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Friday, October 11, 2002

By Ernie Hoffman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The parents of a Hempfield teenager charged with first-degree murder and a state trooper who investigated the case told conflicting stories yesterday about what the boy said when he confessed to his role in the killing.

The testimony came at a pretrial hearing before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Debra A. Pezze on a request by defense attorneys to move the murder trial of 15-year-old Robert M. Laskowski from adult court to juvenile court.

Laskowski and Ian A. Bishop, also 15 and from Hempfield, are charged with first-degree murder in the April 19 death of 18-year-old Adam Bishop, Ian's brother, who was fatally beaten and dumped into a bathtub with the water running in the Bishop home.

Prosecutors said Laskowski stood by while Ian Bishop beat his brother over the head at least 15 times with a claw hammer and a club. The two then helped put Adam into the tub.

Trooper Kirk Nolan said Laskowski admitted that he and Ian Bishop had previously discussed killing Adam Bishop and the Bishop boys' parents and that he went to the Bishop home for the first time on April 19 to help Ian carry out the attack.

Matthew and Susan Laskowski testified that they were present a few hours after the killing when their son confessed to Nolan. They said the boy never told Nolan there was a plan to kill the Bishops and he never said he went to the house to help.

The parents said their son was a timid boy who would not hurt anyone. They said he was confused about his sexuality and became a target of school bullies because of the way he dressed and acted.

"Rob is basically a scaredy-cat," his mother testified.

"He's a wimp," his father said. "He was manipulated by someone who is smarter than him."

When Ian Bishop talked about killing his family three days earlier, Matthew Laskowski testified, his son did not take those comments seriously.

And when Ian Bishop repeatedly bashed his brother's skull, Robert Laskowski became afraid and confused, his father said.

Nolan testified that his interview with Robert Laskowski took more than three hours and as it went on, the boy's statements became progressively more self-incriminating.

Originally, Nolan said, the boy told him he just went to the Bishop home that afternoon to "hang out" and denied knowing what was going to happen.

But at about 3:40 a.m., Nolan said, Robert Laskowski admitted he knew what Ian was going to do to Adam and said they even had a timetable for killing the rest of the family.

The plan was to kill Adam Bishop by 4:15 p.m., according to Nolan, because Bishop's mother would arrive home about that time and she was to be killed next. The father was to be killed later.

Robert Laskowski said Ian Bishop handed him a club when he entered the Bishop house, but he put it down when Ian struck the first blow and Adam fell to the floor, Nolan testified.

Robert Laskowski stood guard over Adam Bishop as the victim lay bleeding and crying to prevent him from getting away while Ian Bishop telephoned a friend and asked him to bring a gun because Adam was not dying fast enough, Nolan testified.

The boy's confession was not tape-recorded because his father twice refused to allow it. He also refused to allow his son to make a written statement, Nolan testified.

If convicted of first-degree murder as an adult, Robert Laskowski would face mandatory life in prison without parole. As a juvenile, he could only be held under the court's jurisdiction until he is 21.

Defense attorney Lee R. Demosky told Pezze it would be in the public interest to rehabilitate Robert Laskowski in the juvenile system because he was not a danger to others.

Assistant District Attorney Wayne B. Gongaware argued that Adam Bishop died a horrible death and when he begged for help, Robert Laskowski did nothing. "He wasn't an innocent bystander," the prosecutor said.

Pezze, who in August denied a similar transfer request from Ian Bishop's attorneys, said she will rule later in this case.