 Santa knows where to find all the best and hottest smart phones just in time to make this Christmas better and bigger than ever. Better service, bigger savings, that's today's Appalachian Wireless. Opening statements were given today in the murder trial of Pike County resident James Huffman IV in the stabbing death of Michael Hogg. As expected, the Commonwealth painted the situation as a clear case of murder. It was expected the defense painted the case as a situation of self-defense by a frightened and outnumbered man. There was no indication that the defendant had any cuts or anything consistent with someone that had been attacked with a knife or a weapon and that the only people that got stabbed were these three young men and the only one that got killed as a result of multiple stab wounds, all of which but one on the inside of the arm and the two there in the front were in the back was Michael Hogg. An item in the case that factored heavily into today's openings was a bottle of liquor allegedly stolen from Hogg and his companions by James Huffman and the group's attempts to retrieve it from Huffman. And you're going to see Hogg, Christopher Puckett and Stacey Phillips come to that table where Mr. Huffman is and form a semi-circle around him. You'll be able to tell what's going on, that they didn't come in to buy a drink. They didn't come in to see anyone else. They came down and I think it's going to be absolutely clear to find James Huffman. That's what they did. They came to find James Huffman over an $18 and some odd sense bottle of liquor. Around 30 people were in the courtroom for opening statements including Hogg's mother after openings, witness testimony got underway. Hogg's father was called to the stand and became emotional while talking about his late son. Did you ever have a chance to speak with your son? No, sir. He was already seized when we got there. One of the men who survived also allegedly being stabbed by James Huffman testified about the events of New Year's Eve 2013 and New Year's Day 2014 and the death of Michael Hogg. It looked like after Christopher got stabbed, that Michael had maybe grabbed Huffman and tried to keep him away from us and he ended up on the ground rolling around and I did see his hand raised up and stabbed him in the back and that's when I ran over there to try to stop him from stabbing him and I think that's when he stabbed me in the hand. Witness testimony continued into the evening and is expected to continue into tomorrow. In Weizberg, Chris Anderson, EKB News.