David Repasky, the North Braddock man convicted in December of killing his mother-in-law, with whom he had an affair, will never see his children again if his wife has her way.

Common Pleas Judge Lester G. Nauhaus yesterday sentenced Repasky, 25, to life in prison without parole.

In a nonjury trial in December, Nauhaus convicted Repasky of first-degree murder in the asphyxiation death of his mother-in-law, Lynda McClelland.

Repasky and his wife, Amanda, have children ages 7, 4 and 2. Amanda was pregnant with the youngest when her mother was killed July 27, 2000.

"If he thinks he's ever going to see [the children] ..." she said.

"They don't know about this," she said after the sentencing. "My oldest son knows what happened, but he doesn't know that his dad did it."

"He showed no remorse. He never shed one tear," said Leah Miller, McClelland's sister. "How do you tell his three children that he killed their grandmother?"

Repasky's conviction was based largely on the testimony of his childhood friend, Donald Wall. The two men remained close until their arrests in March 2003 in connection with a burglary ring that operated in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

Repasky had agreed to testify against Wall and other members of the enterprise when Wall, 26, came forward to say he helped Repasky bury McClelland's body in the woods behind Wall's grandmother's property in Chalfant.

Wall testified that Repasky admitted that he and McClelland had a sexual relationship and that she had threatened to tell her daughter about it before he killed her in her kitchen.

Defense attorney Eric Fischer argued that McClelland's drug-addicted, abusive boyfriend, Harry Craig, was a better suspect. In initial interviews with police, Fischer said, Craig denied knowing where McClelland was when police began investigating her disappearance.

Fischer said that Craig quipped, "If I had to guess, I'd say she's in the woods. Isn't it ironic that that's where they found her, in the woods?" Fischer said.

Fischer, court-appointed to represent Repasky, said he will appeal the verdict, in part because Craig was never developed as a suspect when he seemed the most likely candidate.

Miller and Amanda Repasky said they have no doubt that the right man was convicted.

"I never want to see him again. I don't want him to know what I think about him," Amanda Repasky said.

"The problem we're having is that after he did it, he still was sleeping with Amanda," Miller said. "She was pregnant and he had her trucking through the woods looking for Lynda."

First Published: March 10, 2004, 5:00 a.m.