A man on trial for murder in the death of his mother’s boyfriend had three run-ins with Warren County deputies hours before the fatal shooting.

Jeremy Blake Bowlin, now 20, admitted to killing 25-year-old Timothy Harmon with a single-shot .243-caliber hunting rifle, but his team of three attorneys contends the shooting was in self-defense. If convicted Bowlin faces life in prison.

Prosecutors portrayed Bowlin as a troublemaker who concocted his defense while pacing inside his home after killing Harmon.

“He knows the only way he can get out of this if he says it is self-defense,” Assistant District Attorney Lane Campbell said during opening statements.

Defense attorney P.J. Lee contends that Jeremy Bowlin was “a scared, traumatized 18-year-old boy who had to defend himself.”

Harmon was the live-in boyfriend of Christine Bowlin, 38, and she and the two men shared the home at 3400 U.S. 80 Lot 4 where the shooting occurred shortly before 4 a.m. Jan. 6, 2011.

About four hours earlier, Jeremy Bowlin was at a gas station in Bovina with a girl who had overdosed on drugs, said John Elfer, who at the time was a patrol sergeant for Warren County. Jeremy Bowlin was released to his mother and acted grateful, Elfer said.

When Elfer went to speak with the girl’s mother, Jeremy Bowlin was at the home causing a disturbance, Elfer said.

“He was extremely aggressive,” Elfer said.

Jeremy Bowlin took a fighting stance and Elfer pushed him to the wall.

“He appeared to be under the influence of something,” Elfer said.

Again, Elfer released the 18-year-old.

About 1:30 a.m., Jeremy Bowlin was causing a disturbance at River Region Medical Center, Elfer said.

“Trying to be compassionate, I released him to his mother and her boyfriend,” Elfer said of the third encounter.

At some point, Jeremy Bowlin went home and fell asleep on the couch, Lee said. In two taped statements, Jeremy Bowlin said he was awakened by Harmon punching him in the face about 3:30 a.m.

“He feared for his life,” Lee said.

A gunshot at about 4 a.m. awoke neighbor Porsha Isonhood. She thought it might have been fireworks or innocuous gunfire. Harmon and Jeremy Bowlin had been shooting guns in the trailer park on New Year’s Eve, she said.

When Isonhood looked out her window, she saw Jeremy and Christine Bowlin moving Harmon’s body.

A 30.06 rifle was found next to Harmon’s body. In his taped statements, Jeremy Bowlin said Harmon was shooting at him.

Harmon couldn’t have dropped the gun when shot because of where it was found, investigator Chris Satcher said.

“They took the body and turned it about 180 degrees,” he said.

If Harmon had dropped the gun as result of being shot, the gun would have been behind the body, Satcher said.

Jeremy Bowlin initially denied moving the body but admitted to it after about half an hour of interrogation, according to a taped interview shown to jurors.

Testimony resumed at 9 today with Satcher on the stand.

Since his arrest, Jeremy Bowlin has been held without bail because he was under indictment for grand larceny and burglary when the killing occurred. Those cases are still pending.