A man who changed his life in recent years will spend 2-25 years in prison for stealing from Timothy Pahl after Pahl had been murdered in his own home.
Judge Phillip Gaujot sentenced Glenn Weaver to spend 1-15 years in prison for burglary, 1-5 years for conspiracy to commit burglary, 1-10 years for grand larceny and 1-5 years for conspiracy to commit grand larceny.
The two conspiracy charges will run concurrently with their greater related charges and the two types of crimes will run consecutively.
Monongalia County Prosecutor Perri DeChristopher opposed the request by Weaver’s attorney, David DeMoss, for a totally alternate sentence such as parole or home confinement.
“I understand [Weaver] has made some changes and I certainly applaud his rehabilitation,” DeChristopher said.
However, the justice system is not only about rehabilitation, but punishment, and Weaver’s crimes should not go unpunished, she said.
After Elizabeth Chinn killed Pahl, 67, in his home on Old Stewartstown Road and stole his truck, Weaver went to his home with her and stole items, including long guns. He then helped spray-paint Pahl’s truck and fled with Chinn and others to Pennsylvania, where he was later arrested.
He also testified during Chinn’s trial that he covered Pahl’s body. Chinn is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering Pahl.
Weaver and Chinn were both addicted to and using meth during the time of Pahl’s murder and the subsequent burglaries.
Since his arrest, Weaver said he’s made a radical turnaround in his life. He told Gaujot he was almost 29 months sober and that he took his sobriety “very seriously,” even staying sober through the death of his father in a house fire.
Weaver apologized to Pahl’s family and friends. He said he couldn’t rewind or take back his choices and he wasn’t making an excuse for what he did — but addiction changes a person into someone else.
In addition to staying sober, Weaver was steadily employed by a mining company until he was laid off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He then started working as a contractor foreman.
Weaver also never failed to do as he was asked by his day report case manager.
Both his case manager and current boss testified on his behalf at Tuesday’s sentencing, as did his mother.
All of those factors combined to make Weaver a perfect candidate for an alternative sentence, DeMoss said.
“We’ve had a lot of time here and I believe Mr. Weaver has used it wisely to try to show to the court that he can be very productive,” DeMoss said. “He is being very productive, and sending someone such as Mr Weaver to prison is not justice.”
Gaujot said it was good that Weaver found the Lord and changed his life by giving up drugs — something many can’t do.
He also said he had to be careful sentencing Weaver and not blame him for Pahl’s murder.
“But, the bottom line is that once you were taken back to that house by the murderer, you assisted that murderer,” Gaujot said.
Weaver was briefly handcuffed but DeMoss asked if Weaver could self-report to prison given his history of always doing as he was supposed to.
Gaujot granted that request and gave Weaver 10 days to self-report to North Central Regional Jail and begin serving his sentence.
