STARKE, Fla. -- After months of delays, four former prison guards went on trial Wednesday for the fatal beating of a death-row inmate.

Capt. Timothy Thornton, 36, Sgt. Jason Griffis, 28, Sgt. Charles Brown, 28, Sgt. Andrew Lewis, 31, and Sgt. Donald Stanford, 53, are charged with second-degree murder.

Thornton, Brown, Griffis and Lewis are also charged with aggravated battery.

Opening statements began more than three months after jury selection started in this high-profile trial involving former employees of the area's biggest employer -- the Florida Department of Corrections -- charged in the death of inmate Frank Valdes.

Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a jury of five men and one woman had been primed to begin Monday as family members, friends, and the media crowded into Circuit Court Judge Larry Turner's tiny Bradford County courtroom. But arguments over potentially damning testimony from inmates who claim they were beaten by the guards brought the proceedings to an unexpected halt.

The prosecution alleges that the four former guards on X-wing at Florida State Prison, along with four others who will later stand trial, were upset that Valdes (pictured, right) was planning to go to the media to try to stop beatings and mistreatment of other inmates.

Turner first indicated the evidence of other inmate beatings could not be heard. Prosecutors sprang into motion, threatening to file an appeal of his ruling. If an appeals court had agreed to hear the case, it could have delayed the trial 30 to 60 days, and might have required selecting a new jury.

But after prosecutors pressed their arguments and told Turner about the expected testimony of inmates, he ruled they could use it.

Prosecutors did not mention the mistreatment of other inmates during opening statements Wednesday morning.

The four defendants each have their own attorney, and each will make a separate opening statement.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to testify over the next six weeks to determine if the former correction officers are guilty of the July 17, 1999, death of Valdes.

Valdes was housed on X-wing at Florida State Prison, which is usually reserved for the toughest prisoners, including some on death row. He was facing execution for the 1987 murder of a Palm Beach County prison guard.

Two autopsies showed Valdes received fractures on his jaw, sternum, collarbone, shoulder, spine, nose and 22 of his ribs. An imprint of a boot was also found on his chest and neck.

The officers claimed Valdes was injured when he repeatedly threw himself off his bunk onto the cell's concrete floor.

A former guard, Raymon C. Hanson, is expected to testify for the prosecution. Agents and technicians with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as Department of Corrections officials, including former Warden James Crosby, is also expected to be called as witnesses.