Oct 8, 2020 2 min read

The fatal shooting of his partner’s son during an argument resulted Wednesday in a 4- to- 8-year prison sentence for an Avella area man in Washington County Court.

Arnold Webster, 65, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Joshua Ryan Bowland, 31, the son of Webster’s partner, Josephine Bowland, in August 2019.

Judge Valarie Costanzo also sentenced Webster to five years of consecutive state probation on a second-degree felony charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm.

Outside of the mobile home his mother shared with Webster on Camp Ground Road, Independence Township, Joshua Bowland began arguing with his girlfriend, April Birtwell, and as the situation escalated, the shooting occurred.

Webster, in a statement to a state police investigator, revealed he had a criminal record under the name Arnold Waddell.

In the 1970s, Waddell pleaded guilty in Washington County Court to the aggravated assault of a gas station attendant during an armed robbery in Canonsburg.

The prior conviction made him ineligible to possess firearms.

Several counts of unlawful firearm possession filed in connection with additional weapons found in his home were dismissed, as was a charge of criminal homicide, said Deputy District Attorney Jason Walsh.

Webster appeared in court from the Washington County jail, where he has been held without bond.