Rulings in home invasions pending
Investigators are awaiting autopsy results on two men killed by homeowners during separate home invasions in back-to-back days last month in California Borough and West Pike Run Township.
The results will involve the trajectories of bullets that killed Robert J. West, 42, of Fredericktown, and Emanuel Ladson, 37, of Pittsburgh, which would help determine if their slayings were justified under Pennsylvania’s Castle Doctrine law.
Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone said it appears from initial reports that the killing of Ladson could meet the test of the law, which allows homeowners to use deadly force when they are threatened by an intruder.
He said the law “creates a presumption” that a homeowner feels a threat to his life when an intruder is present in his or her home.
Gregory Pascale fired one shot from his .38-caliber handgun into Ladson’s right chest after he found the man in the kitchen of his home in the 100 block of California Drive about 3:30 a.m. Dec. 27, borough police stated in the affidavit seeking a search warrant in the case.
The shooting took place after Pascale went to the kitchen to investigate a noise and found Ladson “looking in the refrigerator,” the court record states.
Pascale “yelled out to the male,” who was shot after he turned in the direction of the homeowner, the record shows.
Police found Ladson in the driveway to the house, suffering from a gunshot wound to his side, at which time he was taken into custody, the record indicates. Ladson later died at Mon Valley Hospital.
Pascale could not be reached for comment.
In the West killing, police found him dead late Dec. 28 near an ax handle and blood a few feet away from a camper owned by Nicholas Dziyak, 74, at 93 McGirts Road in West Pike Run, the search warrant affidavit indicates.
A witness told police Dziyak shot West, before Dziyak was taken to Mon Valley Hospital for injuries he suffered in the incident. The camper door was open, and police found blood and a gun inside the residence.
Later that night police interviewed Andrew Robert Graseck, 18, of Carmichaels, stating in court documents he confessed to going to the camper with West with their faces covered and carrying axes “with the intent to assault and rob Dziyak,” the record states.
Graseck told police he ran to a nearby residence after Dziyak came out of his residence and with a gun, firing multiple rounds.
Police said Dziyak was struck many times in the head, chest and arm with the ax handle before he fired several rounds from his gun, striking West at least once in the head and killing him.
Graseck has been charged with robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment, and lodged in Washington County jail on $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear for his preliminary hearing in the case at 1:15 p.m. Jan. 20 before District Judge Curtis Thompson.
His attorney, Adam Belletti of Waynesburg, said he was preparing for the hearing and could not comment on the case. State police spokesman Trooper Matthew Jardine said he had no new information to release in the case.
Staff writer Mike Jones contributed to this report.