Sergio DeRosa exhaled loudly as the witness' name was called in the first full day of his murder trial, preparing himself.
But it wasn't the charge that had him nervous. It was the name that was called: Christopher DeRosa.
The murder defendant's only son took the stand Tuesday as the state's witness against his father in the fatal shooting of his mother.
Lynn DeRosa, 57, and her husband were alone in their home in the Sweetwater section of Mullica Township when she was shot in the head May 26, 2014.
Her husband insists it was an accident, done while he was cleaning the shotgun his wife used for clay shooting after he put in what he said he didn't know was a live round.
The couple had no problems and remained loving, according to him.
But Christopher DeRosa painted a much different picture of his parents' marriage, as the New Jersey State Police trooper talked of a "distant" couple whose relationship was marked by bickering and arguing, mostly over money.
"My mother did not trust my father with finances," he said.
There was more than $80,000 in a safety deposit box from the sale of the home of Lynn DeRosa's mother, Christopher said. But it was gone after his mother's death.
"Don't go in the box," his father would yell at his mother, according to Christopher's testimony.
Sergio DeRosa reacted visibly to much of his son's testimony, at one point appearing to mouth his disagreement toward the jurors. Several times, he turned away from his son. Once, taking off his glasses and wiping away tears.
"That's not my son," he repeated several times as he stood outside the courtroom during Tuesday's lunch break.
Christopher DeRosa appeared to look at his father just once during his testimony, when he was asked to identify him by saying what the elder DeRosa was wearing.
Christopher DeRosa said that three days before her death, Lynn DeRosa and her husband fought as they took a trip with their son to Cabela's Sporting Goods. There, Lynn DeRosa bought a box of shells and a boresnake to clean the barrel of her gun. But not the buckshot that killed her.
Sergio DeRosa was indicted on manslaughter in September 2015, nearly 16 months after his wife's death. This past September, just a day after his trial was postponed, the charge was upgraded to murder.
There was new evidence, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Seth Levy told the judge at the time. But defense attorney Jill Cohen has questioned the motive.
In October, Sergio DeRosa turned down a plea deal in the case, and said he wanted to go to trial.
"I'm scared, but I have the truth," he told the judge Oct. 27. "I only can tell you the truth."
The trial continues Wednesday before Superior Court Judge John Rauh.
