A boy told jurors Tuesday that Jami James sexually assaulted him on two occasions when he was 8 years old and James was his youth hockey coach.

The boy said one assault took place at a hotel in Butte, where a hockey camp was being held, and the other happened at James' house in Flathead County.

He said there were other boys in the rooms at the time and when he tried to scream during the first incident, James covered his mouth and told him, "Shhh." He did scream the second time but James quickly covered his mouth, he said.

Defense attorney Lane Bennett noted, through questions during cross-examination, that other boys were in the rooms but apparently nobody woke up, even when he got a scream out.

The boy, now 13, briefly described the assaults but Bennett pressed him for more details, many he could not provide.

James went on trial Monday for allegedly raping that boy and two others in Butte and Flathead County between 2019 and early 2021. Prosecutors say the boys were 8 or 9 years old at the time and were participants in private hockey programs run by James.

James told police he never sexually abused children and could not think of a motive behind the accusations. But he has said he is biracial and told a detective after his arrest that he feels he is constantly attacked due to his race.

James, now 50, is charged with six counts of sexual intercourse without consent, a felony charge in Montana that usually involves alleged penetration by an object or body part.

James pleaded not guilty in April 2023 to two counts filed in Butte-Silver Bow County five days after he pleaded not guilty in Kalispell to four rape charges in Flathead County. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.

The six counts were combined into one case that is being tried in Butte this week with District Judge Robert Whelan presiding.

Jury selection took all day Monday, so Tuesday began with opening arguments.

Prosecutor Stephanie Robles told jurors that James seemed “like a gift to hockey” in Montana by coaching young boys, traveling with them and taking them camping.

“But no one knew what was happening behind closed doors,” she said. “No one knew the defendant had a dark and horrifying secret.”

She said all three boys would testify about the assaults and would all say James covered their mouths with his hands so they could not cry out.

Scott Hilderman, another defense attorney for James, told jurors that James has coached 10,000 kids over the past 30 years and until two years ago when this case began, not once did anyone make sexual assault claims.

He said prosecutors had no physical evidence, no search warrants were ever conducted, no computers were examined and no camp counselors or other kids in the hockey programs were interviewed.

“Pay attention to the evidence that comes in,” Hilderman said. “The evidence they have is three children making complaints that my client assaulted them. They have no other evidence that backs up that testimony, no real corroboration.”

The charges in Flathead County stem from alleged sexual assaults of two boys at James’ Columbia Falls home and during a camping trip at Hungry Horse Reservoir in 2020.

Prosecutors in Butte-Silver Bow say one of those victims was also assaulted by James at a Butte hotel.

A third boy saw a newspaper article and photo about James’ arrest in early February 2023 and told his parents two days later, “I think JJ did that to me.” Authorities believe it occurred at a different hotel in Butte, leading to the second charge there.

The one boy who testified Tuesday said he eventually told his mother what happened. He said he told a friend who was also in the hockey program and that boy said James had done the same thing to him.

The Montana Attorney General's Office is trying the case and their team also includes prosecutor Kelli Fivey and paralegal Megan Schneckloth.

The trial is expected to last through this week.