Testimony began in Lowndes County Circuit Court Tuesday in the murder trial for James Chuck Newell.

Newell, of Vernon, Ala., was arrested in May 2008 and charged with the shooting death of Adrian Boyette, 31, at the Slab House bar near Caledonia. He was convicted of manslaughter in 2009 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly shooting Boyette after an altercation in the club’s parking lot.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the case in 2010 after ruling trial Judge Jim Kitchens erred in allowing the jury to consider whether Newell was acting in accordance with the state’s Castle Doctrine, which allows someone to defend themselves without retreating.

During opening statements Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Rhonda Ellis painted a picture for the jury of a newly-married husband who went to the Slab House searching for his wife. She said when Newell pulled up to the bar, he discovered Boyette standing beside Diane Newell’s red pickup truck.

Ellis then told members of the jury that Newell “did in fact shoot and kill Adrian Boyette. It was not in self-defense. It was an unnecessary shooting.”

Newell’s attorney, William Starks, in opening statements portrayed the night as a life and death situation — a matter of “kill or be killed,” with Newell doing what he was “entitled to do under the law as well as what he thought he had to do.”

During the course of the argument between Newell and Boyette, Newell retreated to his truck, Starks said. While trying to get back in his vehicle, Starks alleges Boyette, who he says was under the influence of a controlled substance, slammed the truck door on Newell’s legs and began banging on the truck’s window, yelling at Newell. He said Newell then grabbed his gun out of his glove compartment and fired, shooting Boyette in the chest.

An investigator with the district attorney’s office, David Holley, then read the 2009 testimony of Jason Colby Hollis, a friend of Boyette’s who was with him at the Slab House the night of the shooting.

Though Stark objected to the reading, presiding Judge Lee Coleman overruled the objection.

According to Hollis’ testimony, he and Boyette drove to the Slab House to get a bag of ice for their beer. When they came out, Boyette stood beside the red truck to relieve himself, and that is when Newell arrived, he said.

In his testimony, he said Boyette and Newell got into a heated argument. He said when Newell got inside his vehicle, Boyette shut the door on his legs, but he could not hear the verbal exchange between the two.

He described Boyette as having his hands in the air and backing away before the shot was fired. He said Newell got back in his truck and left the scene, headed toward Alabama.

Holley continued to read Hollis’ testimony, Hollis ran to Boyette, lifted his shirt and saw a single bullet wound but no blood. Hollis testified he did not see a weapon on or around Boyette.

The owner of the Slab House, James “Jimmy” Wright testified that Newell’s wife was at the bar before Boyette and Hollis arrived but left with two other men to get cigarettes, leaving her truck in the parking lot.

Wright said Hollis and Boyette purchased a Slim Jim, boiled eggs and a pack of chips and stayed long enough to eat before walking back outside.

He confirmed Hollis’ testimony that the two men were beside Diane Newell’s red truck, with one relieving himself.

Wright testified he heard a single “pop” and hesitated a moment before grabbing the phone and his own gun from behind the counter and running outside while calling 911. He confirmed he saw Newell leaving.

He said he found Boyette gasping for breath and that he did not see any weapons on or around him.

Testimony will continue today.

Also, the trial for Benny Shelton, owner of Stewart’s Antiques and Appraisals on Third Avenue North, is set to begin today.

Shelton is accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy in a summer-camp type setting while working as a youth leader of Eastview Baptist Church in New Hope. He was arrested in January 2009.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Jackson is prosecuting the case with Judge Lee Howard presiding.

Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.