Petoskey man sentenced in Royal Oak father’s murder

A Petoskey man who told police he beat his Royal Oak father to death with a baseball bat after the victim confiscated his last bottle of alcohol has been sentenced to 22 to 35 years in prison.

Joel A. Wheatley, 51, was sentenced in Emmet County’s 57th Circuit Court on Dec. 30 in the bludgeoning death of his father, Jack Wheatley of Royal Oak, according to the Petoskey News-Review.

Jack Wheatley was murdered on May 11 or May 12 in a Petoskey home where Joel Wheatley lived but which his father owned.

Of ficers found Jack Wheatley dead in the home’s kitchen, with apparent blunt-force trauma wounds to his head and face, after an out- of- state relative called 911 requesting a well-being check on the father and son, according to a probable cause affidavit cited by the Associated Press.

Jack Wheatley had reportedly gone to check on his son several days before his body was found.

In a plea deal, Joel Wheatley pleaded guilty to second- degree murder.

After his arrest Joel Wheatley told police he is an alcoholic who had been on a “bender for a long time,” the Petoskey NewsReview reported, citing a police affidavit.

Wheatley further told police he planned to kill his father and then kil l himself because he didn’t want to go to prison.