Arson, assault trial begins

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Christopher Egbert
(right) speaking to his attorney in Judge Kelsey’s courtroom. (Photo: J.D.
Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

A jury heard opening statements and testimony Tuesday in the arson and assault trial of an area man.
Christopher Egbert, 34, Kansas, appeared in the courtroom of Wood County Judge Reeve Kelsey.
Egbert was indicted last spring on one count of aggravated arson, one count of arson, two counts of
felonious assault, and possessing a weapon under disability, all stemming from a series of alleged
incidents occurring March 26, 2013.
Prosecuting Attorney Gwen Howe-Gebers said during her opening statement Tuesday that Egbert and his wife,
Tiffeny Egbert, went to Snuffy’s Reloaded Bar and Grill in rural Bradner, located on U.S. 6,
where they drank and played pool. While there, she said, Egbert yelled at his wife, and the pair
subsequently left the bar.
Once outside, Egbert allegedly pushed and shoved her, beating her head multiple times against a truck in
the business’s parking lot, then struck and choked her.
When two men nearby came to intervene, Ebgert reportedly bit one of them, identified as Gary Tyson.
Later, Egbert returned without his wife to their residence on U.S. 23.
"He was so angry, he’s going to go home and prove a point," said Howe-Gebers. She said Egbert
set fire to their home and pole barn, and then took one of their vehicles to a property the pair owned
on Greensburg Pike. Howe-Gebers said he took the vehicle in an effort to make it look as though he had
been kidnapped, according to one account.
Howe-Gebers said that Egbert, in attempting to put a cinder block on the gas pedal of the vehicle to make
it seem as though another person were driving it, "was struck and hit by his own truck in his
attempt."
The weapons charge stems from Egbert allegedly having a handgun in his possession, which he was not
permitted to do, due to a burglary case in Seneca County.
Defense attorney Merle Dech Jr. said in his statement that the broad strokes of the incident – the fight
and the fact that there was a fire at the property – were not in dispute, but that the extent of the
injuries caused in the fight did not rise to the level of "serious physical harm" required by
statute for a charge of felonious assault, and that "what’s in dispute is who set the fire. Who set
the fire to the pole barn?"
Among the witnesses called by the prosecution on Tuesday were Tiffeny Egbert; Amber James, bartender at
Snuffy’s that night; and Jody Long, one of the men who attempted to stop the altercation between Egbert
and his wife.
Long termed the bite sustained by the other man as the "worst bite I’ve ever seen, even with a dog
or an animal."

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