A teenager accused of killing his stepfather with a samurai sword last year blamed the slaying on his mother Friday during his murder trial.
As defendant Zachary Gibian finished his testimony on the death of retired New York City police officer Scott Nager, prosecutor John Scott Prudenti asked Gibian: "Let's get this clear: Who killed your stepfather?"
"My mother," Gibian replied.
It was the first time Gibian directly implicated his mother for his 51-year-old stepfather's killing. On Thursday, Gibian said only that his mother was in the Hauppauge home on the morning the Nager was slain. Gibian said then that he walked into the family's living room and found Nager sliced open from his neck up the side of his face. His mother was sitting on a couch, covered in blood and crying, he said.
Previously, Gibian, who turns 20 on Monday, confessed to police that he had killed his stepfather.
Prudenti told Gibian that he lied, either when he confessed to police or when he testified that his mother was the real killer.
"You want to tell this jury you're a pretty convincing liar?" the prosecutor asked.
Says he was sexually abused
Gibian repeated Friday that he confessed only after detectives told him he would likely serve a prison term of five to seven years if he admitted the murder and saved his mother from prosecution. He said the detectives coached him to be convincing on the video.
Gibian stunned a hushed courtroom Thursday when he claimed the victim had sexually and psychologically abused him for years. He said he admitted to the killing only to protect his mother, Laura Nager.
Laura Nager, who has multiple sclerosis, has insisted through her attorney that she did not kill her husband. She hasn't been charged in the killing and hasn't attended her son's trial.
Gibian said Thursday that his mother learned of the alleged sex abuse last year when she walked in on her husband and son in the boy's bedroom the night before the killing.
Gibian said that when his parents began to argue about the sexual encounter, he left and spent the night at a friend's house, returning the next morning to find the gruesome scene in his living room.