PEORIA — Dillen Constant’s family and teachers worried that his anger was becoming increasingly violent but family finances may have kept the youth from seeing a psychiatrist, according to statements Tuesday in the Chris Harris murder trial.

Constant, who was 14 when he was killed in September 2009 along with four other family members in their Beason home, was portrayed as a troubled young man who struggled with schoolwork and relationships.

Chris Harris, 34, has alleged Dillen bludgeoned Rick and Ruth Gee and their children Justina Constant, 16, and Austin Gee, 11, with a tire iron. Harris claims he was forced to kill Dillen after the boy came after him with a kitchen knife as Harris surveyed the bloody crime scene during his late-night stop at the home of his former in-laws.

Defense lawyer Daniel Fultz argued Tuesday the jury should hear statements from Rick Gee’s mother, Judith Stogdell, about concerns Gee had about his son two years before the slaying.

“It’s important to show this jury that the mother and father had serious concerns that he was going to act out in a violent way,” said Fultz.

Poverty may have kept the Gees from getting the child to a psychiatrist as recommended by a family doctor, said Fultz, noting that school records contain 248 referrals for assistance with behavioral issues.

Judge Scott Drazewski did not alter his earlier ruling banning Stogdell’s testimony about Gee’s concerns but he did allow Lincoln therapist Olivia Massena, who treated Dillen in 2007, to share Ruth Gee’s concerns about his “aggression towards siblings, problems at school — that sort of thing.”

The Gees stopped bringing the child to the counselor in August 2007, she said.

An expert on the affects violent video games have on children told the jury that Dillen’s exposure to certain games may have put him at risk for violent behavior.

Dr. Carl Anderson, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University and director of the Center for the Study of Violence, testified that Dillen had several risk factors for potential violence, including a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, care by poorly skilled parents who used drugs and shared sex partners, and problems in school.

In his cross-examination of Anderson, prosecutor Steve Nate attacked the experts’ testimony by reading through a long list of court decisions containing highly unflattering opinions of Anderson’s research.

The defense will close its case Wednesday with Harris’ ex-wife Nicole Gee and his daughter Alyssa Harris.