CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — The defense rested its case Monday in the sentencing phase of teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo's trial after Malvo's father described his son's early wish to become a pilot.

Leslie Malvo testified for less than 15 minutes and over the objections of prosecutors, who unsuccessfully sought to bar all of Leslie Malvo's testimony.

After his testimony, defense and prosecutors started conferring with the judge on the instructions that would be given to jurors before they begin deliberating on whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison.

Malvo was found guilty Thursday of killing FBI analyst Linda Franklin on Oct. 14, 2002, during the three-week series of sniper attacks in the Washington area in which 10 people were killed and three others were wounded.

During the guilt phase, Malvo's lawyers mounted an insanity defense, claiming indoctrination by John Allen Muhammad had left Malvo incapable of telling right from wrong.

A jury in Virginia Beach last month recommended the death penalty for Muhammad, 42, after convicting him of capital murder.

Leslie Malvo lived with his son in Jamaica until Lee Malvo turned 5, when the boy's mother, Una James, moved away and took Lee with her. The father and son saw each other only a few times after that.

From the age of 3, Lee Malvo wanted to be a pilot, Leslie Malvo said.

"The two of us would watch the planes coming down," he said. "Lee loved it very much."

Prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. said Leslie Malvo's testimony should not be allowed because he also testified in the trial's guilt phase and had little to offer.

"He sat on the witness stand and sobbed and cried for 20 minutes about the precious son he hadn't seen in 10 years," Horan said. "The jury should not be subjected to that testimony."

Earlier Monday, a social worker testified that Malvo changed his behavior and attitude while in jail, slowly breaking away from Muhammad after hearing witnesses describe his childhood in Jamaica.

Carmeta Albarus, herself a Jamaican native, said Malvo was uncooperative after his arrest but slowly came around after having phone conversations or listening to audiotapes from his father and from a teacher with whom he had a special bond in Jamaica.

"The turning point was hearing his father's voice," she said, which elicited tears from Malvo.

Malvo's trial had been mostly devoid of emotional moments until the sentencing phase began. But the testimony grew intense and jurors wept as relatives of some of the victims testified about their loss.

Franklin's daughter, Katrina Hannum, said her mother was the "golden thread" that held her family together.

"I lost my whole family the day I lost my mother," Hannum said.

Myrtha Cinada, whose father, Pascal Charlot, was killed, avoided looking at Malvo until the end of her testimony.

Then, she turned toward him and said: "Malvo, you are evil. You're insane because you took my father's life. Because of you, he didn't have a chance to see his great-grandchild. That's insane of you to do. You're evil."

Defense witnesses described a very different side of Malvo.

Winsom Maxwell, a teacher in Jamaica who briefly took Malvo into her home when he was 11, described him as "a sad boy searching for love."