Prosecutors calling 8-year-old to testify against dad

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Prosecutors plan to call an 8-year-old boy to testify against his father in an Iowa triple-homicide trial.

KCCI-TV reports that the state on Wednesday filed a motion that would allow the boy to testify via a closed-circuit TV feed.

The child is the son of Marvin Esquivel-Lopez of Guatemala, who faces three counts of first-degree murder in the July shooting deaths of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter and her 5-year-old son.

The killings happened in Des Moines. Court documents say the child was an eyewitness.

Esquivel-Lopez pleaded not guilty. His trial starts Jan. 27.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said Escobar-Orellana is in the United States illegally and had twice been deported before the shooting. He was convicted in 2010 of illegal entry into the U.S.

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Information from: KCCI-TV, http://www.kcci.com