BEAVER, Pa. — One of three people charged in a brutal beating that happened at an Aliquippa VFW appeared in court on Thursday but did not stick around.
Brett Ours walked up to the Beaver County courtroom nearly five months after the alleged crime. He’s charged with attempted homicide because police said he repeatedly beat the victim, Preston Coleman, in the Aliquippa VFW. But Ours wasn’t in that courtroom for very long.
“It is probably very rare, but I believe the rules of evidence apply at a preliminary hearing and I believe judges who take the oath to uphold the laws should follow the rules of evidence and when they are affecting my ability to do my job, which is what my client is entitled to have. I chose not to participate,” said Defense Attorney Lee Rothman.
In fact, Rothman and his client walked out of the hearing after the judge overruled his objection to not play surveillance video of the crime. He said no one had established that a crime had occurred and the witness was only authenticating the video and wasn’t there at the time of the fight.
“They were denying my client the right to cross-examine a relevant witness and allowing a judge to see a video that is a half hour long without first establishing why it was relevant,” Rothman said.
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Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible agrees, this situation is rare as the preliminary hearing did continue on without Ours or his attorney present.
“That’s something I’ve never seen happen. I have only been in this position for 16 months, but even as a defense attorney, I’ve never heard of a defense counsel getting up and leaving in the middle of a hearing,” Bible said.
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While the hearing continued, multiple video angles were played showing the fight. Without audio, it wasn’t clear what was said, but you see Ours punching, kicking and even stomping the victim as he lay on the floor.
Coleman’s family was in tears as the beating lasted more than 30 minutes. Police are using that video to back up the charge of attempted homicide.
“The severity of the beating, objects being used, standing on his throat to attempt to cut off his air passage, then trying to get a knife all those things coupled with the fact the victim was in the hospital for a number of weeks unable to speak, unable to move on the brink of death and if he hadn’t pulled through these would have been homicide charges,” Bible said.
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All charges were held for trial. Ours is back in the Beaver County Jail with a trial date for later this year.
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