CLEARFIELD, Pennsylvania — A Clearfield County jury deliberated for about an hour and a half on Wednesday, November 4, before finding Christopher T. Euard, 54, of DuBois guilty of third-degree murder for shooting his roommate, Timothy Pirraglia, 47, during an argument at the home they shared in Treasure Lake. The jury of eight women and four men also convicted Euard of first-degree felony aggravated assault and second-degree misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person, and acquitted him of first-degree murder, The Courier Express and Gant News reported from the Clearfield County Courthouse. Euard never denied firing the shot; his defense was that he acted in self-defense — a claim the jury rejected. He is being held in the Clearfield County Jail without bail to await sentencing.
The verdict closed a three-day trial before President Judge Paul E. Cherry that had been scheduled to run five days. The defense called only one witness — Dr. Daniel Benny, a law-enforcement and security expert from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, who testified about self-defense — while the prosecution, led by District Attorney Ryan P. Sayers with Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Lose-Morgan, built its case on the testimony of the men's third roommate, police interviews and the physical evidence of where Pirraglia fell. Euard was represented by Harrisburg attorneys Jonathan Crisp and Adam Leydig.
The night of June 6, 2025: an argument over the basement
According to testimony at trial, Pirraglia came home from work at about 9:15 p.m. on June 6, 2025, to the Village Court residence the three men shared in Treasure Lake, a community near DuBois, and argued with Euard over Euard no longer letting him use the basement. During the argument Pirraglia struck Euard, took him to the floor and pushed his head into a corner. The fight broke up: Euard and the third roommate, Matt Turner, went to their bedrooms while Pirraglia stayed in the living room and kitchen area. Turner testified that Euard's bedroom door stood slightly open and he could see Euard inside, pacing while holding a gun. Turner told him it was not worth it and that he should think about his family.
About 30 minutes later, Turner decided to leave the house. He testified that he told Pirraglia what he had done was wrong and that he should leave too. Pirraglia put on a backpack containing clothes and toiletries, walked down the hallway to Euard's bedroom and told him he was leaving and would return on Sunday for the rest of his belongings — then turned and began to walk away. What happened next was the heart of the trial. Euard told police he came out of his bedroom carrying the firearm and said words to the effect that he was glad Pirraglia was leaving, because he had thought he would have to 'put one in him.' Euard said Pirraglia became enraged, turned back down the hallway with his fist raised and dared him to shoot, and that he fired in self-defense. Pirraglia's body was found just outside the hallway, in the kitchen and living-room area.
In closing, District Attorney Ryan Sayers argued Turner's account fit the evidence and Euard's did not: if Pirraglia had been leaning forward to punch Euard, he would have fallen forward into the hallway — instead he fell backwards, which fits Turner placing him at the edge of the hallway when the shot was fired. To make the point, Sayers put on Pirraglia's backpack in front of the jury. Forensic pathologist Dr. W. Ashton Ennis testified that Pirraglia died of a gunshot wound to the torso.
The five-hour gap before the 911 call
Prosecutors also pressed Euard on the timeline after the shot. The shooting happened at about 10:25 p.m. on June 6, but Euard did not call 911 until 3:18 a.m. on June 7 — nearly five hours later. Euard said he had passed out from a concussion; Sayers told the jury Euard had nonetheless managed to do laundry, because the washing machine was running when police arrived. DuBois City Police Officer Matthew Robertson testified that he interviewed Euard twice on June 7. Euard gave himself up to authorities and cooperated with the investigation, and he has been in custody for roughly 17 months since.
Why third-degree, and not first-degree or manslaughter
On the homicide charge the jury could choose between first-degree murder, third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. Sayers explained the verdict afterward: a first-degree conviction required the jury to find the killing premeditated, and the jury found it was not — 'It wasn't first-degree murder but the jury took their time, weighed the facts and based on their verdict, clearly indicated there wasn't a premeditation, but the defendant created such an environment that death was sure to occur,' he said. 'The important part for us and talking to the (victim's) family is the jury's verdict clearly indicates that they did not find self defense a justification. Clearly they determined the defendant was at fault.' Sayers said he was satisfied with the verdict despite the acquittal on the most serious charge, and he thanked the DuBois City Police Department for its investigation.
The defense closing, by attorney Jonathan Crisp, argued Euard's actions were justified because he feared serious bodily injury or death — a head injury, the defense said, could have been fatal because of a previous traumatic brain injury Euard had suffered. The jury's verdict rejected that justification while also rejecting the prosecution's theory of a premeditated killing, landing on third-degree murder: a killing committed with malice but without the specific intent and premeditation first-degree murder requires.
What happens next: sentencing in January
Judge Cherry will sentence Euard, and Sayers said the sentencing is expected in January 2027. Citing the standard range of Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines, Sayers said Euard faces six to 20 years in state prison on the third-degree murder charge, with a maximum possible sentence of 40 years; the aggravated assault and recklessly endangering convictions are additional counts before the court. Euard will receive credit for the approximately 17 months he has already been incarcerated. Until sentencing, he remains in the Clearfield County Jail without bail.
The local picture
Treasure Lake is a residential community outside DuBois in Clearfield County, in the Allegheny Mountains of north-central Pennsylvania, close to Interstate 80 — the east-west trucking corridor that carries much of the freight traffic, including many Punjabi-American drivers, between the Midwest and the East Coast. Cases like this one, in which a household argument escalated within an hour to a fatal shooting and a five-hour delay before anyone called 911, are the kind of detailed local court reporting this desk publishes for Pennsylvania's large Punjabi and South Asian readership: what the jury actually heard, what it decided, and what the sentence is likely to be — with the defendant's own account reported alongside the prosecution's, and the final word left to the sentencing judge in January.