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Friday, July 11, 2003

By Virginia Kopas Joe, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Testimony is expected to wrap up today in the trial of Ian Bishop, who is accused of the brutal killing of his older brother, Adam.

Yesterday the defense called several witnesses trying to prove that Bishop, 15, was high on drugs on April 19, 2002, the day he is accused of beating his 18-year-old brother to death with a claw hammer and a billy club. The defense also called a witness who suggested that the killing may have been done by another teenager, Robert Laskowski, and had homosexual overtones.

Laskowski, now 16, of Greensburg, was a friend of Ian's and was in the Bishop home on the day of the murder. He has been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as an adult at a separate trial.

Defense attorney Tom Ceraso yesterday called Scott Watson, 19, of Greensburg, who said he had an openly gay relationship with Laskowski. He said he had plans to go out with friends, including Adam Bishop, to celebrate his 18th birthday on the night of the murder. He said Laskowski was not part of the group because he had earlier told Watson he was going out of town.

But Watson, now a community college student, said that Laskowski called him late that afternoon and "didn't sound like himself, something was wrong."

Watson said the first time Laskowski would have heard that he was going out with Adam Bishop would have been that afternoon at the Bishop home.

Former classmate Rebecca Ballew, 16, of Youngwood, told the court that on April 19 she was part of a group of young people who met Ian Bishop at the Food Court of Westmoreland Mall, a popular meeting spot for teenagers.

While "hanging out," Ballew said, Ian told her he got in a fight with his brother and said he "hit Adam with a hammer."

"Ian said there was brains everywhere," Ballew testified.

She said Ian told her that "he would have thrown up if he wasn't messed up." Ballew said Ian Bishop also told her he had taken over-the-counter "cold medicine and cocaine."

Ballew also said that Ian Bishop made no mention of Laskowski's involvement in the beating, only "that he was in the house."

Ballew said Ian Bishop, like other teenagers, often said unkind things about his parents. So, she said, she didn't believe Ian during a conversation some weeks earlier when he told her "he was going to burn down the house." He was laughing when he said it, Ballew said.

Judge Debra A. Pezze said the case will probably go to the jury Monday.

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