While defense investigator Lisa McDermott asked him questions from behind the camera, Ricardo Sanchez III made careful lines, squiggles and circles on a piece of paper with a set of magic markers.

“Where is your daddy?" McDermott asked him.

Family slain

Jose and Yessica Escobedo with sons Luis Julian (left) and Luis Damian (right). Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida’s Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. More news, photos

After a short delay, the then 5-year-old answered: "At jail."

A federal jury watched a video in court Wednesday as the boy, nicknamed "3," talked about how much he loved his father Ricardo Sanchez Jr.

The same jury earlier this month convicted Sanchez and another man, Daniel Troya, of killing two boys just a couple of years younger than Sanchez's son along Florida's Turnpike.

Now they are charged with deciding whether Sanchez and Troya will spend the rest of their lives in prison or be put to death for the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their 3- and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian Escobedo.

Escobedo worked as a drug supplier to Sanchez and Troya's boss, Danny Varela, who the jury convicted on drug and gun charges that will virtually assure he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors say the Escobedos were killed in order to steal 15 kilos of cocaine from Jose Luis Escobedo.

The jury on Wednesday heard testimony from the younger Ricardo's mother, Maria Lopez, as well as her mother Rachel Ramos, with whom Sanchez lived before his attorney Donnie Murrell said he "fell in" with Varela and became a gopher in his drug organization.

Psychologist Daniel Grant testified that Sanchez has an IQ of about 77, just points above the standard level considered to be mental retardation.

Murrell may rest his case on Sanchez's behalf today. Troya's attorney James Eisenberg told jurors Monday he plans to present evidence that Troya suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the death of a childhood friend and suffers from other mental illnesses.

Jurors could begin deliberating the case next week, but on Wednesday morning their eyes focused on the now 6-year-old boy as he spoke through the video recorded just before Christmas and held up for the camera one of several pictures he'd drawn during the interview.

In it, his father and mother were standing together - "shaking hands," he said - and both were next to him.

What do you want to say to your dad?" McDermott asked him

"I love him. You're the best dad," he said. "Merry Christmas to you."

Tags: Escobedo, Turnpike

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