Testimony ends in Dykstra trial; closings set Wednesday

UPDATE: Witness testimony has wrapped up in the second-degree murder trial of Brian Dykstra, accused in the 2005 death of his 21-month-old son Isaac.

Attorneys went over jury instructions Tuesday afternoon. They will make their closing arguments Wednesday morning, and jurors then will begin deliberations.

In testimony earlier today, Brian Dykstra took the stand and described son Isaac as "the perfect boy.”

“We fell in love with him,” Dykstra testified today before the 14 jurors who are hearing his second-degree murder trial in a Johnson County courtroom. “You couldn't ask for a better fit for us.”

Dykstra, 35, was arrested in August 2008 in connection with the Aug. 14, 2005, death of his 21-month-old son Isaac, who he and his wife had adopted a few months earlier from Russia.

Dykstra is accused of causing the severe head injuries that took Isaac's life, including brain swelling, hemorrhaging and retinal bleeding.

Prosecutors rested their case in the trial on Friday, and Dykstra's defense rested its case this morning after Dykstra took the stand. Prosecutors are questioning a rebuttal witness. After testimony wraps up, jurors will begin deliberating Dykstra's fate.

Dykstra this morning told the jurors how much he adored his son. When asked if he “beat up” his child, Dykstra said, “Absolutely not.”

Dykstra described for the jurors a fall on Aug. 10 that he said led to the injuries that took his son's life a few days later. Authorities and doctors have testified that Isaac had to have suffered devastating and fatal injuries on Aug. 13 – the day his dad called 911 and Isaac was rushed to the hospital.

But Dykstra described a slow change in behavior and small signs over a few days that led to Isaac's passing out in the family's Iowa City living room on Aug. 13.

“Looking back, I really wish we would have taken him to the hospital” on Aug. 10 after his fall, Dykstra said.

“To the normal average person, he looked fine,” he said. “But, looking back, there was a lot more going on there than just a fall.”

Dykstra described a knot that his son got on his head after the Aug. 10 fall, and said it turned soft over the next few days. He said Isaac was groggy, uninterested in walking and irritable.

But upon cross-examination, Dykstra said he can remember few details about Aug. 13 --when he called 911 and hung up and told an operator who called back that his son was struggling to breathe.

Dykstra said he doesn't remember refusing to answer responders' questions about what happened that morning that led to his son's passing out with severe head injuries. He said he doesn't remember what he told doctors about administering CPR or being preoccupied with the dogs when paramedics were at his house.