MOUNT CLEMENS — Jury trial started Dec. 1 for one of the defendants accused of causing a multi car accident that killed three L’Anse Creuse High School-North teens last April.

Stephen Davis, 24, of Clinton Township, is facing three counts of vehicular manslaughter, along with co-defendant James LaCoursiere, 18, for the deaths of Robert “Bobby” McGuire, Jordon Vandeputte and Nicolas Noble. The three victims were all 17-year-olds from Chesterfield Township.

LaCoursiere, also a Chesterfield Township resident, is charged with the same three counts for the deaths of his friends. His Nov. 24 pretrial conference was rescheduled twice and is now set for Dec. 11, right around the time jurors in are expected to deliberate whether Davis is guilty.

If convicted, each driver could face up to 15 years in prison.

A district court judge bound the two defendants over to Macomb County Circuit Court together after a preliminary exam in New Baltimore last September, but their trials were separated shortly after attorneys for the two began pointing fingers at the other defendant.

Prosecutors blame both Davis and LaCoursiere for a bout of “road rage,” or reckless driving that ultimately took the lives of the three teenagers.

Before jury selection began Dec. 1, Davis pleaded no contest to a fourth count of improper possession of a firearm. After the car accident, investigators found an AK-47 in the red Grand Am he was driving at the time of that crash. But was determined during the prelim that the gun did not play a role in the accident; nor did drugs or alcohol.

Circuit Court Judge Peter Maceroni took the no contest plea under advisement.

Macomb County Chief of Homicide Bill Caltaldo said at least 20 individuals will take the stand in Davis’ trial. The first two to testify — Chesterfield Township Police Sgt. Edmund Colinas, the first to arrive at the accident scene, and key witness, Casey Tozer, 19 — told their recollection of the collision to the jury Dec. 2.

Caltaldo said the other key witness, David Doyle — a third driver charged in the accident — is scheduled to testify in the Davis trial first thing in the morning Dec. 3. Doyle was originally charged with reckless driving but later took a plea bargain of careless driving in exchange for testifying.

McGuire, VanDePutte and Noble were passengers in LaCoursiere’s teal pickup truck, on their way back toward L’Anse Creuse North in Macomb Township from a vocational class at AIS Construction in Lenox, along with a caravan of other students including Tozer and Doyle around 2 p.m. April 8, 2008.

During his testimony, Tozer said it was Davis’ actions, “break checking” and swerving toward LaCoursiere’s truck — which was allegedly making an illegal pass in a center lane on Gratiot Avenue and 25 Mile at the time — that forced the teen’s front end to crash “head on” with a school bus in an oncoming traffic lane.

Cataldo asked Colinas if he’d describe Davis’ alleged actions as “road rage,” perhaps triggered by watching the group of students playfully toss empty water bottles into the beds of each other’s trucks while stopped at the 26 Mile and Gratiot intersection.

Robert Vitale, Davis’ attorney, objected to the question.

“I’m trying to determine what ‘road rage’ is,” Cataldo said, or at least determine “behaviors consistent” with the term.

“The scene as a whole was an utter chaotic scene,” said Colinas, adding that when he first talked to Davis, “he was upset … reacting normal for the situation.

“He wasn’t out of control, (or) belligerent angry.”

There were 26 witnesses to the accident and the actions that led up to it, Caltaldo said.

Davis’ trial is expected to last roughly two weeks. It was set to resume at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 3.

Macomb County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz is scheduled to take the stand first thing Dec. 4.