Opening arguments began Tuesday morning in the 30th Judicial District Court in Vernon Parish in the jury trial of the first of two men charged in the attack of American Press newspaper carrier Woodie Blanks.

Douglas Paul James, 32, is pleading not guilty to a charge of second-degree battery for his role in the Dec. 17 attack of 67 year-old Blanks as he was delivering a newspaper to the door of a customer in Rosepine.

Blanks said he was fulfilling a request from the longtime elderly customer when he exited his vehicle to bring the paper to the resident’s doorway, but as he was walking back down the driveway a group of three to four people stopped him from reaching his waiting truck.

“They asked me what I was doing there. I told them I was delivering the paper, like I had been for the past three years…that’s when they blindsided me. One of them hit me and knocked me to the ground. They kept hitting me,” Blanks stated in an interview immediately after the attack.

Blanks was left partially blind from the attack.

James and 24 year-old Dillon Matthew James were the only two people arrested and charged in the attack.

The men have claimed the attack was the result of mistaken identity, saying they believed Blanks was a prowler allegedly seen at the property in the days before the attack.

Dillon James’ trial is scheduled for October.