'I told them to leave, the cops were coming'

Christen Frampton tearfully recounts the final moments before Bang N Jane drummer Jim Unfonak fell to the ground and the efforts she made in vain to get him out of Gary's Sports Bar safely. (Rochester Voice photos)

DOVER - Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, began as a day of celebration for Christen Frampton. She and her husband, Mike Frampton of popular band Bang N Jane, were celebrating his birthday with his longtime bandmate and best friend, drummer Jim Unfonak; and his longtime girlfriend, Kelsey Mountain.

But just hours after they arrived together at Gary's Sports Bar to finish the night with cocktails and dancing, Unfonak, 44, was lying motionless on the bar's frozen parking lot with a cracked skull, the result of a punch to the chin from the man now standing trial for manslaughter in his death.

Thursday was the sixth day of the Eric Langlais manslaughter trial being held at Strafford County District Court and featured several witnesses, including Christen Frampton, Gary's head bartender that night, a musician from the band playing that night at Gary's and a part-time waitress who was there with friends on her day off.

Gary's bartender in charge Stephanie Gurski testifies under cross-examination by defense attorney Joseph Welsh on Thursday in Strafford County Superior Court during the Eric Langlais manslaughter trial.

Christen Frampton, who'd left the bar for a short period of time during the night, said that by 1:15 a.m. when she returned - and a full half hour after last call - "there were a bunch of people" still in the parking lot.

When she walked into the bar, she learned that Unfonak had been assaulted by Forrest "Smoky" Rollins, and that he and Langlais as well as Mandy Patch and her sister, Laurie Henner, had all been tossed out of the bar and told to leave the premises.

According to testimony from several earlier witnesses, at least one of the sisters and Langlais had a short time earlier come to the locked glass entrance door to Gary's and yelled they "wanted a piece of Jimmy" apparently for his making insulting remarks to the girls earlier in the night.

Hoping to defuse the situation, Christen Frampton said she went outside and told those assembled, including Langlais and the two sisters they had to go.

"I told them to leave, the cops were coming," she testified on Thursday.

Defendant Eric Langlais looks on during testimony at his manslaughter trial on Thursday. It's not clear whether Langlais will testify in his own defense or not.

At that point she said Patch grabbed her by the throat and said, "Mind your own f---ing business," Christen Frampton said under questioning from Assistant County Attorney Tim Sullivan. "She was wound up and Laurie (Henner) was egging her on."

She then tearfully recounted how Unfonak was soon after led out of the bar by bouncer Terry Cooper and friend Al Leeman and how the defendant came around the back of the car and punched Unfonak once, a punch from which he would never get up.

During a brief cross-examination, defense attorney Richard Samdperil showed Christen Frampton a video of Unfonak raising his hands as he stands briefly at the rear passenger door of the car waiting to take him home and raises his hands up in the air just prior to being assaulted by Langlais.

"You see him raising his hands at the door, did he say anything?" he asked.

"No, I didn't hear anything," Christen Frampton replied.

Earlier in the day, the bartender in charge that night, Stephanie Gurski, said she called police twice: once around 1:30 a.m. at the normal dispatch number (because it wasn't an emergency) and once immediately after she was told Unfonak fell to the ground when she called 911.

Also on the stand briefly was Ronald Robinson, a guitar player who saw some of the altercation from the corner of the building where he was loading band equipment into a truck and heard the crack of Unfonak's skull hitting the frozen pavement.

"It was an audible cracking sound, it made me nauseous," he testified.

A part-time waitress also testified Unfonak was "nervous, antsy and tapping his feet" in the minutes before he left the bar to get in the car waiting to take him home.

The trial continues today and isn't expected to get to closing arguments till Tuesday or later.

Henner and Patch have already served short jail terms after pleading guilty to riot charges. Patch also pleaded guilty to simple assault in connection with her altercation with Christen Frampton, while Rollins paid a $1,240 fine for taking Unfonak to the floor inside the bar earlier in the night.

If Langlais, 42, is found guilty of manslaughter, he could be sentenced up to 30 years in prison.