After nearly seven years in custody, Brad Bishop, now 21, awaits a jury’s verdict in his murder trial for killing his step-grandfather Victor Perkins in 2018.
Deliberations start today after closing arguments Monday that maintained starkly different versions of events. Jurors heard from 25 witnesses over the last five days.
The Richmond County District Attorney contends Bishop killed Perkins in a planned effort to rob him, then confessed to the killing.
Bishop’s defense is that he killed due to battered person syndrome, after enduring years of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of Perkins, then called 911 to turn himself in.
Prior to closing arguments, jurors heard from rebuttal witnesses including William Lee Bishop, Bishop’s uncle, who had court-ordered custody of Bishop in 2018 due to the abuse at the time Bishop was returned to Perkins’ home.
Monday, William Bishop denied knowledge of the abuse, calling it discipline, and said he remembered little about conversations he had that were documented by the Department of Family and Children Services.
In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney William Hammond dismissed testimony of several defense witnesses, including Daniel Locklear, a friend of Perkins. Locklear testified last week that that Perkins physically abused Bishop, keeping him injured and in fear. Hammond said Locklear had a “grudge” and planned his testimony accordingly.
Other witnesses included at least three members of law enforcement whom Bishop informed of the abuse but who declined to investigate them, said Jennifer Cross, Bishop’s defense attorney.
“Victor beat and molested him throughout his life,” Cross said. “The police were called… no one saved him.”
Testimony over the days included a neighbor who reported using bolt-cutters to release Bishop from a dog cage Perkins had locked him in. Another neighbor said Perkins threatened to kill her and called her the “n-word” if she tried to help him. A deputy’s body cam revealed Perkins offering to tell a deputy what he’d do to Bishop “if you keep DFCS’ head turned.”
In an earlier incident, a drunk Perkins had crashed a car that rolled over on an 11-year-old Bishop and broke his pelvis. Investigators charged Perkins with DUI but little else came of it, according to testimony.
With battered person syndrome, there is typically a close personal relationship, a pattern of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and a reasonable apprehension of hard, Cross said.
Cross grew very personal in her closing, saying she had grown close to Bishop, who was a five-foot-one eighth grader at the time of the killing.
“I am trying to not be another adult who failed this kid,” she said.
Hammond insisted that despite instances of violence between Perkins and Bishop, Bishop planned the killing.
“You don’t get carte blanche to murder someone just because they treated you bad,” he said.
