James Scandirito II told a West Palm Beach jury that he found his father unconscious and decided to dismember him, fearing he’d be blamed for his dad's accidental overdose.
On Tuesday, the 50-year-old spent three hours on the stand before Circuit Judge John Kasrenakes and a 15-person jury.
Scandirito said in court his father passed away after a long day of golf, drinking and doing drugs together. He claims while the "old man" was resting, it was time to smoke outdoors on the night of March 28, 2018.
His mother was also a smoker who died from lung cancer, the reason why Scandirito said his dad didn’t like anyone smoking in their home.
During the first-degree murder trial Scandirito said, he dismembered his father’s body, left the remains near a construction site and abandoned golf course, sent fake text messages from his dad's phone and lied to neighbors and police on his father's whereabouts.
Scandirito said, “I made one bad decision, and another bad decision, and a stupid decision, and a horrible decision and everything just kept snowballing. I should have called 911, but I didn’t want to face them in my current state under the influence of several drugs that night.”
Prosecutors don't believe his story, they think the younger Scandirito killed his father to inherit money, then dismembered his body to try to hide it.