Jurors in the Route 61 road rage trial are expected to get the case from Schuylkill County President Judge Jacqueline Russell on Wednesday.
Eric Kohl, 30, of Orwigsburg, is facing a charge of attempted homicide along with charges of attempted aggravated assault, and simple assault. He’s accused of firing a gun at another motorist, Blake Kurten, during a confrontation the two had on the highway in November 2024.
Kohl says he was acting in self-defense and fired his gun in Kurten’s direction because he was unsure if he had a weapon on him.
The two men had been involved in a rolling road rage incident from about Route 61’s intersection with Route 895 to its intersection with Municipal Rd. near Deer Lake.
At that intersection, both men got out of their pickup trucks. Kurten says he advanced to the front of his vehicle, reaching the front headlights on the driver’s side when Kohl fired his weapon several times, missing him but striking his vehicle and rendering it inoperable.
Commonwealth v. Kohl: Day 1 Testimony
On Tuesday, during the opening day of the trial held in Courtroom 1 at Schuylkill County Courthouse – the trial was moved there at the last minute – both Kurten and Kohl took the stand to tell jurors their side of what happened that night in November 2024.
And the opposing attorneys for each side spent a majority of the day attempting to discredit what the other was saying. The testimony delivered on Tuesday was compared with what each had previously said in the past.
Defense attorney Douglas Taglieri critiqued what Kurten said on Tuesday versus what he told police initially and what he testified to during a preliminary hearing in District Court back in February.
Likewise, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Stine spent part of his day trying to punch holes in Kohl’s testimony on Tuesday, saying it didn’t align with what he told State Police when he was questioned on the night of the incident.
Both sides also questioned why several key statements on Tuesday were omitted from those initial answers.
The Water Bottle
For instance, Taglieri pointed out that while Kurten admitted to throwing a water bottle at the back of Kohl’s truck while the two were going back-and-forth as they drove on Route 61, that didn’t come out during the initial phases of the case.
It was that water bottle “thud” that Kohl said prompted him to get out of his vehicle in the first place. He told jurors that he believed Kurten’s vehicle had struck his and he got out at the Municipal Rd. intersection to see if his truck had sustained any damage.
He said when he got out, Kurten was yelling at him from his vehicle, instigating a fight, and he responded by saying “Really?” and that he’d just hit his truck.
Kohl said that’s when Kurten drove at him aggressively and rode one tire up onto the median separating the north- and south-bound sides of Route 61. Kurten then got out of his vehicle and came around to the front, Kohl said.
At that point, Kohl told jurors he couldn’t see Kurten’s hands and didn’t know if he had a weapon. He repeatedly described Kurten as moving “with purpose” toward him. At one point, he said Kurten ran to the front of his vehicle and that’s when he drew his gun from his waistband and fired quickly.
“I was in fear for my life. He was very angry. He was very aggressive. I just wanted to go home,” he said, noting that he was on his way home from work that night. “My only option to me at the time was a firearm I carry with me every day.”
However, Stine countered Kohl’s claim that Kurten ran to the front of his truck during that confrontation. Stine even called a rebuttal witness, Pennsylvania State Trooper Justin Bedford, to replay video from Kohl’s interview on the night of the incident.
In that interview, Kohl said Kurten walked to the front of his truck after he exited the driver’s side.
Stine also called into question Kohl’s claim that Kurten drove aggressively at him on the highway. He said that Kohl never mentioned that fact to police during his interview with them.
Kohl said that was left out because he was “still trying to process it” at that time.
“It all happened so fast.”
Earlier in the day, Kurten testified as to what he says happened that night on Route 61.
He told jurors that he was headed northbound after leaving Walmart in Tilden Township, where he’d done some grocery shopping. He, driving in the left lane of the highway, said Kohl passed him on the right.
Kurten denied swerving at Kohl’s vehicle with his, something Kohl said forced him onto the shoulder, over the rumble strips. He did say that when Kohl passed him and then drove in front of him and gave him a brake check, he did flash his high-beam “ditch lights” toward Kohl’s truck.
Eventually, when the two reached the intersection with Municipal Rd., Kurten denied ever driving his vehicle at Kohl and also denied attempting to lure him into a fight. He said he drove onto the median in an attempt to get away from the scene.
When he ultimately got out of his vehicle and moved toward the front headlights, Kurten said, “I didn’t say a word to him. I thought it was going to be argument. It was never a verbal argument. I wanted to know what the issue was, why he brake-checked me … why he did what he did. I was trying to get away until he yelled at me.”
It was at that point, Kurten said he didn’t see Kohl’s gun.
“I just started hearing popping noises,” Kurten testified, adding that he saw muzzle flashes. “It all happened so fast, less than 10 seconds.”
Kurten said when heard the popping and saw the muzzle flashes, he dove behind his vehicle. Moments later, he said he heard tires squealing and Kohl speeding away from the scene.
He said in that moment he was “very scared” and was shaking and “kind of almost frozen.”
Kurten said he did get back into his truck to drive it off the road but it went into “limp mode” and only inched off the road very slowly.
With regard to the water bottle, which Kurten did admit to throwing on Tuesday, Taglieri wondered why that fact was left out of previous court appearances and during his interview with State Police.
“You were not completely forthcoming with State Police,” he said.
Kurten responded, “I had just been shot at.” He also said the issue with the water bottle never came up during his testimony at the preliminary hearing.
As for Kurten’s testimony that when he got out of his vehicle, he didn’t have words with Kohl, a prosecution eyewitness who was in traffic behind the two trucks, testified that he did see both men yelling at each other.
However, that witness also said he didn’t see Kurten advance toward Kohl when he got out of his vehicle, which Kohl said he did.
Intent to Kill?
Kohl testified Tuesday that he believed he was justified in his use of a gun at the scene of the incident. However, he said he had no intention of killing or causing Kurten to suffer any harm when he fired in his direction.
“I wanted him to stop trying to attack me and leave me alone,” Kohl said.
Stine wondered why Kohl didn’t fire a warning shot in the air or at least warn Kurten that he had a gun. He also questioned Kohl as to why he fled the scene and that, if he truly wasn’t intent on killing Kurten, why didn’t contact authorities after he left the scene.
Kohl said he drove home, put his gun in a safe as he always does, and prepared to walk his dog.
“You could have called for help,” Stine said.
Kohl once again answered, “I was still trying to process everything that had just happened.”
And as to why Kohl never previously told police that he feared for his life during the incident – thus justifying his use of a gun in that situation – he said he was never asked that question specifically.
Closing Arguments Wednesday
Both sides rested their case and called all witnesses they had on Tuesday. Only Kohl took the stand in his own defense.
On Wednesday morning, Stine and Taglieri will make their final pitches. Once they’re concluded and Russell gives her charging orders to the jury, they will begin deliberations.
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