State Superior Court denies Neff appeal on murder sentence

HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Superior Court has issued a decision denying the appeal and request for a new trial filed by Timothy Alva Neff for the murder of his sister-in-law, Agnes Neff in May of 2019.

Neff, 60, formerly of Lamar Township, was sentenced to 20-40 years in state prison by President Judge Craig P. Miller in 2020 after Neff entered a guilty plea to third degree murder. Less than a year later, Neff filed a post-conviction petition with the Clinton County Court of Common pleas seeking to have his sentence vacated and asserting his innocence and claiming his attorney was ineffective and failed to properly advise him at the time of his guilty plea.

Neff would testify at a hearing that he had stabbed Agnes Neff in self defense. Judge Miller ultimately denied Neff’s petition and Neff appealed through his new attorney, Fred Lingle. On Wednesday, the Superior Court denied Neff’s appeal request and called Neff’s claims of self defense, “completely without merit.”

The Superior Court explained that even Neff’s version of the events, if they were to be believed, didn’t create any need to use deadly force in his defense. The Court also pointed out that Neff’s version of events seemed to change from time to time, as he would sometimes claim to have stabbed the victim accidentally, but then claimed to have acted in purposeful self-defense. The Court also pointed to the fact that Neff’s trial counsel had gone so far as to hire an expert forensic pathologist to assist in his defense, but that his own expert found no evidence to support Neff’s self-defense claim.

In May of 2019, after the murder, Neff fled the scene of the crime in Lamar Township and evaded law enforcement for several days before he was eventually apprehended by State Police at Lamar. Neff is scheduled to complete his sentence in November of 2060.

Source: Clinton County District Attorney Office

Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://clinton.crimewatchpa.com/da/133000/post/superior-court-denies-neffs-appeal-murder-sentence