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Wednesday, August 28, 2002

By Ernie Hoffman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The Hempfield teen-ager accused of beating his brother to death with a hammer must stand trial as an adult on a first-degree murder charge, a Westmoreland County court ruled yesterday.

"This is a textbook case of willful, deliberate and premeditated murder," Common Pleas Judge Debra A. Pezze said as she denied a defense request to transfer the charges against Ian Bishop from adult to juvenile court.

Bishop, who turned 15 on Saturday, is accused of bludgeoning his 18-year-old brother, Adam, in the family home on April 19 with the help of a friend, Robert M. Laskowski, another Hempfield youth who also is charged in the case.

If convicted of first-degree murder as an adult, Bishop would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, but as a juvenile he could be held in custody only until his 21st birthday.

During a two-day hearing before Pezze, Bishop's attorneys tried to show that the boy suffers a mental disorder and that the community would be better served if the case were tried in juvenile court.

Pezze disagreed vehemently.

"This is a crime of enormous proportions," Pezze said. "It shocked and outraged the entire community.

"I am not convinced at all that Mr. Bishop can be released into the community in five or six years," she said. "I have very grave concerns about the safety of other individuals who come into contact with Mr. Bishop."

Judith Rein, a psychologist, testified on Aug. 16, the first day of the hearing, and again yesterday that Bishop suffers from dysthymic disorder, a chronic low-grade depression, and she said he needs professional treatment.

That and the inability to control his anger apparently led Bishop to kill his brother, Rein said, because he believed his parents favored the older boy.

Based on her interview with Bishop and testimony from his preliminary hearing, Rein said the defendant also was angry with his parents and planned to kill them, too, because they did not want him to see a certain girl and had restricted his activities.

"I believe Ian ... is a danger to his parents at this time," Rein said.

During the hearing, his parents, Jeffrey and Karen, sat quietly in the front row. While his father watched the proceedings intently, his mother's head was bowed and she dabbed with a tissue at an almost-constant flow of tears.

Rein said drug use contributed to Bishop's problem and that, when under stress, he was less likely to see things clearly.

Rein said Bishop would be amenable to treatment in the juvenile court system, but when Pezze asked her whether she could guarantee that the defendant would be cured by the time he was 21, the psychologist said she could not.

The judge asked: Would six years be enough time to rehabilitate Bishop?

"It's hard to say," Rein replied.

Dr. Gus P. Kratza, a psychiatrist who is medical director of New Morgan Academy, a secure treatment facility for juveniles in Berks County, testified that Bishop could be housed there.

All of those inmates have been placed there by juvenile authorities and many are being treated for serious psychological problems, Kratza said.

But Douglas Russell, assistant superintendent of the State Correctional Institution Pine Grove in Indiana County, testified his facility also provides that kind of treatment.

Pine Grove, which opened in 2000, was built for youthful offenders convicted of adult crimes, Russell said. If they have time left to serve when they become 21, they move on to regular state prisons.

Defense attorney Thomas R. Ceraso argued that the public interest would best be served by moving the case to the juvenile system.

"The adult system, basically, is penal in nature," while treatment available in the juvenile system could rehabilitate the defendant Ceraso said.

Pezze was not convinced.

"What if he just goes through the motions?" the judge asked. "Then what happens?"

Pezze said the Pine Grove facility seemed to be designed with Ian Bishop in mind.

Assistant District Attorney Wayne Gongaware, who opposed the transfer request, said the case merited trial in the adult courts because of the nature of the crime, its impact on the community and the fact that there is no guarantee Bishop can be cured before he turns 21.

During the first day of the hearing, Bishop was described as an increasing discipline problem in the Hempfield Area School District, where he was in the ninth grade. Witnesses said he expressed racist views, defended the Ku Klux Klan and wrote admiringly of Heinrich Himmler, a leader of the Nazi movement during World War II.

The 15-year-old Laskowski also has requested a transfer to juvenile court and Pezze said she will hear arguments on that motion on Sept. 19.