LISBON — The victim in a July 7, 2022 knife attack identified defendant Joseph Boyer as her attacker during testimony Monday afternoon, saying “he had a knife in his hand and started attacking my neck.”

The jury trial for Boyer, 52, whose last known address was Ogden Street, East Liverpool, began Monday morning in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court before Judge Scott Washam, with jury selection, then opening statements and testimony from three witnesses, including the victim, whose name isn’t being used since the charges include fourth-degree felony domestic violence, along with felonious assault, a second-degree felony.

The woman, who traveled all the way from Texas to testify, was answering questions from Columbiana County Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones about what happened at her Ogden Street, East Liverpool home. She described how Boyer pulled her hair when she was sleeping on the living room couch and was yelling at her and then he grabbed a knife from the butcher block in the kitchen. He cut her neck and then she got cut on her wrist attempting to block his attack.

While he was cutting her, the woman said she told him he didn’t have to do this and he said he did.

“He said he had to do it and that he was going to kill me,” she said.

The other two witnesses, East Liverpool Police Patrolman Jay Lane and the victim’s friend, Edward Gregory, both said that she identified Boyer as the person who cut her neck, no one else.

Lane responded to East Liverpool City Hospital for a report of a female with stab wounds shortly after his shift began at 7:30 a.m. that day and recognized the victim, who was there with Gregory. She had three large open wounds in the middle of her neck down to her collar bone area and her wrist was wrapped where she had also been cut.

Lane said she was conscious, coherent and able to answer questions. He said “she advised that Joseph Boyer did it.”

Gregory, who first met the victim three years ago, testified under questioning by county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone that he received a call from her early the morning of July 7, 2022 asking him to pick her up, saying she was worried that something was going to happen to her. She said Boyer was at her house. At some point in the 30 minutes it took for him to arrive, she called him again to see where he was.

When he arrived, she was walking down the driveway and her blouse was all bloody and she was cut on her neck. She wanted to just go to his place to get cleaned up, but he said he insisted on taking her to the hospital, noting the gaping wounds.

He said Boyer was walking down the drive behind her and was very aggressive, pounding on his driver side door and window.

“Then he said he was going to kill me too,” Gregory said.

He said the victim was very coherent and was lifeflighted to St. Elizabeth Hospital Mercy Health in Youngstown. He went there and he said he also drove her to the police station after she was released the next day to give her statement and he gave one, too.

During cross-examination by Boyer’s court-appointed defense attorney T. Robert Bricker, Gregory admitted he and the victim had a little bit of a relationship, but it was his understanding that she and Boyer were already separated and he was restricted from seeing her due to a no contact order. After the attack, she stayed with Gregory for a couple weeks.

Bricker questioned Gregory about him telling police that Boyer threatened to beat him, but then testifying he said he was going to kill him. Gregory told him that Boyer said “you’re dead, too.”

He asked whether he was fond of the victim and he said he was, but said “I’m just here to tell what happened.” Bricker then asked if his testimony was influenced by his feelings for the victim. Gregory said no, again saying “I’m just here to tell what I saw.”

In talking about taking her to the hospital, Gregory said to Bricker, “If you saw her, you’d be taking her to the hospital, too, if you had any common sense.”

During her testimony, the victim advised she received calls and letters from the defendant after the attack. When asked what he did not want her to do, she answered “be here.”

When asked if she attacked Boyer or if she used a knife against him, she answered no.

When Bricker questioned her, she admitted she was still intoxicated from the night before, but that she wasn’t to the point that she couldn’t function. She said when Boyer drank, he would get wobbly and Bricker questioned if he was so intoxicated, how was he able to do all this if he was so drunk?

“He was sober enough that he knew what he was doing,” she said.

Lane also testified about what happened when police went to the Ogden Street address, where the victim asked them to check on her roommate, who was still there with Boyer. Blood was found on the door and at one point, Boyer started climbing out a window and then crawled back inside. Police had told him to come out and eventually entered, finding a pool of blood near the couch and two knifes with blood on them, including a 9-inch knife with a serrated blade and a 12-inch knife. He said Boyer had blood on his clothing, which was collected, and blood on his hands. He said he had no defensive wounds. When asked if Boyer denied causing the victim’s injuries, he said no.

Lane knew there was a no contact order, prohibiting Boyer from having any contact with the victim due to a domestic violence conviction the month before, in June 2022.

Several photographs of the victim’s injuries, the blood on the door and photos of the defendant and his clothing were entered into evidence and shown to the jury. Defense counsel showed photos of Boyer showing what looked like a cut to his forehead and questioned Lane about that, but Lane said he couldn’t tell if it was dried blood or a cut. At the time, he asked Boyer if he was okay and if he needed medical attention. He said Boyer said no, that he didn’t need medical attention.

During opening statements, both Jones and Bricker spoke briefly to the 11 men and one woman jury with two female alternates, with Jones explaining what the evidence would show, including a statement by Boyer that said “my girlfriend cheated on me, so I cut her throat.” He wasn’t supposed to be there due to the recent domestic violence conviction which involved the same victim.

Bricker described his client as a middle class guy who was previously married for 24 years and had kids. He met the victim in 2018 and they lived together and had a relationship that went downhill. He said Boyer was going to testify and be truthful and honest and that they would hear his version of events.

“Listen to the evidence with an open mind,” Bricker said.

The trial is set to begin again at 8:30 a.m. today.

Boyer previously entered a guilty plea to the charges in January 2023, but then a month later filed a motion to withdraw plea, which was denied, then he was sentenced to prison. The appellate court ruled that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the guilty plea to be withdrawn. An attempted murder charge that was part of the original indictment had already been dismissed by the state over legal issues.

He has remained in jail since the day of the incident, under a $100,000 cash or surety bond.

mgreier@mojonews.com