ORLANDO, Fla. -- The parents of a teenager accused of stabbing his friend to death at school testified Thursday in his Orlando trial.

Michael Hernandez's eyes focused on the witness stand as his father, Manny Hernandez, was called to testify.

"What type of child was Michael?" an attorney asked.

"He was a good child and he's still a good child," Manny Hernandez said.

Michael Hernandez is accused of fatally stabbing Jaime Gough in a restroom at Miami's Southwood Middle School in Feb. 2004. At the time of the killing, Michael Hernandez was 14 years old.

On the stand Thursday, Manny Hernandez talked in great detail about his son's behavior in the days and years leading up to Gough's killing. The father told the court that Michael Hernandez developed an obsession with keeping a neat room during his eighth-grade year.

"Everything had to be in its place. When you looked at his chest of drawers, all his socks were neatly folded," Manny Hernandez said. "He had his knife collection that was all very neat, and he also had his Bible collection."

Fifteen Bibles and an assembly of knives were found in Michael Hernandez's room. His parents knew of their son's collection, but they said he was not allowed to take any of the knives outside of the house.

Earlier this week, prosecutors argued that Michael Hernandez hid one of those knives in his backpack and used it to kill Gough.

Only a few months before Gough's death, Michael Hernandez's parents said they twice tried talking their son into seeing a psychologist.

"He didn't really see the need," Manny Hernandez said. "He felt that if he didn't talk to the psychiatrist, it would be kind of useless to take him there."

Michael Hernandez's mother, Kathy Hernandez, also began her testimony Thursday. She talked about the time her son spent on the computer, the Web sites he visited and the habits he developed during the time before Gough's death.

Kathy Hernandez offered dark details about a sudden change in her son's behavior.

"It still is a complete difference when I look into his eyes," Kathy Hernandez said. "I don't see my child."

Michael Hernandez's mother also described an image she saw on his bedroom computer when he was in the eighth grade.

"I don't remember exactly what the picture was, but it was gory," she said.

During cross-examination, prosecutors brought up the videotaped confession that Michael Hernandez gave detectives hours after the crime.

"It was a chilling confession, but he didn't have any parents there. He didn't have an attorney there. He didn't know he was being videotaped," Kathy Hernandez said. "Yes, it was a seasoned detective with a little 14-year-old, 97-pound boy."

As he interviewed his client's parents, Michael Hernandez's lawyer took one more aim at an insanity defense.

"Sir, do you think Michael was insane back in early February 2004?" an attorney asked.

"Yes," Manny Hernandez said.

"I do, and I think he still is," Kathy Hernandez said when asked the same question.

When the trial resumes Friday, the jury will hear the testimony of a psychologist flown in from the New York City area. The psychologist is expected to corroborate the defense's theory that Michael Hernandez was legally insane around the time Gough was killed.