TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- The trial for a Live Oak woman accused of stabbing and killing her best friend began Tuesday.
Casey Cason is accused of killing Alaina Szortyka back in July of 2015.
Police say the incident happened outside of Cason's home on 5th Street in Live Oak when the two friends got into an argument.
Cason was indicted on second degree armed murder charges a month later.
At Tuesday's trial, the defense asked the jury to consider a lesser charge like excusable homicide. They also referenced a pathologist who they say confirmed that Szortyka had cocaine and marijuana in her system, making her erratic.
Cason's father Bill Cason said, "I feel sorry for her family, but she came to my daughter's house and jumped on her and to me that's self defense, and because its self defense why is she being brought to court."
"It has destroyed me, so as far as I'm concerned two people died on July 19th 2015, because you can't get your child back," said Szortyka's mother Angela MacLeod. "She was 22, she had her whole life ahead of her. They're saying a lot of awful things, that's their strategy."
Only a handful of witnesses were called on Tuesday, out of the 11 subpoenaed. The trial could go until the end of the week.
