WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jurors began deliberating Thursday in the trial of a Jupiter father accused of locking his adopted son in a box-like structure in the garage of their home.
Deliberations started one day after Tim Ferriter said he didn't intend to testify in his own defense.
Shortly after deliberations began Thursday, jurors asked the court to replay video testimony from Ferriter's adopted 17-year-old daughter, who testified last week via Zoom that Ferriter was the disciplinarian of their household.
The daughter said her brother had a room in the garage built for him and he was the only one of the family's four children who was made to sleep there.
When asked about her brother's difficulties, she said she didn't know the specifics of why he was in trouble all the time. But she did recall that he was "hyper" and difficult to calm down.
Jurors heard closing arguments Wednesday painting two different portraits of Ferriter.
Assistant State Attorney Brianna Coakley conveyed to jurors that Ferriter subjected his teenage son to "cruel, heinous and malicious" treatment after he hired a contractor to build an 8x8 enclosure in the garage of their Egret Landing home, where Ferriter forced the teen to spend most of his days and nights, locked away in a windowless room with only a desk, a mattress and a bucket in which to defecate.
WATCH: Prosecutor makes closing arguments
"This treatment – this systemic way in which he was forced to live – is a crime," Coakley reminded jurors.
Defense attorney Prya Murad, on the other hand, attempted to portray Ferriter as a frustrated father whose inability to control his son's repeated behavioral issues led him to make poor parenting decisions that, while inappropriate, were not criminal.
MORE: Defense attorney says bad parenting choices not criminal
"There is not one moment that I want you to think that this defense is about whether or not [the teen] deserved the treatment that he got because it is not," Murad said. "Or that the fact that he is vulnerable or had medical issues from early childhood is justification for what happened because it is not. However, we are in a criminal courtroom, and what you have to determine is whether an act – a horrible act of parenting, a bad act of parenting, bad choices – amount to a crime. And in this case, they do not."
Tim and Tracy Ferriter were first arrested by Jupiter police in February 2022, shortly after the teen ran away from home.
The 48-year-old father is on trial facing charges of child abuse, child neglect and false imprisonment. His wife faces the same charges in a separate trial that hasn't yet been set.
If convicted, Tim Ferriter could face 40 years or more in prison.
