Terrance Carter, the Red River man accused of tying his ex-girlfriend's 5-year-old son to a chair and setting him on fire in an act of retribution aimed at her, testified today he does not remember killing the child. He testified he had drunk beer and taken pills before he gave a statement to law officers admitting to the murder.

Carter is accused of taking Corinthian Houston from a house in Natchitoches and bringing him to a vacant house in neighboring Red River Parish, where the little boy was tied to a chair with an electrical cord, had gasoline poured on him and then was burned alive in July 2006. Investigators said Carter, 29, was mad at the little boy's mother, Pamela, because she was seeing another man.

"I remember putting out a fire. I have no recollection before that," Carter testified during his trial in Red River district court in Coushatta.

Prosecutors, who rested their case on Monday, are seeking the death penalty for Carter. He has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense attorney Daryl Gold put a large picture of the murdered boy inches from Carter's face as he testified this afternoon.

"Did you kill Corinthian?" Gold asked.

"Not consciously," Carter replied.

He would not look at crime scene photos of the child's body.

When Gold asked why, Carter replied, "Because this wasn't supposed to happen."

Carter testified he remembered putting the fire out and going to his mother's house.

Red River sheriff's investigators said Carter gave a statement admitting he killed Corinthian and told of the child screaming before he died. That statement was not recorded because the tape recorder wasn't working, investigators said.

Carter testified he slipped some drugs in some Kool-Aid and gave it to the little boy before killing him. An autopsy found no evidence of drugs in the victim's system, prosecutors said.

Carter testified he and a friend had found Corinthian outside a man's house in Natchitoches Parish and convinced him to get in the car with them. Prosecutors said the little boy was taken to a house near Coushatta and murdered.