Stiver

HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona-area man serving a life term for first-degree murder is seeking to overturn his 2020 conviction, claiming his defense attorney was ineffective.

John P. Stiver, 41, who was found guilty of shooting and killing 58-year-old David Hoover in the parking lot of Bethany Lutheran Church, argued Friday through his attorney Robert Donaldson that his trial defense counsel did not present evidence that would show he acted in self-defense.

Stiver has maintained from the beginning that he shot Hoover in self-defense and contends his attorney Kristen Anastasi failed to show the jury a video that would prove his claim.

During Friday’s proceedings, the second in a series of hearings to address Stiver’s petition for post-conviction relief, Anastasi told the court that she did not think there was any strategic basis for using the video during Stiver’s trial.

When Donaldson asked if Stiver could be heard saying “stop or I’ll shoot,” Anastasi said Stiver indicated he said it but she did not hear it on the video.

“I didn’t hear any wording,” Anastasi said. “I just heard the gunshot go off.”

When questioned, Anastasi said she didn’t ask for an expert to “clean up” the video’s background noise.

“That was wrong and I should have requested an expert,” Anastasi said.

The jury found Stiver guilty of first-degree murder in Hoover’s death. The shooting occurred in the parking lot of Bethany Lutheran Church, 200 Third Ave., Altoona, on the afternoon of July 26, 2018.

In addition to first-degree murder, he was found guilty of felony aggravated assault, possession with intent to deliver and criminal conspiracy, as well as several misdemeanors.

The dispute between Stiver and Hoover began over money and drugs, with the pair meeting in the church parking lot after a chase through the city, according to court documents and trial testimony.

At trial, a forensic pathologist testified that Stiver used a shotgun to shoot Hoover, who was holding a baseball bat.

On Friday, Anastasi said Stiver also told Altoona Police Detective Sgt. Terry Merritts of his self-defense claims during their first interview.

Anastasi told the court that she never received the audio of that interview in discovery despite requesting it and decided not to obtain it for trial even though she thought it was important.

Robertson then questioned Anastasi about a seated juror.

Anastasi said that, after the jury was seated, Stiver alerted her to the fact that one of the jurors was wearing a jacket with an Operation Our Town emblem. Operation Our Town is a private, nonprofit organization that was formed as a counter to the growing drug crime throughout the city and county.

Anastasi said she asked for the juror to be removed because of the drug aspects of the trial, but her request was denied.

Through questioning by Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks, Anastasi said her advice to Stiver had been to take the plea deal of 15 to 30 years in prison because it wasn’t worth the “risk to reward” to go to trial. Stiver wasn’t willing to plead guilty to murder, she said.

Anastasi told the court she believed there was a “real risk,” but Stiver was “always emphatic about going to trial.”

Stiver also wasn’t willing to testify on his own behalf, which is the “best way” to build a self-defense case, Anastasi said.

The state Supreme Court previously denied Stiver a hearing for further appeal without comment in April 2022. He had the option of taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court or filing a post-conviction appeal in state court.

In his 95-page opinion upholding the jury’s first-degree murder finding, Blair County Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan, who oversaw the entirety of Stiver’s case, wrote, “We found that the evidence was more than sufficient to support a first-degree murder conviction.”

Superior Court Judges Alice B. Dubow, Megan King and Correale F. Stevens then adopted Sullivan’s opinion.

Another evidentiary hearing will be scheduled in Stiver’s case at a later time.

Stiver has been incarcerated at SCI Frackville since his sentencing.

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