VALPARAISO, Ind. — Jason Fishburn approached the witness stand with a limp. A curving scar covered the back of his head. He spoke softly, giving short answers and pausing to find the right words.

Fishburn, 30, an Indianapolis metropolitan police officer, remembers nothing about the day he was shot by a man he was chasing on foot. But his five minutes of testimony Tuesday at the start of his assailant’s trial in a Northwest Indiana courtroom provided what prosecutors had hoped — a vivid illustration of the shooting’s lasting effects for a jury unfamiliar with the incident.

Fishburn’s wife, Tonya, told the jury her husband is adapting to a new reality: Few additional gains are expected in his physical and cognitive impairments, including paralysis in his right arm. He wears a brace to walk.

“Everything he does takes a lot of effort,” she said. “He’s pretty much as improved as he will be.”

The Fishburns were the first to testify in a trial expected to last at least the rest of this week. It was moved to Porter County because of heavy media coverage in Central Indiana.

Brian Reese, 37, is charged with attempted murder, resisting law enforcement and carrying a handgun without a license in the July 2008 shooting on Indianapolis’ Eastside. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 59 years in prison.

After joining other officers on a foot chase, Fishburn followed Reese between two houses and was shot in his protective vest and in the head.

The latter bullet “ripped through Jason’s skull,” Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said during his opening statement.

Brizzi called the shooting an ambush, with both bullets hitting in “the kill zone.” Fishburn would have died, Brizzi said, “but for the grace of God and the skill of his physicians.”

The shooting is not disputed. But whether Reese shot with intent to kill — necessary to prove attempted murder — is the key question of the trial.

The defense is asking the jury to choose a less severe crime, painting Reese as a man who had eluded police once that day and drew his gun only to get away again.

“When the evidence is in,” defense attorney David Shircliff said, “we’re not going to ask you to like Mr. Reese, or to agree with what he did, or to find he is not responsible for officer Fishburn’s injuries.”

Prosecutors will ask the jury to infer Reese’s intent from his actions, which Brizzi said changed all too quickly from running from Fishburn to opening fire.

Fishburn now handles administrative tasks for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department four days a week, working eight-hour shifts.

After Fishburn testified, Shircliff sought unsuccessfully to bar him from the courtroom, arguing his presence would serve as a constant and unfair reminder to the jury. Judge Lisa Borges denied the request.

Reese faces separate murder charges in two other cases stemming from the killings of three people earlier in the week Fishburn was shot.

According to testimony Tuesday, detectives investigating one of those killings arrived at the home of Reese’s girlfriend, Lona Bishop, seeking to talk to her. Reese slammed the door shut and climbed out a back window, leading the officers on a foot chase that ended when they lost his trail.

Hours later, police tracked a minivan driven by Reese’s mother and watched as he got in. Officers forced it to a stop in a Kroger parking lot, and Reese jumped out.

Fishburn joined in the chase shortly before Reese darted between two houses. Shots echoed through the block.

Detective Timothy Day testified that he arrived just after other officers brought Reese down with a shot to the shoulder. The pursuing officers converged.

“They were screaming, ’Where’s Fish? Where’s Fish?’ "

They ventured between the houses and found the fallen officer, unconscious.