Boulder – A one-time friend of a man accused of breaking the jaw of a black University of Colorado student near campus said the student fell “like a sack of potatoes” from the violent blow.
“Homeboy didn’t even see the punch coming,” said Gerald Romero.
Romero was testifying at the third day of the trial for Phillip Martinez, a 39-year-old Lafayette man accused of assault and ethnic intimidation in the attack on Andrew Sterling last June.
The assault appalled Boulder residents and CU students and, in part, spurred widespread soul-searching in Boulder on race relations.
Romero, who said he and Martinez were once like brothers, said he has known Martinez since they were teenagers and has never known him to be racist.
He said the incident began after Martinez and a friend, riding in a van along with Romero and two others, made catcalls to a woman walking with Sterling, then yelled a racial epithet at Sterling. The van pulled into a parking lot, where Sterling approached the van, and Martinez jumped out, Romero said.
“To me, he didn’t seem like he was a fighter,” Romero said of Sterling. “He was more curious, I think, to figure out why that happened, kind of like, ‘What’s the problem?”‘
Martinez, Romero said, hit Sterling with a left-handed punch that knocked Sterling to the ground. Sterling got back up, dazed, Romero said, and Martinez hit him again.
Three witnesses said the attacker shouted another racial epithet after knocking Sterling to the ground.
“That’s what you get for being a (racial slur),” two witnesses said the attacker yelled.
Later in the day, a defense witness contradicted some of Romero’s account. Joel Cox, a former CU student, said he thought the attacker got out of the front passenger seat of the van, not through the sliding door, as Romero said. Cox also said he thought the attacker was a larger man with short, possibly blond hair. Martinez is 5 feet 8 inches tall and has dark hair.
Defense attorney Keith Pope noted that Romero said he initially lied to police about what happened and is facing felony charges for walking away from a halfway house. Pope suggested Romero was testifying to curry favor with prosecutors, but prosecutor Amy Okubo said she had not made any promises to Romero.
Both sides also disputed whether the epithet was used as slang or a slur. The jury could begin deliberating this afternoon or Monday.
