Opening statements were completed Wednesday and the state called its first three witnesses during the second day of the Michael Runyan murder trial at the Story County Courthouse in Nevada.

Opening statements began at 1 p.m. after jury selection was completed. District Court Judge Timothy Finn gave jurors their oath at about 11 a.m.

In the prosecution’s opening statement, Stephen Holmes, assistant Story County attorney, alleged that Runyan, 20, Fort Dodge, committed willful, deliberate and premeditated murder, or, in the least, felony murder.

Runyan will turn 21 years old on Sunday.

The defense will argue that Runyan acted in self-defense. Defense attorney Julia Keifer said Runyan did not know he had killed Sellers when he left the scene.

Holmes said the prosecution’s case will be strengthened because there were two confrontations which Runyan allegedly retrieved a weapon and demonstrated malice.

Holmes said the prosecution will show that on April 20 at about 2:45 a.m., during Veishea festivities, Runyan and Luke Abrams, 18, also of Fort Dodge, were walking by the Adelante fraternity, 318 Welch Ave., when Abrams yelled to people on the balcony.

An argument ensued, Holmes said, although whether the cause was an insult or a misunderstanding is not clear.

“Almost everyone that you will hear from had been drinking,” Holmes said, however, collectively “they recounted and got the story.”

Holmes alleged Runyan and Abrams tried to get into the party at Adelante but were told to “take it down the street.”

“The testimony is going to be that they’re in each other’s face,” Holmes said.

Keifer said the two did not want to get into the party.

Holmes said Sellers, a “good-sized” former football player, and his friends, also “good-sized” men, followed Runyan and Abrams down the street until someone grabbed Sellers’ arm and the group returned to the party.

Meanwhile, Holmes said, Runyan and Abrams returned to the van they had arrived in, which was parked about a block and a half away.

Runyan had come to Ames with Jason March, Tammi Enquist and Christine Patterson, who returned to the van with them, Holmes said.

At the van, Holmes alleged, Runyan asked Abrams if he had his knife and Abrams said he didn’t.

Holmes said the jury will hear testimony that when Enquist and Patterson returned to the van, Runyan had a steak knife in his hand, which had been in the van.

Holmes said Runyan then returned to the Adelante fraternity house, not stopping on his way.

He alleged Runyan went armed and attacked “the person who had angered him the most.”

Keifer told jurors Runyan returned to the party while looking for a friend who had not returned to the van.

“He didn’t pick Harold Sellers out,” Keifer said.

She told jurors Runyan just wanted to leave and felt surrounded. “He honestly believed he was going to be beat up … when he did it,” she said.

Holmes said witnesses will testify Runyan made direct eye contact with Sellers and the two “were mean-mugging each other.”

Then, he said, Runyan made what witnesses described as a “wussy punch” to Sellers’ right chest, inflicting a fatal wound and ran back to the van.

“That wound gave absolutely no chance for Mr. Sellers,” Holmes said. The knife, he said, pierced Sellers’ pericardium, the sac around the heart and ascending aorta.

Sellers reportedly ran to the edge of the yard, stopped, headed back toward the house, faltered and fell, Holmes said. His last words before passing into unconsciousness, Holmes said, were “I’ll be all right.”

At 2:53 a.m., 911 emergency crews were called, and Sellers was pronounced dead at 4:06 a.m. at Mary Greeley Medical Center, Holmes said,

Three witness were called to lay foundations of the incident.

The state called Sgt. Mike Johns, Ames Police Department, who recounted investigation procedures following the stabbing incident that led to the identification of Runyan and Abrams.

Tammy Hyer, police record supervisor, testified that a call was made to 911 at 2:53 a.m. on April 20, which stated someone was “bleeding from the chest in front of the Adelante fraternity.”

Robin Lunkley, a paramedic at Mary Greeley Medical Center, was called to recount procedures taken when the ambulance arrived.

He identified state exhibits of clothing worn by Sellers that morning, including a white T-shirt with blood stains.

The clothes, he said, had been cut by himself and other paramedics.

He also examined pictures of Sellers after the stabbing, which he said showed swelling in his head and torso due to the anti-shock garment they had put on him, as well as an abrasion on Sellers’ face.

A motion in limine (a way of limiting testimony before a jury) made by the defense earlier to withhold pictures of the deceased was overruled by Finn, who said the pictures “are not particularly bloody” and “are relevant” to the case.

In all, Holmes said the prosecution has 35 exhibits and intends to call about 25 witnesses.

Finn sustained several Motions in limine before beginning the trial prohibiting the state’s attorneys from making reference to testimonies concerning evidence of general character traits. Testimony of Jason March, Tammi Enquist and Christine Patterson were also for impeaching the witnesses with alleged prior inconsistent statements.

Additionally, Finn said a defense witness who had not shown up for deposition could not testify until the state attorneys have an opportunity to depose him.

The use of exhibits during opening statements was also not permitted by Finn.