BRYAN — Attorneys in the capital murder trial of Darnell Hartsfield presented different accounts in the deaths of five people kidnapped from a Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1983. Hartsfield faces five life sentences if found guilty of the slayings.

The trial began with Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson reading the five indictments against Hartsfield to a jury of six men and eight women, including alternates. Hartsfield, 47, stood as the indictments were read, and he forcefully responded "not guilty" to each charge. Family members of the victims sat stone-faced during the reading.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Tanner, lead prosecutor, introduced the crime and investigation to the jury in her opening argument. Tanner recounted the events of the night to the jury, beginning with the discovery of the empty restaurant by Tyler's husband and daughter, and ending with the discovery of the five bodies on a Rusk County oilfield road.

Reminiscent of the opening argument in Romeo Pinkerton's trial, Tanner focused on the "bad luck" of the investigation in the killings and the "tunnel vision" of investigators on James Earl Mankins Jr., who investigators believed was involved because of a fingernail found on Johnson's clothing.

"That fingernail became a smoking gun," Tanner said.

Forensic testing years later determined the fingernail did not belong to Mankins, and no credible evidence linked him to the crime.

"It was a foundation built on quicksand," Tanner said.

She outlined forensic evidence linking Hartsfield to the crime. She said investigators discovered his blood on a cash register tape box at the restaurant. That box was removed from the restaurant early in the investigation, she said. She told jurors the evidence had been there all along — but science had not caught up with it until recently.

Defense attorney Thad Davidson said the defense would freely admit Hartsfield's blood was on the box, but the evidence's chain of custody was problematic and the state could not prove the box was at the restaurant.

He argued that it didn't matter whether the box was found at the scene because it did not directly connect Hartsfield with the killings.

"DNA is not a magic Band-Aid," Davidson said. "It doesn't cure gaping wounds in the state's case."

Davidson said no physical evidence was found at the murder scene that could connect Hartsfield to the killings.

"There's no connection there," he said.

He also argued five people in danger for their lives would not leave a well-lit, busy area with armed strangers to go to a secluded spot with no potential witnesses. He asserted at least some of the victims must have known their killers and not thought they were going to die, or they would have fought and taken the chance some would survive.

After opening testimony, Tanner called the prosecution's first witnesses. Family members of each victim spoke from the witness stand, answering questions about where the victims worked and what they were like.

Defense attorneys Davidson and Donald Killingsworth asked the relatives if the male victims would have fought to save their lives or prevent harm from coming to others. Lana Dunkerley, widow of Maxwell, said Maxwell and the other victims probably would not fight with guns pointed at them.

The first day of testimony concluded with Billy Tyler, who was married to the late Mary Tyler. Tyler told jurors and a room of about 20 people that he and his stepdaughter were the first people at the restaurant after the kidnappings, and he said he sent her to check the Kilgore hospital after they saw blood inside the store. She then called the police.

Killingsworth questioned Tyler about the timing of events, pointing out apparent inconsistencies in his testimony. Tyler referred back to his original police statement provided in 1983, ending that line of questioning.

During the trial of Pinkerton, 50, Tanner divulged Opie Ann Hughes had been sexually assaulted during the crime. Tanner brought up the rape during her opening argument and said an analysis of DNA from a semen stain indicated the assailant was a black man, but his identity is unknown.

Testimony continues today.

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At a glance

Sept. 23, 1983: Five people were abducted from a Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken and taken to an oil lease road about 15 miles from the restaurant in northern Rusk County. Their bodies were found the next day, shot execution style.

Killed: David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Landers was the only one who was not employed at the restaurant.

October 2007: Romeo Pinkerton pleaded guilty to five counts of murder, avoiding a possible death sentence. He was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences. Darnell Hartsfield, his cousin, is on trial in Bryan this month, accused of participating in the slayings with Pinkerton.

Recently developed: DNA evidence identified the blood on a box of cash register tapes from the restaurant as belonging to Hartsfield, according to evidence from Pinkerton's trial. Blood on a napkin at the restaurant was identified as Pinkerton's.