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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on The Latest on the death penalty trial for a South Carolina father (all times local):
5 p.m.
The father of a man facing the death penalty after killing his five children says he never thought his son should have had children.
Timothy Jones Sr. testified Wednesday that he was proud of his son for making it through college and getting a nice computer job, but Timothy Jones Jr. was too religious and strict and got angry too quickly.
Jones Sr. says the son he saw on trial was the man he was always scared he was going to see after his mother was sent to a mental institution for decades for schizophrenia.
Jones Sr. blamed bad DNA and called his son "a sick man."
Prosecutors say Jones Jr. killed his children in their Lexington home in 2014. They ranged in age from 1 to 8.
Defense attorneys want the jury to find Jones Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity.
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3:40 p.m.
Several women who babysat for a South Carolina father charged with killing his five children say he was a doting dad who demanded strict discipline.
Timothy Jones Jr.'s defense called the babysitters to the stand this week. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Jones, who police say strangled and beat his five children.
Chrystal Ballentine testified Wednesday that she was 17 when she started watching the children in Jones' Lexington home and became his girlfriend. She says she could hear Jones beat the children through the walls of the home.
Babysitter Joy Lorick went with the Jones family to Disney World. She said Jones loved the kids, but she called social workers after he beat them with a belt.
Jones' lawyers are arguing he's not guilty by reason of insanity.
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