CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Defense lawyers for Neil Entwistle are in court on Monday arguing that police did not have the right to search his home twice last year.

In one of those searches, Hopkinton police found the bodies of Entwistle's wife, Rachel, and their infant daughter, Lillian.

Entwistle's lawyers said the two searches were unconstitutional. But Middlesex Superior Court prosecutors said the warrantless searches were reasonable and a simple well-being check on the family.

Two police officers took the stand on Monday. One jimmied open the home's front door to gain access and one was the dispatcher on the night of Jan. 21, 2006.

"The first thing I saw was a small child's face, a baby's face," Hopkinton police Sgt. Michael Sutton said Monday in Middlesex District Court.

Sutton described finding the bodies in the master bedroom of the Entwistles' rented Hopkinton home, on a bed.

"The first thing I thought was, that the baby had been beaten because of the bruising," Sutton said, describing the child's face as "mottled."

"The baby had been dead for some time," he said.

Rachel Entwistle's mother called Hopkinton police after she did not answer her cell phone for several hours and no one answered the door for invited guests.

"I told her that we were going up to the house and check to see what we could find there and that I would report back to her on what the findings were," Hopkinton police dispatcher Sgt. Charles Wallace said.

Entwistle's attorney said police entered the home illegally.

"The ends do not justify the means. You cannot permit law enforcement to enter our homes and then, and only then, if they find something improper to say it was OK. Because when they find nothing improper, that is wrong," said defense attorney Elliot Weinstein.

The judge is not expected to issue a decision on Monday.