Testimony in the Terry Sturgis trial is set to wrap Wednesday.
Wednesday, a jury heard most of what Terry Sturgis told police last November after the alleged beating death of his 10-year-old son Tramelle.
The video recording of a police interrogation is the latest evidence to be introduced at the murder trial of Terry Sturgis.
Because the interrogation is more than three hours long, the process of playing it in court began on Tuesday and concluded Wednesday morning.
Toward the beginning of the session, Sturgis tells police that he “loves his kids to death, and would do anything for them.”
Later, police confront Terry Sturgis with a photograph of Tramelle’s injuries.
In the beginning, Sturgis responds with things like, “that’s not at my hands,” and “I can’t understand why you’re talking to me.”
Later in the recording he exclaims, “If you don’t draw the line now, they’ll get in trouble when they grow up,” although Sturgis would only admit to hitting Tramelle five or ten times on the bottom with a back scratcher on the night the boy died.
Terry Sturgis appeared to show little in the way of emotion during his time with police, as might be expected from someone who had lost a son.
During the interview police did most of the talking. Many of their questions were met with silence.
When Sturgis did respond, it was in a low raspy voice that was hard to understand.
At one point, Sturgis tried to explain away burns marks on Tramelle’s body by saying that the boy bumped into a pot of boiling water.
Tramelle Sturgis weighed just 67 pounds and stood four foot four and a half inches tall, yet a doctor who performed the autopsy indicated that the small body was covered with big bruises.
The doctor further testified that Tramelle had four bone fractures involving his skull, arm, ribs and tailbone.
The doctor backed up the prosecution’s contention that the cause of death was a blow to the head, although the doctor could not rule out the idea that the injury could have been suffered by a fall down the stairs, as suggested by the defense.
Jury instructions will be given after testimony concludes Wednesday. Deliberations will then begin Thursday.
NewsCenter 16's Mark Peterson is continuing to follow the case and will have the latest information on the air starting at 5 p.m.