BEDFORD — A Claysburg man charged with criminal homicide in the shooting death of his brother pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony voluntary manslaughter Tuesday morning at the Bedford County Courthouse.

Larry Michael Claar, 43, was scheduled for jury selection Tuesday and trial next week in the July 2021 death of Michael Claar, but he decided to take a plea deal that will see him serve a prison term of six to 15 years.

The deal was offered by the Office of Attorney General. The case was one of many handed over to the state agency last year by then-District Attorney Lesley Childers-Potts.

President Judge Travis W. Livengood accepted the plea deal and set Claar’s sentencing for May 26.

Defense attorney Robert Donaldson said Larry Claar had accepted responsibility for his brother’s death and described the plea agreement as “a fair and appropriate resolution.”

“He has served almost two years, which was appropriately credited to his case,” Donaldson said.

On July 24, 2021, Claar fired several rounds at his brother’s truck, causing Michael Claar to confront him about 4:30 p.m. that day.

During Tuesday’s court action, prosecutor Thomas R. Grace went over the facts of the case, saying that responding state police discovered a pool of blood in front of the garage at the Picnic Road address. They also found blood-covered items in a burn barrel.

A witness told police that he had seen Larry Claar driving up and down the road in a recreational vehicle and a blue Chevy pickup truck. Another witness said he had heard Larry Claar operating a tractor, with police later finding a freshly excavated area of dirt behind that witness’s property.

After receiving search warrants, police found Michael Claar’s body in the excavated area. Larry Claar was taken into custody on Sunday, July 25.

Larry Claar had been facing first- and third-degree murder and aggravated assault along with misdemeanor counts of simple assault, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

Under the plea agreement, Larry Claar pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, while the murder charges were dismissed. For the voluntary manslaughter charge, Grace recommended a sentence of six to 15 years in a state correctional institution with credit for time served since July 25, 2021. Claar would also be required to provide and pay for a DNA sample.

The plea agreement also merged the aggravated assault and simple assault charges with the voluntary manslaughter charge. For the abuse of corpse charge, Grace recommended two years’ probation consecutive with the sentence imposed by the commonwealth.

For the three tampering with evidence charges, Grace recommended a total of five years’ probation.

In a separate but related case, Larry Claar was charged with one misdemeanor count each of resisting arrest and flight to avoid apprehension/trial/punishment with bail set at $25,000.

Grace recommended six to 23 months’ incarceration for the resisting arrest charge to be served concurrently with manslaughter sentence. For the flight to avoid apprehension charge, Larry Claar will serve another concurrent six to 23 months’ incarceration.

The charges in this case stemmed from “some skirmish on July 1, 2021,” Grace said.

Grace told Livengood that it was his understanding that in 2021, Larry Claar had an active arrest warrant for a protection-from-abuse order violation. When police troopers tried to conduct a traffic stop on Larry Claar, he exited the vehicle on the passenger side and ran through a wooded area, he said.

The troopers gave chase, advising Larry Claar to stop several times. When Larry Claar kept running, a trooper tackled and handcuffed him, Grace said.

For all charges across both cases, Larry Claar will have to pay all costs and fees as well as submit to drug, alcohol and mental health treatment and evaluation.

Denied bail, Claar remains incarcerated in the Bedford County Correctional Facility.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.