The man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his parents while they slept told jurors Friday that he was the real victim in the case.
With tears in his eyes, Christopher Sutton talked about his troubled childhood and his parents' decision to send him to a boarding school in Samoa.
Prosecutors claim Sutton sought revenge against his parents over that decision and hired a friend to kill them. His mother, Susan Sutton died after being shot six times and John Sutton was left blinded from the attack, which occurred inside the family's Coral Gables home in 2004.
"My grades were always an issue," Sutton testified. "I got C's. I had about a C average. That was never good enough. Once I started with the body piercings and tattoos; the rift continued."
The man who carried out the killing, Garret Kopp, testified earlier this week that Sutton was the mastermind behind the plot. Sutton refuted the allegation and said Kopp was a drug addict who wanted to steal from the wealthy family.
Sutton told jurors he sold Kopp drugs before and told him where the safe was, but never told his friend to kill his parents.
Kopp has already been sentenced to 30 years for the murder, but avoided the death penalty for testifying against Sutton.
