UPDATE: Casey Cason admitted during the trial on Wednesday that she lied during her first interrogation when she claimed Alaina Szortyka brought the knife with her.

The knife used to stab Szortyka was Cason’s knife, she admitted in court Wednesday. She brought the knife outside of her house. 

LIVE OAK — The murder trial of a 23-year-old Live Oak woman who allegedly killed her best friend by stabbing her in the neck got under way Tuesday, nearly a year after the event took place.

On July 19, 2015, Alaina Szortyka went to Casey Cason’s house on 5th Street angry about something she heard Cason said about her, according to court testimony.

In the prosecution’s opening statement, the state laid out the course of events, beginning with the argument outside Cason’s home to her arrest later that day.

Charles Hobbs, a Tallahassee based lawyer, is defending Cason. In his opening statement, Hobbs said that blood test results indicated Szortyka had cocaine and marijuana in her system, which might explain her inexplicable behavior, he said.

Hobbs said Cason was defending herself. Cason’s father, Linton Cason, said he believes the evidence will prove his daughter acted in self defense.

“She came to my daughter’s house and jumped on her,” he said. “That’s self defense. The truth shall come out.”

Multiple witnesses testified that they heard Szortyka and Cason arguing outside of Cason’s home. Cason seemed to be reluctant to fight Szortyka, according to court testimony. But, eventually, the two began to fight.

Multiple witnesses testified they saw Szortyka throw the first punch and that she was clearly beating Cason with closed fists.

Peggy Livingston testified that she yelled for the two women to stop fighting, but didn’t intervene because one of the women had a knife, she said.

It is unclear who brought the knife. Some evidence suggests Cason brought it out of her house, but in an interrogation video, Cason said Szortyka brought the knife with her.

“Alaina kept telling (Cason) to come outside the fence,” Livingston said. “It all happened so fast.”

Livingston’s son, Marquay Winters, was also there that day and testified that he, along with others, watched the fight but didn’t intervene. He said Cason was getting beat pretty bad and Szortyka was hitting her with a closed fist repeatedly.

At some point during the fight, Cason stabbed Szortyka in the neck with a steak knife according to witnesses. According to testimony, the knife punctured a lung. Kenneth Roundtree put Szortyka in his truck and took her to the hospital.

She later died from her injuries.

The trial will be ongoing throughout the week.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported Cason as 22 years old. She is now 23 years old.