SAN DIEGO -- A hall owner overreacted and shot a partygoer at the end of a Latina girls' birthday celebration, a prosecutor said Wednesday, but a defense attorney said his client acted in self-defense after being attacked by patrons he had asked to leave.

It's the second trial for 73-year-old Virgil Gordon, who faces 40 years to life in state prison if convicted of second-degree murder, assault and negligent discharge of a firearm.

A jury last year acquitted Gordon of first-degree murder in the July 16, 2006, killing of 39-year-old Silverio Rivera Cruz in Southcrest.

Deputy District Attorney David Berry told jurors in his opening statement that family members of the guest of honor were cleaning up around 1:30 a.m. when Gordon arrived.

The girl's father wanted to talk to Gordon about a concern he had, but the defendant was in no mood to talk, Berry said.

Gordon got up from his office chair and asked the girl's father to leave, saying "This isn't Mexico. You don't get to do it like you do in Mexico," Berry told the jury.

The prosecutor said Gordon went out into the hall, pulled out his .357- Magnum, and told the remaining guests, "I want you all leaving now."

One partygoer pleaded with Gordon to put the gun away because there were children in the room, the prosecutor said.

The partygoer said Gordon pointed the gun at him and he responded by saying, "What? What are you going to shoot me?"

Berry said Gordon briefly put the gun away but pulled it out again, telling the people in the hall to "leave, leave!"

The victim and another man -- and possibly two others -- followed Gordon into the hall, telling him to put his gun away, Berry told the jury.

Rivera Cruz -- who was unarmed -- then made a "bad decision" and approached Gordon with his palms outstretched and down, trying to calm the defendant down, the prosecutor said.

Berry said no one tried to hit Gordon other than telling him to put the gun down.

As Rivera Cruz attempted to be the peacemaker, Gordon hit the victim twice, once in the eye and once along the hairline, causing a skull fracture, Berry said.

Apparently stunned, the victim stepped back and Gordon pulled the trigger, striking Rivera Cruz once in the neck, the prosecutor said.

At that point, people began to panic and started throwing 10-pound banquet chairs at Gordon, some of them hitting the defendant, Berry said.

He said Gordon fired three more times around the room before leaving. The victim -- who had a .20 percent blood-alcohol content -- died on the floor of the hall.

Defense attorney Paul Pfingst told the jury that Gordon tried to walk away from people at the party when trouble started.

To one partygoer who told Gordon he wasn't afraid of him, the defendant said, "What do you want me to do?" Pfingst said.

As he walked away from a confrontation, Gordon was pursued by as many as seven people, according to his attorney.

Pfingst said Gordon asked the group to leave 30 to 40 times. People were yelling and screaming at the defendant and backed him into a corner of the rental hall before Rivera Cruz attacked and punched him, Pfingst said.

During the fight, Gordon took out his gun and hit Rivera Cruz twice in the head, discharging the weapon but injuring nobody, the defense attorney said.

The gun discharged a second time, then a third time when the two men struggled over the weapon, Pfingst said.

He said Gordon wasn't even aware Rivera Cruz had been shot, but when he did see, he called 911, the defense attorney said.

Gordon said, "He'll be OK. I only hit him in the head," according to Pfingst.

Gordon had no intent to kill the victim, he said. "He (Gordon) didn't want anybody dead. He didn't even know he'd (Rivera Cruz) been shot," Pfingst told the jury.