Mar 6, 2019 2 min read

Following a three-day trial, a Uniontown man was found not guilty of criminal homicide and related charges in the shooting death of a man outside of a Uniontown bar in 2017.

A Fayette County jury took less than an hour to acquit Nathan Yasek, 36, formerly of Eighty Four, in the Nov. 24, 2017, shooting death of Timothy C. Durst, 54. Yasek shot Durst in the parking lot of Rizz’s bar, and told jurors he was defending himself after Durst pushed and punched him.

During Yasek’s testimony on Tuesday, he said he shot Durst as Durst continued to try and attack him.

Durst was shot twice-once in the torso and once in the back of his shoulder-and died from his injuries later that night.

Yasek’s attorney, Jack Connor, argued that his client’s actions were in self-defense.

“The commonwealth has to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt,” Connor told jurors in closing remarks Wednesday.

An aspect of self-defense was that someone doesn’t have the time to determine or evaluate the degree of danger or have time to judge how much force is needed to take themselves out of harm’s way.

“We’re talking about a split-second of time,” Connor said. He reminded jurors of Yasek’s testimony, arguing the attack was sudden and unprovoked and the video evidence from the nearby bank security cameras showed the incident lasting seconds. “Put yourself in his mind and what you would do under those circumstances? It’s a crazy world and this is an example of what can happen in it.”

Assistant District Attorney Sean Lementowski argued that Yasek intentionally shot and killed Durst, who was unarmed and smaller than Yasek, instead of fighting him off or yelling for help.

“We can’t adopt the mentality if you’re punched, you can shoot someone,” Lementowski told jurors, adding that no other weapons were found at the scene. “The defendant brought a gun to a fist fight.”