Braddock man convicted of using hammer, gun to kill friend

A Braddock man was convicted Tuesday of killing his lifelong friend with a hammer and a gun in Pittsburgh’s Elliott section last year as the two struggled after bingeing for several days on cocaine and heroin.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Philip Ignelzi found Robert Hunter, 28, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and a firearms offense in thedeath of Mark Lopata, 35.

Lopata was killed in May 2016 at his home in the 700 block of Harker Street.

Judge Ignelzi sentenced Hunter to eight to 16 years in prison followed by four years of probation.

Hunter’s attorney, Steven Valsimidis, said the outcome was a victory because the prosecution was hoping for a first-degree murder conviction, which would have carried an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

“We’re very happy with the results,” Mr. Valsimidis said. He added that he believed Judge Ignelzi — who, he said, did not address the reasoning behind the verdict — might have found Hunter’s argument of self-defense to be flawed or problematic in some capacity, preventing an acquittal.

Mr. Valsimidis said that although Hunter and Lopata were several years apart, they were old friends from the Aliquippa area. Hunter had been living with Lopata for between one and three months before the slaying.

Leading up to the slaying in May 2016, Mr. Valsimidis said, the two spent several days partying with heavy drugs. At some point, he said, “paranoia started to set in.” Hunter testified that Lopata thought someone was trying to get into the house, so he told Lopata to relax, that no one was there, according to Mr. Valsimidis. Lopata pushed him, the attorney said his client testified, “andit just started from there.”

“Robert Hunter testified that following a drug-fueled binge a verbal altercation escalated, and he testified he was attacked by Mark Lopata, and in the course of the argument, Mark Lopata made the comment, ‘I’m gonna get my gun,’ and reached for the gun, and Robert Hunter hit him in the head with a hammer,”Mr. Valsimidis said.

Lopata shrugged off the hammer blow, Hunter told the court. The two wrestled for the gun. Hunter grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed at Lopata, leaving cuts on his head. Eventually Hunter got control of the gun. Hunter said, “Mark, stop,” Mr. Valsimidis said his client told the court. “When Mark charged at him, he fired one single shot.”

A short time after the slaying, Hunter told a North Fayette police detective he knew that he hit Lopata in the head with a hammer during a dispute and then fatally shot Lopata with the victim’s own gun, a police affidavit said.

Police who responded May 27, 2016, to the Harker Street residence after Lopata’s landlady could not get in touch with him found the victim’s severely decomposed body in a second-floor bedroom.