Attorney Walter McKee and Andrew Balcer in Capital Judicial Center in Augusta on Wednesday. (Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal)

AUGUSTA — A Winthrop teenager accused of killing his parents last year told a police dispatcher “I snapped” on the night of the slayings, according to court testimony Wednesday.

“I don’t know why,” Andrew T. Balcer also told a Winthrop dispatcher on Oct. 31, 2016.

Balcer, in a 911 recording played in a courtroom at the Capital Judicial Center, said he stabbed his mother in the back and then stabbed his father when he woke up to her screams.

Winthrop Police Department dispatcher Dana Massey testified in the case in which the state wants Balcer, then 17, to be tried as an adult on two murder charges.

Balcer was a month shy of his 18th birthday when the state says he stabbed his parents to death in their Winthrop home.

The state filed a petition Nov. 1, 2016, seeking to have Balcer, now almost 19, tried as an adult rather than in the juvenile justice system.

When a hearing on that issue began, members of the media were permitted to use electronics in the courtroom, something prohibited previously.

The state has charged Balcer with two charges of knowing and intentional murder, one for the death of his father, Antonio Balcer, and one for the death of his mother, Alice Balcer. Both were 47.

If convicted as an adult, he could face life in prison without possibility of parole.

Defense attorney Walter McKee opposes that move, saying it’s not appropriate to treat Balcer as an adult.

Balcer, wearing a long-sleeved white dress shirt and dark tie, with his shoulder-length, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, listened quietly as Judge Eric Walker initially explained the court process.

Assistant Attorney General Robert “Bud” Ellis, the prosecutor, first offered a recording of a 911 call by Balcer, who said he stabbed both parents to death as well as the family dog.

Ellis said Balcer killed his parents “in a very heinous manner.”

On Oct. 31, 2016, at 1:45 a.m., a Somerset County communications dispatcher transferred the 911 call to Winthrop. The whole 12-minute recording was played for the judge.

On the recording, Balcer said he did not know why he did it, that there had been no recent arguments and both of his parents were sleeping.

He said on the recording, “I woke my mother up. She thought there was something wrong, so she came to lie down with me.”

During the call, Balcer also told the dispatcher both his parents were dead.

“There’s no helping them,” he said.