Donald Rolle's adult son took the stand Monday and tearfully begged the jury to spare his father's life.

"I would give each and every one of you everything I have if I could just walk over and hug him right now," Daniel Rolle said.

Daniel Rolle, 26, and several other family members testified on the last day of evidence in the sentencing phase of Donald Rolle's murder trial. A jury could decide as soon as today whether Rolle should serve life behind bars or receive the death penalty.

The same jury convicted Rolle last week of the kidnapping and murder of Jennifer Randel, a 40-year-old mother of two. Her body was discovered Nov. 4 in his truck, along a remote road west of Casper. She had been beaten, stabbed and strangled in a brutal attack prosecutors say lasted hours.

"You've already heard the worse of him," Daniel Rolle told jurors. "You've seen what he has done with his life. I know he did good raising me."

Defense attorney Vaughn Neubauer asked the younger Rolle how his mother would be affected if Rolle, 47, was given a death sentence.

"My mom is very sick," he said, then paused for a moment. "I don't know how to say this. I don't want to lose my mom because my dad did something horrible. Cause she is a good person and she loves my dad."

Watching from the defense table, Donald Rolle wiped his eyes as his son spoke.

Daniel Rolle was the last of several family members to testify. Earlier, Donald Rolle's siblings described growing up in an abusive North Dakota household where the children were punished with beatings and overnight stays in a dirt cellar.

"I want to say we lived in hell," said Linda Rolle, the defendant's younger sister. "That's probably what it is like."

Linda Rolle said her mother would force the children to stand in a line, then stick a red-hot butter knife into each their mouths when she thought they were lying. Her childhood, she told the jury, affects her life every day.

"I'm 46 years old and to this day, I don't remember mom telling me she loved me," Linda Rolle said.

Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.

On the Web

Visit www.trib.com/randel for daily updates on the murder trial and more information on the Jennifer Randel case.