An attorney representing the Stanton Heights man who is accused of killing three Pittsburgh police officers is trying to get a statement he made from his hospital bed the morning after the shootings thrown out of court.

Public defender Lisa G. Middleman called a number of witnesses at a suppression hearing Friday for Richard Poplawski, trying to persuade the judge that her client was under the influence of painkillers and was not emotionally stable enough when he waived his right to legal counsel and spoke to police.

The defense plans to call one additional witness at a hearing in March before Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey A. Manning issues his decision.

During a lengthy session Friday, several police officers and UPMC Presbyterian employees testified about Mr. Poplawski's stay and treatment at the hospital after he was taken there on April 4 following a three-hour standoff at his home.

He is accused of killing Officers Paul J. Sciullo II, Stephen J. Mayhle and Eric G. Kelly after they responded to his Fairfield Street home for a domestic dispute.

Several witnesses called by the defense testified that Mr. Poplawski was uncooperative with hospital staff and detectives from his initial arrival.

"I tried to tell him I wanted to hear his side of the story," said Pittsburgh Detective Brian Johnson, who rode in the ambulance with Mr. Poplawski.

But the defendant responded: "I know I did not kill any police officers." He then called the detective a racial epithet and said he wanted a lawyer.

Several hours later, after Mr. Poplawski was moved to a room, he spoke politely with a sheriff's deputy guarding him and talked about what happened. That deputy, Troy Garrett, then called city police to see if a detective could come to the hospital because it appeared Mr. Poplawski was ready to talk.

Homicide Detective James R. Smith arrived before 7 a.m. on April 5, and after reading Mr. Poplawski his Miranda rights, took a statement from him. The defendant initialed each paragraph and marked the time the interview concluded.

Throughout Friday's hearing, no one ever revealed what Mr. Poplawski said in that statement.

Nurses who treated Mr. Poplawski testified that they gave him Oxycodone and Dilaudid for his pain. They said he rated his pain on a scale of 1 to 10 as 8s and 9s. On cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli aggressively questioned the nurses about Mr. Poplawski's pain level.

To one nurse, he asked "If a patient's a crybaby, he might say his pain is an eight, but if he's a tough guy, it might be a four? Or if a patient's a liar, he might say it was a nine, whereas if he was being truthful, it would be a five?"

The nurse, Virginia Kennedy, agreed that patients cope differently with pain.

Diana Doherty, a student nurse working on Mr. Poplawski's floor, told the court he cried to her.

"He asked me why I was being so nice to him. I said 'this is my job. I'm trying to be professional. I'm here to take care of you,'" she testified.

But Ms. Doherty acknowledged on cross-examination by Mr. Tranquilli that she also heard Mr. Poplawski say to one of the officers assigned to guard his room, "----suckers like you are the reason why people like me shoot people like you."

Judge Manning is expected to set a trial date in the case at the next hearing on March 22. He previously ruled that a jury from outside Allegheny County will hear the death penalty case. Last week, the state Supreme Court decided that jurors from Dauphin County would be used.

In the meantime, investigators last month applied for search warrants for computers used by Mr. Poplawski and his friend, Edward Perkovic, in the months leading up to the shootings.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the men broadcast an Internet radio program, the "Eddie and Po" show. During one program, Mr. Poplawski recited a hit-list of people he was going to "take out," including "a Pittsburgh police officer, a black, a Jew," and his ex-girlfriend's parents, the affidavit said.

Police learned about the show when Mr. Perkovic's girlfriend brought his external computer hard drive to them in August following a domestic dispute.

The woman told police that she asked Mr. Perkovic after listening to the show, "Do you think that had anything to do with what happened in April?" She said Mr. Perkovic answered, "That's what I thought you would say. More cops should have died, I'm going to go out and shoot more cops," the affidavit said.

The paperwork goes on to say that the two men visited white supremacist websites, and Mr. Poplawski posted on them using the name, "braced for fate."

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