NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former Nashville attorney accused of killing his wife made a surprise appearance on the stand in his trial Tuesday, but not before a jury.

After several days of legal wrangling over whether the 15-year-old son of Perry March should testify in his father's defense, March stepped up to the witness box Tuesday to inform the court that he did not want his lawyers to call his son, Samson, as a witness.

"I have no desire to put him into any further spotlight than he has already been put in," the 45-year-old defendant told the court, outside the presence of the jury in his second-degree murder trial. "My son has been in far too many courtrooms at his young age."

March returned to the stand two minutes later to inform the court he did not wish to testify. He appeared cheerful and smiled several times while answering his lawyer's questions.

Instead of calling his son, lawyers for March played a television news interview that a 9-year-old Sammy March gave in May 2001, when he was living in Ajijic, Mexico, with his father and sister.

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The agreement between prosecutors and the defense spared Sammy March from testifying in his father's murder trial for the death of his mother, Janet March, on the tenth of anniversary of her disappearance.

March told authorities that he last saw his 33-year-old wife on Aug. 15, 1996, when she walked out on him following an argument.

Davidson County prosecutors believe March killed his wife in a rage when she informed him of her plans to divorce him and take full custody of the children.

In the interview, a surprisingly cheerful Sammy told a Nashville reporter that he last saw his mother the night of her disappearance, when she came into his bedroom and gave him a kiss good-bye.

"She told me she'd be back soon, then took her two bags and left," Sammy said in the video, as his father, sitting in the courtroom, wiped a tear from his eye. "I got out of the bed and went to the windowI waved to her and she waved to me when she left."

His demeanor turned somber when the reporter asked him what his mother was like.

"She was real nice, and pretty," Sammy said, his voice trailing off.

"You miss her a lot?" Larry Brinton of WTVF-Channel 5 asked.

"Yeah," the boy answered in a barely audible whisper.

The interview is the only instance in which Sammy March ever reported seeing his mother before she left, leading prosecutors to suggest that March had coached his son on the statement.

In an interview with authorities following her disappearance, Sammy March said that he went to bed Aug. 15 and woke up to find his mother missing.

One week later, when he showed up for his first day of kindergarten at the University School of Nashville, his mother's alma mater, the 5-year-old boy was noticeably upset, his teacher testified Tuesday.

"He was very sad because he had not seen his mom and he missed her," kindergarten teacher Kim Scott testified in the state's rebuttal case Tuesday afternoon. "[He said] he did not get to say good-bye to her before she left."

Prosecutors also called an attorney who was appointed to represent Sammy and his younger sister, Tzipora, in proceedings over visitation rights between March and his in-laws, Carolyn and Larry Levine.

"He told me he didn't know where she was," Chicago attorney Ralla Klepak testified to a courtroom packed with observers who had been anticipating the appearance of Sammy March in person Tuesday. "He said the last time he had seen her was the evening he heard his mother and father having a bad argument."

"Did he make any statements about his mother kissing him good-bye?" deputy district attorney Tom Thurman asked the witness.

"None whatsoever," Klepak answered.

Lawyers will give closing arguments in the case Wednesday morning.