Mar 5, 2019 4 min read

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A homicide defendant took the stand in Fayette County Court on Tuesday and testified he was pushed and punched in the back of the head by the man he shot and killed in the parking lot of a Uniontown bar.

Nathan Yasek, 36, formerly of Eighty Four, testified he was outside of his truck while his girlfriend was in the vehicle when Timothy C. Durst, 54, pushed him hard from behind and punched him two or three times in the back of his head on Nov. 24, 2017.

“I heard someone say, ‘You like that, (expletive)?'” Yasek testified. “I was terrified. I had no idea anyone was around.”

Yasek testified he was punched again on the side of his head before he ducked, turned around and pushed the person back. Then, he told jurors, he drew his .45-caliber pistol.

“He said, ‘(Expletive) you and your gun,” testified Yasek, represented by attorney Jack Connor. He said Durst hit him twice in the chest, prompting Yasek to fire one round.

Yasek testified the first shot didn’t faze Durst, who came at him again, and he fired a second shot that made Durst stumble into a telephone pole and slump down.

Assistant District Attorney Sean Lementowski asked Yasek if Durst had a weapon on him, but Yasek testified he couldn’t tell. He said he didn’t know it was Durst who attacked him until he saw Durst’s girlfriend running toward them.

Dr. Jennifer Hammers, a forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Durst, testified Durst was shot in the center of his torso with the bullet travelling below the skin and stopping near the armpit, which could be a lethal wound. She said the damage done from the second shot, which entered the rear left shoulder and partially exited the right side of Durst’s body, caused damage to both lungs, some ribs and the aorta artery, was most likely the fatal shot.

Hammers also pointed out the entrance wound to the left shoulder had a muzzle impact, which was a burn from the muzzle flash of a gun that could only be caused if the end of the gun was touching the skin or the outside clothing. She testified she could not determine the distance from which the gun was fired into Durst’s torso.

Lementowski asked Yasek how one bullet entered the front of Durst’s chest and the other entered the back of Durst’s shoulder.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Yasek testified. “An attack is an attack.”

Judge Steve Leskinen asked Yasek if he whether the shot to the torso was the first shot or the second shot. Yasek said he didn’t know for certain, but if he had to guess, the torso would have been the first shot fired.

Uniontown police Lt. Tom Kolencik testified Yasek complained about a bruise to the back of his head and said he was punched in the right cheek, but Kolencik said he did not notice any bruising or swelling near the front of Yasek’s face and didn’t take a photo of the back of Yasek’s head.

Benjamin Venick, the owner of Rizz’s, the restaurant and bar outside which the shooting took place, testified that he knew both Yasek and Durst and saw them the night of the shooting. He testified Durst approached the front window of the business to get his attention, and made an obscene gesture. Yasek, Venick testified, had dinner at Rizz’s that night.

Venick testified that after they heard that Yasek shot someone, he ran out to the parking lot and helped him back into the restaurant, where Yasek turned himself in. Venick testified Yasek had a red mark behind his right ear, adding it looked like it was from a scrape or a punch.

The trial will conclude on this morning with closing arguments and jury deliberation.

Yasek is free on $100,000 bond.