Kyle Gress, 23, has pleaded not guilty to felony bias-motivated crime and misdemeanor third-degree assault. The charges stem from a March 10 incident outside the Loose Caboose bar in downtown Sterling in which Gress is accused of making derogatory comments about alleged victim Christopher Steinbar’s homosexuality before punching and kicking him.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Gene Tiell played a taped phone interview between Sterling Police Sgt. Robert Hendrix and Gress, in which Gress admitted to hitting Steinbar once, but he said he did not know Steinbar was gay.
“He didn’t talk like a fag, didn’t act like a fag. I didn’t know he was a fag,” Gress said on the tape.
Steinbar testified he told a woman at the bar he was gay after she started making advances towards him. According to Steinbar, the woman did not seem angry and said she had lots of gay friends.
Steinbar said he went outside to look for his friends when he saw the woman in a group that included Kyle Gress. Gress pointed at him and said “Is this the fag, is this the fag?” and the woman answered “yes.”
