More than two years after television cameras captured the shooting of a lawyer outside a courthouse in Van Nuys, Calif., accused gunman William Strier will stand trial Tuesday for attempted murder.

Strier, 66, faces life in prison for opening fire at point-blank range on attorney Gerald Curry on Oct. 31, 2003, outside the courthouse where a hearing was under way in actor Robert Blake's murder trial.

Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday.

Video of the bizarre attack, which was captured by Court TV cameras, show Curry desperately dodging bullets behind a tree, while Strier calmly fires away at him. The lawyer was shot in the neck, left shoulder and both arms, but survived the attack.

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After the incident, Strier put the gun in his pocket and walked away, but was quickly tackled and subdued by a police officer.

Strier was charged with attempted murder, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyer claims that Strier was mentally unstable and opened fire in a delusional rage brought on by severe back pain.

After Strier spent almost a year in a mental-health facility, however, a court-appointed psychologist deemed him competent to stand trial.

Curry had represented a trustee of a court-administered fund that was established with a $100,000 settlement that Strier received after suffering a back injury in a 2002 car crash. Strier accused the trustee of withholding money he needed for back surgery.

"Mr. Strier was under a lot of stress from the case at the time of the incident, and his mental health problems were exacerbated by the Demerol he was taking for his back pain," defense lawyer Arna Zlotnik said in a 2004 interview.

"Our case will focus on his mental state at the time of the shooting, which was totally out of whack because of his medication," Zlotnik said. "That does not excuse his actions, but it explains why he became so irate when he was first denied access to the money for surgery and then had some of it taken from him for Curry's services."