LISBON — A jury trial began in Common Pleas Court Monday for a 24-year-old East Liverpool man accused of cutting his girlfriend with a steak knife on March 10, 2018.

Keith G. Dishler is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and resisting arrest in the case heard before Judge Scott Washam.

A former East Liverpool dispatcher, Gregg Griffith, and two East Liverpool patrolmen, Detective Kelsey Hedrick and officer Steve Adkins, all testified Monday during the case presented by Assistant County Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones. All three men told the jury about their part of the situation, when they were called to Belmar Avenue where a panicked Diane Nelson had called for help.

First Nelson called 911 and in a panic reported her son, Dishler, was beating his girlfriend in the house and her adult daughter was also in the house. The second call she was equally as frantic and mentioned he had a knife too.

The two officers who testified, Hedrick and Adkins, both were coming from the East End of town, which both described as the other side of town from Belmar Avenue. When Hedrick arrived first, Nelson reportedly flashed her lights to let him know she was sitting in her vehicle and then told him which house it was, giving him permission to go inside.

First Hedrick, followed by Captain Thomas Clark, and Adkins arrived and began to check the house. Hedrick said he could hear chatter when he got near the stairs going to the upstairs bedrooms and he called out, “Police!” and ordered anyone inside to come out with their hands up. That is when a man’s voice responded from upstairs.

“No go away.”

The three officers followed each other up the stairs. Hedrick said he was in the lead and could hear chatter. He entered the room to the left of the stairs and found Dishler sitting on the bed, holding his girlfriend Courtney Boso by the hair with her face down on his lap. Hedrick said Dishler’s other hand was near Boso’s throat or head, but partially hidden by her hair and possibly a blanket near them.

Both Hedrick and Adkins testified Boso appeared to be bleeding and they did not see the knife at that point.

When Dishler did not comply with orders to show his hands, Hedrick said he charged toward his arm they believed may have had the knife and pushed Boso away with the other hand. Clark reportedly helped Hedrick as they attempted to get Dishler into custody, while Adkins pulled Boso away to safety.

Adkins said he spotted the knife on the bed between Hedrick’s legs as he was trying to get Dishler to roll over and be placed in handcuffs, and warned the other officers.

After Dishler was in custody, Nelson and the sister entered the room and Nelson and Dishler began to argue. Hedrick said he took Dishler from the house and to the police station.

During testimony jurors saw the knife, which had been analyzed by BCI and found to have blood of both a man and a woman on it in three places. Jurors also saw photos of injuries to Boso — a cut on her right hand, a cut with a band-aid on it on her left, and swelling around her eye and nose. There appeared to be dried blood on her hands, the sheets, Dishler’s chest and clothes, a Nike box on the floor, a door and paper towels on the dresser.

Defense attorney James Lanzo questioned Adkins about the band-aid on Boso’s hand and the bloody paper towels on the dresser, wondering aloud if that did not show she had been given medical aid at some point before police arrived. Additionally, he asked the police if they heard Boso scream for help or any arguing upstairs. Both officers testified they heard only quiet talking and when they came into the room Dishler did not make any noise. Hedrick described his face as expressionless and he could barely see Boso’s eyes under her hair.

Other parts of the story questioned by Lanzo included if Boso’s hair was pulled out when police scooped her away to safety and whether Dishler could have complied with their attempts to roll over to be handcuffed when two of the police officers were on top of him

During opening statements, Lanzo had painted a very different scenario for what he believed police saw when they entered the house. He said there had been drinking and a loud argument earlier including Nelson. Then at some point Dishler said he was going to kill himself and Boso cut her hand trying to grab the knife off him. Additionally, Lanzo also claimed Dishler did not comply because he was asleep when police entered the home.

Dishler also faces a related charge of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case pending for his alleged actions in December of 2018, but the additional charge has not been mentioned in front of the jury after Lanzo filed a motion to sever the charges and have them heard separately. Court documents do not state who Dishler is accused of intimidating.

djohnson@mojonews.com