COEUR d'ALENE - There was a moment when Joel Larsen had his silver and black .44-caliber Magnum handgun pointed right at the side of Jonathan W. Ellington's head.

Only 4 feet and the glass of a passenger side window separated the barrel of the gun from his target.

Larsen, 48, of Athol, didn't pull the trigger, and seconds later Ellington's white and tan Chevrolet Blazer drove over the top of Larsen's wife, Vonette L. Larsen, 41, killing her.

"The truck spit her out the back," Larsen recalled Friday.

It was the second day of testimony in 1st District Court in Kootenai County in the re-trial of Ellington, 51, who is charged with second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery.

On Thursday, Ellington's public defender, John Adams, said his client was "hunted" by Joel, Vonette and two of their daughters, Jovon and Joleen Larsen. A run-in between Ellington and the daughters on the roads of the Rathdrum Prairie triggered the incident on New Year's Day six years ago.

Adams acknowledged Ellington acted like a "rude jerk" to the two sisters after confronting them while they were driving. But Adams asked why the girls didn't just go home after getting cussed out by Ellington and he hit their car with his hand. No damage was done, Adams said.

Instead of letting a sheriff's department deputy, who had been dispatched to the scene, handle the situation, the girls called their parents. They joined in a chase of Ellington that reached speeds of 90 mph, possibly higher for Ellington as he tried to flee. Eventually the family members got Ellington cornered, and that's when Vonette Larsen, Joel's wife of more than 20 years, got killed.

Ellington was convicted after the first trial, but the Idaho Supreme Court threw that out after it was determined by the state's highest court that a key prosecution witness lied on the witness stand.

Joel Larsen testified that he didn't pull the trigger and shoot Ellington in the head when he had the chance because his two daughters were in the line of fire. Ellington had just rammed the sisters' Honda Accord and pushed the vehicle into a ditch on the side of Scarcello Road.

The aggravated battery charges stem from his allegedly ramming the Honda occupied by sisters, who were 21 and 18 at the time.

Larsen took the stand as the second prosecution witness, following his daughter, Joleen Larsen, now 24. She testified about the chase, that included numerous changes of direction, U-turns, high rates of speed and at least one near crash. She also discussed the two 911 calls she made that day.

Joel Larsen, testifying about what his wife was doing less than a minute before her death, said, "She was screaming hysterically," as she watched Ellington ram his Blazer into the Honda carrying her daughters.

"It just kept pushing my kids backward," Larsen said.

After he and his wife jumped out of the Subaru they were driving, Larsen said, "We both ran straight back towards the (daughters') vehicle."

Larsen turned to the Blazer.

"The motor was screaming full throttle," Larsen said.

When he reached the Blazer, he said it was backing up away from the Honda. He looked inside the passenger window of the Blazer and saw Ellington shift it into drive, then heard him jam on the gas. Again Larsen said he heard the Blazer's motor scream as it moved toward full power.

Though Joel Larsen decided not to fire directly at Ellington, he said he fired one round from the handgun into the engine of the Blazer, hoping that would stop the vehicle.

"Because he was going after my wife," who was near the centerline of Scarcello Road, Larsen said.

The shot did nothing to stop the rig.

District Court Judge John Luster instructed the jury to disregard the "going after my wife" statement, because Larsen couldn't have known Ellington's intentions.

Larsen corrected himself, "I saw the Blazer go towards my wife."

He said he saw his wife stop and change directions just before the Blazer struck her, her head being struck by the hood of the rig, just 20 feet from him. Tires went over her head and neck.

He said the Blazer had plenty of space on the roadway to avoid striking Vonette Larsen.

Larsen recalled, "I emptied the rest of my gun at the Blazer" as it sped off east on Scarcello Road. He said he fired four shots at the fleeing Blazer.

Under cross-examination by Adams, Larsen acknowledged that during the seconds just before his wife was killed that the situation was chaotic and everything was happening really fast.

Ellington is out of custody after posting bond, but spent six years locked up, including four years in prison for this incident.

The trial continues Monday with new prosecution witnesses.