ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — A New Mexico jury viewed chilling crime scene photos Wednesday of the home where 16-year-old Cody Posey has admitted to gunning down his parents and stepsister on July 5, 2004.

Investigator Norman Rhoades showed jurors this photo of tracks leading to the victims.

New Mexico State Police crime scene investigator Norman Rhoades led jurors picture by picture from the home where the shootings occurred to the pile of manure where investigators found the bodies of Paul Posey, his third wife, Tryone, and her 13-year-old daughter, Marilea.

Though the victims were noticeably absent from the pictures, thick trails of blood marked their paths from the scene of the killings to the John Deere backhoe that Cody used to haul their bodies to the shallow grave.

Although the jury has seen numerous pictures of the victims alive, 12th Judicial District Judge James Waylon Counts has yet to decide whether the panel will see their autopsy pictures.

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Otero County prosecutors argued outside the presence of the jury Wednesday that pictures of the decomposed bodies prove the defendant's intent to "demean and defile" the victims, and show his depravity and deliberation in carrying out the slayings.

In a videotaped statement that was played in court Tuesday, the teen, who was 14 at the time, told police that he decided to kill his family after he had grown "tired" of his father's mental and physical abuse.

Prosecutors have argued since the trial began Tuesday that Cody methodically planned and carried out the slayings. The teen's defense lawyer says he snapped and acted "in hot blood."

Cody told police that, after an argument with his dad, he retrieved a .38-caliber revolver from his sister's saddlebag and returned home to kill his family.

He first shot his stepmother as she sat alone on the couch in the living room, reading a book.

He shot his father and stepsister as they came running into the kitchen from the back porch. The house was located on property owned by journalist Sam Donaldson, for whom Paul Posey worked as ranch foreman.

Rhoades pointed out the large pool of congealed blood near the door. A pair of glasses, which belonged to either Paul or Marilea, lay in the blood.

Rhoades also showed this photo of a trail of blood.

Several jurors recoiled as Rhoades pointed out two distinct trails of blood running through the kitchen and onto the porch, which the investigator attributed to the victims' bodies being dragged out of the home.

At the end of the porch, Rhoades found tractor tracks that lead to a brushy clearing down the road on Donaldson's property.

The tracks were matched to a John Deere backhoe that was stained with blood, corroborating Cody's claim that he loaded the bodies into the bucket with the intention of burying them.

When he was unable to dent the hard surface of the earth, Cody brought the bodies to a manure pile nearby, leaving a path clearly marked by tractor marks, Rhoades noted.

Under cross-examination, Rhoades admitted that no one measured the distance between point "a" and point "b," underscoring defense allegations of a shoddy investigation.

While the rest of the testimony about the scene was largely unchallenged by the defense, Cody's lawyer Gary Mitchell did ask about computers found in the home.

Cody claimed that the night before the shootings, his parents tried to force him to have sex with his stepmother.

Mitchell has said outside of court that evidence of pornography labeled "incest" on Paul's computer corroborates those claims.

Rhoades testified that, of all three computers in the home, only the one in Paul's office had a phone line connection to the Internet, though computers in Cody and Marilea's rooms were capable of connecting to the Internet.

Another crucial part of the defense case will come from Cody himself, whose lawyers have suggested will testify to explain the lifetime of physical abuse that pushed him over the edge.

Otero County Children's Court prosecutor Sandra Grisham attempted to prevent Mitchell from mentioning the alleged "abuse excuse" in his opening statement, which he chose to make after the state rests its case.

Judge Counts discounted Grisham's argument that the alleged abuse incidents were too far removed to be relevant to the crime or that certain kinds of corporal punishment were allowed under New Mexico law.

"The state has opened the door by introducing the videotaped confession," Counts said outside the presence of the jury. "From what I've seen, there is going to be some testimony of a pattern of abuse or cruelty to Cody by Delbert Paul and Tryone ... that will go at least to imperfect self-defense, if not farther."

The proceedings will be aired live on Court TV and streamed on the Web on Court TV Extra.