Marys man convicted of first-degree murder in the gunning down of his girlfriend outside of her workplace has been sentenced to the statutorily mandated term of life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

But Elk County president judge Richard A. Masson said he would have sentenced the now 46-year-old Michael Stephanic Jr. to life in jail regardless of the mandatory minimum, calling his fatal shooting of girlfriend June Talmadge outside of the Eastern Sintered Alloys plant in St. Marys, especially heinous.

“Your lack of a criminal history does not offset this horrific act,” Masson said. 

When given the chance to speak, Stephanic asked Talmadge’s family, including her daughter and son seated in the courtroom, for forgiveness, invoking Jesus and expressing regret.

“There’s nothing I can say to take the hurt and sorrow in your hearts away,” Stephanic said meekly, looking down at the defense table as he spoke. 

“The only one that can do that is Jesus … And I just hope someday you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.” 

Members of Talmadge’s family responded to the statement with a guttural heave and face-in-hands sobbing that silently rippled through the courtroom. 

It was as if they had been waiting to hear those words from him for more than two years, and that the remarks had uncorked years of emotion now dissolved into an almost indistinguishable mix of anger and grief. 

In a statement read before the court by District Attorney Shawn T. McMahon, Talmadge’s daughter, Jeana Bolin, said Stephanic took the family’s larger-than-life matriarch from them, saying not a day goes by without her thinking of her mother, her death or the void now left behind. 

Stephanic has 10 days to file a motion for post-sentence relief challenging aspects of his August jury trial and subsequent first-degree murder conviction. 

He is currently seeking a court appointed lawyer to oversee the process following defense attorney Thomas K. Hooper’s withdrawal.