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Thursday, July 10, 2003

By Virginia Kopas Joe, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

While Adam Bishop lay dying in a Pittsburgh hospital, his younger sibling, Ian, told a friend that he had killed his brother during an argument.

Thor Strong, 23, of Greensburg, told a Westmoreland County jury yesterday that Ian Bishop, now 15, told him just hours after the midafternoon attack April 19, 2002, that he "got frustrated" during an argument at the Bishop family's home.

Strong said Ian told him that after the attack "Adam was incoherent." He said Ian told him he "dragged Adam into the bathroom, ran water on his head and watched bubbles come out of the hole in his head" caused by a hammer blow.

Ian Bishop is on trial for the bludgeoning death of his brother, who was 18. He is being tried as an adult and faces life in prison with no chance of parole if he is convicted of first-degree murder.

The defense, expected to start its case today,, contends that the killer was Ian's friend, Robert Laskowski, 16, of the Wendover section of Hempfield, who also was in the Bishop home that day. Laskowski also will be tried as an adult at a separate trial.

Strong said the confession came on the evening of April 19, after Ian Bishop came to his home on Mount Pleasant Street in Greensburg. Strong said they sat in a van parked at the rear of the property and that Bishop crushed and swallowed some over-the-counter allergy and cold pills as he talked.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Tom Ceraso asked Strong why he didn't come forward with the alleged confession until just a month ago. Strong said he didn't want to get involved, figuring, "if the cops needed me, they'll come and get me."

In a continuing effort to discredit prosecution witnesses, co-defense counsel John Ceraso asked Strong about his criminal past.

The construction worker admitted that in October 1998, when he lived in Blairsville, he had trouble with the law. Court records show that he pleaded guilty to breaking into a Blairsville home and was sentenced to 11 months in the Westmoreland County Prison.

Jurors were excused for most of the afternoon while lawyers wrangled over whether testimony by a psychiatrist during a hearing for Bishop in juvenile court could be used at the trial. Common Pleas Judge Debra Pezze ruled that the prosecution can't introduce any of those statements unless Bishop takes the stand in his own defense and contradicts what he told the psychiatrist.

The trial enters its fifth day this morning.

Virginia Kopas Joe can be reached at vkjoe@post-gazette.com or 724-837-1725.