Published: October 07, 2009 11:19 pm      

Man gets life in prison for killing friend

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Johnstown man convicted in July of the shooting death of a Daisytown man at a remote campsite in Blue Knob will spend the remainder of his life in prison, a Blair County judge ordered Wednesday.

Shawn Patrick Dugan, 39, a construction worker, was sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Doyle to life in prison without the chance of parole for the death of Marcus Chromy.

Chromy, 39, of Daisytown was murdered by Dugan during the July Fourth weekend in 2008.

Eleanor Chromy, the victim’s mother, wept as she read a statement addressed to Dugan, saying his actions broke the hearts of two families and two mothers.

“The only difference is she (your mother) can visit you in jail if she so chooses,” Eleanor Chromy said.

She described her son as someone with a longtime alcohol problem.

While he could not be convinced that he needed help, he did not deserve to die as he did, she said.

“I know he forgives you and I forgive you too,” Eleanor Chromy told Dugan.

Shaking his head and weeping, Dugan told the court and the Chromy family that he and the victim were longtime friends who had gone camping in the past.

“We always got along good,” he said.

“Not a day goes by I don’t regret it. I am very sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

The incident occurred after the two men and Dugan’s girlfriend, Donna Marie Hawk, had been drinking heavily. Dugan used Chromy’s 12-gauge shotgun in the killing.

Dugan and Hawk then went to Johnstown, where they sold Chromy’s gun. They continued to the Pittsburgh area, where they eventually checked into the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic.

The two were arrested later in the week. Dugan told police a number of accounts regarding the murder, including one that he shot Chromy in self-defense.

But Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio told the jury Chromy was holding firewood at the time he was shot. The sticks were evident in photographs of Chromy at the crime scene.

Dugan also told police Chromy was making sexual advances toward Hawk, but Hawk testified Dugan was more upset about Chromy calling him “pretty boy,” a nickname she used.

Dugan will stay at Blair County Prison for 20 days while his attorney, Kenneth Sottile of Carrolltown, prepares a post-sentence appeal.

Hawk, 44, of Johnstown pleaded guilty in August to two counts for the theft of Dugan’s car and gun and one count of welfare fraud for selling her Access card to a Pittsburgh man to buy drugs following the murder.

She was sentenced to nine to 18 months and given credit for time served.