Jul 12, 2017 4 min read

A Washington County jury’s decision in a trial that began Tuesday will likely hinge on whether its members believe James Bongiorni was defending himself when he shot his daughter’s ex-boyfriend last year.

The defense began the trial by arguing Bongiorni, 69, was protecting himself when he shot 38-year-old Brian Wilbert, who reportedly arrived drunk and yelling at his daughter Darlo Bongiorni’s house on Hillcrest Avenue. Prosecutors contend Bongiorni killed an unarmed man who was not making a move toward him at the time.

“It is the defense position that he did it in a way that is justified under the law,” said attorney Robert Del Greco Jr., who represents Bongiorni.

Wilbert’s history of violence against his ex-girlfriend Darlo Bongiorni, with whom he fathered a son, and his relationship with her family is likely to come up when the defense calls witnesses later in the trial.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Walsh asked jurors to “focus on the night that this occurred,” even as he acknowledged Wilbert “was not a great person.”

“But on April 27, 2016, he was a victim who was shot to death in the middle of the street,” Walsh said.

Bongiorni, who walked from his home a street over to meet Wilbert – who reportedly had been threatening Darlo Bongiorni over the phone – fired a single round into Wilbert’s stomach from a .38-caliber, double-barreled handgun sometime shortly after 9 p.m. at the intersection of Kerr Street and Hillcrest Avenue.

First responders found Wilbert in the driver’s seat of the black Pontiac Grand Am he arrived in. He was flown by helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, but died shortly after midnight of a perforating gunshot wound. His blood-alcohol level was later found to have been 0.245 – more than three times the limit to drive a car – around the time of his death.

Police found a sheathed Bowie knife on the floor of the car beside Wilbert. The knife, and outside and inside of the sheath, were found not to have blood on them, according to testimony from the state police forensic scientist who tested them.

Witnesses called by the prosecution testified they did not see Wilbert holding a weapon or lunge or attack Bongiorni before he was shot.

One witness was Emily Wysocki, 17, who was a neighbor of the Bongiornis at the time. She testified she began filming the preceding argument with a cellphone from her bedroom window across the street and captured Bongiorni shooting Wilbert on video before she fled downstairs in terror. The video was played multiple times for jurors.

Del Greco argued Wilbert showed the Bongiorni’s the knife from the car before putting it back.

David Griffith, Darlo’s then-boyfriend, was with Darlo at her house beforehand and saw the shooting from a short distance up the street. He also testified he did not see Wilbert with a weapon, but conceded under cross-examination he ran when Wilbert went for something in the car and did not see what it was.

Smith Township police Officer George Galish, the first to respond, testified Bongiorni told him “the boy came at me with a knife, so I shot him.”

Griffith testified he believed former lightweight champion boxer Paul Spadafora was accompanying Wilbert “according to what I was told at the time.”

It turned out Spadafora was not with Wilbert, but testimony showed police encountered Wilbert’s friend Charles Marsico, a half brother of Spadafora who’s now deceased, when they arrived. Del Greco argued, however, Spadafora’s frequent, widely reported brushes with police would have made his presence a menacing prospect to Bongiorni.

Jurors also heard a series of 911 calls related to that incident. The calls included some from Darlo Bongiorni, whom Del Greco said placed the first emergency call at 8:17 p.m. – about an hour before the shooting. Del Greco said Darlo Bongiorni then called 911 and asked to speak with an officer after talking with her father on the phone about the alleged threats made by Wilbert.

Police didn’t arrive until after receiving multiple reports of shots fired.

During his opening statement, Del Greco told jurors there was a “philosophical difference” about where the shooting occurred.

“It is the defense position that this incident happened at the deadly intersection of domestic violence and the failure of the McDonald Police Department to timely respond to 911s,” he said.

Judge Michael J. Lucas is presiding over the trial, which is expected to resume this morning.