Murderer eligible for parole in April
One of three Mt. Lebanon men serving a life sentence for kidnapping and murder will be eligible for parole in April under a plea deal a judge approved Thursday.
Jared Lischner, 30, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years for the 2002 killing of Andrew Jones, 19, of the West End.
The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office offered the plea deal to avoid a new trial that Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning granted Lischner.
"Our office determined that allowing the defendant to plead guilty to third-degree murder was the best way to bring the matter to a resolution for all the parties involved, especially the family of the victim," said Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
Prosecutors said Lischner and co-defendants Craig Elias, 31, and Jared Henkel, 30, accused Jones of stealing a safe containing drugs and $5,000 from a Mt. Washington house and kidnapped him in March 2002.
Divers found Jones' body at the bottom of the Ohio River a month later, with his hands bound by duct tape and a 50-pound barbell chained to his thighs.
A jury in 2003 convicted Lischner and Henkel of second-degree murder and Elias of first-degree murder. By law, the mandatory penalty for first- and second-degree murder is life in prison without parole.
Manning denied new trials for the other men. He added 10 years of probation to Lischner's prison sentence.
It's likely that Lischner will spend a few more years in prison, said his attorney, Tom Farrell.
"My client left the house and went home. He was under the impression Jones was going to be released," Farrell said. "He wasn't there."
Jones' mother attended the hearing but declined to comment.
Manning wrote that Lischner's attorney at trial, Patrick Thomassey, incorrectly advised him that if he testified, unrelated drug convictions would be admissible. Thomassey hugged Lischner when he entered the courtroom yesterday.
"This was absolutely the right thing to do," Thomassey said. "Ten years ago, I tried to get a plea offer. They wouldn't go for it."
