TROY — A Schenectady man charged with murdering four people inside a Lansingburgh home four days before Christmas 2017 testified Monday that he never set foot in the house on the night of the massacre.

James White, known as “Jay Dub,” told jurors he went to 158 Second Ave. on Dec. 21, 2017, to collect a $12 marijuana debt but waited outside without a jacket. The 40-year-old said he was unaware his friend and future co-defendant, Justin Mann — the prosecution’s star witness — had gone inside and killed the two adults and two children.

White said he suspected Mann was robbing the victims but, due to his “principles,” declined to call the police.

“I did the only thing I could do — nothing,” White told jurors in Rensselaer County Court, where he is on trial before Judge Debra Young charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

“I’m old school," White testified. "My mentality is 'F__ the police.' ... l don’t believe in calling the police to lock people up.”

Earlier: Prosecution rests in trial of man accused of killing four in Troy

Suspect pleads guilty in Troy quadruple homicide

Law Beat: Social distancing amid testimony of murder

As members of the victims' families watched from the gallery, White said he had been inside the home in the past but did not want to enter on this occasion because “their housekeeping skills were not proficient.”

White’s testimony directly contradicted the account of Mann, who testified for prosecutors Friday that White told him before the men left Schenectady, “We’re going to Troy. We’re gonna murder these people.” Mann pleaded guilty a year ago to four counts of second-degree murder.

White said Monday he had “no knowledge that a crime was going to be committed in the first place.”

Wearing a dress shirt and tie, White looked directly at jurors and described how he and Mann went to 158 Second Ave. to collect the $12 debt from Brandi Mells, 22, one of the victims and a person White described as a friend.

The debt was supposedly over less than a gram and a half of marijuana, White said. Under questioning by his lawyer, Kurt Haas, White said he was “disgusted” that the visit resulted in the bloodbath that took the lives of Mells as well as Shanta Myers, 36, and Myers' two children: Jeremiah, 11, and Shanise, 5.

White suggested that he had come to believe Mann's plan all along was to murder the victims — but that he hadn't been in on it.

“I didn’t go into the apartment. I stayed outside,” White said.

He said he spoke to Mann before the 26-year-old went into the apartment.

“I saw a certain look on his face. I told him, ‘Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it,'” White testified.

At one point, White began to testify that Mann had told him he killed the victims. The judge struck the testimony following an objection. White also said Mann was armed with a gun.

At another point, White referred to Mann’s “stupidity.”

White became combative during cross-examination by Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf. He broke into expletives more than once.

White, a Manhattan native, said he moved to the Capital Region in 2015 and was homeless for a time, but was living in Schenectady in December 2017. He said he and Mann had become friends the prior September after meeting at a library in Schenectady.

Earlier, prosecutors rested rested their case after showing jurors surveillance footage of White and Mann riding the bus to and from the area near the crime scene.

The recordings showed White holding a large white bag, and Mann with a black bag and a backpack. Mann testified Friday he was carrying items they had stolen from the house, including a flat-screen television and Xbox video-games system.

The footage captured a bus driver’s brief conversation with White and Mann. “I saw you guys on the way up,” he told the pair.

On their way out, the driver said: “Have a good night. ... Have a good holiday. Merry Christmas!”

White faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

Mann testified last week that White ordered him to tie up the four victims before White stabbed each one with a knife — using a pillow to minimize blood spatter.

Closing arguments are set for Tuesday.