He beat, left her on road; 6 vehicles then hit her

Did the boyfriend murder his girlfriend?

A video in the murder case against Antoine P. Phillips shows him beating his girlfriend and leaving her body laying on Westerville Road in Blendon Township, and at least six vehicles running her over, killing her.

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Meyer argued Tuesday in county Common Pleas Court that Phillips caused 35-year-old Jamie Fulton’s death on May 18, 2021. Phillips is charged with murder, kidnapping and domestic violence.

A jury will decide this week whether Phillips, 34, murdered Fulton, his offand-on girlfriend of about two years.

Phillips’ attorney, Jason Inman, said during opening arguments Tuesday that the jury may not like what Phillips did morally, but he was not there when Fulton died.

“When you look at the law, he is not the cause, proximate or otherwise, of why Jamie Fulton is deceased today,” Inman said.

Meyer said the security video — which is black and white and from a distance — shows Phillips striking Fulton multiple times and dragging Fulton into the road.

Inman acknowledged that it is Phillips in the video, but said the video shows Fulton ran into the road during their argument before Phillips struck her. Inman also said Phillips leaves and is not seen on the video for about 45 seconds before the first car hits Fulton.

Meyer said the couple had tried to catch a bus but didn’t make it before the buses stopped running and an argument broke out.

Inman said the couple was arguing over a backpack containing items belonging to each of them. Inman said Tuesday that during the course of the trial, there will be an explanation for

why Phillips left Fulton there in the roadway.

Blendon Township police were originally dispatched to Westerville Road, just north of Morse Road, a little before midnight on May 18, 2021 after receiving a report that a man was chasing a woman.

The woman who first called 911 testified in court Tuesday that she saw a man chasing a woman in the middle of Westerville Road.

As responding law enforcement officers were approaching the scene that night, dispatchers radioed the officers about a report of a body in the roadway in the 4300 block of Westerville Road.

Blendon Township police and Franklin County Sheriff ’s deputies responded to the scene, where they found a woman’s body in the roadway around the corner from Phillip’s listed address on Bennington Avenue. Medics pronounced her dead at the scene just after midnight on May 19, 2021.

Another woman testified Tuesday that her husband was driving on Westerville Road and she was in the back seat with their 6-month-old when they hit something, which they later found out was Fulton. She said it was very dark and there were not many streetlights in the area. They pulled into a gas station parking lot, she said, and saw blood on their car, so they called 911. jlaird@dispatch.com @Lairdwrites