By: Maria Miller
EVERETT, Pa. -- There are new details surrounding a Bedford County homicide that happened just under two weeks ago. During a hearing Wednesday, the man at the middle of it all said he was acting in self-defense.
During Jonta Bishop's hearing Wednesday, a state police trooper investigating the case said Bishop told them he fired a shot because Deneen also had a gun.
Police also revealed that Bishop has not only already admitted in detail to the crime, they said he did so after changing his story several times. And while the motive is not completely ironed out, prosecutors said it's clear drugs were behind it all.
Bishop arrived in court Wednesday morning for the second time in as many weeks to face a judge for his preliminary hearing. He's accused of shooting and killing James Deneen. Jr. Sept. 25, before stuffing his body in the trunk of a car and lighting the car on fire.
On Wednesday police said in an interview just days after the incident, Bishop not only admitted to shooting Deneen in a friends driveway but that he drove Deneen's body nearly 4 miles before dousing the cars seats with motor oil and lighting it on fire.
Police said Bishop had changed his story several times before making an admission and had, at one point, said Deneen also had a gun. They said Bishop told them that's the reason why he shot because "it was either me or him."
"Obviously he's got to argue something. That's what they're going with today. I'm sure once they see all the evidence, they'll realize their argument is going nowhere," said Bedford County District Attorney Bill Higgins. "But we'll be prepared to respond to it. If they want to argue self-defense, it's an uphill battle when you shoot a guy in the back of the head and then argue you were defending yourself. You got a lot of explaining to do."
"It's very early to be stating for certainty what direction the case is going to take, but we take the testimony for what it was," said Karen Hickey, Bedford County's Chief Public Defender.
While the case is still under investigation, Higgins said Wednesday it's very clear that drugs were involved
"Whether it was Jonta selling to our victim or our victim selling to Jonta or whatever, it's still to be determined, but obviously marijuana was the catalyst so to speak," Higgins said. "To those who think marijuana is just a harmless drug, take a look at the facts in this case."
A district court judge bound all of Bishop's charges to trial.
There are three others facing charges in connection to the case. Domenick Gillespie, Kimberlee Forbes and Nickolas Forbes are all facing arson, abuse of a corpse and other related charges.
Investigators allege they helped clean the shooting scene and destroy any evidence.
Gillespie waived his charges to trial Wednesday. Both Kimberlee Forbes, and her son Nickolas' cases were continues while they work to find an attorney
