Watch live: Day 3 of Nicolae Miu’s Apple River stabbing trial

HUDSON, Wis. — Day three of the trial for the deadly stabbing on the Apple River in Wisconsin is underway Wednesday in Wisconsin.

Nicolae Miuof Prior Lake, Minnesota, is accused of killing 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and injuring four others in July of 2022.

The prosecution aims to prove that Miu, 54, was the aggressor. They expect to call 44 witnesses to the stand.

RELATED: Video of deadly fight that led to Apple River stabbing shown during opening arguments of Nicolae Miu trial

The defense is arguing Miu stabbed the five people in self-defense.

We can expect even more emotional testimony on Wednesday and perspective of the cellphone clips detailing what happened that day.

WCCO will have live coverage throughout the trial which you can watch in the video above, or via CBS News Minnesota, PlutoTV or the CBS News app on your phone or connected TV.

WARNING: This post contains images that some may find disturbing.

The jury

Details on the make-up of the jury were released on Wednesday. The 14-member panel is composed of eight men and six women.

There are two members in their 20s, one in their 30s, three in their 40s, three in their 50s, one in their 60s, three in their 70s and one in their 90s.

Anthony “Tony” Carlson tests

Tony Carlson was the first witness to take the stand on Wednesday. He’s the brother of Dante Carlson and the son of Quinton Carlson. He was on the river with family and friends to celebrate his father’s birthday.

Carlson was stabbed twice in the torso by Miu and also suffered a cut to his leg.

He says he didn’t see Miu punch his friend Madison Cohen, and he didn’t see his brother subsequently punch Miu, but he heard his brother scream, “You don’t ever hit a woman!”

Prosecutors showed the video of the chaotic attack, where Carlson is shown trying to stop the fighting.

“I was just trying to de-escalate it,” Carlson said.

He said he wasn’t aware he was stabbed at first and thought Miu had just punched him. Miu is shown in the footage lunging at Carlson with his knife and Carlson deflects it, causing him to suffer a cut to his leg.

Defense attorney Aaron Nelson started his cross-examination by pressing Carlson about his history of seizures, and how they can impact memory.

Carlson told police that day he had been “blanking out a lot” and he didn’t remember much.

Carlson clarified to Nelson he was blanking out “because afterward I was holding my friend’s intestines,” referring to AJ Martin, who was disemboweled by Miu.

Nelson then played police body camera footage of Carlson talking to a member of law enforcement outside St. Paul’s Regions Hospital hours after the attack. In the footage, Carlson tells the investigator he “was on the verge of having a seizure” during the attack, and he took seizure medication Perampanel that day.

Ryhley Mattison tests

Ryhley Mattison was the next person to take the witness stand on Wednesday. She was a member of the Carlson group.

Mattison told prosecutor Karl Anderson she consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana that day, and said she was intoxicated.

Mattison recounted being attacked and seriously wounded by Miu.

“I remember Nic’s face and not lunging at me but poking me. I looked down, I was bleeding down. It didn’t feel real, it was a lot of shock,” Mattison said. “I felt like I was dying. I was losing so much blood and every time I walked I felt like I was getting weaker and weaker.”

Mattison cried on the stand when Anderson showed her a photo of herself lying injured on the riverbank.

Anderson also showed the courtroom two images of her wounds post-surgery, including a jagged wound to her side, a wound above it from a chest tube implanted during surgery, and a long wound down her torso from the repair of her internal organs.

In cross-examination, Nelson asked Mattison about interviews she gave to two Twin Cities news stations where she stated she didn’t remember much about the attack because she was “drinking a lot” and she wasn’t sure whether Miu punched or slapped Cohen .

“I know I saw (Cohen) get hit,” Mattison told Nelson.

Legal expert Joe Tamburino, who’s not affiliated with the case, says while Mattison’s testimony had an emotional impact that benefited the prosecution, she gave several “I don’t know” responses to questions.

Tamburino says the prosecution may not have prepped their witnesses enough or prepared them to explain inconsistencies between testimonies given to law enforcement in the aftermath of the attack and those given on the witness stand.

AJ Martin tests

AJ Martin, another member of the Carlson group, was next to testify. He lives with Tony Carlson.

Of the four survivors, Martin suffered the most serious injuries.

He told Anderson he works as an electrical apprentice and installs solar panels. Anderson also pointed out Martin had two criminal convictions before the attack.

Martin said when he approached the chaos on the river, he tried to stop the altercation, citing his experience breaking up fights while working at elementary schools.

