ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Florida resident Manny Hernandez testified Thursday police allegedly lied to him about his son, Michael, the main suspect in a 2004 school slaying.
Hernandez alleged the Orange County trial of his son that following the death of Southwood Middle School student Jaime Gough on Feb. 3, 2004, police allegedly told him and his wife their son was a witness not a suspect in the killing, the Miami Herald said.
"They took our son from school without telling us. They didn't tell us he needed a lawyer. They told us he was a witness, when they knew full well he was a suspect,'' the elder Hernandez alleged.
Michael Hernandez has been accused of killing Gough at the Miami-Dade county school when they were both 14. His defense attorneys are using an insanity defense for the now 18-year-old, the Herald reported.
Meanwhile, his father said his son was "a good child" who made a horrific mistake.
''He was a good child,'' Manny Hernandez said. "He's still a good child, who for reasons unbeknownst to me, did something horrible.''
