REDWOOD CITY (Map, News) - Staring at his feet and nervously playing with a rubber band, the 9-year-old son of Quincy Norton took the stand in his father’s murder trial Wednesday, testifying about how he heard his mother screaming as he watched cartoons the morning of her death.

Norton, 33, of Daly City, faces life in prison if convicted of the 2006 stabbing of his wife, Tamika Mack-Norton.

Answering mostly “yes” and “no” to questions from the prosecutor and defense attorney, Dion Norton said that shortly after he heard sounds coming from his parents’ adjacent bedroom, his father ushered him into the family’s car, along with his older brother and baby sister.

Dion said his father got into the car with an extra shirt, which he threw into the passenger seat. The family then drove to McDonald’s for breakfast, he said, before his father drove to a friend’s house. Dion said he watched from the car as his father talked to the man in the driveway. Finally, his father dropped all three children off at a cousin’s house, Dion testified.

The 9-year-old, who appeared confused at times on the stand, said his father did not get into the car with gloves, but was wearing them by the time he reached the relative’s home.

Attempting to show that the couple’s arguments did not typically end in violence, Deputy District Attorney Patricia Fox asked Dion if his father would leave the house after fighting with his mother.

“Sometimes my dad stays, sometimes he doesn’t,” he answered.

Deputy District Attorney Al Giannini has told jurors that Norton was an abuser and philanderer who stabbed his wife to death when she filed for divorce. After dropping the children off after the murder, according to prosecutors, Norton eluded authorities for a month before his arrest at a San Jose bus stop.

Fox maintains her client’s innocence based on DNA evidence that showed it was not Norton’s DNA on the murder weapon, but the biological material of his girlfriend, Anitra Johnson.

Attorneys will likely call Johnson to the stand during the trial, as well as Quincy Norton Jr., 11, who testified at the preliminary hearing that he walked into the master bedroom to see his father holding his mother down on the bed.

tbarak@examiner.com