A man who killed his mother’s boyfriend in his South Whitehall Township apartment will serve 15-30 years in state prison.
Gabriel Stettler, 20, claimed he stabbed 52-year-old Miles “Dino” Brickhouse Jr. in self-defense, saying Brickhouse rushed into his bedroom and began to choke him on the morning of Feb. 13, 2022.
Brickhouse, who had started seeing Monica Stettler a few months earlier, was staying at the apartment on the 1900 block of West Woodlawn Avenue. He and Stettler were frequently at odds.
A jury in April rejected Stettler’s account and convicted him of third-degree murder, short of the first-degree murder conviction sought by prosecutors. Third-degree murder involves killing without premeditation and without an accompanying felony.
During the weeklong trial, Assistant District Attorney Tonya Tharp painted Stettler as the aggressor, saying the evidence showed he stabbed Brickhouse in the back as the older man walked out of the bedroom.
Stettler will serve a year of probation after his release, Lehigh County Judge James Anthony ruled Tuesday.
