COEUR d'ALENE - Trial began Monday in Kootenai County for a 23-year-old Hayden man charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault following a shooting incident involving sheriff's deputies.

In the spring of 2010, Kerry N. Damiano was arrested after firing a gun late at night in a wooded area near Chilco Pond, off East Chilco Road, north of Hayden.

Prosecutors allege he fired the weapon in the direction of three deputies, who "feared for their lives." The deputies returned with a volley of gunfire at his position less than 100 yards away on a hill overlooking the pond.

The defense argues Damiano didn't know it was law enforcement officers who were at the pond, that he had fired up in the air, and that no crime was committed by discharging the weapon in that secluded area.

"If that's the case, there is no case," Gary Amendola, Damiano's defense attorney, said to conclude his brief opening statements.

The deputies were at the pond investigating a report of an alleged "weapons offense" after a resident in the area heard numerous shots.

The deputies arrived at the pond, traveling muddy and rutted dirt roads in a marked Chevy Tahoe with a spotlight. The red and blue lights were not activated.

The deputies turned the vehicle and its high beams and spotlight off, exited, and began looking and listening for the source of the reported shooting.

Silently, Damiano shined a flashlight at the deputies below, who returned with their flashlights.

According to the testimony of deputy Todd Jackson, the deputies then heard the "racking" of a firearm.

"I thought we were going to start taking on serious fire," Jackson told the jury.

After hearing a shot by Damiano, the deputies returned with three to five shots each at the suspect's position. Jackson said he thought at least two people were at Damiano's position on the hill.

Jackson said he was "scared to death," because the deputies were an easy target in the open, and were far from help if they got hit. Nobody was injured in the incident.

Following the round of gunfire, deputies turned on the Tahoe's spotlight and focused it on Damiano's position on the hill and used the loudspeaker to announce themselves as law enforcement officers.

Jackson said Damiano then yelled that he wanted to come down and talk. He put his weapon down and hiked to the deputies without further incident.

Damiano admitted to the deputies he fired the shot, but said he thought they had been "Chilco hillbillies," whom he wanted to scare away.

Jackson, on cross-examination, told Amendola he couldn't be sure Damiano fired in the deputies' direction.

"I perceived I was being shot at," Jackson said.

He also testified that it wasn't a crime for Damiano to fire the gun in that area.

The shooting incident occurred late on April 30 or early on May 1 of last year.

The trial, scheduled for two more days, continues this morning in 1st District Court in front of Judge Benjamin Simpson.