Five months after Billy Jack Gaither's charred and battered body was found by a creek near this town, prosecutors on Tuesday told a jury of a hate-inspired conspiracy to kill him on the part of two construction workers who they said were enraged by Gaither's homosexuality. "Billy Jack Gaither was a homosexual, and that is the only reason they killed him," said District Attorney Fred Thompson in the opening statement of the capital murder trial of Charles Monroe Butler Jr., one of the two men. "It was hatred _ hatred of someone perceived to be different." The other man, Steven Eric Mullins, pleaded guilty in June to the Feb. 19 killing of Gaither, a 39-year-old factory worker who lived in nearby Sylacauga. Butler was expected to accept a similar plea agreement, but on Monday he rejected an offer of life without parole, and his trial began Tuesday before a jury of six men and six women. Prosecutors said Mullins killed Gaither but accused Butler of being a willing accomplice who helped to burn Gaither's body. Butler's attorney told the jury his client knew nothing of Mullins' plans and was forced to help by the larger and stronger Mullins. Both men had already admitted to police that Gaither was killed because he was gay and had made an overture toward Butler in a Sylacauga bar. As in the slaying of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, Gaither's killing became a national symbol of anti-gay violence, made especially poignant by his closeted life in a small Southern town where even his parents did not know of his homosexuality. Trial testimony revealed new details of the savage nature of the slaying and of Gaither's desperate attempts to resist. Jurors shook their heads in revulsion when shown large color photographs of his body, the abdomen of which had been reduced to ashes by the flaming tires placed on him after his head was crushed by an ax handle. In a taped statement given to police in February and played for the jury, Butler, 21, said the three men had been in the bar together when Gaither made an overture to him, apparently in the parking lot. "He started talking, you know, queer stuff, you know, and I just didn't want no part of it," he said. Butler said he then began kicking Gaither to the ground but left to use the bathroom when Gaither struggled to his feet. Mullins then began beating Gaither, according to the statement, punching him, slashing his throat and stuffing him into the trunk of Gaither's car. Sitting next to Butler, Mullins then drove the car to his house, where both men got some tires, kerosene and matches, Butler said. Then they drove to a trash dump, he said, and Mullins took the tires from the trunk and set them afire with the kerosene. They assumed Gaither was either dead or unconscious, but he surprised them by suddenly rising from the trunk and pushing Mullins into the creek. Butler said he was frightened and ran away, while Gaither tried desperately to start the car. Mullins had the keys, and when he emerged from the creek he pulled Gaither out of the front seat and beat him to death with an ax handle, Butler said. He said they jointly threw Gaither's lifeless body onto the fire, and later burned the car. Butler's attorney, Billy Hill Jr., did not dispute Butler's earlier statement but noted that his client never admitted doing the actual killing. He said that Mullins is 25 years old, 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, while Butler is 21, 5-foot-3 and 120 pounds, suggesting that the older man had strong-armed his client into participating. Unlike Mullins, who is likely to receive a sentence of life without parole as a result of his plea, Butler faces the death penalty if convicted of the top count of murder. Although Hill said he hoped to have his client declared not guilty, he seemed to be trying to guide the jury toward a lesser charge, as he did not try to refute Butler's admission that he accompanied Mullins throughout the incident. Once Mullins testifies, he said, jurors will learn how little his client had to do with the slaying. "My client didn't kill Billy Jack Gaither, he didn't kidnap him, he didn't know of a plot to kill him," Hill said. "He wasn't required to put his life in danger by trying to stop Mullins." Gaither's family sat quietly behind the defense table during the day, his elderly parents occasionally looking downward during the more gruesome testimony. His father, Marion Gaither, said during a break that he held Butler equally responsible. "He could have gotten out of the car and stopped it any time he wanted to," he said, standing outside the courthouse in the county seat of 500 about 60 miles southeast of Birmingham. "He could have told someone what was happening, but he didn't. It was his choice." _ Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.