Trumbull county, Ohio - The mother of Jacob LaRosa testified as a two-day sentencing hearing got underway for the Niles teenager.  

In February, LaRosa avoided being tried as an adult when he changed his plea to no contest to all charges in the murder of his elderly neighbor, 94-year-old Marie Belcastro.

LaRosa was just 15 in 2015 when prosecutors say he broke into Belcastro's home and beat her to death with a heavy metal flashlight. He was set to be tried as an adult when he plead no contest to aggravated murder, robbery, burglary and attempted rape.

The lead detective on the case re-counted the day of the murder and the crime scene. "Brutality. It's one of the worst things I've seen in 24 years of law enforcement," said Niles Detective Craig Aurilio.

For the defense, a forensic psychologist who evaluated LaRosa said that he came from a dysfunctional family and began mental health treatments at age eight.

"What you see obviously is a youth who has serious emotional and behavioral problems," said Dr. Daniel Davis. 

His mother, Megan Lucarelo, said Jacob started having trouble in high school. He wouldn't come home after school and got into drugs.  "I would go looking for him and I could tell that he'd started smoking weed," she said. 

His mother will return to the stand Friday morning. Larosa is expected to make a statement to the court as well.  

The prosecution is asking for a sentence of life without the chance of parole.