By Liz Zemba
Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Dawson man accused of attempting to escape from the Fayette County jail testified he and three inmates had no intention of absconding when they repeatedly pried and pushed at a steel door on their housing unit.
Jesse Fisher, 22, said he and the others were trying to force open the bottom of the door without triggering an alarm so a fifth inmate could pass them a package of tobacco Nov. 30.
“We were trying to get a means to get the bottom of that door open,” Fisher testified on the first day of his trial on charges of attempted escape and conspiracy. “We used the broom handle and the mop handle to try to get the door open enough to get the tobacco in.”
Two other inmates are awaiting trial on the same charges: Thomas Sparks, 25, of Mill Run and Brian Sines, 34, of Smithfield.
A fourth inmate, Erik Sean Spaziani, 19, of Charleroi, pleaded guilty to escape and conspiracy. He is awaiting sentencing.
Uniontown Detective Donald Gmitter testified that Spaziani told him Dec. 2 that the men wanted to open the door so they could enter a stairwell and escape through a window.
When Spaziani testified Tuesday, he backed away from the statement. He testified he recently sent letters to the three inmates in which he claimed he “lied” to Gmitter. “What I wrote in my statement was a lie,” Spaziani testified, reading from one of the letters. “I was tricked into saying it.”
Spaziani testified police promised not to charge him if he implicated the others. Gmitter denied the allegation.
Jurors were shown a video of the alleged attempted escape, which Warden Brian Miller testified took place in the fourth-floor Inmate Worker Unit.
Miller said there are no corrections officers stationed in the dormitory-style unit, which typically houses 24 inmates.
On the nearly 40-minute video, the four inmates are shown at various times using a mop and broom handle to try to pry open the door. One inmate used a table for leverage as he pressed his back against the door.
The trial is to resume Wednesday before Judge Linda Cordaro.