Jurors in the trial of three police officers accused of beating of an unarmed man heard a strikingly different version of events Tuesday from what prosecutors claim was a senseless attack — and the defense has not even begun its case yet.

In the fifth day of the state's case against former Milwaukee police officers Daniel Masarik, Jon Bartlett and Andrew Spengler, two prosecution witnesses attempted to shift the blame to 27-year-old Frank Jude for the bloody attack that left him with a broken nose and lacerations all over his body.

Milwaukee Police Officer Michelle Grutza and her boyfriend, Ryan Lemke, were two of several off-duty police officers to witness the chaotic scene outside the home of defendant Spengler, who, along with co-defendants Masarik and Bartlett, is accused of substantial battery for the alleged attack in 2004.

Both witnesses, who live together, denied that they saw any acts of physical violence against Jude, contrary to testimony from several civilian witnesses, including the victim himself.

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Instead, Grutza testified that when the first uniformed officer arrived at the scene around 3 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2004, she told him that "he might want to pepper spray" the allegedly incompliant Jude.

Police Officer Michelle Grutza told jurors Monday that she recommended officers use pepper spray against a male stripper.

Lemke echoed his girlfriend's statement as he followed her on the stand Monday afternoon, and admitted that he even tried to help officers gain control of a "violent" man whom Lemke considered was resisting arrest.

As the first witness for the prosecution, Jude testified that after Spengler accused him of stealing his badge from his home, several partygoers pulled him out of a truck, took him to the ground and began hitting, punching and kicking him even as he denied knowing where the badge was.

Katie Brown, a college student who invited Jude to the party, corroborated his claim as she recalled the "disgusting" and unrelenting attack on a defenseless and complacent man who begged for his life.

But Lemke testified that he was forced to grab Jude's legs to restrain him while Spengler, Bartlett and others tried to handcuff him.

When that did not work, Lemke testified he delivered two "roundhouse" kicks to Jude's outer thigh to momentarily incapacitate him.

"If someone gets to their feet, they're mobile, which means they can not only move away from you but they can move into you," Lemke offered as a rationalization for the kicks. He insisted he did not see any other acts of physical violence.

"Just because you say you didn't see it, you are not intending to say it didn't happen?" Milwaukee County District Attorney Michael McCann asked.

"No, I am not," Lemke answered, his face growing more flushed as the questioning progressed.

For her part, Grutza also denied witnessing any of the kicks or punches to the head or anywhere else, as Jude and Brown testified.

Even so, Grutza said that the victim, a physically imposing man at 6 feet tall and 220 pounds, clearly appeared to be a threat as he thrashed and flailed under the weight of several off-duty officers.

"As a police officer in a fight, you have a right to hit someone, isn't that right?" Bartlett's lawyer, Gerald Boyle, asked. "If someone is not complying, you have a right to use sufficient force in order to get them to comply?"

"Yes, as much as you need to get a person to comply," said Grutza, who, for her role in the incident, was suspended for gross neglect of duty and failure to preserve public peace.

Both Lemke and Grutza, along with several other police officers at the scene, were either suspended or dismissed for their involvement, including their failure to report relevant information to authorities.

Lemke appealed his dismissal on charges of "untruthfulness" and gross neglect of duty, but his termination was upheld. Grutza received two 60-day suspensions, according to Daniel Heard, the director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.

Grutza was initially dismissed, but later received a 120-day suspension through a deal with the city attorney's office, Heard told Courttv.com.

As he did with two other officers who were at the scene and turned into "reluctant" prosecution witnesses, McCann sought to impeach Grutza and Lemke's credibility in support of his theory of a systematic police cover-up regarding the incident.

Under redirect examination from the prosecutor, Grutza admitted that she did not talk to authorities about the incident until February 2005, about four months later, and even then only after she was subpoenaed in an investigation conducted by the department's Internal Affairs division.

When asked if there was pressure to not rat out a colleague accused of using excessive force, Lemke paused for a while, his face growing flushed, before finally conceding.

Testimony resumes Monday afternoon. The trial is being streamed live on the Web at Court TV Extra.