Defense attorneys began trying to make sense of “chaotic” testimony involving a 16-year-old boy, his mother and her alleged attempt to pressure him into telling police about a murder.

Including Roddee W. Daniel’s statement about his alleged role in the murder of his neighbor Capri Walker at his trial depends entirely on whether he gave that statement voluntarily.

That left his lawyer, John Cabranes, to try to lay foundation Monday to show Daniel’s mother pressured him into talking to police, making his statement involuntary and not admissible at trial.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Wilbur W. Warren III isn’t expected to decide that issue for weeks, but he allowed testimony from a private investigator and a juvenile court case worker to help him make up his mind.

The investigator, Kevin Woolums, testified that Latrina Edwards perjured herself in September when she testified about whether she told her son to share whatever he knew about Walker’s murder.

During her time on the witness stand, Edwards admitted and denied implicating her son in the murder to protect herself from being charged in the 2008 homicide case.

She also said she never told her son not to give a statement and never urged him later to give a statement. Yet, she said she feared she would be arrested and asked her son to help her.

But, during an out-of-court interview with Cabranes and Woolums, Woolums testified that Edwards said she told her son to tell police about alleged co-defendant Kawanis Trotter’s involvement in the Walker situation. Woolums said Edwards also admitted telling her son to tell police “what they needed to hear.”

“So, she lied in court?” Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf asked.

“Yes,” Woolums said.

Also Monday, caseworker Gary Worthum testified about his interactions with Edwards and her son during the two years he supervised Daniel.

Details of the supervision were not discussed, but Worthum offered personal observations about the “close” relationship between mother and son and the “extra responsibility” Daniel faced as the family’s oldest child, including as his family’s protector.

Worthum also said he believed Daniel would be “vulnerable” to pressure from his mother.

The hearing is set to resume Dec. 16, when Warren also could address whether the boys should be tried separately and whether their cases should be tried in Kenosha County.

Daniel, 16, and Trotter, 15, both of Kenosha, are charged as adults for Walker’s death.

The boys allegedly broke into Walker’s home in the 1400 block of 71st Street while she slept, carrying a baseball bat and an unloaded rifle, cut off the power and unplugged phones.

Trotter told police that Daniel hit Walker, 51, on the head with a bat while she slept. Trotter said Walker never woke.

Daniel said Trotter beat Walker in the head with a bat after Walker woke up during the burglary.

Both teens are in jail because they have not posted bond. If convicted, they face life in prison. No trial date has been set.