Four years ago, Mahoning County officials said a Canfield man crashed a car causing the death of his passenger, a friend of his.

On Wednesday, in an unusual twist during the Mahoning County Court trial, now 30-year-old Michael Malvasi II delivered his own opening statement in his aggravated vehicular homicide case and said he was not driving the car the night of the crash; the victim was.

It was in November of 2017 on a curve along Shields Road and route 62 in Canfield Township where police said Malvasi drove off the road, hit a tree, a ditch and rolled over twice.

Killed in the crash was 23-year-old Ryan Lanzo who was thrown from the vehicle.

Officials said Malvasi was intoxicated and never called the police after the crash. Records indicate Malvasi and his father then drove Lanzo to a local emergency room where he was pronounced dead.

In court, Malvasi said there's no evidence to prove he was the driver.

"I'm not guilty of causing this," Malvasi said in court as he was crying, "I'm not guilty of causing the death of my friend Ryan. I've been fighting for four years since 2017."

He asked the jury to "be fair and look at the evidence."

"The evidence will show I did some stupid things," Malvasi said, "like running home when I couldn't find my phone, instead of knocking on a door. The evidence will show that I drove back to get Ryan when I should have called for help, and the evidence will show that I should have called for help instead of having my dad drive me and Ryan to the hospital. The evidence won't show one thing, however, that I was driving the car at the time of the accident."

Multiple witnesses who were with Lanzo and Malvasi at a Boardman bar the night of the crash alleged the two were drinking alcohol, then Lanzo asked friends for a ride home and claim Malvasi offered to take Lanzo home.

"Ryan looked uneasy about Mike [Malvasi] driving him home," One witness testified, "Even though Mike had offered to drive him, he still looked at the entire table of people and said, 'Will anyone take me home? I'll even pay you to drive me home.'"

Malvasi is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident, tampering with evidence and driving under the influence.

He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.