SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — Jurors in the trial of a former amusement park manager accused of causing a park visitor's death watched a 30-minute video demonstrating how June Alexander was doomed from the moment she boarded the Hawk, a pendulum ride that swung 360 degrees.

A New Jersey-based representative of the Hawk's Italian manufacturers traveled to the Rockin' Raceway amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., following Alexander's fatal plunge March 14, 2004, after her harness opened in midair.

Phil Castellano, of the company Zamperla, conducted a series of trial runs to determine the effect a pair of mystery cables found in the machine's electric panel had on the Hawk.

Sevierville prosecutors believe Charles Stan Martin, who was Rockin' Raceway's general manager when the incident occurred, tampered with the ride's electrical panel and placed the cables there to bypass the safety system because it was a constant source of problems.

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Regardless of whether the safety harnesses were secured before take-off, Castellano's tests yielded the same result — the ride took off on its deadly course.

"The ride should not start under these conditions," Castellano said as he narrated the video, which showed him placing metal rulers in front of safety locks in the ride's seats preventing the harness from locking into place.

Nevertheless, the ride left its stationary position and began swinging, as the victim's family looked on from the courtroom.

The victim's son, Cody Alexander, was in the seat next to his mother when she plummeted 60 feet to her death. Her sister, Judy Sprinkles, was also on the ride while her other sister, Gail Young, helplessly watched from the ground.

While the two sisters got up at separate points during the screening, 16-year-old Cody stayed in the courtroom, watching the screen.

"It was different," he said of the video outside court. "I felt like I needed to see it. That's the last time I saw my mom alive."

Prosecutors contend Martin is criminally responsible for Alexander's death not only because he was the one to tamper with the ride's safety systems, but because several prior incidents should have put him on guard.

Castellano, who installed the Hawk in 1998 and periodically returned to Pigeon Forge to fix its subsequent problems, testified that he did not place the jumper cables in the electrical panel.

Mechanical engineer Ed Pribonic testified Friday.

His last visit was in 2000, around the time the ride's warranty ran out, to replace a part in the ride's motor, which he said was not related to Alexander's death.

Martin's lawyers have hinted that Castellano may have been the one to place the jumper cables in the panel after an investigation began.

Alexander's family has sued Zamperla for $100 million and Rockin' Raceway for an additional $96 million.

Defense attorney Bryan Delius asked Castellano why more drastic measures were not taken after an incident in 2003 in which a woman's foot got caught in the ride's moving platforms.

Prosecutors claim that, because the ride remained a headache for the park manager after that incident he altered the electrical panel with his own cheaper solution.

A former engineering manager for Disneyland bolstered Castellano's tests, saying that, because of Alexander's heavy frame, the lock did not engage.

"Had the safety system been functioning properly as designed, the ride would never have left the station," Ed Pribonic testified. "If you're not secure, you better be a very daring person with tremendous upper body strength to save your life."

Pribonic testified that, during a four-hour inspection of the ride and its electrical panel on March 24, 2004, he noticed jumper cables connected by alligator clips to the ride's wiring.

"There's absolutely no reason for them to be there and every reason in the world for them not to be there," the Seal Beach, Calif.-based consultant testified. "It would be my opinion [they were] purposefully placed there."

Martin's lawyers deny their client put the jumper cables on the wires. They claim that Martin was not the only one with access to the panel, and pointed out that the day before Alexander died Martin and his family rode The Hawk.

Martin faces 25 years in prison if convicted of charges of second-degree murder and reckless homicide.

Testimony will resume Saturday morning in Sevier County Circuit Court.