He said he was trying to keep Miu down in the water before Miu reached up and “got me with the knife.”

“The most apparent thing obviously was that my stomach was open and my intestines were in my hands,” Martin said.

He remembers telling Carlson, “100% I’m going to die today.”

Martin told Anderson he remembered waking up in the hospital with a breathing tube installed and his parents looking at him.

He said he spent 27 days in hospital, losing 50 pounds during his stay.

A wound vac was placed over his gas for a week while doctors conducted exploratory surgeries to check if they missed any other lacerations or injuries.

“They didn’t have to open me up, I was already open,” Martin said.

A week later, he received internal stitches but his torso remained open, covered by a smaller wound vac.

Martin said he had a few feeding tubes and some nasogastric tubes to help with the fluid buildup in his stomach. He later developed an intestinal hematoma.

“There was no food and no water and IV nutrition wasn’t doing enough,” Martin said.

Martin showed the jury his large scar, which runs from his ribs down to his belt line.

He admitted to Anderson he drank on the river and was “probably” intoxicated.

He told police his goal was to break up the fight, and he didn’t touch Miu with force.

Martin told Nelson in cross-examination he remembered everything up until he was stabbed.

When asked about inconsistencies between his account to investigators and his testimony on Wednesday, Martin said he spoke to police in the hospital days after the attack and was under the influence of pain medication.

Nelson also pointed out Martin incorrectly told police he thought he saw “the Black guy” hit Miu, referring to Jawahn Cockfield, a member of Schuman’s group who filmed the attack.

Martin said his hair was in his eyes and he didn’t see Dante Carlson strike Miu while he was in the water.

Martin said he briefly held Miu down in the water by his shoulder to buy time, separate everyone and talk things through. Martin said he had not heard Miu speak during the encounter.

Nelson asked why Martin didn’t speak to Miu first before retraining him.

“The right time to use words was before (Miu) hit a woman in the face,” Martin said.

He said while others had laid hands on Miu, Martin believed Miu was the true aggressor because he struck Cohen.

Nelson asked Martin if holding Miu down in the water would make him feel endangered.

“It was shallow, his head wasn’t going below, he would be OK,” Martin said.

Gabriella “Gabby” Khazraeinazmpour tests

Gabriella “Gabby” Khazraeinazmpour was next up on the witness stand. She was a member of the Carlson group.

She told prosecutor Anderson she too had been drinking that day but she didn’t remember what she drank or the quantity.

Khazraeinazmpour said she saw a group of kids asking for help because they said “(Miu) was a pedophile.”

She said her friend Cohen had asked Miu to leave multiple times and he didn’t.

She said she was standing between the Schuman and Carlson groups when she saw Miu strike Cohen in the face.

Defense attorney Cory Chirafisi quizzed Khazraeinazmpour about inconsistencies between her statements to police and her testimony on Wednesday regarding the manner of how Miu struck Cohen, and the hand he used.

Khazraeinazmpour told police it was an open-hand punch with his left hand, but on Wednesday said it was a closed-hand punch with his right hand.

She defended the inconsistency by stating she’s “very bad with her lefts and rights.”

Day two recap

Among the first to take the stand in the first two days of the trial have been people who could give their direct accounts of what unfolded that day, including Schuman’s friends.

Un day two, Alina Hernandez, Schuman’s mother, recounted the moment she saw her son dead on the river bank.

Jawahn Cockfield, the teen who recorded videos of the deadly confrontation, told the court he started recording when he first encountered Miu and asked him what he was doing near his group. Miu allegedly said he was “looking for little girls.”

Cockfield added he thought Miu was acting strange, especially when he ran up to his group and grabbed their tubes and his leg.

The prosecution also started calling witnesses who were more on the outside looking in, including a bystander who ran to help.

Dante Carlson was there that day with another group that included his father and brother. He told prosecutors he heard the teens yelling for help and went over to investigate “as a Good Samaritan.”

Carlson said he saw Miu punch one of his friends and he immediately punched Miu in retaliation, causing Miu to fall into the water. Miu eventually stabbed him in the abdomen, and Carlson stood up to show the jury his scar.

Carlson also admitted he was mistaken on which victim was punched first, and he admitted to the defense he had consumed more alcohol than he first reported to the police. His blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit in Wisconsin.

The defense has been keen to point out that a number of the victims who were tubing and were involved in the incident were intoxicated and some were also high on marijuana, which is going to be an important point for the jury to consider in the credibility of the witnesses and their ability to recall accurate facts.