ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — Cody Posey's relatives on his deceased mother's side pleaded with a judge Wednesday to spare the teenager an adult prison sentence so that he can get the treatment that they — and a large and vocal crowd outside the courthouse in this remote community — believe he needs.

In loud, angry tones, Corliss Clees urged District Judge James Waylon Counts to use his broad discretion and sentence Cody, now 16, as a juvenile. That is the only way Cody, who claims years of abuse led him to kill three family members, will get the mental-health treatment that defense psychiatrists agree is appropriate, Clees insisted.

"You have the ability to hold life in your hand. I would not want to be in your position," said Clees, who invoked God throughout the statement she read during the third day of the sentencing hearing. "He hasn't had a life. To condemn him for the rest of it is appalling."

Counts has the option of sending Cody to adult prison for up to 50 years before he could be eligible for parole, based on a jury's finding that he committed first-degree murder in the death of his stepsister, Marilea, who would have turned 15 Wednesday.

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Cody told police that he shot Marilea twice at close range so that she could not testify against him for the killings of his stepmother, Tryone Posey, and his allegedly abusive father, Paul Posey. Cody was convicted of manslaughter and second-degree murder for the deaths of Paul and Tryone, respectively.

Cody shot all three family members in the head on July 5, 2004, and tried to hide the bodies under a manure pile. Newsman Sam Donaldson, who owned the ranch where the Posey family lived and worked, discovered the crime and alerted authorities.

Although most of Paul Posey's family members want to see Cody sent to adult prison for a long time, his late mother's relatives are asking for confinement in a secure adolescent treatment facility for violent boys.

"Cody is not a throwaway penny. He is salvageable," Clees said. "He needs to be loved. He needs to be told he is loved. He needs to be helped by people who can help him ... I beg of you, your honor, to look upon him as the child he is and sentence him as such."

Mary Harrington, Marilea's grandmother

Mary Harrington, Marilea's grandmother, told the court that she knew something was amiss in the Posey home but wasn't aware of the extent until the killings. She believes that both Cody and Marilea were abused regularly, and that the abuse brought about the violence.

"What Cody did was not right, but I believe the years of abuse this boy suffered, caused by his family and some by his stepmother, drove him to do this," Harrington said. She added later, "I know what he has done is wrong. It's against the law; it's against God's law. We know he has to be sentenced. I'm asking you to please sentence him as a juvenile, not an adult. I don't believe he has to be in prison with adults."

A defense psychologist who testified during the guilt phase of Cody's trial returned to the witness stand to offer her opinion that Cody could be successfully treated if he is spared confinement in adult prison.

"It is my opinion, based on the totality of the records here, as well as his course of treatment [already], that he is amenable to treatment as a juvenile in existing facilities," the psychologist, Susan Cave, said.

She described the killings as "situational" occurrences not likely to be repeated by Cody in his lifetime.

"He was under extreme stress at that time. Outside that stress, he seemed to function adequately," she said.

Prosecutor Sandra Grisham is expected to wrap up the state's evidence Wednesday afternoon after the court hears again from adolescent psychiatrist Wade Myers of Florida. Myers previously testified that his examination of Cody led him to conclude that the teenager exhibits personality traits that could be indicators of psychopathy, an antisocial personality disorder.

Myers' opinion differs from that of defense psychiatrist Robert Buser, who testified that Cody suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition Buser believes was brought on by an auto accident in 2000 that claimed the life of Cody's biological mother.

Cody is expected to be the last witness before closing arguments, which could be delivered late Wednesday.

The sentencing hearing is being broadcast on Court TV and streamed live on the Web by Court TV Extra.