ORLANDO -- A former Southwood Middle School classmate whom Michael Hernandez had targeted for murder testified on Tuesday that his one-time friend was ''mentally unstable'' around the time of Jaime Gough's slaying four years ago.

Andre Martin, now 18, said he believes the vague uneasiness he had about Hernandez might have saved his life. The day before Gough was killed, Hernandez asked Martin and Gough to accompany him into a second-floor boy's bathroom. Hernandez asked Martin to follow him into the handicap stall so that he could show him ''something'' while Gough stood guard.

But Martin resisted, asking Hernandez to show him whatever he had in the main part of the bathroom.

''The whole situation seemed a little bit odd to me,'' Martin testified. ``Things just seemed off.''

Hernandez kept trying to persuade Martin, but eventually the 8:55 a.m. bell rang. Hernandez suggested they go to class and meet back at the bathroom the next morning.

The next day, Feb. 3, 2004, Martin said he forgot about the bathroom meeting. Gough, 14, didn't. Hernandez slit Gough's throat in the handicap stall, killing him.

Hernandez told detectives during his confession that he had planned to kill both Martin and Gough on Feb. 2, which was Hernandez's 14th birthday. He is 18 now.

After Gough's body was found, the school was locked down and Martin said he didn't learn what had happened until he was home watching the news.

'I thought, `That could have possibly been me the day before,' '' he said.

Outside the courtroom, Martin, now a student at Miami Dade College, said he believes ''it's a miracle'' that he was spared. ``It's a blessing from God.''

Martin met Hernandez in third grade, and the two had been close friends from then through seventh grade. But Martin said he noticed a change in Hernandez in eighth grade.

''He was less outgoing, less eager to meet new people, and he lost his sense of humor,'' he said.

There were other troubling signs. Martin had noticed cut marks on Hernandez's forearms, and when he asked about them Hernandez told him he did it because ''he needed the pain.'' Hernandez told Martin that his parents were considering taking him to a psychiatrist. And at some point during their middle school years, Hernandez told Martin that he had diagnosed himself with schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

THE EVIDENCE

Earlier in the day, jurors saw the knife that prosecutors say Hernandez used to kill Gough.

Miami-Dade Police homicide Detective Fred Suco testified that he found the serrated knife in a ''hidden pocket'' of the backpack that Hernandez brought to school on Feb. 3.

Hernandez came to officers' attention shortly after Gough was found bleeding to death about 8:30 a.m. in the bathroom.

After investigating for several hours, police zeroed in on Hernandez, who sat in his classroom with spots of blood on his clothing. He apparently had told classmates the stains were from a bloody nose. A witness told police they had seen Hernandez coming out of the bathroom right before Gough was found.

Police pulled Hernandez out of class and, during questioning at the school, asked if they could look in his backpack. A blood-stained jacket and latex gloves were visible.

Suco testified that after getting a search warrant for the backpack, he went through it. The contents included ''normal stuff'' for a student that age, he said, including gum, a Walkman, pens, pencils and notebooks. It also contained a red Tommy Hilfiger jacket that was rolled up in a ball with the latex gloves. The glove and jacket had blood on them that was later tied to Gough through DNA testing. Once the backpack was empty, Suco said he patted it down, still looking for a knife police suspected was used to kill Gough.

''I felt something hard in the lining,'' he said. He found an inside pocket that he suggested was made by Hernandez by tearing the lining and attaching Velcro strips.

Defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum objected, saying there's no evidence Hernandez made the pocket.

LEGAL ARGUMENTS

Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder and could face life in prison if convicted. His legal team has mounted an insanity defense, saying the teen is mentally ill and not criminally responsible for his actions that day. Hernandez, they say, thought he was in training to be a serial killer, according to a diary found in the backpack.

Prosecutors dispute Hernandez is legally insane, saying evidence shows he knew what he did was wrong and methodically plotted killing.

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