COEUR d'ALENE — The trial of a man accused of battering several people during a chaotic legislative town hall in the Coeur d'Alene High School auditorium is underway.

Paul Trouette, the owner of security firm Lear Asset Management, is charged with four counts of battery, two counts of false imprisonment and citations for security agent uniform and duties violations, all misdemeanors.

"What lies at the bottom of this case is a question about how we treat people who disagree with us," Ryan Hunter, chief deputy prosecutor for the city of Coeur d'Alene, told jurors Monday.

Hunter said Trouette's employees "ripped and pulled" Teresa Borrenpohl from her seat after she spoke out of turn during the Feb. 22 town hall, while Trouette helped Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris push a man against a wall and zip-tie his hands after the man told the security team to leave Borrenpohl alone.

Outside the auditorium, Hunter said Trouette grabbed a woman who spoke out against how Borrenpohl was being treated, pushing her against a wall and trying to zip-tie her hands. Trouette then helped his employees hold Borrenpohl down.

"Dissent should never justify violence," Hunter said. "But that's what happened here."

Defense attorney Joshua Hanners' opening remarks were brief and focused on the authority sheriffs in Idaho have to "command the aid of as many inhabitants of the county as (they) may think necessary in the execution" of their duties. He said Trouette acted at the command of Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris, and thus Trouette committed no crimes.

"If you're one of those citizens that the sheriff grabs and commands to help assist them, you are justified," Hanners said. "The jury instruction will say it's not battery. The battery was lawful. The false imprisonment was lawful because you were acting at the behest of the sheriff."

Outside the presence of the jury, Hunter argued that the question of whether Norris was indeed carrying out his duties as sheriff at the town hall and whether those duties must be lawful are ones the jury must answer.

"He can't just arrest anybody for no reason whatsoever," Hunter said. "He still has to comply with the law."

Marc Stewart represents precinct 405 on Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, which organized the town hall. At the time of the town hall, he sat on the body's legislative subcommittee and helped plan the event. He secured the use of the CHS auditorium and said he suggested the venue because it was a large, neutral location for what he understood to be a public event.

He said the atmosphere was tense as the town hall got underway.

"It was politically charged almost right off the bat," he told the court. "Right away, there were comments from both sides of the political spectrum."

Stewart said people in the audience began shouting, as did the event's emcee. One man was asked to leave after speaking out of turn. Then Stewart saw several unidentified men dressed in "paramilitary type" outfits drag a woman out of her seat and across the auditorium.

The sight of a woman being dragged along the floor was "upsetting," Stewart said.

"I saw this person's hair being pulled," he said. "I saw her clothes being pulled up. I saw her bra."

Stewart said he knew of no contract with Trouette's security firm, Lear Asset Management, or any other entity for security services at the town hall.

Detective Josh Reneau, a Coeur d'Alene police officer and the SRO for Coeur d'Alene High School, testified that, prior to the event, Trouette indicated to him that his security firm did not have a proper contract with the KCRCC. Instead, Lear Asset Management would provide security services on a volunteer basis or with a contract that included a token payment of $1.

Reneau said the authority to remove or trespass someone from school district property rests with administrators. If a person who is asked to leave school grounds doesn't comply, district policy requires that law enforcement be called.

Rathdrum Police Chief Dan Haley also took the stand Monday.

Before he was named chief in October, Haley was a detective with the Coeur d'Alene Police Department. He said he volunteered to lead the investigation into the town hall incident because of his background in handling event security for high-profile political events. He gained this experience during this time with the Colorado State Police.

In Colorado and Idaho, Haley said he was trained to be sensitive to First Amendment considerations in public spaces.

"The First Amendment allows anybody's voice to be heard," he said.

Haley said the authority police wield to trespass a person from an event or location flows from the person in charge of the event or the property. When trespassing someone, Haley said it's important for police to give the person the opportunity to leave under their own power and explain that they'll be trespassed if they don't.

De-escalation tactics should be used as a first resort, he said.

"There's no reason to push an issue if you can talk through it," he said.

Haley said he began his investigation by collecting publicly-available videos from the town hall, as well as other videos that were provided to him.

Jurors watched a cellphone video recorded by one of the security personnel, which showed Norris attempt to pull Borrenpohl out of her seat. Norris then stepped back and took the phone, recording as security personnel grabbed Borrenpohl.

"This little girl is afraid to leave," event emcee Ed Bejarana said from the stage. "She spoke up and now she doesn't want to suffer the consequences."

The video showed Norris' perspective as he grabbed a man who told the security team to leave Borrenpohl alone. Along with Trouette, he marched the man out of the auditorium, pushed him against a wall and spread his legs.

When Norris returned to the auditorium, Borrenpohl was face-down in the aisle with two men on top of her. The men flipped her over and began to drag her away, as people cheered and booed.

The trial continues today.