AKRON, Ohio — On day two of the high-profile Ethan Liming trial, a Summit County jury heard testimony from teens who were there the night Liming was killed.
Two brothers, DeShawn and Tyler Stafford, are charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of Liming on June 2, 2022.
Liming, who was a rising senior at Firestone High School where he played football and baseball, was out with three friends when the tragedy unfolded.
Prosecutors contend while the brothers didn't knowingly kill Liming, their actions led to his death.
But defense attorneys argue the siblings acted in self defense under Ohio's Stand Your Ground law.
Jurors watched surveillance video from the I Promise School where the deadly fight took place.
The edited videos show a group of people playing on the basketball court as well as Liming's vehicle pulling into the parking lot near the court.
According to police, two of Liming's friends got out of Ethan's car and used an Orbeez toy gun to shoot gel pellets at the basketball players, including DeShawn and Tyler Stafford.
Detective Thomas Aber said a fight started a short time later. According to testimony, Liming was out of his car when the scuffle ensued.
"And then one of the subjects goes behind the car and approaches the driver, which is Ethan, and you can tell there's kind of like a tussle," Aber testified.
Police said as the fight continued, Liming was punched, fell and hit his head on pavement, which caused his death, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner.
Much of the fight is obscured by trees in the video.
Ephrem Stefanko was one of the friends involved in the incident.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennie Shuki asked him about using the gel pellet guns.
"We just walked up to the edge of the fence and we were just like shooting the gel balls through the fence," Stefanko testified.
Stefanko, who is now a 19-year-old college student, said the gel balls went into the court towards people he didn't know.
Stefanko said he and the friends smoked marijuana that night, and prosecutors maintain the teens were using the toy guns to be funny, never intending to hurt anyone.
Stefanko described what he saw moments before Liming was killed.
"It was just like a ball of people and then Ethan gets like knocked out and he's on the ground and then they're like kicking and stomping," he said.
Stefanko testified he and another friend thought Ethan was just knocked out. They tried to get him inside his car, but were unable to do so.
Stefanko ran home with his face bloodied and told his parents what happened.
"He started unloading everything that had just happened. His face was bloody. He was in a panic, in a frenzy," said his dad Aaron Stefanko, who also testified on Monday.
During the cross-examination of Ephrem Stefanko, DeShawn Stafford's attorney, Jon Sinn, picked up one of the toy guns so the jury could hear the rapid-fire sound it makes.
Defense attorneys are expected to argue that the brothers thought they were under attack from real guns.
Donovan Jones, the Staffords' cousin, was previously convicted of two misdemeanor counts of assault in connection with the incident.
The Summit County Medical Examiner is expected to testify when the trial resumes on Tuesday.
