Slaying suspect testifies in own defense
Edward Belch testified in his own defense in Fayette County Court Thursday in the homicide trial in which he is accused of running down a motorcycle carrying Terri Lynn Gresko and Thomas Myers on May 10, 2005, killing both people on the bike. “I was confused, drunk and upset. Seeing the woman you love with another man would upset anybody,” said Belch, 46, of McClellandtown.
Gresko, 44, of Edenborn and Myers, 54, of Masontown died at the scene of the accident on Route 21 in German Township.
Belch said he had last seen Gresko the morning of Sunday, May 8. Although there was previous testimony from an emergency medical technician that Belch told her at the accident scene that he had just gotten out of jail after violating a protection-from-abuse order Gresko had against him, Belch said he and Gresko were still a couple.
“We still saw one another on a daily basis. We had never broken up,” Belch testified.
Belch said he went to his grandfather’s house in McClellandtown to visit around 2:30 p.m. the day of the accident. He said he was there for three to three and a half hours, during which time he drank six or seven 16-ounce beers and smoked two marijuana cigarettes. Belch said he had taken a Librium pill earlier in the day. Librium, according clinical and forensic neuropsychiatrist Dr. Lawrence Bernstein, is a drug that works on the same areas of the brain as alcohol. Combined with alcohol, Dr. Lawrence Bernstein said, it multiplies the intoxication.
Bernstein testified that with the chemicals Belch had in his system, he should have been severely impaired.
“I think he would be pretty loaded with this level of alcohol, Librium and marijuana,” he testified. “You would be substantially intoxicated. Those drugs affect cognition. Things like thinking, planning and deliberation. I think it would be difficult for Mr. Belch to premeditate or plan anything in this condition,” Bernstein said.
The prosecution is seeking a first-degree murder conviction in the case, which requires an element of premeditation.
Belch testified that during the afternoon of May 10 he asked a friend to get his Dodge pickup truck from Gresko’s house and bring it to his grandfather’s, which the friend did. Belch said he then went to Arnold’s Beer Distributor in Masontown to check whether materials were there that he would need the next day to rewire a cooler. He said he drank more beer on his way to Masontown. Belch said the needed materials were there and he stayed at Arnold’s for 15 or 20 minutes before leaving to go to Wal-Mart on Matthew Drive in South Union Township.
Belch said he drank a couple more 16-ounce beers on his way to Wal-Mart. He was going to the store to get a receipt for eyeglasses he had purchased and to put in an order for another pair of glasses, Belch testified. Belch said he was in the vision center at the front of the store when he saw Gresko and Myers leaving the store.
“I went outside and followed them. I wanted to talk to Terri. I wanted to know why she was with Mr. Myers,” Belch said. “She gave me the bird, or the finger, and got on a motorcycle and left.”
Belch said he didn’t see which direction the motorcycle went. He then got into his truck and headed west on Route 21.
“I was actually going home. I live in that direction,” Belch said.
Three or four miles down the road, he spotted a motorcycle 400 to 500 yards in front of him.
“I didn’t know it was them at the time. I was still driving at a high rate of speed. I was passing vehicles and I spotted a car coming toward me. I pulled back into the westbound lane. I was very angry. When you love somebody and you see them with somebody else, it does put a hurt on you. I was angry and drunk and very distraught,” Belch testified.
“Then I hit the motorcycle. I went down the road and got out of my vehicle. I went over to Terri, and she was still breathing. I stayed with her until she died,” Belch said.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht had testified earlier in the day that Myers and Gresko suffered from fractured skulls, crushed chests and trauma to their abdomens.
“They would have been rendered unconscious immediately by the severity of the head trauma,” Wecht said. “The injuries to the head alone would have been incompatible with life.”
Wecht said that Myers suffered from a lacerated aorta that would have cut off the blood supply to his brain, resulting in instantaneous death.
Wecht said Gresko may have lived for eight to 15 minutes after the crash, despite the skull fracture and multiple broken bones, including all of her ribs. Wecht said the fractured ribs cut into Gresko and Myer’s internal organs, including Gresko’s lungs and liver.
“She could have lived several minutes longer because her heart kept beating,” Wecht said.
State police Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea, a collision analyst and reconstruction specialist, testified Belch was going at least 67 mph when he collided with the motorcycle. D’Andrea testified that the motorcycle would have been propelled by the impact and had to have obtained a speed of 67 mph to slide the 373 feet it traveled on its side before coming to rest 457 feet after the point of initial contact.
D’Andrea testified that blue jean material was found on the undercarriage of the truck as well as embedded into the asphalt. In addition, an imprint of the Harley Davidson logo from the back of the motorcycle was found in the dirt on the hood of the truck and the back of the motorcycle seat was a perfect match for a rounded dent on the front of the truck. D’Andrea said he found no mechanical problems with the truck following the accident.
Assistant District Attorney Peter U. Hook is expected to call one rebuttal witness when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. today, then both the prosecution and defense will present closing arguments and Judge John F. Wagner will give instructions to the jury before deliberations begin.