Nearly seven years since he was charged at age 15 for killing his step-grandfather, Brad Bishop faces a jury this week.
Bishop, now 21, is charged with malice murder for allegedly shooting Victor Perkins, 61, in the head with a shotgun Aug. 18, 2018, in their home on McNutt Road.
Bishop, who was a five-foot-one eighth grader at the time, has remained in custody since the incident. He spent the first two years at the Regional Youth Detention Center.
Prosecutors played an alleged confession to jurors Wednesday in which Bishop tells an investigator he shot Perkins.
“Stress over the years, I guess,” answered Bishop, as to why he shot Perkins.
Asked if Perkins had hit him, Bishop said many times. He’d even called law enforcement, but they “took my Paw’s side,” Bishop said on the video.
Bishop’s lawyer, Jennifer Cross, is raising the defense that Bishop was a battered child who lashed out after many years of abuse.
Bishop appeared in court Wednesday wearing a suit and close-cropped hair. He had no family members there to support him.
Cross peppered the investigator with questions Wednesday about why authorities hadn’t looked at abuse allegations, including in records from the Department of Family and Children Services.
In a 2023 action, Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone allowed Cross to bring social worker Dawn Jett to testify about battered person syndrome and whether it led Bishop to kill.
Stone recently ruled against Cross’ motion to dismiss the charges based on the length of time that has passed.
COVID-19 and subsequent court closures and a backlog “played into” the delay, as did the change in Bishop’s public defender over the years., the judge wrote. With each change of counsel, the defendant’s defense strategy changed.
Further delaying the case were the state’s requests for continuances and appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court of an earlier ruling.
The jury heard opening statements in the case Tuesday. A second day of defense witnesses continues today.
