"They beat Marcus Jones with canes so severely he needed surgery to remove a blood clot from his buttocks and also they punched him wearing boxing gloves to the point he temporarily lost hearing," Assistant State Attorney Frank Allman said in his opening statement.

Allman told six jurors and two alternates that the skin on the sophomore student's buttocks was so severely damaged, it "almost looked like plastic."

Those injuries suffered over four days constitute serious bodily injury, Allman said. Defense lawyers, though, said the doctors who treated Jones, 19, of Decatur, Ga., will testify the injuries were "not that bad."

The defense lawyers said Jones suffered no broken bones or muscular injuries, his ear drum has fully healed and he had no permanent hearing loss. They also disputed Allman's characterization of the buttocks injury as a blood clot and said the surgery involved only the removal of a small patch of dead skin.

"It's a soft tissue injury, only a contusion to the buttocks surface," said Richard Keith Alan II, who is representing defendant Jason Harris, 25.

Alan said the evidence also will show Jones did not seek treatment back home until four days after the beatings ended. He has not returned to school.

Hobbs said Jones and his father, Army Master Sgt. Mark Jones, retained civil attorneys and suggested their motive for seeking criminal charges was financial to enhance the chances of a lawsuit that has not yet been filed.

The family is in financial straits because the son lost a partial scholarship before the beatings and had spent $1,500 to buy food, clothing and other gifts seeking acceptance from fraternity members, in addition to a $2,100 membership fee, Hobbs said.

The defense lawyers also questioned how the younger Jones could identify their clients as the perpetrators when the beatings occurred while he was blindfolded or in the dark at an abandoned warehouse.

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