MARTINEZ, Calif. — After his family fell apart in a nasty divorce, after his mother stabbed his father to death with a paring knife, and some time before he decided to become a witness for the prosecution and testify against his own mother, Gabriel Polk found new "parents," who have helped turn his life around.

"I consider myself their foster child," Gabriel Polk, 19, told his mother, Susan Polk, who is representing herself against murder charges, on Tuesday. "I consider them my parents."

The comment drew the ire of Polk, who is on her fourth day of cross-examining her son, and has attempted to present herself as a loving, caring mother and wife, who killed her husband Felix Polk in self-defense in 2002 after enduring years of mental and physical abuse at his hands.

"I object," Polk said, remarking that the foster program is a government program, in which families receive money for fostering children, and Gabriel is not a foster child.

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Gabriel met Marjorie and Dan Briner through their son, a friend of Gabriel's older brother Adam, and has lived with them since his father's death and his mother's incarceration.

Over the years, Gabriel testified, the Briners gave him structure and discipline, something he grew to value after living in a home with no rules. He has begun to achieve high marks and awards in school, he said, in contrast to years of getting kicked out of schools and "acting out" in response to a difficult home life.

Over four days of testimony, Gabriel has continually blamed his mother and her alleged "delusions" for his troubled childhood and his father's alleged killing.

"I'm doing extremely well now," Gabriel told his mother Tuesday.

Polk attempted to portray Gabriel's new "parents" as a money-hungry couple who have turned her son against her and who held Gabriel back in high school to continue to collect his social security benefits from his father's death.

"Isn't it so that if you hadn't been held back a year at school that your social security benefits would have ended when you turned 18?" Polk asked.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Gabriel testified, his voice shaking, a hand running over his close-shaved head. It was the first time he appeared visibly upset, barely containing anger and tears.

Gabriel Polk told his mother that, although he initially handed his $1,200 social security checks over to the Briners, he currently writes them a $600 check each month to help cover the expenses of raising him. Those benefits will end when he graduates from high school.

"Dan makes over $200,000 a year. Marjorie makes about $60,000 a year as a teacher. Do you really think they care about an extra $15,000? This is ridiculous," Gabriel Polk said.

Gabriel Polk found his 70-year-old father's bloody body on Oct. 14, 2002, in a cottage in the couple's $1.85 million property. The death not only caused a rift in Gabriel's relationship with his mother, it has torn the three Polk sons apart.

Gabriel and his brother, Adam, 23, are both witnesses for the prosecution. Polk's middle son, Eli, 20, who is currently in jail on suspicion of domestic assault, has stuck by his mother and will testify in her defense when Polk begins her case in the next few weeks.

Polk, 48, met her psychologist husband when she was a 15-year-old patient in his care. She claims that a sexual relationship ensued, and by the time she was 25 and he was 40, they were married.

Gabriel dismissed his mother's claims that his father was physically abusive to her and the three boys. But on Tuesday he agreed that there were episodes of violence, for instance, when his brother Eli hit his mother and gave her a split lip.

"I turned around and went back in my room," Gabriel said, adding that his mother and her alleged delusional beliefs was an instigating factor in the constant family strife.

"There would be times when, Saturday morning, you'd be reading the newspaper and trying to find codes," Gabriel said. He has also accused his mother of believing that his father was a secret agent in the Israeli Mossad and that he was hiding money from her in Cayman Islands bank accounts.

Polk denies having these beliefs, and has suggested that Gabriel's father, and his new family, have told him lies about her.

As her own attorney, Polk is a tireless cross-examiner who never backs down from an argument or objection. Despite her fortitude, Polk often cries while questioning her son, with whom she has not spoken in nearly three years.

On Tuesday, she broke down because he refused to confirm her recollections of Felix punching her in the face a few years before his death, dragging her up the stairs by her hair, and telling her that she could never divorce him.

"He threw water in your face one time," Gabriel conceded.

"One time?" Polk asked in an incredulous tone.

Gabriel testified that his father may have thrown small objects around, as his mother was also allegedly prone to do, but he denied Polk's claims that she was at the receiving end of those objects.

In a rare moment of tenderness, Gabriel told his mother he still loved her.

"I do have good memories. I do love you," he said, "but there's terrible memories with the good memories."

The judge announced yesterday that Polk's cross-examination of her son was "bordering on the abusive," and she reminded Polk at the lunch break Tuesday that she had been ordered to complete her questioning by the end of the day.

"I object, your honor. I think I should have as much time as it takes to get to the truth with my son," Polk argued.

"Noted," the judge said, as she left the bench.

Susan Polk faces 25 years to life if convicted of her husband's first-degree murder.