Members of Louisiana State Police Trooper Steven Vincent’s family — including his wife and son — took the stand twice on Monday, once for the defense to hear a preview of what would be said in court and then again for members of the jury.

Monday was the third day of testimony in the penalty phase of Kevin Daigle’s first-degree murder conviction. Daigle was convicted in 2019 of fatally shooting Vincent in the face when the officer tried to help him on the side of the road on Aug. 23, 2015.

“I pray for peace, but it never happens,” Katherine Vincent, Steven’s widow, told jurors. “The pain doesn’t go away, it just gets worse. It makes me sick to think (Daigle) was the last person he saw.”

Vincent testified her husband stayed in the emergency room for several hours after he was transported to Lake Charles Memorial Hospital as they waited for a neurologist to arrive.

“I didn’t know what was going on and I could tell everyone was trying to be very careful in what they told me,” Vincent said. “After a while, the neurologist came out and said, ‘Mrs. Vincent, your husband has been shot in the head with a shotgun. Don’t be optimistic.’

“He prayed every day a prayer of protection that those around him would be protected,” Vincent tearfully told jurors. “But God didn’t protect him.”

Vincent said she initially visited her husband’s grave daily.

“For years and years I went to his grave, hoping for a sign that he was OK,” she said. “There’s never been a sign.”

Vincent said her husband’s presence can still be felt throughout their home. There’s a room devoted to his uniforms — in addition to being a state trooper, he was previously an officer with the Lake Charles Police Department and had served in the U.S. Army — and the tins of polish for his boots and uniform medals are still on the shelf.

“All of his clothes are still in the closet,” she said. “His side of the closet is kind of dusty but I can’t see a day when they’re not there. I keep thinking he’s going to come home.”

Ethan Vincent, the 16-year-old son of Steven who was 9 when his father was killed, said to this day he still wants to be a member of law enforcement when he grows up.

“It’s what I wanted to do then, it’s what I want to do now,” he told jurors.

Ethan said on the day his father was shot, Steven Vincent had come home on a shift break and had kissed him goodbye when he headed back out.

“He said, ‘Hey, I love you. I’ve got to go back to work, I’ll see you this evening,’ That’s the last time I spoke to my father,” Vincent said.

Vincent said he continues to play sports and fish — hobbies he loved to do with his father — but he no longer is a Boy Scout.

“Seeing other kids with their dads having a good time, I felt like an outcast because I didn’t have a father figure with me,” he said.

“It’s hard to live without a father figure in my life,” he said. “I try to act in ways my father would act, but sometimes that’s just hard to do.”

He said other troopers from his father’s unit continue to check in on him and his mother, and they make sure to spend time with him on his birthday each year.

Keith Vincent, the oldest brother of Steven Vincent, told jurors the day of the shooting was “horrific.”

“It made me very sad, but it made me very angry,” he said through tears. “I’m not a violent person, but it made me very angry.

“I should have been there to back him,” Vincent, who is the police chief for the town of Iowa, La., told jurors.

Vincent said he refuses to watch the full dash cam video from his brother’s unit.

“I’ve seen bits and pieces, but I won’t watch the whole thing,” he said. “I can’t.”

Rene Vincent Perry said on the day of her brother’s death she had been out mowing the lawn when neighbors ran over to say she needed to check on her parents.

“We knew something bad had happened, but we didn’t know what,” Perry said. “My husband said it wouldn’t be that bad because all the officers had bullet-proof vests on. But we live by the interstate and when I saw all these police units flying by, I knew he must have been shot in the head. There wouldn’t have been so many rushing to the hospital if he had been hit in the vest.”

Perry said that day at the hospital was the first time she had ever witnessed her father cry.

“He said, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to tell your mother,” Perry testified through tears.

Perry said her mother was able to spend time at Vincent’s side before he died and wanted to take one final picture with her son.

“But not his face because that’s now how she wanted to remember him,” Perry said.

Instead, a picture was taken of the trooper’s hand holding his mother’s.

“They say you can die of a broken heart and right now Momma and Daddy both have pace makers and fight depression,” Perry said. “Katherine doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving anymore. Momma and Daddy don’t, either. Steven would always stop in on Thanksgiving whether he was working or not. They just don’t celebrate it any more. Things are different.”

Jeffrey Lewine, a neuroscientist who examined brain scans from Daigle in 2017, was the first witness called by the defense. Lewine told jurors Daigle was raised “in a toxic environment, which impacted his brain development.”

Daigle, who has a history of depression and anxiety according to medical records presented, has numerous abnormalities scattered throughout his brain, Lewine said.

Those abnormalities, he said, would affect things such as memory and learning; the emotional regulation of behavior; impulse control; and sensory and motor functions.

“Structurally, Mr. Daigle’s brain is not as it should be,” Lewine said as he described the “disrupted connections” between the regions of Daigle’s brain.

“His impulse control is not functioning quite as normal,” Levine said, describing Daigle’s brain as “significantly compromised.”

When cross-examined by Calcasieu Parish First Assistant District Attorney Jacob Johnson, Lewine said he had never watched the dash cam video from Vincent’s unit to witness Daigle’s behavior that day. He also couldn’t rule out any brain damage that appeared in the scans in 2017 weren’t caused by the punches Daigle received when motorists subdued him after the shooting.

Greg Bowers, a childhood friend of Daigle’s, and 13-year-old Andre Johnston, a grandson of the defendant, also testified on Monday.

Bowers told jurors that Daigle’s father was “not a good person at times” and would “take his anger out” on Daigle when he was drinking.

Bowers testified Daigle’s own personality changed, as well, when he consumed alcohol, describing him as “Jekyll and Hyde.”

When asked, Bowers admitted to prosecutors that he did witness Daigle become violent when he was drinking.

Johnston described to jurors his love of fishing, swimming and “hiding in the cornfield” with his “PawPaw.”

Johnston said it was him who asked Daigle’s attorneys if he could testify in court “to get his PawPaw out of the death sentence.”

Court will resume at 9 a.m today.

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American Press Executive Editor Crystal Stevenson is sending live tweets from the courtroom. Follow her on Twitter @Crystal AmPress