‘I did not shoot Barry’
On the stand in her own defense in Fayette County Court, Johnna Palya testified Wednesday that she did not shoot her boyfriend in the head in 2007, and told jurors she did not know how the gun fired. Palya, 44, of Hopwood, is on trial for a single count of criminal homicide in the death of Barry Pavlicko, 43. State police allege she shot him on Aug. 26, 2007, and he died two months later.
Jurors will return this morning to hear the charge of the law and begin deliberations.
Her testimony contradicts statements she gave to police after the shooting.
Palya indicated that she and Pavlicko rode his motorcycle to two different bars in the mountain area of the county on Aug. 26, and at the second one, they got into a fight because she talked to another man.
They left and came home, she testified, and she wanted to sleep downstairs. Palya testified that, at some point, Pavlicko asked her for his .357-caliber revolver.
She told jurors she retrieved the weapon because she didn’t want him accusing her of taking it, and gave it to him.
Then, she said, Pavlicko “put the gun to his forehead and told me to shoot him.”
Palya testified that she tried to move the gun above his head, and somehow, it went off.
“Do you know how that gun went off?” Assistant Public Defender Jeremy Davis asked.
“No, I do not,” she replied.
“Did you pull that trigger?” he continued.
“No, I did not,” Palya testified.
When Pavlicko fell to the floor bleeding, she testified that she tried to put pressure on the wound, and called 911.
She indicated that she did not know where the bullet hit Pavlicko, contrary to statements she gave to police immediately afterward when she indicated she shot him in the front of the head.
During the initial statement to Trooper Timothy Knapp, Palya said she was trying to fire the gun over Pavlicko’s head, and he pulled it down as she fired. In a subsequent statement, given hours later, Palya said that she accidentally shot him.
Medical testimony presented indicated that the bullet entered the back of Pavlicko’s head, and exited from the front.
When District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon asked her to explain how Pavlicko was shot in the back of the head, Palya said she couldn’t explain it.
“I did not shoot Barry,” Palya said.
“So when you called 911 and said you accidentally shot him, that’s not the truth?” Vernon asked.
“It’s what I thought at the time,” Palya testified.
Vernon asked her why, in her initial call to 911, and in other statements to police she sounded calm.
“I don’t get excited over things. Very rarely do I get excited,” Palya said. “My medications keep me calm, but I didn’t shoot him in the back of the head.”
Palya told jurors she takes medications for anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.
“They keep me calm, monotone voice, and I don’t get excited over anything,” she testified.
Public Defender Jeffrey Whiteko told jurors that Palya was in a “zombie-type of state” because of the medications she was on.
In his closing, Whiteko indicated that there was no evidence to support that Palya premeditated Pavlicko’s death. In fact, he said, there was evidence to the contrary, noting that he worked midnight shifts and was sleeping while she was awake.
“If you’re going to plan that + why not do it then? He’s sleeping. The gun’s available,” Whiteko said.
“If this is a premeditated plan, then why, after the shooting, call 911 immediately?” he asked. “Why not just say my boyfriend committed suicide?”
Vernon said in her closing that Palya “executed” Pavlicko when she intentionally shot him in the back of the head. She told jurors that premeditation does not have to be a long, planned out plot. It can, Vernon said, be formed in an instant.
“What other intent could Johnna Palya have had when she shot Barry in the back of the head with the gun?” Vernon asked.
The inconsistent statements – to 911, police and in court – are “evidence of a woman who was trying to scheme, even from the time she shot him,” Vernon said.
Jurors will be charged on first- and third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. First-degree murder is a premeditated killing with malice, third-degree murder is a killing with malice and involuntary manslaughter is a reckless killing.
The case is being held before Judge Gerald R. Solomon.