Eds Note: This article was updated at 1 p.m. to include remarks from Marvin Black's attorney.
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Three men jumped out of a truck and fatally wounded a Wildomar pastor’s son in a blitz attack, a prosecutor said Wednesday, but defense attorneys for the men told a different story.
Ryan Armstrong, son of Cornerstone Community Church's Pastor Ron Armstrong, was fatally stabbed about 10:45 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008; his friend Joel Ross was seriously injured, also suffering stab wounds.
Matthew Basler, James Fung and Marvin Black all face 60 years if convicted of murder and attempted murder.
Fung is additionally charged with trying to intimidate a witness.
During his opening remarks to the jury Wednesday at the Southwest Justice Center, Prosecutor Brandon Smith told the panel that the attacks on Armstrong and Ross took about 45 seconds and that the knife assault was a “premeditated murder … over … nothing.
“These men stabbed 21-year-old Ryan Armstrong to death that night,” Smith told the jury.
Smith said that the knifing was a culmination of an argument that began inside ET Sports Lounge in Temecula over harsh words spoken to a drunk young woman in Armstrong’s party.
Both parties were drinking at the bar that night; Basler’s group was playing pool.
Smith told the jury that Basler jumped and “sucker punched” Armstrong before both were thrown out of the bar.
Armstrong and Basler separated and went different ways but, Smith said, Basler drove around the block and returned to the alley behind the bar. The defendants jumped out of the vehicle and attacked Armstrong, Smith alleged.
Ross was stabbed when he pulled Fung off his friend.
“He remembers things started to go white,” Smith said of Ross.
Later, said Smith, Fung would realize that he left his knife at the scene.
A knife recovered at the scene bore Fung’s DNA, Smith told the jury.
Fung's attorney, Karen Lockhart, said her client did not take part in any attack; rather, said Lockhart, "My client was the peacekeeper."
Lockhart told the jury that Fung was jumped from behind and only fought to defend himself.
"The individual takes my client down and is beginning to choke him," Lockhart said.
The attorney added that the knife found at the scene -- the one bearing Fung's DNA -- was not the knife that inflicted the killing wound.
A "double-bladed" knife was the one used to inflict the mortal injury, Lockhart said.
Black's attorney, Joshua Knight, said his client only became involved in the skirmish because his friend Fung was being attacked.
Black did not jump out of the truck when Basler and Fung did because he did not want to fight anyone.
"Mr. Black was not looking for a fight," Knight told the jury. "He was trying to help his friend.
"He was trying to take him out of the situation and he was attacked," Knight said of Black.
Knight said that his client was not present earlier in the evening, when Fung and Basler allegedly compared knives; he did not bring one to the fight either, the attorney said.
"He never had a knife; never," Knight said of his client.
Basler's attorney reserved his remarks for later in the trial.
Armstrong's father Ron is the founder of Wildomar-based Cornerstone Community Church, 34570 Monte Vista Drive. The church has more than 1,000 members, according to its website.
