Mohamud trial is underway

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Testimony is getting under way in the trial of a man charged with beating his 10-year-old stepson to death in the basement of their Buffalo home.

A prosecutor and the defense lawyer in the second-degree murder trial of Ali-Mohamed Mohamud have made their opening statements Monday morning in state Supreme Court. Prosecutors say Mohamud bound Abdifatah Mohamud's hands with an electrical cord and duct taped his mouth before hitting the boy about 70 times with a wooden rolling pin last April.

Mohamud was arrested a short time later at The Buffalo News, where he was a security guard.

The boy's mother and a brother are scheduled to testify Monday, along with a neighbor.