MARIETTA, Ga. — A former babysitter for 8-year-old Josef Smith described how the boy's father disciplined him during testimony at the man's murder trial Wednesday.

Prosecutors claim Joseph and Sonya Smith abused and murdered their son on Oct. 8, 2003, at their Georgia home.

The couple has been charged with four counts of felony murder, five counts of first-degree cruelty to children, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of false imprisonment.

During the spring of 2003, Laura Boone said she was babysitting for the Remnant Fellowship Church in Tennessee for the congregants' children when she saw Joseph Smith standing in the corner with his crying son.

The Smiths are members of the Nashville, Tennessee-based group, which encourages parents to physically discipline their children and maintain strict dietary control.

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Boone, now a high school senior, said she approached them to see if she could help.

"I thought maybe the dad had a toy or some food or something that would make him feel better," Boone testified. "I asked him what he wanted me to do if the kid continued to cry when he left, and he just looked at me and said, 'Hit him hard'."

Boone told jurors that when she said she wouldn't hit the boy, the father said again, "No, really hit him hard."

She testified that when she repeated she wouldn't strike the boy, Joseph Smith took his son into an adjacent room and started to beat him.

"You could just hear him hitting him and the son wailing, either spanking or hitting, but very hard," Boone testified.

After the father left, Boone said, Josef Smith cried and was very shy for the rest of the day.

Earlier Wednesday, several jurors winced as they viewed the autopsy photos that depicted the countless bruises covering the 8-year-old's torso that prosecutors allege were inflicted by his parents.

The panel got a better idea of how those injuries occurred during the testimony of a detective who interviewed Joseph Smith in the hours after the boy died.

Detective Steven Gaynor said that Joseph Smith claimed he loved his son, but had trouble controlling him.

According to Gaynor, Smith claimed that his son regularly changed the sound of his voice and said, "I'm Legion, soldier of the devil," and that he wrote "I want to kill you" on the walls of their home.

"[Joseph Smith] told me he often stayed up at night because they were afraid of their young son," the detective testified.

Gaynor said he was surprised to learn that Smith never had his son treated for these alleged behavioral problems.

According to Gaynor, Smith said that on the day he died, his son "was out of control and was disciplined and sent to his room."

Smith claimed that the child escaped from his room and stole the family's computer modem and damaged his mother's bathroom by pouring lotion and toothpaste all over it.

Gaynor told jurors that Smith said he often had to physically restrain the 8-year-old and whip him with a 12-inch glue stick.

Smith said he locked Josef in his room again and ultimately allowed his son to join the family as they watching a Webcast of a service from the Remnant Fellowship Church.

Soon after watching the service, however, Smith told the detective, "Josef began having difficulties."

"[Joseph Smith] told me the family was down on the floor kneeling, bowing down to pray, and Josef began makes some strange noise," Gaynor testified.

"But Dad said he thinks he's just being Josef," he continued. "So Joe Sr. gets up, but Josef stays down and thinks he's still joking, and tells him to get up and pray."

When Smith reached down to lift up Josef and he told the detective his son was "warm to the touch, wet with sweat, and unresponsive."

Smith thought his son was overheating and he "carried him out to the carport and laid him down on the concrete hoping it would have a cooling affect, but it didn't, so he called 911," according to Gaynor.

When Cobb County fire and rescue responded they found the 8-year-old lying on his back in the dining room, not breathing and without a pulse.

After being rushed to the hospital, doctors soon determined he was brain dead, and he died a day later.

Testimony continues Thursday. The trial is being shown live on Court TV Extra.