Trial begins in fatal Short North beating caught on camera

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The trial of one of two men accused of brutally beating a well-known Short North bartender to death started this week.

Chrystian Foster is charged with the murder of Gregory Coleman Jr. on Sept. 5, 2022, in an assault that was caught on video and quickly went viral.

Foster and Dwayne Cummings , who was convicted of Coleman’s murder in February, are seen repeatedly hitting Coleman while he is already unconscious.

On Wednesday, the defense and prosecution presented their opening statements.

Prosecutor Kevin Bertelsen said the state is arguing Foster’s actions are one of the causes of death.

“What the evidence will show in this case, your honor, beyond a reasonable doubt, is that Mr. Foster is guilty of murder under the state’s two theories of the case. Mr. Foster is guilty of murder in the commission of felonious assault,” Bertelsen said.

He said he believes the judge will also find Foster guilty because he helped Cummings with the act.

Defense attorney Bryan Bowen said he does not dispute that Foster threw punches, but they are arguing causation.

“We believe that once the court reviews the evidence in this case, it will find certainly that there was no intent on the part of Mr. Foster to kill Mr. Coleman, there was no collusion or agreement with the co-defendant, and we believe there was a significant issue of caution in regards to Mr. Foster’s conduct,” Bowen said.

Bertelsen said this all started when Coleman walked up to the now-closed Julep Bar where Foster was working when Coleman started talking to women on the patio. Bertelsen said evidence shows Coleman had been drinking that night.

“Something that Mr. Coleman says sets Mr. Foster off,” Bertelsen said.

He said a verbal argument turned into a physical fight. Foster is seen in several different versions of the video hitting Coleman three times after the initial punch by Cummings already knocked him out.

Bowen said Foster told Coleman to come inside the bar or leave several times before the fight started.

“In the video, you will hear people saying, including Mr. Foster, ‘Just walk away, just walk away.’ That’s not what happened,” Bowen said.

He said in opening statements that Coleman did not listen and continued to hassle Foster and the people on the patio. Bowen said one of those people was Foster’s fiancé.

The prosecution called five witnesses to the stand including one of the Columbus Police officers first on scene. The police officer testified that when he arrived at the scene, no one standing around Coleman would tell them what happened. He said the workers at the bar were unhelpful as well. He said when they got there Coleman was lying in the street unconscious with labored breathing.

The prosecution showed his body camera footage from that night. Coleman’s family immediately got emotional and had to leave the courtroom.

The prosecution also called two police detectives. They spoke about their roles in the investigation. They were involved in getting security video from the julep the next day.

The prosecution also called an eyewitness to the incident. She did not want to be shown on camera. She said she was across the street from the Julep at the time of the incident. She said she saw the end of the fight and described the punch as making a statement. She claims to have heard someone yell during the fight something along the lines of, “This is my city, this is what you get.”

The last witness was a forensic pathologist with the Franklin County Coroner’s office. He went through his findings from his examinations of Coleman’s body in detail. During questioning, he said Foster’s strikes to Coleman’s body did play a role in his death.

The defense will call their witnesses Thursday. This is a bench trial so the judge will be deciding Foster’s fate.

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