BALSAM LAKE, Wis. — Defense attorneys will begin calling witnesses in the trial of a Minnesota man accused of fatally stabbing a fisherman along the St. Croix River in Wisconsin.

Twenty-year-old Levi Acre-Kendall of Cambridge, Minnesota, is on trial Monday in Polk County. He’s accused of stabbing 34-year-old Peter Kelly of St. Croix Falls after an argument while fishing along the river in April.

Acre-Kendall has pleaded not guilty to first-degree reckless homicide and claims self-defense.

A friend of the defendant who tried to stop the fight, Hank Michaels, returned to the witness stand Thursday. He testified when Acre-Kendall pulled out a knife, Kelly backed off, but became even angrier. Michaels said Kelly yanked Acre-Kendall from the car and within seconds Kelly was stabbed.