LEBANON, Pa. – A former Pennsylvania pastor serving a life sentence in the fatal bludgeoning of his second wife has entered a no-contest plea to charges that he killed his first wife in 1999.
Arthur "A.B." Schirmer pleaded no contest to third-degree murder Monday in Lebanon County Court.
The 66-year-old ex-Methodist clergyman had long claimed he was out for a run when he returned home to find Jewel Schirmer's body in a pool of blood at the bottom of the basement steps. Authorities reopened the case after Schirmer was charged in Monroe County with using a crowbar to kill his second wife, Betty, in 2008. Schirmer was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life without parole.
He's facing a maximum of 40 years for Jewel Schirmer's death.
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