A Kittanning man serving life in prison for a 1990 murder argued Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court that he was innocent of the crime and had evidence to prove it.

In August 2019, President Judge Thomas Doerr decided to consider a post-conviction appeal from Steven Vogt, now 50.In his fifth appeal, filed June 12, 2017, Vogt alleges that co-defendant Arthur McClearn sent him a letter dated October 2016, in which McClearn recants his trial testimony implicating Vogt in the crime.And on Monday, Vogt's lawyer, Nicole Thurner, presented several pieces of evidence, including testimony from McClearn's cousin, to the court in support of his innocence claim. Doerr will make a decision after the prosecution and defense file arguments to support their positions.Vogt and Walter Cowfer, now 48, of Export, were found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery by a jury on Jan. 31, 1991, for pelting a Muddy Creek Township man with rocks until he drowned in a strip mine pond.They were implicated with three others in the death of 60-year-old Francis Landry. Others implicated were McClearn; Margaret Zawodniak, then a 32-year-old mother of three who was acquitted by the same jury that found Vogt guilty; and Michael Sopo, who was 20 at the time. McClearn died on Jan. 14, 2017. Zawodniak has since died.Authorities believe that in May 1990, the group conspired to rob Landry, who had recently moved from his Portersville-area home to Cowfer's place.Vogt and Cowfer reportedly pelted him with rocks for hours as he begged for his life until he drowned in a strip mine pond in Clay Township.An autopsy said Landry suffered broken ribs, bruises and scrapes before he died of asphyxiation due to drowning. Landry's body was discovered hours after his death by divers who had been using the pond for training.But in a post-conviction relief appeal, Vogt claims he didn't commit the crime, citing the letter from McClearn. In the letter, McClearn writes that Vogt was drunk and passed out in a car during the murder.Prosecutors with the Attorney General's office previously questioned the authenticity of the letter, but on Monday McClearn's cousin, Judson McClearn, noted that he kept in touch with Arthur McClearn over the years and maintained a correspondence through letters during Arthur's incarceration. Judson, 51, said that Arthur mentioned reaching out to another prisoner.Judson also said that he decided to testify Monday so that he won't have trouble sleeping anymore.Vogt also testified Monday, recalling Arthur wrote in the letter that he had been told to lie during the original trial to pin the murder on Vogt.Doerr said he would decide on the matter after Thurner and prosecutors filed briefs.Vogt remains in State Correctional Institute Fayette.

Steven Vogt