MARTINEZ, Calif. — Accused murder defendant Susan Polk's star witness, her son, Eli, was arrested Tuesday afternoon, his second arrest in less than a week, and was denied bail at a hearing Wednesday morning.

"Mr. Polk, you are on felony probation and the district attorney has filed a petition to revoke your probation," Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto told Polk, who appeared in canary yellow prison scrubs and listened to the judge from behind a metal-and-glass cage where he was held with other in-custody defendants.

"Your honor, if I may," Polk began. "I understand the severity of the charges, but I have a couple of serious concerns."

Polk, 20, told the judge that being held in jail would amount to serious financial hardships for him and create a major detriment to his mother's case.

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"I'm scheduled to testify in my mother's defense," Polk told the judge, adding: "I'm certainly not a flight risk."

Susan Polk, 48, is representing herself against charges that she willfully stabbed her therapist-turned-husband to death with a paring knife in October 2002.

Eli is the only one of the couple's three children who has stuck by her.

Adam Polk, 23, and Gabriel Polk, 19, have distanced themselves from their mother, and Gabriel recently testified that he believed she was "delusional" and constantly discussed her desire to kill his father, Felix Polk.

Eli is expected to bolster his mother's claim that she acted in self-defense after allegedly enduring decades of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his father, a man who was 25 years Polk's senior and her lover when she was just a 16-year-old patient in his care.

As the judge examined his file and considered his request for bail, Eli quietly interjected: "I also have a yellow Labrador at my house that I need to care for."

Bail was ultimately denied.

"The court has a high concern for public safety," Hiramoto said. "You're going to have to get someone else to handle your affairs."

The judge set his next hearing for March 21, and told Polk he could still be a witness in his mother's trial; he would simply be transferred to court from the jail as needed.

"Thank you, your honor," Polk replied.

The Polk family's problems have been on public display since Susan Polk was arrested for her husband's death in 2002 and she revealed being seduced by him as a teen, marrying him when she was 25 and he was 50, and fearing for her life during their 30-year-relationship.

Polk's decision to defend herself at trial, despite having no legal background, has resulted in a tedious cross-examination of her own son on the stand in the past two weeks, which has magnified the apparent rift among her children.

Gabriel testified that his brother Eli had a "vast criminal history" and that he "needed help" because he was buying into his mother's alleged delusions.

Susan Polk claims Gabriel is carrying on his father's insidious isolation of Eli against the other boys. She has wept in court while questioning Gabriel over what she believes to be his misperceptions of her mothering.

Eli's recent arrest stems from a troubled relationship with a woman reported to be 11 years his senior.

He was first arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery against his former girlfriend Jessica Provine in October 2005. Provine was granted a restraining order, and that case is ongoing.

On March 9, Eli was arrested a second time at his home — the same home where his father was killed — after police received a disturbance call and Provine accused Eli of attacking her.

Eli denies the charges and claims that Provine entered his home that evening and attacked him, leaving scratches and bruises on his body, because he refused to return her phone calls.

He posted bail the next day and was released.

Meanwhile, on Monday, his mother asked the judge in her murder trial to grant Eli an emergency restraining order against Provine, an attempt to protect her son and her star witness. A hearing on that request is slated for Friday.

But Eli's arrest on March 9 triggered a potential violation of Provine's restraining order and of a separate probation issue. Eli was convicted in October 2005 of a misdemeanor charge of evading a peace office and received three years probation.

"One of our detectives was investigating the possibility that he was violating the restraining order. After talking to him and other witnesses, he was arrested," Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department media liaison Jimmy Lee told Courttv.com.

Lee said Eli was arrested at his parents' home at 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday, around the same time his mother was granted a sick day by the judge in her own case, after she complained of a sore throat and lingering cough.

Polk, whose trial is expected to last two and a half months, she will return to court Thursday to continue questioning Gabriel and will face her eldest son Adam when he is called next.

The prosecution hopes to complete its case by March 24, which means Polk may begin her case as early as March 27.

She faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.