Testimony is under way in the trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing another man in the course of an apparent drug deal in Roxbury last summer.

DAVID COPELAND (D.O.B. 2/2/79) of Roxbury is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery for the fatal stabbing of 33-year-old John Marshall in a parking lot near Dale and Regent streets on the afternoon of July 29, 2008.

Prosecutors allege that Copeland had been smoking crack cocaine contacted Marshall that day in an effort to obtain more drugs. Armed with a steak knife, he allegedly proceeded on foot to the parking lot and met Marshall, who arrived in his car.

Prosecutors allege that Copeland stabbed Marshall repeatedly in the face, hands, arm, and chest, with one of those wounds perforating his heart and mortally wounding him. Authorities say he fled then took cash and drugs from the victim.

Copeland was seen fleeing the scene on foot by a Boston Police officer. Unaware of the stabbing and observing blood on Copeland’s face and clothes, the officer asked if he was hurt; Copeland did not respond and continued back to the Regent Street residence where he had been using crack cocaine.

When Boston Police learned of the stabbing, they quickly located Copeland at the Regent Street address and recovered from inside it a bsteak knife wrapped in bloody clothing.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Krippendorf is trying the case with defense attorney Michael Laurano in courtroom 906 of Suffolk Superior Court.