Son sentenced in dad’s beating death

An Allentown man who killed his father in what a judge described as a “drunken blitz” last year was sentenced Thursday to 27 months to five years in a state prison.

Lehigh County Judge Douglas G. Reichley told Devon Scholl, 29, that he was offended by Scholl’s excuse that being unable to socialize due to COVID-19 restrictions led him to fatally attack his 52-year-old father.

“I want the general public to know that you can’t use the pandemic as an excuse,” Reichley said. “You’re a man. You need to grow up and take ahold of your own life.”

Scholl pleaded guilty March 3 to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Aug. 13 death of his father, Todd Scholl. During his sentencing hearing Thursday he told the judge that he regretted the crime.

“This devastated my life,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Every day I wake up with remorse and regret. I miss my father very much. It’s a battle every day to get up and get moving.”

Scholl, who said he’s been diagnosed with several mental health conditions, went on to describe how he and his father bonded over alcohol. Before the pandemic closed bars, they went out several nights a week together, he said.

“That’s the way we felt we could have a relationship,” Scholl said. “This was just a tragedy that happened from being in the house for months and not being able to socialize.”

Todd School died several hours after a fight that began around 8 p.m. in a parked car in front of the Scholls’ North Eighth Street home. Two other people were in the vehicle, and a witness later told police that Devon Scholl became angry when his father refused to drive him to Souderton because the car had a broken brake light.

The witness saw Devon Scholl punch his father about six times and then another four times in the head, court records say.

Video from a nearby surveillance camera captured the assault. The footage showed Scholl punching his father repeatedly, including in the head, first while Todd Scholl was seated in the car, then again when he got out. The beating went on for more than six minutes, court records say.

Family members later found Todd Scholl vomiting blood while sleeping. He was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined that he died from blunt force head trauma, which caused bleeding on his brain.

“His father just sat there, defenseless,” Lehigh County First Assistant District Attorney Steve Luksa told the judge. “He took a beating, and as a result he died.”

Scholl’s mother, Melissa Rutman, testified Thursday that Scholl suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his childhood, which was marked by parental alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and abandonment. She told the judge that Scholl has already punished himself for the killing.

“He cries every damn day. He’s sentenced himself to life already,” she said.

Scholl’s attorney, Kathryn Smith, argued for a sentence of work release, calling the crime the result of a “family tragedy.”

Luksa agreed that Scholl’s long history of substance abuse and mental health issues led up to the killing, but said Scholl should have taken steps to solve his problems.

“Today’s events are the final chapter in a book we already knew the ending of. That it would end up in some type of court,” he said.