"A sacred trust was broken that evening at Camp Pennsylvania," Capt. Chris Seifert's widow, Terri Seifert, told the military jury that will decide whether Sgt. Hasan Akbar should receive the death penalty for the March 2003 attack.

The widow also recalled the pain of following the casket of her 27-year-old husband down the same church aisle the couple walked on their wedding day. She said she still keeps items around as reminders of her husband - his Army beret, slippers, toothbrush and razor, along with photos of him with their young son.

"I am terribly lonely," she said. "I lost my best friend and confidante."

The emotional testimony capped the prosecution's case in the penalty phase for the 34-year-old Akbar, who was convicted last week of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder in the attack on fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in the early days of the Iraq war.

Defense lawyers are expected to present witnesses Wednesday in their effort to save Akbar from a death sentence.

Defense lawyers argued Akbar was too mentally ill to plan the attack, although they never denied that he was the one who rolled grenades into tents, then fired on soldiers in the ensuing chaos. In addition to the two officers who were killed, 14 soldiers were wounded.

Prosecutors have said Akbar launched the attack because he was concerned about U.S. troops killing fellow Muslims in the war. Earlier in the prosecution's presentation, soldiers testified about the mental and physical wounds they suffered in the attack.

Tuesday, the victims' relatives took the stand.

The mother of Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, said her son was so badly shredded by more than 80 pieces of shrapnel that she didn't get a chance to see his body before he was buried.

"He was the heart of our family. He was our hero," Betty Lenzi said. "And that grenade tore him away from us."

Helen Seifert said her son - born after years of unsuccessful efforts to have a child and applications for adoption - was the center of her life. After she testified, her husband helped her to her seat where she burst into tears.

"I just could not believe an American soldier could do this," she said. "It shattered my life."

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