Day One of Bolaski Murder Trial in Vermont

(NECN: Jack Thurston, White River Junction, Vt.) - "We believe justice will be done," Vincent Tamburello told reporters outside the Windsor County criminal courthouse in White River Junction, Vt. Monday.

Tamburello wants that justice for his son Vinnie, who was shot and killed at a town baseball field in Chester, Vt. in August 2008. "There's such pain and anguish," the father said.

The dead man's family, including brother C.T., a former star of MTV's "The Real World," was in the courtroom Monday for day one of the murder trial of Kyle Bolaski. Prosecutors say Bolaski took a fight over drugs and insults way too far, shooting Tamburello twice; once in the back as he tried to run away. "Vinnie starts backing away," prosecutor John Lavoie told the jury. "But Kyle pursues him."

Bolaski does not deny shooting the recent transplant from Charlestown, Mass., but says he had no choice because Tamburello was coming after him with a weapon of his own. "[Bolaski was] confronted by an ax-wielding assailant who completely lost his mind," defense attorney Kevin Griffin told jurors.

Several people in Chester, a handsome town of a few thousand, told NECN Tamburello's death really divided the community; that people are now debating whether or not this was self-defense. Residents seem to want to put the whole ordeal behind them. "Not necessarily get over it, but have their peace and have everything done with," explained Chester native Hannah Parker. "It shook everybody up."

The defense has said Kyle Bolaski was a victim that day at the ballpark too, and he's lost three years of his life to legal wrangling. But if the jury gives the Tamburellos the second-degree murder conviction they hope for, Bolaski could spend ten years to life in prison.