ELYRIA — Daniel Petric’s father and sister testified Monday that they have forgiven the 17-year-old for the Oct. 20, 2007, shooting that claimed the life of his mother and left his father on the verge of death.

Daniel’s sister, Heidi Archer, complained to Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo that he was trying to put her brother, who is being tried as an adult, behind bars for the rest of his life despite the wishes of the family.

“Our whole family forgives Danny,” Archer told county Common Pleas Judge James Burge, who is hearing Daniel’s trial on aggravated murder and other charges instead of a jury.

The Rev. Mark Petric, Daniel’s father, said it wasn’t easy to forgive his son, who admitted to being the gunman and has apologized repeatedly to his father for the shooting.

“I had a lot of anger and hatred over what happened, but I know as a Christian and a minister I couldn’t hold onto it,” Petric said.

BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE

The Rev. Mark Petric testifies during the first day of 17-year-old Daniel Petric’s trial on an aggravated murder charge began with both Daniel’s father and sister testifying.

The elder Petric said he and his wife, Sue, were dozing in the great room of their Brighton Township home when Daniel came into the room.

“He said, ‘Would you guys close your eyes. I have a surprise for you,’ ” Petric said, adding that he was expecting something good when he did as his son asked.

That’s when his son started firing — shots that the elder Petric said he doesn’t remember. One slammed into his jaw, causing injuries that took seven surgeries to repair.

“I don’t remember what happened,” he said. “All I remember is I came to, and my head was numb.”

Petric said he looked over at his wife and saw that she wasn’t moving, and then Daniel was next to him.

“He just sat down next to me and said, ‘Hey, dad, here’s your gun, would you take it?’ ” the elder Petric said, adding that he didn’t take the handgun prosecutors say Daniel removed from a lockbox to which only his father had the key.

Daniel’s defense attorney, James Kersey, didn’t deny that his client, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, pulled the trigger, but he said it wasn’t the premeditated murder that Cillo portrayed it to be.

Instead, Kersey suggested Daniel was overcome by a sudden fit of anger brought on by his obsession with violent mature video games, especially the sci-fi shooting game “Halo 3.” His parents had confiscated that game less than a month before the attack after Daniel snuck out of their house with friends to buy it.

The dispute over the game was enough for Daniel to briefly move out of his parents’ house for three days about a week prior to the shooting. He returned, but his father testified that he continued to resist returning the confiscated game to his son and kept it locked with his handgun.

Archer testified that when she and her husband, Andy Archer, arrived at the Petric’s home to watch an Indians baseball game, Daniel met them at the door and told them “now wasn’t a good time.”

But the Archers both testified that they heard Mark Petric making noise, and Andy Archer forced his way inside where he saw Mark Petric wounded and Sue Petric dead.

As Daniel Petric hung his head on Monday, county Coroner Paul Matus used graphic autopsy photos to show the three shots that struck Sue Petric — a shot that grazed her right breast and struck her right arm, another that he said that went through her wrists as she held her hands in front of her face, and a fatal head wound.

While his wife was on the phone with 911, Andy Archer told Burge he tried to keep Mark Petric alive and also took the gun away from Daniel as his brother-in-law was trying to reload it.

“I wasn’t sure what happened, but I wanted to make sure I had control of the situation,” Andy Archer testified, adding that he unloaded the gun once he got it away from Daniel’s grasp, which he described as being like a “wet noodle.”

After he took the gun, Andy Archer said, Daniel drove off in the family’s minivan.

Wellington police Officer Adam Smosny also testified Monday, saying that when he and his partner stopped Petric on state Route 18, the boy cooperated and asked them a question.

“He said, ‘Why would my dad kill my mom?’ ” Smosny said, adding that he found a copy of “Halo 3” in the minivan.

Andy Archer also testified that Daniel told him Mark Petric was responsible for the shooting, but the father insisted as he continued to bleed that Daniel had been the gunman.

The trial resumes today.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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