Jury continuing deliberations in Timothy Batts trial

Jury deliberations resumed around 9 a.m. Thursday morning in the trial for Timothy Batts.

Jurors have now been going for almost six hours after deliberating for three hours on Wednesday.

The jury has a lot to consider, especially after hearing Batts' side of the story when he took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday. They have to decide whether Batts was reckless when he shot his daughter, Timea.

Batts initially lied to police about what happened, claiming he didn't know who shot his daughter.

He later changed his story and admitted to shooting her because he thought she was an intruder. He said he happened to be holding a gun and it "just went off" when his daughter jumped out and scared him in the hallway.

Surveillance video captured by cameras Batts had set up inside his home show the moment he realized he shot his daughter and drove her to the hospital.

"We were both just crying, and I was apologizing so much and talking about how sorry I was, let her know, Timea, I didn't mean to do this, you know I would never do anything to hurt you," he said during his testimony on Wednesday.

The defense is hoping the jury will sympathize with Batts after hearing him testify. He was grilled by the state and the defense for over an hour on Wednesday.

Batts said he lied about what happened because he was a convicted felon and knew he'd be sent to jail and wouldn't be able to care for his daughter at the hospital.

"Who knows, if my daughter would have needed a body part or some blood, if I could have helped save her life. I would have wanted to be there to be that," said Batts during his testimony. "I wanted to be there for everything. No matter what happened, I wanted to be right there."

Batts is charged with reckless homicide, felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. If he is found guilty on the reckless homicide charge, he could spend up to 12 years in prison.

Batts was originally charged with initiating a false police report, but a judge threw out the charge on Wednesday because of a mistake in the wording of the indictment.

Stay with News 4 for updates from the courtroom.