By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Lisa Weightman told a Westmoreland County judge yesterday that her family is struggling with the 2008 shooting death of 34-year-old Debra Zisek in her Mt. Pleasant Township home.
Zisek was shot three times, twice in the back and once in the head, by her former husband, while their 13-year-old daughter, Caitlin, watched nearby in the family's home on Route 981 in the village of Calumet.
"How could a father do such a hurtful thing to his own child? It disgusts me to think that yours was the last face (Debra) saw," Weightman told Dean Edward Zisek Jr.
Her former brother-in-law pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree murder in the Jan. 11, 2008, shooting of his ex-wife. Westmoreland County Judge John Blahovec sentenced Zisek, 34, to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The life prison term is a mandatory sentence for first-degree murder.
According to court records, the Ziseks were married for about six years and had divorced two years before the shooting. Police were called to the home by a neighbor. Caitlin told investigators that her father had shot her mother.
In court last year, Zisek claimed that he believed his former wife was not really dead. Medical experts have suggested that Zisek suffered from a mental illness.
Earlier this year, Blahovec ordered that Zisek undergo a mental health evaluation to determine whether he was competent to stand trial.
Defense attorney Tim Andrews said yesterday that evaluation determined that Zisek did understand the crimes he was accused of and was able to assist his lawyer at trial.
"It was his desire to enter a plea to spare his daughter the rigors of having to testify," Andrews said.
Weightman, who is now caring for Caitlin, called the crime "unimaginable."
"I will never understand how you can hurt us this bad by taking Debbie away from us," Weightman said.
Rich Cholodofsky can be reached at rcholodofsky@tribweb.com or 724-830-6293.
No comments:
Post a Comment