Luis Bracamontes, an illegal immigrant from Mexico accused of killing two cops, laughed during his trial proceedings on Tuesday and threatened to break out of prison soon to kill more cops.
One of Bracamontes' lawyers told the jury that his client did murder Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer Deputy Michael Davis Jr. back in 2014 during his daylong spree of violence, according to the Sacramento Bee.
"Let me be clear and up front," defense lawyer Jeffrey Barbour said. "Mr. Bracamontes is responsible for the death of Deputy Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis."
"He shot them both," he added.
Barbour's admission about Bracamontes occurred shortly after his client repeatedly interrupted courtroom proceedings to disparage his victims.
"I wish I had killed more of the motherf—ers," he said to the jury. "I will break out soon and I will kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me...There’s no need for a f—ing trial."
Bracamontes' outbursts prompted Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White to temporarily remove the jury from the courtroom, so that he could deliver a staunch warning to the defendant, threatening to remove him from the courtroom.
"You will not disrupt this trial, you will not speak out," White told him. "If you do, you will be removed from the courtroom."
Barbour and his partner Norm Dawson then asked White if he could reconsider his previous finding of Bracamontes being mentally competent to stand trial after questioning whether he was sane.
"Your motion is denied," White told Barbour, allowing the jury to reenter the courtroom and telling them to ignore Bracamontes' outbursts, according to the Bee.
Barbour and Dawson then renewed their efforts, asking the judge if they could enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
"We believe Mr. Bracamontes' outbursts, his laughter, are a function of his mental illness...," Barbour said.
But the judge was having none of it, noting that the issue already had been litigated in previous hearings and that if Bracamontes chooses not to help his lawyers that's up to him. "He is not incompetent to stand trial," White declared.
This is not the first time that Bracamontes has threatened to kill more cops. Last June, he said that he will kill more of them if he "get[s] the chance." He went on to say that he doesn't regret his actions.
Bracamontes, 37, faces the death penalty and his wife, Janelle Monroy, 41, faces life in prison if they are convicted of the two murders and wounding several other people.
The widows of Davis and Oliver—Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver—were special guests at President Donald Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress last February. They sat with First Lady Melania Trump.