Former Navy diver Matthew McVeigh was stressed and overwhelmed at work and home, he had financial problems, and his wife’s drug use and lack of help and support were beginning to be too much, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

At the end of the summer of 2009, he took it out on his young son in a pattern of escalating violence, first causing bruises, then a broken arm and finally causing the death of 14-month-old Brayden McVeigh, said prosecutor Lt. James Toohey.

Matthew McVeigh faces two counts of murder, two of manslaughter and one of assault in the Sept. 20, 2009, death of his son.

McVeigh was a diver assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 at Pearl Harbor at the time of Brayden’s death but has been reclassified as an engineman 2nd class.

The Navy man is accused of striking his young son on multiple occasions over a year, then fatally injuring the boy at his Ford Island home by striking him on the head and shaking his body.

In opening statements in military court, Toohey said the child suffered massive hemorrhaging and a severely swollen brain. The injury would have left him unresponsive in minutes, he said.

Defense attorney David Norkin, however, suggested it was Matthew McVeigh’s former wife, April, who might have been responsible.

Norkin told the jury of five men and two women — all junior officers — that the prosecution will not be able to say conclusively who killed the child or how the death happened.

Prosecutors might point to stress, "but much more simple is that she (April McVeigh) is the one who may have done this herself," Norkin said.

April McVeigh spent most of her time "cooped up in a filthy (bedroom)" battling irritability, anxiety and anger, he said. She didn’t work. Four days before Brayden died, she tried to forge a prescription for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, Norkin said.

Testimony at the trial, which is scheduled to run two weeks and includes 46 potential witnesses, painted a picture of a shy Navy diver attempting to cope with his wife’s long-term drug issues that began years ago when she suffered a back injury, was prescribed methadone and became addicted.

At the time of Brayden’s death, Matthew McVeigh was getting his son and daughter, Brodi, then 3, up in the morning, taking them to a baby sitter, going to work, picking them up in the afternoon, doing the cooking and cleaning at home and caring for them at night, according to testimony.

April McVeigh said her daughter and son had methadone in their systems when they were born. She subsequently went through an $8,000 Hawaii island drug rehabilitation program. She also was prescribed Xanax, and in the summer of 2009 received pain medication for a gallbladder operation and dental procedures, she said.

Asked why she wasn’t doing more around the house, April McVeigh said, "To be honest, I didn’t feel well at all." She added that she felt like she was still withdrawing from methadone use.

April McVeigh, who testified for more than 21/2 hours Tuesday, said that on the morning Brayden was discovered unresponsive, she was sleeping upstairs with Brodi. Her husband was sleeping downstairs with Brayden, who had been sick.

She said she came downstairs twice during the night to check on Brayden.

In the morning, she said, she felt her husband’s weight on the bed as he kneeled to pick up Brodi.

At some point she heard Brayden "give out a cry that wasn’t typical Brayden’s crying," but she went back to sleep, she said.

Matthew McVeigh came upstairs, "and he goes, ‘I think there’s something wrong with Brayden,’" and then calmly went back downstairs, she said.

Her husband then came back upstairs with a limp Brayden in his arms, April McVeigh said. Her son’s lips were blue and he wasn’t breathing, she said.

Matthew McVeigh wanted to take the boy to the emergency room, but April McVeigh said, "I believe my words were, ‘Are you stupid?’" and she called 911.

A calm-voiced Matthew McVeigh says on a recording of the 911 call that he can’t tell whether Brayden is breathing.

Matthew McVeigh, dressed in a summer white uniform, looked down during most the proceedings but glanced at his ex-wife and pictures and video shown of his son.

At the age of 5 weeks, the boy suffered a broken arm, and Child Protective Services placed Brayden and his sister in foster care for five months, according to the autopsy report.

Former baby sitter Lakeysha Cardona testified she became suspicious after Brayden showed up with a black eye and bruises, and couldn’t seem to hold his bottle because his arms hurt.

She videotaped and took photos of the injuries and notified CPS, she said. The prosecution said Brayden had suffered a fractured shoulder at that time.

The defense noted that April McVeigh was told by Navy investigators that at one point she was suspected of murdering Brayden. She does not face charges.

At the end of her testimony, Toohey, the prosecutor, bluntly asked April McVeigh:

"Did you kill Brayden McVeigh?"

"No," she replied.

"Did you shake Brayden McVeigh?"

"No," she replied again.