Apr 8, 2013 2 min read

For nearly an hour Monday afternoon, David James McClelland answered questions and tried to “minimize” his role in the slaying of a 92-year-old neighbor, Evelyn Stepko, a widow who was victimized by a series of burglaries over a two-year period.

McClelland, 38, who also is charged with conspiracy, receiving stolen property and other crimes, said he never set foot in the home of Stepko, a widow who mistrusted banks and kept thousands of dollars hidden around her house in Coal Center.

McClelland’s pay as a part-time Monongahela police officer was being garnisheed because he owed rent, student loan payments and credit card debt, he said under questioning by his attorney, Joshua Camson.

But McClelland said his father, David Allan McClelland, was responsible for breaking into Stepko’s home, a crime he became aware of in June 2010.

“You could’ve said, ‘Dad, you’re under arrest,’ or ‘Dad, I’m calling California police,” said First Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas as part of his cross-examination of McClelland.

The elder McClelland, 58, is serving life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in Stepko’s stabbing death. His wife, Diane McClelland, 50, was convicted by a Washington County jury last month of conspiracy and receiving stolen property. She will likely be sentenced in early June.

The jury is expected to get the younger McClelland’s case Tuesday.