Jurors in a homicide case against an Eau Claire man heard opening statements Monday in Butler County Court of Common Pleas.

As part of his opening, defense attorney Al Lindsay played video Monday of an interview in which his client, Dakota Hughes, told state police he shot his mother’s boyfriend last year.

The video and a recording of a frantic 911 phone call in which the defendant's mother is heard trying to render aid to her injured boyfriend while answering questions from an emergency dispatcher were among the evidence presented on the first day of the trial of Dakota B. Hughes in the death of 27-year-old Seth G. Smith of Venango County.

Hughes is arguing he shot Smith in self-defense on March 2.

An audio recording of the call Hughes made to 911 in which he admits to the shooting also was played.

In the chaotic 911 call by Hughes’ mother, Carri McKinney, 42, she responds to a dispatcher’s questions by giving her address and saying her son shot her boyfriend, who is gasping for breath and bleeding. She identifies her son and boyfriend.

McKinney tells the dispatcher she told her son to call 911 and to get away from her; her boyfriend needs an emergency medical helicopter; her son shot him three times; she is performing CPR; and she is a nurse.

A barking dog and an emergency siren can be heard in the background.

McKinney is heard encouraging Smith to fight to stay alive, saying “come on baby,” “I love you,” “stay with me” and “look at me.”

Just before the recording ends, she tells the dispatcher Smith won’t respond or look at her; he is barely breathing; and she is giving him rescue breaths.

Hughes is calm in the recording of his 911 call, in which he said he shot a man who was with his mother and on the run from the law.

He tells the dispatcher he and the man he shot don’t get along, and the man threatened him before the shooting. Hughes identifies the man he shot as Smith.

“He was pretty much being threatening and I shot him,” Hughes said in the recording.

In his interview with police, Hughes said he had “no right to shoot him,” but Smith was abusing his mother and he was worried Smith would beat him until he was unconscious, according to the video.

Hughes said his mother recently had called him from Smith’s parents’ home, saying Smith ran her off a road while they were driving separate vehicles in Venango County and then head butted her along the side of the road.

Hughes said he saw his mother’s injuries when he arrived to pick her up, and police were contacted about the incident. He described Smith as a drug addict.

On the video, Hughes tells investigators he was in the kitchen on the day of the shooting when his mother and Smith arrived.

He said he told Smith he didn’t want him in the house and wanted him to leave. Hughes said Smith asked him if he was going to act tough as he approached him with his hands in his coat pocket, according to the video.

Hughes said Smith usually carried a knife, but he didn’t know if Smith had it the day of the shooting.

Hughes said his handgun was in his belt covered by his shirt. He said he fired the gun three or four times when Smith was a foot or two away.

On background, he said he was afraid of Smith and he feared for his mother’s safety.

He told investigators Smith totaled the truck his mother was driving; Smith beat his mother; he heard Smith fighting with his mother in the basement; and he told his mother Smith threatened him.

A corporal who works in the state police crime lab in Greensburg testified the absence of gunpowder residue on Smith’s clothes indicates he was at least 3 feet away from Hughes when the shots were fired.

In his opening statement, assistant district attorney Mark Lope said any domestic violence between Smith and McKinney happened behind closed doors, and McKinney told Hughes about it.

“You cannot kill somebody because of the way they treat your mother or the way you think they treated your mother,” Lope said.

The trial before Judge Joseph Kubit resumes Tuesday morning.