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Posted: 5:49 PM- A federal civil trial against two police officers who shot and killed a suicidal man nearly nine years ago boils down to this: Will jurors believe the officers or family members of the man who witnessed the shooting?

As the trial got underway Wednesday in the wrongful death suit against an Orem and a Mount Pleasant officer, defense attorneys and a key plaintiff's witness gave different versions of the seconds preceding 25-year-old David Walker's death.

On Dec. 29, 1998, Orem police Sgt. Harold Peterson and Mount Pleasant Officer John Clayton chased Walker to his parents' home in Mount Pleasant after his sister reported that Walker stole her car and was suicidal.

Walker got out of the car and at some point held a razor knife in front of him.

The officers, believing the knife was a gun, fired. Peterson shot Walker in the hip, and then Clayton shot Walker in the chest and back.

In opening statements, defense attorney Andrew Morse said Peterson fired because Walker was facing him in a "shooter's stance" with arms out-stretched holding an object Peterson thought was a .38 Special revolver, Morse said.

"He sees a gun," Morse said. "He thinks he's dead. He thought Walker had the drop on him."

Clayton thought Walker fired the initial shot and hit Peterson, said attorney Peter Stirba, so he fired twice from 58 feet away.

But Walker's sister, Patricia Stratton, told jurors she and her mother could clearly see Walker was holding a box-cutter-style knife to his left wrist and not threatening anyone.

"I yelled, 'Stop, don't shoot him. He doesn't have a gun," Stratton testified Wednesday.

Plaintiff's attorney Lauren Scholnick argued that Peterson's gun jammed initially, giving him extra time to figure out Walker had no gun.

Walker's family sued the officers for unspecified damages. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart denied immunity to the officers, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision last year.

Other disputed facts jurors will need to vet to decide if officers violated Walker's Fourth Amerndment rights include:

Where Peterson was standing when he fired two shots, one of which hit Walker. Morse said Peterson was four to eight feet away and backing away from Walker when he fired. Stratton said Peterson was behind a car and never moved in front of it.

How well the officers could see. Defense attorneys said it was dark with few lights, and strobe lights from patrol cars obscured their view. Stratton said it was still light out and she could see well enough to see Walker's facial expressions.

How much of a danger Walker posed. Defense attorneys said Walker was driving a stolen car with a stolen license plate, fled police through three towns and suggested Walker might have been using drugs. Stratton said Walker was a danger only to himself. Complicating matters, according to court records, the officers were told by 911 dispatchers that Walker had threatened family members, although he apparently had not.

During emotional testimony Wednesday, Stratton described hearing the first shot and seeing her brother grab his lower stomach and utter, "Oh, god."

In an aggresive line of questioning of Stratton, Morse tried to pin down where the sirens she heard were coming from and exactly how Walker held his hands.

Morse described Peterson, his client, as a "good and calm" officer who had been shot at nine times before while working in other cities. He has since retired from the department.

Stirba told the jury of nine men and three women a suspect had pulled a gun on Clayton, his client, once while he worked as an undercover officer. He still works for the department.

Stirba told jurors they would have to decide whose version of events was most plausible, credible and consistent with the evidence - the officers' version or those of Walker's sister, mom and brother-in-law who saw the shooting.

The trial is scheduled to run through next week.

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