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The injury to a child trial of Joshua Mauldin trial resumed Thursday morning with testimony from a psychiatrist.

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Joshua Mauldin

Mauldin confessed to putting his 2-month-old daughter in a hotel microwave and turning it on for 10 seconds last May.

The baby girl suffered critical burns and has undergone several surgeries.

Mauldin's attorneys are trying to convince jurors that he was insane at the time. But their insanity defense took a blow from their own witness Thursday morning.

"If your question is: Did he have a severe enough mental illness at the time of this event to satisfy based on that in the criteria for insanity, I don’t believe he did," testified Michael Fuller, a defense witness.

The attorney then asked if Mauldin was he having an episode in May of last year when he allegedly punched his baby daughter, put her in a safe, moved her to the refrigerator, then put her in the microwave.

"If his description of how he felt and it is also accurate that he [the baby] was moved from one location to the other," answered Fuller. "Those two events are highly suspicious of someone who is trying to respond in a confused or irrational way to a perceived need or threat.

"I do believe that if those accounts are true that there is a high possibility or probability that he was experiencing an episode of mental confusion caused by any possible," Fuller added.

While Mauldin does have a history of mental illness, the expert on the stand put it like this:

"The information he was sharing with me did not suggest that this was driven by psychotic features that were of relevant importance," Fuller said.

Mauldin's mother takes the stand

Joshua’s mother took the stand Thursday afternoon. She described Joshua Mauldin as a “sweet, kind and considerate” child and person.

But she didn’t describe herself with the same words.

“I was an awful mother," she said. "I was never there for him."

"Why is that Ms. Mauldin?" asked defense attorney Sam Cammack.

“I had too much on my plan and on my agenda,” Joshua’s mother replied.

She went on to say that Joshua started hearing voices at the age of 9 or 10.

“I didn’t want people pointing fingers at him; I did not want to jeopardize his future," she said. "I told him not to tell anyone.”

If convicted, Mauldin could get life in prison.