ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — A New Mexico jury may consider whether a teen acted in self-defense when he gunned down his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004 and hid their bodies in a pile of manure and debris.

After hearing arguments Saturday from both sides over proposed jury instructions in the first-degree murder trial of 16-year-old Cody Posey, 12th District Judge James Waylon Counts sided with defense claims that there was enough evidence for a jury to decide if the teen's actions were precipitated by a lifetime of abuse. The abuse, his defense argues, caused him to act out of a reasonable fear for his safety the morning he killed his family.

If the panel finds that Cody acted in self-defense, they must acquit him.

Counts also ruled, over prosecutor objections, that the jury may find Cody guilty of lesser counts of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter for the shooting deaths of his father, Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone and 13-year-old stepsister Marilea on a ranch owned by journalist Sam Donaldson

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If convicted of first-degree murder, Cody could be sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 15 years, but the judge has wide discretion because Cody is a juvenile.

Dressed in jeans and wearing a nervous expression, Cody listened to his lawyer, Gary Mitchell, argue that the teen was entitled to defend himself from forcible felonies such as abuse and attempted sex assault to which he claims his parents subjected him.

As for Cody's 13-year-old stepsister, Marilea, Counts agreed with Mitchell's assessment of her as a potential abettor for reporting his behavior at school to her parents, who allegedly slapped, punched and kicked him for his misdeeds.

Mitchell said that, based on the testimony of 40 witnesses, including the teen, relatives, friends and laborers from the Donaldson ranch, there was enough evidence to suggest that Cody's claims of abuse were not the lies or "fairy tales" the state has labeled them.

Prosecutors argued that the killings constituted first-degree murder because Cody exhibited a deliberate intent to kill from the moment he entered his family's home and shot his stepmother so she could not call police until he shot his stepsister so she could not serve as a witness.

Otero County Children's Court attorney Sandra Grisham also argued that there was no evidence of an immediate threat to Cody's safety that morning, after his father allegedly slapped him in an argument and ordered him back into the house.

Closings arguments are expected to begin Monday morning. The trial is being broadcast on Court TV and streamed live online on Court TV Extra.