Kerrigan's mom says altercation was not physical

WOBURN, Mass. -- There was a doctor on the stand telling jurors that Dan Kerrigan had a very bad heart and showed no signs of trauma around his neck, Thursday, but it was his wife's tearful testimony the defense hoped jurors would take to heart.

Nancy Kerrigan tearfully hugged her mother Brenda following her testimony about the night her son Mark and her husband got into a fight

"He was kneeling and telling Danny to get up, get up, get up, get up, dad, I love you, you gotta get up," she said.

Her tearful testimony came on the heels of yesterday's which brought her son and daughter to tears.

Thursday she said her husband Daniel was a jokester and that Mark thought the victim was faking it. And though she said she didn't remember a lot about that night, she was very specific about the fight, saying that her son did not grab her husband by the neck.

But when the prosecution began to press her, there was a clear shift in attitude -- clipped answers and a combative posture.

The defendant's mother denied ever telling investigators her son was drunk and refused to characterize the argument between father and son as a physical altercation

"It wasn't a fight,” she said. “It was, I don't know how you word it, it's what I said."

Brenda Kerrigan also testified that she never saw her son or husband throw any punches.

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