SPOKANE - Prosecution and defense attorneys stuck to familiar themes during their opening statements in Daniel Lazcano's third murder trial Tuesday, outlining the same basic stories they presented in his two previous trials.

Whitman County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dan LeBeau told jurors that Lazcano and his brother, Frank Lazcano, were angry with 23-year-old Marcus Schur because he'd stolen some of their possessions from a friend's house.

They spent days looking for Schur, LeBeau said, "hunting" him. On Dec. 27, 2011, they finally tracked him down at a house in Malden. When Schur tried to run away, Daniel Lazcano allegedly shot him twice.

With the help of friends and relatives, he said, the Lazcano brothers then disposed of Schur's body, as well as the rifle and car used during the killing. They concocted a story, telling investigators that Daniel Lazcano had stayed in Spokane that night. They got his girlfriend to give him a false alibi. Only after Schur's body was found did their deception begin to fall apart. Most of the friends and relatives are now witnesses for the prosecution.

"This is a case about murder and the lies and cover-up that followed," LeBeau said. "At the end of the trial, when all the evidence is before you, (Whitman County Prosecutor) Denis Tracy will ask you to return a verdict of guilty."

During his opening remarks, defense attorney Eric Christianson agreed with much of LeBeau's story, saying most facts in the case are not in dispute.

The Lazcanos were looking for Schur, he said. They did go to Malden on Dec. 27 to confront him, and after he was killed they dumped his body in a creek near Bonnie Lake. Then they lied to investigators.

However, Daniel Lazcano wasn't with his brother the entire night, Christianson said. He chickened out. He wanted to avoid the confrontation, so Frank Lazcano dropped him off at their uncle's house in Malden.

It was the uncle, James Holdren, who went with Frank Lazcano to Schur's place, he said. Daniel Lazcano didn't know Schur had been shot until they got back and Frank Lazcano told him the body was in the trunk.

"Frank and Jimmy take off. A while later, the car comes back," Christianson said. "Jimmy gets out, Dan gets in. From there, there's not a lot of dispute (about facts)."

As was the case in the first two trials - both of which ended in mistrials when the juries failed to reach verdicts - much of the defense this time around will focus on undermining the credibility of some key prosecution witnesses, as well as presenting an alternative explanation that casts doubt on the prosecution's storyline.

During the previous trials, for example, Ben Evensen and Kyle Evans both testified that Daniel Lazcano admitted going with Frank to confront Schur and either directly or indirectly told them he pulled the trigger.

Christianson characterized Evensen Tuesday as a unreliable "jailhouse snitch" who would say anything the prosecution told him to say, while Evans was so "messed up" at the time that he doesn't even trust his own memory.

"Nobody puts Daniel at the scene (where Schur was shot)," he said. "There's no evidence, nothing but one jailhouse snitch, who puts him there."

Christianson also said Schur was killed with a pistol, not with the AK-47 rifle that Daniel Lazcano allegedly used.

"We're going to prove beyond a scientific certainty that the murder weapon wasn't an AK-47," he said. "But the state bases its whole case on that weapon. Why? Because that's what they got Ben (Evensen) to say Daniel confessed to using."

During his testimony in the second trial, Daniel Lazcano implied that James Holdren had allegedly killed Schur. That seems to be part of the defense strategy this time around as well. However, Christianson also suggested Frank Lazcano killed him.

He noted that Schur's girlfriend and brother - who were in the house in Malden when Frank Lazcano came in the front door - said Frank Lazcano was wearing a pistol holster when he chased Schur out the back door.

"The victim's own brother said Frank raised his hands and he saw two flashes," he said. "That's not an AK-47. Officers did a complete search (for spent shell casings). They didn't find any. The only gun that doesn't eject casings is a pistol - but the state's whole case rests on Daniel shooting him with an AK-47, because that's what Ben said he had."

Frank Lazcano, wearing a prison jumpsuit and sporting a dark, heavy beard, was the first witness called Tuesday.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder for Schur's death earlier this year, but his case is under appeal. Consequently, he refused to answer any questions - even when asked if he was Daniel Lazcano's brother - saying he would exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Tracy said he expected Frank Lazcano to plead the fifth, but had to give him the opportunity in order to question other witnesses about statements he allegedly made identifying Daniel Lazcano as the shooter and indicating he would take the blame for Schur's death to protect his brother.

The prosecution anticipates taking a week or so to present its case. The entire third trial is expected to last at least two weeks, possibly three.

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Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.