A birthday bash last September at Wrightsville City Hall turned deadly after the DJ played a song by rappers Little John and the Eastside Boys, witnesses told a Pulaski County jury Tuesday.

The song inspired several people to flash gang signs, witnesses testified, and then a fight started.

Then a single shot killed Randy Bonds, a 16-year-old Wrightsville youth.

"Somebody threw the wrong sign up," said Jonathan Maryman, one of several witnesses who testified during the first day of the murder trial of Jermaine Hadley, accused of firing the gun. "The fight stopped after the shot."

Prosecutors told the seven women and five men on the jury that Hadley, 17, of Little Rock confessed to shooting Bonds after he was arrested in Jacksonville a few days later. Charged with first-degree murder, Hadley faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

"Randy Bonds should have come home from that party," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Sachar said in opening statements. "He didn't because the defendant murdered him."

Defense attorney Herb Wright told the jury that his client is innocent.

"Jermaine is not the person that did this," Wright said. "They [prosecutors] must show you that Jermaine did this."

Wright also said Hadley never confessed to firing the shot that killed Bonds on Sept. 28. The rap song, "Put Yo' Hood Up," urges people to display gang signals, Sachar said.

"This is a song about violence, about 'representing' and about segregating yourself," he said.

One of the organizers of the party, Dewanna Clark, agreed that the song appeared to incite the fight. She said the "hood" reference in the song can be taken to mean gang affiliation. Clark said the reference also can represent a person's hometown.

"It kind of got out of control," she said. "They started jumping around."

Once the shot was fired, people ran from the City Hall, leaving Clark, Maryman, Bonds and one other youth until a deputy arrived a few seconds later.

"He was trying to talk, but nothing was coming out," Clark said of Bonds. "Jonathan [Maryman] was praying over him."

Little Rock police officer Todd Hurd, a gang expert, said the song never should have been played, particularly at a tightly packed party with known members of rival gangs.

"It's a challenge to whoever you're against," Hurd said. "It's a call to fight."

Hurd read a few lyrics, which refer to flashing the signs of one's gang at a nightclub.

"If you scared to throw it up get the f*** out the club," the lyrics read. "If you don't give a f*** then throw that m*****-f ***** up."

Hurd said playing the song at the party was irresponsible.

"It would have a tendency to separate the crowd out and polarize it into two groups," he testified. "It's like bringing matches to the fire."

Aptista Hatton, who said her brother is in a gang with Hadley, said she loaned a.25-caliber semiautomatic handgun to her brother to take to the party.

She said that after the shooting, Hadley demonstrated how he shot Bonds, acting out the shooting using a friend to stand in as the victim.

"He was just showing me how he done it," she testified. "He didn't show any remorse."

Testimony on Tuesday offered no indication that Bonds was a gang member.

Sheriff's Deputy Jody Geiber was in the parking lot investigating a 911 hang-up call when he saw people streaming from the building.

"Someone yelled, 'He's been shot! He's been shot! Call 911,'" Geiber testified.

The deputy said he and other deputies performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Bonds for about 30 minutes until he was pronounced dead.

Dr. Frank Peretti, associate medical examiner, said Bonds died from the single gunshot wound, the bullet passing through his liver, pancreas, stomach and heart.

Peretti said Bonds did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system.

The state rested its case Tuesday afternoon. Wright is to begin the defense case this morning in Circuit Judge John Langston's court.