Jan 13, 2007 By Jennifer Harr 6 min read

A McClellandtown man escaped a potential death sentence when Fayette County jurors convicted him of third-degree murder for using his truck to run down two people on Route 21 in German Township. Edward A. Belch, 46, showed no emotion as jurors announced the verdicts Friday afternoon in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Terri Lynn Gresko, 44, of Edenborn and Thomas D. Myers, 54, of Masontown. Gresko was a passenger on Myers’ motorcycle when Belch weaved in and out of traffic to catch up with them, and hit the bike.

Just before the accident, Belch saw Gresko and Myers at the Wal-Mart in South Union Township, and police said he followed them out of the parking lot and intentionally ran them down.

The impact threw Gresko and Myers from the motorcycle, killing them almost instantly on May 10, 2005.

“We wanted it to be first- (degree murder), but we’ll have to live with third- (degree),” said Gresko’s ex-husband, Joe, after the verdict.

He and Gresko’s children and other family were fixtures during the trial.

Joe Gresko said he believed that Belch had the intent to kill Terri Gresko and Myers, but thought jurors may have been swayed by testimony of alcohol consumption.

Belch’s attorneys, Public Defender Jeffrey Whiteko and Assistant Public Defender David Kaiser, presented evidence that Belch was so intoxicated that he could not form that specific intent to kill.

The defense, called voluntary intoxication, can mitigate a first-degree murder conviction to a third-degree murder conviction.

Both sides presented experts who debated whether the alcohol, marijuana and prescription drug in Belch’s system affected his ability to form that intent.

A commonwealth expert, Dr. Bruce Wright, testified that he believed Belch “was able to carry out deliberate, premeditated actions” and had the cognitive ability to do so.

His testimony was in contrast to that of defense expert, Dr. Lawson Bernstein, who said that the combination of drugs and alcohol made it impossible for Belch to know what he was doing.

In impassioned closing remarks, Whiteko told jurors that they’ve never disputed Belch was responsible for the accident.

“I do not see this premeditation or the willful, deliberate actions of a man who loved a woman,” Whiteko said.

He told jurors that he believed that prosecutors “over charged” Belch because “they love to win.

“That’s all they think about,” he said.

Whiteko argued that prosecutors did not want a toxicology report relating to Belch’s alcohol and drug levels admitted, and asked jurors to consider why.

“Because they want convictions. They want first-degree (murder),” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I believe in the system.”

Assistant District Attorney Peter U. Hook, in his closing remarks, disputed that claim.

“We’re here to seek justice. That’s all we’re here for,” he said.

Hook argued that prosecutors were not trying to hide anything from the jury, noting that there were other things that he wished he could have told the panel.

In the end, however, Hook said it came down to whether jurors believe that the alcohol and drugs impaired Belch’s cognitive abilities enough to lessen his degree of guilt.

“A truck might not be faster than a speeding bullet, but it’s far more powerful,” Hook said, calling it an atypical homicide.

“Consider the violence of that impact,” Hook said, hitting his hand. “What does it take to do that?”

He said prosecutors don’t dispute that Belch was drinking – and possibly even an alcoholic – but said that the issue is whether or not he was able to form specific intent to kill Gresko and Myers.

As evidence of his ability to reason and think, Hook reminded jurors that Belch had to answer questions posed to him by paramedics after the accident. After answering basic questions like the year and president, Belch volunteered information about Gresko’s background, Hook said.

“When I say he was a man on a mission, I mean that,” Hook argued. “He might have been impaired, but how did it effect his cognitive ability?”

He also noted that several witnesses testified that Belch approached Gresko’s body after he hit the motorcycle, telling her he told her he was going to kill her.

“For Terri and Tom, this was their last ride to death,” Hook said.

Several witnesses indicated Belch told them another driver ran him off the road when he hit Gresko and Myers. Others also testified that, although Belch smelled of alcohol after the crash, he walked and spoke normally, and did not appear drunk.

Belch killed Gresko and Myers only four and a half hours after he was released from the county lock-up. He had been in prison because he was arrested two days before for violating a protection from abuse order that Gresko had in place against him. Testimony about the specifics of that incident was not allowed at trial.

Whiteko said that he and Kaiser had asked for a plea to third-degree murder several times before the case went to trial, but prosecutors had declined that offer.

Whiteko said Belch still was in shock, but pleased that the verdict had spared him from going through the penalty phase of the trial. Had jurors convicted him of first-degree murder, they would have heard testimony additional testimony and had to decide if Belch should die by lethal injection.

“He knows that there’s a possibility – not a likelihood, but a possibility – that he could one day see the light of day again,” Whiteko said of Belch.

Kaiser said the defense team realized that the accident was a tragedy.

“Our hearts go out to the families,” he said.

He also praised jurors for their attention to the trial.

The defense team also included Mark Mehalov, who would have handled the penalty phase of the trial.

The five woman, seven man panel deliberated about three hours before they asked Judge John F. Wagner Jr. to redefine first and third-degree murder and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

An hour later, they returned with their verdict.

Wagner set a total of $500,000 bond for Belch and fixed his sentencing at 9 a.m. Wednesday.