Fostoria murder trial begins

A trial started Tuesday morning for a man charged with murder after a stabbing in Fostoria last year. Cristian M. Brown, 18, was indicted by a Seneca County grand jury on a charge of murder, a special felony, after D'Andre L. Gehring, 18, of Fostoria, was found bleeding in the parking lot of Fostoria Townhouses, 1202 Beier Drive, Jan. 25, 2017. Four men and 10 women were selected as jurors and alternates for the trial in Seneca County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Shuff's courtroom. According to a Fostoria Police Department release, officers had been sent to the scene following a report of a fight with a person who had been stabbed. Gehring was transported by Fostoria Fire Division and died at ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital. Arlando C. Crowe Jr., 19, of Fostoria, also was charged in connection to the stabbing. He pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing justice, a third-degree felony, and Shuff sentenced him to 30 months in prison. In his opening statement Tuesday, Seneca County Prosecutor Derek DeVine said it always is sad when a young person dies. "It's even sadder when the young person dies as a result of violence," he said. DeVine said the evidence would show Brown was part of a group of young men who wanted to get some marijuana, and Gehring was going to sell the drug. The meeting did not go well, and there was an argument, he said. Eventually, there was a fist fight between Brown and Gehring. Evidence is going to show Brown was winning the fight and Gehring was getting thrown down and beaten, DeVine told the jury. "At that point, the defendant grabs a butcher knife and jams it into the neck of D'Andre Gehring," he said. "D'Andre Gehring is still moving about and quickly loses a lot of blood, collapses and eventually dies at the Fostoria Community Hospital." In his opening statement, Adam Stone, Brown's attorney, said Crowe brought the knife, and when it was sent for DNA analysis, DNA of Crowe — and only Crowe — was on the handle. Brown's DNA is not on the knife, Stone said. Officer Cory Brian of Fostoria Police Department testified about seeing a large amount of blood around a man on the ground and applying pressure to a wound on the side of the man's neck. "The sidewalk was covered in blood," he said. Gabriel Dixon testified about driving Gehring, a close friend, to the townhouses for the drug transaction. They left after stopping at the townhouses, but later returned. Dixon said he saw Brown with a broad-blade kitchen knife and said Brown stabbed Gehring in the neck. He said he was thinking about trying to get Gehring to the hospital. "(I) tried to get him in the car," he said. The trial resumes in Shuff's courtroom this morning.