A jury has been selected in the case of a Hunter man charged with the alleged bashing murder of his mate in 2018.
Woodberry man Shane Holmes pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to a charge of murder in the Supreme Court at Newcastle on Tuesday when he was arraigned over the death of his old school friend Chad Hadden.
The court heard on Tuesday that the Department of Public Prosecutions did not accept the 45-year-old's guilty plea to manslaughter and a trial would take place over the murder charge.
In his opening directions to the 12-person jury, made up of six women and six men, Supreme Court Judge Justice Stephen Campbell SC said they would only be considering whether to find Mr Holmes guilty or not guilty of the murder charge.
Justice Campbell said he would deal with the manslaughter charge after the trial, if the jury returned a verdict of not guilty in relation to the murder charge.
"That means the plea of guilty to manslaughter ... is not before you," he told the jury.
"You are being asked to decide whether Mr Holmes is guilty or not guilty to the charge of murder."
Mr Holmes is accused of striking Mr Hadden several times after an afternoon of drinking in Newcastle on January 14, 2018.
According to a statement of police facts previously tendered to the court, the pair consumed alcohol together for about four hours at the Queens Wharf Hotel before an argument broke out when Mr Hadden could not find his tobacco pouch and he blamed Mr Holmes.
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The men were separately ejected from the venue after the argument became physical.
Mr Hadden approached Mr Holmes about 100 metres from the hotel where they had been drinking and Mr Holmes punched Mr Hadden in the head.
The statement of facts said Mr Hadden fell to the ground, unconscious, where Mr Holmes hit him two or three times.
Mr Holmes was arrested and a serious assault charge was leveled at him.
Mr Hadden was taken to hospital in a critical condition, but died on June 27, about five-and-a-half months after the incident, having never regained consciousness.
The day after Mr Hadden's death, Mr Holmes was charged with manslaughter.
But the charge was upgraded to murder in January, 2019.
Crown prosecutor Lee Carr and public defender Peter Krisenthal are each due to deliver their opening submissions on Wednesday morning, beginning what is expected to be a trial that lasts several weeks.
