SAN ANTONIO -- A jury was deliberating the fate Wednesday of a man charged with fatally shooting another man following an incident at a poker game.

During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Ian Van Buren could have sped away in his car when Jeremy Latham came at him with a baseball bat the evening of Oct. 31, 2006.

But Van Buren's defense attorney argued that there wasn't time for his client to react.

"This bat could have been a Nerf bat," defense attorney Pat Hancock told jurors. "It could've been a Whiffle ball bat. It could've been plastic. It could've been a damn sponge. As long as he perceived the threat to be real and be imminent from his standpoint."

Van Buren, who was in sitting in his car, testified that Latham smashed out his taillight and was about to hit him.

The defendant eventually opened fire, killing Latham. But Van Buren testified that he didn't even know he had shot the victim when he was arrested a few blocks away.

Latham was mad at Van Buren after he had poured beer on the head of a friend of theirs.