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

In handing down the sentence against now 46-year-old Michael Stephanic Jr., Elk County President Judge Richard A. Masson said he would have done so regardless of the state’s mandatory minimum rule, calling Stephanic’s fatal shooting of June Talmadge outside of the Eastern Sintered Alloys plant in St. Marys especially heinous.

“It is manifestly necessary that you be removed from society,” Masson said, saying Stephanic’s lack of a significant criminal history prior to Talmadge’s Sept. 3, 2013 shooting death “does not offset this horrific act.”  

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 — an emotional climax after two years of festering anger and grief.

That emotional toll was on full display as a victim impact statement written by Talmadge’s daughter, Jeana Bolin, was read aloud for the court by Elk County District Attorney Shawn T. McMahon.

In it, Bolin described the lingering effects of her mother’s sudden death, at the age of 48, on her marriage, nerves, health and overall happiness.

“I have this anger and pain inside of me and I just want to scream as loud as I can but I can’t,” Bolin said, claiming she lacks the strength or energy to do so, now.  

Bolin said she’s haunted by what her mother must have felt and thought as she lay dying in a doorway at the Eastern Sintered Alloys plant after being shot in the back by Stephanic in the parking lot just feet away.

“I wonder if she thought about her grandkids … Or what a mistake she made in loving such a monster.”

Talmadge was grandmother to seven children and a larger-than-life matriarch, according to loved ones.  

Now, Bolin said instead of holiday visits with “Nana,” they will have to settle for trips to the cemetery instead.

“They’ll never get to see her again. Just a cold stone on the side of a hill with a name and a few dates,” Bolin wrote,  adding “I’m sure (Stephanic) never considered this.”

Bolin said not a day goes by without thinking of her mother, her death and the void now left behind, adding the loss of Talmadge as a contributing earner for her family of five has left them financially strapped as well.

As part of his sentence, Stephanic has been ordered to pay roughly $12,000 in restitution to cover Talmadge’s funeral and burial expenses. With little to nothing to his name, though, it is unclear if any of the amount stands to be recovered.

Stephanic listened intently and blinked frequently as McMahon read Bolin’s letter to the court and was silent as the subsequent life sentence was imposed.

He has 10 days to file a motion for post-sentence relief challenging aspects of his August jury trial and subsequent first-degree murder conviction. The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole under Pennsylvania law. The death penalty was not pursued by prosecutors in this case.

Stephanic is currently seeking a court appointed lawyer to help oversee the appeals process following defense attorney Thomas K. Hooper’s withdrawal on Wednesday.

That day’s hearing also saw Stephanic enter a guilty plea to a summary offense stemming from his damaging of an unattended company vehicle at the Eastern Sintered Alloys plant on his first drunk and armed trip to see Talmadge at work on the night of her death.

Police say after being driven off by supervisors, Stephanic would return to the plant hours later, around 3 a.m., and ask to speak with Talmadge outside. It was at that point, officials said, that he shot her in the back with a big-game rifle in the parking lot, reportedly during an argument.

Stephanic was ultimately tackled and disarmed by plant employees who held him until police arrived.

Masson said those individuals are victims, too, with some clearly still traumatized by the events of Sept. 3, 2013 as evident in their testimony heard at Stephanic’s August jury trial in Elk County Court in Ridgway.

At the trial, Stephanic’s defense lawyer attempted to argue that Stephanic acted impulsively and without premeditation in shooting Talmadge, blaming alcohol and a simmering feud between the two that he claimed pushed Stephanic over the proverbial edge.

But Masson said he believed Stephanic returned to the plant that night with murder in mind and that the life-in-prison punishment and first-degree murder conviction fit the crime.  

But questions persist, including why a middle-age man with an admitted tolerance for alcohol, no known mental health history, almost no criminal history and an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army would have taken such drastic action.

McMahon on Wednesday said the biggest question remains, “Why?”