A group of Broward County teens were drunk, high and purposely aiming for their victims' heads when they attacked three homeless men in 2006, beating one of them to death with a baseball bat, prosecutors told a jury Thursday during opening statements in the highly anticipated trial in Fort Lauderdale.

But lawyers for Thomas Daugherty, 19, and Brian Hooks, 21, said their clients were just ''messing with the homeless'' and never intended to kill anybody when they went on their violent spree.

Daugherty and Hooks face first-degree murder charges in the slaying of Norris Gaynor, who died from injuries suffered during one of the attacks.

The two friends also face attempted murder charges in connection with two other attacks on homeless men the same morning of Jan. 12, 2006. If convicted, they face life in prison.

''Every single blow that was levied was with the intent of hitting the head,'' Assistant State Attorney Peter Holden told jurors. ``You will hear testimony that they were laughing about it afterward.''

Testimony is scheduled to start Monday in a case that grabbed national and international attention after police released surveillance video of one of the attacks.

Both defense attorneys tried to minimize their clients' involvement. During opening statements they were careful not to link the two men.

Hooks and Daugherty never made eye contact during the daylong hearing.

Hooks barely moved in his chair as his lawyer, Jeremy Kroll, deflected blame for the killing of Gaynor, whose skull was bashed in.

No one ever saw Hooks hit the man, Kroll told the jury. It was Daugherty who was seen raising his arms -- bat in hand -- over the homeless man's sleeping body, Kroll said.

Prosecutors contend both teens violently attacked Gaynor -- Daugherty with a bat and Hooks with a rake -- leaving the homeless man swollen and bloodied.

Gaynor died a few hours later of severe skull fractures that left pieces of his brain spilling out of his head, which was swollen to three times its normal size, Holden said.

The group even tried to recruit a group of skateboarders to assist in ''beating up some bums,'' Holden said.

But Kroll told jurors that as distasteful as his client's actions were, he did not have murder in mind.

''You're not going to like what he did that night, and you shouldn't,'' Kroll said. ``Brian Hooks agreed to go mess with some homeless men in Fort Lauderdale, and that's reprehensible. But he never intended to kill anybody.''

After beating Gaynor, the group of teens -- Hooks, Daugherty and their friend William Ammons -- then attacked another homeless man, Jacques Pierre, Holden said.

Police believe the trio was involved in a third attack about an hour later. Raymond Perez, 51, was jumped and beaten outside Church by the Sea just off the 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale. Pierre and Perez both suffered broken bones and lacerations.

The attack on Pierre was caught by a surveillance camera and is expected to be the state's key evidence. The videotape shows someone -- allegedly Daugherty -- hitting Pierre repeatedly with a bat.

Daugherty used a bat in all three attacks, Holden said.

Hooks appears on the video once, striking Pierre in the lower back with a bat. He then ran away, Kroll said.

Hooks -- who allegedly used a bat, a rake, and a golf club -- is guilty of aggravated battery in the non-fatal attacks, his lawyers said, but not of murder in Gaynor's case.

All of the teens had been drinking large amounts of Grey Goose vodka and smoking marijuana at Ammons' house before heading out, which led to some of the bad decision making that night, said Michael Gottlieb, Daugherty's attorney.

Gottlieb also pointed a finger at the intense media attention and public pressure that was generated after police released the surveillance video. The tape tainted witnesses, who identified the two defendants only after seeing the footage, he said.

Both attorneys attacked the state's key witnesses, including Ammons, who accepted a plea deal in May and agreed to testify against Hooks and Daugherty for a shorter prison sentence.

Ammons had also faced life in prison, but will get 10 to 20 years for his cooperation.

Ammons admitted attacking Perez with a wooden or plastic sword he says Hooks gave him, but did not participate in the first two attacks, Holden said.

Ammons initially told investigators he never saw Hooks hit Gaynor, but started pointing the finger at Hooks and Daugherty once the trial got closer, Kroll said. He painted Ammons as a liar looking to save his own skin.

''When he was first brought in, Billy Ammons sat in the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and told 72 bold-faced lies,'' Kroll said. ``He lied about everything.''

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