Social media influencer and Virtika owner David Lesh scheduled for trial on assault charges next month

Editor’s note: Unless individuals hold positions of public trust or there is imminent danger of harm to the public (e.g., active shooter) or there is an exceptional circumstance, suspects arrested/charged will not be named/identified until there is a conviction or a plea deal is taken. The suspect here is named due to his status as a public figure.

A Denver-based social media influencer and notorious stuntman is scheduled for a jury trial in Summit County next month on assault charges related to a dispute that occurred two winters ago.

David Lesh, 39, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second degree assault by strangulation, a Class 4 felony, and third degree assault, a Class 1 misdemeanor, according to the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Lesh is the owner of the outerwear company Virtika. His trial is scheduled to run from Monday, Jan. 13, through Friday, Jan 17.

The charges in the case stem from an incident that occurred March 25, 2023, when he was snowmobiling with a group. Deputies responded around 1 p.m. that day to the west end of Spring Creek Road, north of Heeney, for a report from a man who said Lesh assaulted him, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

Video captured by the man’s GoPro camera shows the man and Lesh getting into a verbal argument about backcountry safety before Lesh jumps off his snowmobile toward the man and strikes him in the face, the affidavit states.

At this point, the camera appears to fall into the snow and only picks up audio, including audio of what sounds like a fight and later someone choking and stating, “I can’t breathe,” court documents state. The man told deputies that Lesh at one point grabbed him by the throat and applied pressure to his neck, causing him to start to black out, according to the affidavit.

Lesh’s defense attorney Colleen Kelley said at a court hearing last Friday, Dec. 20, that she anticipates that her client will testify at his own trial. During the hearing, Kelley argued that the judge should allow Lesh to introduce evidence of other acts by the other man showing that he had a “propensity for violence” to show that Lesh acted in self-defense.

Deputy District Attorney Lauren Crisera, however, argued at the hearing that the acts that the defense wants to introduce do not constitute a “propensity for violence” for a self-defense argument.

Kelley did not return a request for comment.