Interpreters key in assault case

Deliberations will continue today in a first-degree assault case in which the victim, suspect and main witness are deaf.

David Bishop, 35, initially was charged with attempted second-degree murder, but Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor ruled Wednesday that Deputy Prosecutor Steve Garvin had not presented enough evidence to show that Bishop intended to kill his friend last August in a Spokane apartment.

The trial posed some logistical hurdles as it required three sign language interpreters – one to translate the testimony, one to translate for Bishop and another to translate for victim Anthony Cassano. At one point during the investigation, a Spokane police officer used a Web site that showed sign language to get a statement from an eyewitness.

“It presented some special challenges,” Detective Brian Hamond said. “But it wasn’t something that was insurmountable.”

According to testimony and court records, Bishop and Cassano were close friends. Bishop brought a friend, Michael Decuir, to Cassano’s apartment at 3724 N. Cook for a small party on the evening of Aug. 5. All three smoked marijuana, and Decuir and Cassano were also drinking beer, according to testimony.

At some point after midnight, Cassano began signing aggressively about one of Bishop’s other friends who was not at the party. Bishop – a homeless felon with a previous conviction for robbery – testified that he told Cassano to stop. Bishop said he got up and took a beer from Cassano’s hand and threw it.

“I backpedaled. I felt like I need to keep an eye” on Cassano, Bishop said through an interpreter. “He came towards me. I pulled something out to defend myself because (Cassano) is a good fighter.”

As Cassano approached, Bishop said he stabbed Cassano in the chest with a small knife he used for whittling. During the ensuing scuffle, Bishop stabbed Cassano 12 times, mostly in the back. Although Cassano lost a lot of blood, the wounds were not life threatening.

Decuir testified that he immediately left after Bishop stabbed Cassano the first time, because he was afraid Bishop might turn on him.

Bishop said the altercation took place near Cassano’s couch, under which he kept a metal pole for self-defense. “I was thinking that I had to protect myself because he could hurt me bad,” Bishop said.

Bishop then used what he called a “kung fu” move to bring Cassano down. He then punched him eight or nine times in an attempt to knock him unconscious, he said.

Garvin asked Bishop why he didn’t just leave the apartment.

“I was trying to keep my eyes on (Cassano) as I tried to get my things. But he came at me so quickly. That’s why I stabbed him,” Bishop said.

His “things” included cigarettes, a bandanna, a small cooler and an American sign-language book with pictures that a former girlfriend had made for him, he said.

Garvin asked: “Wouldn’t it have been worth giving up cigarettes, a cooler, a bandanna and a book to avoid being hurt badly?”

“I needed a smoke,” Bishop responded. “And the pictures were very, very important to me. These were things of value to me.”

In his closing argument, Assistant Public Defender Jeff Compton said his client was simply trying to defend himself from Cassano, whose blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit to drive that night.

“If anyone was belligerent, it was Mr. Cassano,” Compton said. “It’s easy to say you should have done this or you should have done that. But this happened so fast … and Mr. Bishop had to make a choice.”

Garvin agreed, but he argued that Bishop made the wrong choice. “You need look no further than the in-court testimony of Mr. Bishop,” Garvin said. “He convicted himself.”