The trial following the stabbing of Paul Pierce two years ago started Tuesday.  The Associated Press reports that all three defendants pleaded innocent.

The defendants are William Ragland, 20, Anthony Hurston, 33, and Trevor Watson, 35.  They are charged with armed assault with intent to murder

All three men agreed they were at Boston?s Buzz Club on September 25, 2000, but all claim they had no involvement in the fight that resulted in Pierce being stabbed at least eight times in the chest, abdomen and back, and struck across the face and head with a bottle.

Ragland, Hurston and Watson have claimed that police targeted them because they are associates of the rap group Made Men.

However, prosecutors claim it was Ragland who started the fight, confronting Pierce after Pierce struck up a conversation with his female cousin.  The prosecution claims Pierce did not know any of the men who attacked him and did not provoke the fight.