Testimony turned emotional Thursday as day three of the Michael Runyan murder trial continued at the Story County Courthouse in Nevada.

The morning’s testimonies proved melancholy as childhood friends and the father of Harold “Uri” Sellers’ took the stand.

William Sellers, father of the slain DMACC student, struggled to fight back tears when questioned by Assistant Story County Attorney Stephen Holmes about his children.

After he was asked to look at a the high school senior picture of his slain son, Sellers managed to continue testimony despite obvious emotional pain.

Sellers’ testimony lasted only about five minutes before prosecutors called the next witness.

Perhaps the day’s most revealing testimony was that of Mike Teeter, who was at Uri Sellers’ side during the time of the alleged attack.

Teeter, 20, said he met Sellers the night of April 19 at Adelante fraternity, 318 Welch Ave., and they immediately struck up a friendship. He said they got along because they were both into football, and were considering going to Iowa State and joining a fraternity, he said.

During direct examination by the prosecution, Teeter described the two alleged confrontations between Sellers and Runyan.

Teeter said he and Sellers were talking on the lawn between 12:30 and 1 a.m. when three men approached the house and began yelling profanities at people on the house’s balcony.

Sellers then walked up behind the three men and asked them to leave, Teeter said. This action began the confrontation that would prove fatal for Sellers.

Teeter identified one of the men who had been yelling toward the balcony as Michael Runyan and pointed him out in the courtroom.

He said the two men first confronted each other when Sellers asked Runyan and two other men to leave. According to Teeter, Runyan said they did not have to leave the party.

Teeter testified that the men were very hasty in leaving and Runyan even got into Sellers’ face.

“The defendant lifted up his shirt and showed his stomach, and Uri said ‘oh you’re tough.’ Then he got in Uri’s face,” Teeter said. “They were standing nose-to-nose.”

Apparently in an attempt to distance himself from Runyan, Sellers then allegedly pushed Runyan out of the way.

“He just put his hand up and kinda pushed him away,” Teeter said. “It wasn’t a shove; it was just to move him away.”

Following the alleged push by Sellers, Teeter said Runyan glared at Sellers and appeared distraught. “They were very angry with one another,” he testified.

Teeter said eventually Runyan and his companions managed to leave as Teeter, Sellers and Steve Miller, another friend of Teeter’s, followed the men about 15 to 20 yards down Welch Avenue to make sure the men were leaving.

However, they did not go quietly, Teeter said.

There was a large amount of “trash talking” between Sellers and Runyan, which even included obscenities, he said.

According to Teeter, approximately 10 to 15 minutes passed before he and Sellers saw Runyan again.

Runyan was walking south on Welch Avenue past the fraternity on the same sidewalk they were previously arguing on, he said.

“Once they recognized each other, it was a stare down,” Teeter said.

Teeter said Sellers and Runyan met up near the south gravel driveway at Adelante.

At this point, Teeter said one of the other men, who was with Runyan the first time, was standing at the end of the driveway. He identified this man as Luke Abrams.

“[Abrams] was yelling something like, ‘let’s get out of here,'” Teeter recounted.

Teeter said he then walked over to see what was going on with Sellers and the defendant, when Runyan unexpectedly hit Sellers.

Runyan also swung at Teeter, but he jumped back to avoid the blow, Teeter explained.

When Sellers was hit, Teeter said he saw some kind of shiny object in Runyan’s hand.

“There was something shiny in Runyan’s hand. The only reason I know is because I was looking right at him when he hit Uri,” Teeter said. “It could’ve been brass knuckles for all I know.”

Another witness, Robert James Nolan, of Monroe, had known Uri Sellers since the fifth grade and called him his best friend. The two played football together in high school and at Ellsworth Community College.

In cross examination, defense attorney Julia Keifer questioned Nolan’s recollection and surety of the night’s events.

“I think about it daily,” Nolan said. “My best friend died; I think I would remember.”

Other people to take the stand Thursday morning included Dr. Gary Urbas, who was one of the doctors on duty when Sellers was brought to the hospital.

Urbas testified the doctors in the emergency room tried to revive Sellers for nearly an hour.

“We did everything we could to save him,” he said.

The court also called Dr. Patrick Allaire to the stand. Allaire is an anesthesiologist at Mary Greeley Medical Center who was called into the hospital to help in the emergency treatment of Sellers.

Allaire testified that in cases such as Sellers’, when there is a puncture wound to the chest, there is a possibility for damage to the heart and lungs.

The trial of Runyan will continue today beginning at 9 a.m. The prosecution is expected to rest its case sometime Monday afternoon.