ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — The trial is finally underway in a five-year-old murder case from Port St. Lucie. The defendant is charged in connection with a shooting death, but he's not accused of pulling the trigger.
Hunter Boesch is charged with murder in connection with the death of Beau Hartmann back in 2016.
Hartmann was at a home off Darien Road in Port St. Lucie with some friends when someone knocked on the door. After hearing it was someone in a hoodie, Hartmann grabbed an umbrella by the door and went outside to see what was happening.
"He gets around the corner of the house. Shotgun blasts light up the night. Two of them," Assistant State Attorney Jason Bruin told jurors on Wednesday.
The state does not allege that Boesch fired the shotgun that killed Hartmann, but that he instigated and planned the events that led up to the crime.
On Wednesday, a co-defendant, William Rummage, testified for the prosecution that on the night of the shooting, Boesch asked Rummage if he wanted to make some money by doing a "lick."
"To burglarize or rob or take something that isn’t theirs," Rummage said.
Rummage testified that Boesch had a weapon that night.
"I see him playing with a small caliber handgun," Rummage said.
But another man fired the shotgun, a man who has never been charged in connection with the case.
Under cross examination, Rummage admitted to doing drugs that evening and didn’t back out from the events of that night.
"You did not run, did you?" Bruin asked.
"No sir," Rummage answered.
"You did not take advantage of the opportunity to run when you were in the back of the house like you previously indicated did you?" Bruin asked.
"Correct," Rummage said.
Back in 2016, WPTV spoke with Hartmann’s family who said their son was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The trial is expected to last at least until the end of the week.