Murder or self-defense? A jury will now decide, as Caleb Cegers goes on trial in 2023 downtown Bend shooting
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A prosecutor and defense attorney painted sharply differing views Wednesday of the events that led a 20-year-old Bend man to fatally shoot a 33-year-old Redmond man after a 2023 altercation in a downtown Bend bar.
Both sides provided jurors with their first look at security and cellphone videos during opening statements Wednesday in the murder trial of Caleb Cegers, now 22, accused of the August 10, 2023 killing of Taylor Shane Wyss on the sidewalk outside Duda’s Billiards.
Prosecutors said the testimony and evidence will prove Cegers and his girlfriend were drunk and causing trouble in the bar, and that Wyss was trying to be a "good Samaritan" to he. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, argued Cegers acted in self-defense around midnight after being assaulted and chased down the sidewalk by several men.
Deschutes County Circuit Judge Beth Bagley first gave instructions to the 12-member jury for a trial expected to take 12 days. She told them not to read, watch or discuss the case with anyone, and to base their verdict only on what they see and hear in the courtroom.
Deputy District Attorney Alison Filo told the jury that prosecutors will prove that Wyss and his girlfriend, Sadie Cole, along with two friends “were all highly intoxicated” when they arrived at Duda’s, and Cegers had a pistol tucked in his waistband.
"Taylor Wyss was being a good Samaritan," she said, to help get "angry and assaultive Mr. Cegers and his girlfriend, Sadie Cole," out of the bar.
“The witnesses who were there will say he ‘came in hot’ - he was angry and looking for trouble,” Filo said.
At one point, Cole punched a bartender three times in the face – an act for which she was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months' probation.
But Filo added: “there is some good news in this. This is not a whodunit. You’re not going to have to decide who committed this crime.”
'Everything looked like a target'
As for the self-defense claim, Filo said the evidence will show that “Caleb Cegers provoked this incident, that the deadly force Caleb Cegers used was not reasonably necessary and not proportional.”
“Caleb Cegers had a gun that night – and everything looked like a target,” the prosecutor claimed.
The moment of the shooting was captured on a security video from an art supply store two doors down. Filo said it “will prove Caleb Cegers was on his own two feet – ambulating, mobile, walking. He did not appear to be injured, and no one had his hands on him.”
“No one was assaulting him when he pulled the trigger,” Filo said.
Cegers and his older brother Dahnte fled the scene and were later arrested in Tennessee. Dahnte Cegers later pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and was sentenced to nearly four months in jail, with credit for time served.
Filo said an empty gun magazine was found tossed behind a washer and dryer at the home of Cegers’ mother, where he was living. Months later, a gun that matched the make and caliber used that night was found in an irrigation canal two blocks from the home.
Defense attorney Bryan Boender, meanwhile, told jurors the evidence will show Cegers, who grew up in Bend and had just turned 20, “was acting within those (legal) limits when he fired the shot in self-defense.”
He presented a set of videos that he said show Cegers fled down the street, “pursued by several men” in dark clothing who were larger, and but one were unknown to him.
Boender said one witness will testify that “Mr. Wyss came up from behind and dragged and pulled Mr. Cegers out of the bar.”
Showing video taken from atop Goody’s, facing north down Wall Street, Boender told the jury “you will see multiple people pursue Mr. Cegers,” who he said was “being pushed, punched and struck, and he’s in retreat.”
Defense says Cegers was 'dragged out' of the bar
After the scene turned “chaotic” in the bar, Boender said, “Mr. Cegers is trying to get out at this point, others blocking his path.”
As video played, the attorney said they will prove Cegers was “dragged out (of the bar) by Mr. Wyss. He doesn’t walk out.”
“He’s in retreat – he wants out of there,” Boender said. “In his mind, he could be stomped out, choked out, beaten half to death by these larger, unknown men.”
The defense lawyer painted a mental image of “a black man, pursued by multiple white men, in Bend, Oregon.” And he called it a “tragic misfortune” that the shot Cegers fired struck and killed Wyss.
While it’s true Cegers and his brother left town and went to visit relatives in Tennessee, Boender said: “He called (police) to turn himself in, to come here and defend himself.”
The attorney said they will prove “how Mr. Cegers was acting within the legal limitations of deadly physical force in Oregon law.”
Victim's girlfriend: 'I didn't want them to fight'
After opening statements, prosecutors called Alexis Parker, Wyss’s long-time girlfriend and companion that night, to the witness stand.
Parker said that when Cegers and Cole arrived that night, he “was aggressive, trying to start something,” while others in the bar were “trying to de-escalate the situation and get them to leave.”
Parker said Cegers was asked to come outside and was never prevented from leaving the bar. And she told of how she got between Taylor and Cegers.
“I didn’t want them to fight,” she said. "I was trying to back Caleb up, said the cops were called, kind of yelling. He (Cegers) was trying to get around me, because Taylor was behind me.”
Parker said she never saw Wyss or anyone punch or attack the defendant. She said Cole fell to the ground and while watching her, she heard the gunshot.
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Amid manhunt for 'armed, dangerous' suspect in downtown Bend fatal shooting, victim's grieving sister shares details - August 10, 2023
Bend woman gets jail, probation for punching bartender, helping murder suspect flee; likely to testify against him - December 22, 2023
Family of Taylor Wyss reveals Dahnte Cegers, brother of Caleb Cegers, pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution - May 5, 2025
