Teen alleges abuse at samurai slaying trial

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RIVERHEAD, New York (AP) -- A teenager accused of killing his stepfather with a samurai sword lied, either when he confessed to police or when he testified that his mother was the real killer, a prosecutor contended Friday.

"You want to tell this jury you're a pretty convincing liar?" prosecutor John Scott Prudenti asked Zachary Gibian at the teen's murder trial.

Gibian stunned a hushed courtroom Thursday when he claimed the victim, retired New York City police officer Scott Nager, had been sexually and psychologically abusing him for years. He said he only admitted to the killing to protect his mother, Laura Nager. (Watch the defense blame the teen's mother )

Gibian, who turns 20 on Monday, 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.

"I was trying to protect my mother," Gibian repeatedly told Prudenti on a blistering cross-examination.

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.

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