Jury hears testimony in trio’s fight trial

Men accused of attacking two people outside bar

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury is being asked to evaluate aggravated assault and related charges that Altoona police filed against three men accused of beating up two people in a parking lot outside a bar on June 4, 2022.

A joint trial for Jeremy J. Fornbacher, 30, Brandon J. Smida, 22, and Hunter John Learn, 20, started Tuesday in Blair County Court and could wrap up today or Friday.

The trio is accused of attacking a man and a woman in a parking lot near the Black and Gold Tavern, 2927 Sixth Ave., as the man and woman were preparing to get in their vehicle.

Wednesday's witnesses included Brian Wike, a bouncer at the bar who said he saw a portion of the early morning fight, when the male victim was on the ground. The defendants, Wike said, were punching and kicking the man.

"That wasn't a normal bar fight. That was a stomping," Wike testified.

After the defendants fled in a vehicle, Wike transported the male victim to UPMC Altoona for treatment. The female victim, who he said was covered with blood and had been struck in the face, was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Altoona police Detective Jon Burns told the jury that he collected surveillance video from a nearby building as part of an investigation to identify the defendants and their roles in the fight. The surveillance video, in grayscale, showed no facial details of those involved in the fight, but it presented shadow figures in action.

Bartender Breeanna Kos testified that she was familiar with those involved in the fight because they had been in the bar. She pointed to the figures in the surveillance video and identified Fornbacher, Learn and Smida.

Kos testified that as a bartender, she has seen plenty of fights, but never one like this.

"But you didn't see this fight," defense attorney Robert Donaldson told Kos when he questioned her on Fornbacher's behalf. "You just saw the video."

Kos acknowledged that as she left the bar, she saw the lights of responding police vehicles and learned that a man and woman were beaten up.

Defense attorney Russ Montgomery relied on a portion of the video showing that his client appears to swing and miss at the male victim. Then it's the male victim, Montgomery said, who puts Smida in a bearhug before they fall to the ground.

Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi, when cross-examining Burns on Learn's behalf, pointed out that based on the video, no one had to pull Learn off the male victim. Burns said that was correct, but added that it was Learn who turned and struck the male victim.

Assistant District Attorney Salua Kamerow and Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays also offered the testimony of the victims, both now 49 years old, who said they went to the bar after attending Altoona Area High School's graduation.

The female victim admitted that inside the bar, she was socializing with other patrons and that she touched Smida's hair "to see if it was real," and recalled that he pulled away.

Outside the bar, she said an angry Smida and others approached her and the male victim as they were near their parked vehicle.

"Then I was on the ground ... being punched on the right side of my face," she said.

The woman said her nose was broken in the incident and she still has problems breathing.

The male victim said his nose was broken and he continues to get headaches.

Prosecutors are asking the jury to return guilty verdicts on felony counts of aggravated assault/attempt to cause serious bodily injury, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and disorderly conduct.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.