CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Witnesses testified that sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo was in and out of homes and schools while growing up, an attempt by his lawyers to convince the jury their client was susceptible to the influence of sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad.

Relatives, friends and former teachers of Malvo who spoke on his behalf at his trial Tuesday consistently described him as an obedient, inquisitive boy who latched on to father figures where he could find them.

Malvo's uncle, John Benjamin Lawrence, recalled a 9-year-old Malvo constantly asking questions while he lived with Lawrence in the Caribbean for more than two years at the request of Malvo's mother, Una James.

Lawrence's wife, Marie, said her husband "was a daddy to Lee -- loving, caring." She called Malvo intelligent and "very obedient," and testified that only rarely did she have to beat him with a belt.

James pulled her son out of the Lawrences' home, saying she wanted him to live nearer his school. Later, she twice pulled him out of a high school in Brown's Town, Jamaica, and eventually moved him to Antigua.

A vice principal at the Jamaica high school, Esmie McLeod, said she became concerned about Malvo's frequent uprooting and confronted James about it. "I felt she was doing her son an injustice by moving him from place to place," she said. "I said, 'You constantly uproot your child."'

McLeod was not permitted to testify about James' response.

One of the teachers at the school, Winsom Maxwell, arranged for Malvo to live at her parents' home in 1998 and 1999, when he bonded with her father.

"I realized he was having problems so I asked him if he wanted to stay with me," she said. "I think they had a very good rapport, especially with my dad."

Malvo's mother abruptly pulled him from the home and moved him to Antigua in August 1999.

Malvo's lawyers have argued that his childhood of abandonment and uprooting, as well as a Jamaican culture that emphasized discipline and obedience, made him especially susceptible to the influence of Muhammad.

They argue that he should be found innocent of the murder charges because Muhammad's indoctrination rendered him legally insane. Malvo is on trial in the Oct. 14, 2002, shooting death of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church.

When Malvo moved to Antigua in 1999, the principal of the school attended by Malvo testified that Malvo's mother approved the designation of Muhammad as his guardian. Muhammad also once identified himself as Malvo's uncle, Rosalind Aaron testified.

Aaron said Malvo left the school roughly in early 2001, two weeks after she took a Quran away from him. She said she didn't want him spreading Muslim ideas in a Christian school.

Prosecutors said Muh!omad and Malvo, 18, formed a mobile sniper team. They are charged in or linked to the killing of 10 people and the wounding of six in the Washington area in September-October 2002, plus shootings in Washington state, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.

The testimony came one day after a jury in Virginia Beach recommended Muhammad get the death penalty for orchestrating the shooting spree. Muhammad will be sentenced Feb. 12.

Malvo's lawyers, who told him of Muhammad's sentence recommendation, said their client accepted the news "with a quiet resignation." They have described Malvo as having separated himself from Muhammad's influence and that he now feels anger toward Muhammad.

If convicted, Malvo also could face the death penalty.