Skater Nancy Kerrigan's brother caused their father's death by shoving him in a fight, a Massachusetts prosecutor said as Mark Kerrigan's trial opened.
But Kerrigan's lawyer, supported by the family, said he loved his father Daniel, 70, who had high blood pressure, diabetes and advanced coronary artery blockages before dying of a heart attack in his Stoneham, Mass., home in January 2010.
Kerrigan's trial for involuntary manslaughter and assault and battery began Monday at Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn, The Boston Globe reported.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Keeley said he "pushed and shoved'' his father and was "drunk, angry, abusive, argumentative and physically violent.''
"The final act which triggered the death of Daniel Kerrigan was when this defendant grabbed his father around the neck with such force that he fractured cartilage in the left side of his neck and shoved him to the kitchen floor,'' she said.
Defense lawyer Janice Bassil said the two were just grappling and Kerrigan did not attack his father.
Nancy Kerrigan, the figure skater who won a bronze medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics and a silver at the 1994 games, has been listed a potential witness but said she did not expect to testify.