The trial of one of two men accused of killing their prison cellmate and using the victim's intestines to taunt guards and other inmates got under under way Monday in federal court in Denver.

Forty-two-year-old William Sablan and his cousin Rudy Sablan are the first federal defendants in Colorado who could face the death penalty since Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

A trial date hasn't been set for Rudy Sablan.

In opening statements this morning, federal prosecutor Brenda Taylor painted a grim picture of what happened in October 1999 to Joey Estrella. Taylor told the jury a night of drinking in the mens' cell in a federal penitentiary in Florence ended with Estrella strangled, his throat and stomach slashed and his intestines pulled out.

Taylor says although there will be testimony about crowded prison cells and inattentive guards, William Sablan is the one responsible for the carnage.

Defense lawyers plan to present expert testimony showing that Sablan is brain damaged and suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. They say he isn't capable of committing premeditated murder as prosecutors claim.

The Sablans are from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. They speak Chamorro and English. An interpreter was in court.