ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The austere courtroom was nearly empty Wednesday morning when Judge Edgar W. Dickson looked toward jurors and spoke of “what many have called the greatest justice system ever created.”

The jurors were seated for the murder trial of Richard J. Combs, the former police chief in rural Eutawville. But by the end of the morning, it had become clear that the workings of the justice system were also a focus of the proceedings against Mr. Combs, who was indicted last month in the 2011 shooting death of Bernard Bailey, an unarmed black man, during an attempted arrest.

The gunfire that crackled outside Eutawville’s Town Hall on a clear spring morning, a prosecutor said, amounted to “an absolutely senseless act of violence” with its origin in a feud that began after Mr. Combs stopped Mr. Bailey’s daughter for a traffic violation. Defense lawyers contended that Mr. Combs reached for his handgun because, during a fight at Mr. Bailey’s truck, he feared being dragged to his death.

“This man is a good police officer,” John O’Leary, a defense lawyer, said of Mr. Combs. “Is it a tragedy? Oh my God, yes. It is a tragedy, a tragedy for the family, a tragedy for everybody that could have been avoided. If Mr. Bailey had actually complied with the arrest, we wouldn’t be here today.”