A man who is in the United States illegally admitted to killing two Sacramento-area police officers and pledged to do it again, in a series of chilling courtroom outbursts on Tuesday.
Luis Bracamontes, 37, is standing trial in Sacramento Superior Court for the 2014 murders of Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Davis Jr.
‘I wish I could have killed more of those motherf***ers,’ Bracamontes said, before Judge Steve White, according to the Sacramento Bee.
‘I will break out soon, and I will kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me.’
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Luis Bracamontes, 37, who is in the United States illegally, admitted to killing two Sacramento-area police officers and pledged to do it again, in a chilling courtroom outburst on Tuesday
Bracamontes, who has requested the death penalty at several hearings throughout the process leading up to his trial, didn’t stop there.
‘There’s no need for a f***ing trial,’ he said, grinning and laughing as prosecutor Rod Norgaard described the violent events that unfolded at Bracamontes’ hand on October 24, 2014.
This outburst lead to the judge ordering the jury temporarily out of the room.
Bracamontes is standing trial in Sacramento Superior Court for the 2014 murders of Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver (pictured) and a Placer Sheriff’s Deputy
Bracamontes is standing trial in Sacramento Superior Court for the 2014 murders of Placer Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Davis Jr. (pictured) and a Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy
Throughout the opening statements the defendant grinned, smiled, laughed and refused to remain quiet.
As this happened, Bracamontes’ public defense attorney, Jeffrey Barbour requested Judge White reconsider whether his client was mentally competent to stand trial.
Despite the multiple outbursts made by Bracamontes, Judge White said that the trial would continue, and ordered the jury not to consider what Bracamontes said that day.
This is true even though Bracamontes’ lawyer has not argued that the his client did not kill the officers.
His client is also charged with wounding another deputy and shooting a motorist throughout the course of that day in 2014.
Bracamontes is seen here having a tie placed around his neck in Sacramento Superior Court
Bracamontes’ attorney does not dipute that he shot the deputies; The lawyer is arguing that his client was high on methamphetamines at the time of the murder and is mentally ill today
‘We are not contesting many of these charges,’ Barbour said.
‘Mr. Bracamontes is responsible for the death of Deputy Danny Oliver and the death of Detective Michael Davis. He shot them both.’
Barbour’s defense of Bracamontes instead rests on trying to prove the fact that his client was high on methamphetamines at time of the murders, and therefore lacked the mental capacity to know what he was doing.
If proven, this would result in taking the death penalty off the table for Bracamontes.
His maximum possible sentence would then be life in prison.
Bracamontes’ wife, 41-year-old Janelle Monroy, who is a US citizen, was with him during the day-long violent crime spree.
Bracamontes is seen here in mugshots from January 1998 (left) and May 2001 (right)
Bracamontes is seen here in mugshots from July 2001 (left) and October 2014 (right)
The two reportedly started out from their home in Salt Lake City and drove to Sacramento, with Bracamontes smoking methamphetamines and marijuana on the way.
After arriving in Sacarmento, the murderous rampage began at a Motel 6 near the Arden Fair Mall and ended in Auburn, California.
Along the way, it’s undisputed that Bracamontes shot and killed Oliver and Davis.
He also allegedly wounded another Placer deputy and shot a bystander in the head to steal his car while making his getaway.
The prosecution argued Bracamontes eventually locked himself in a home and turned on the stove’s gas burners, in an attempt to light the place on fire and kill himself and any officers who came in after him.
Flowers surround a photo of slain Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff Daniel Oliver at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office in Sacramento, California on October 28, 2014
Bracamontes eventually crawled out and surrendered, after writing a suicide note that said, ‘Forgive me, God. Please take me with you. I love you, Janelle,’ officials have said.
As the prosecutor went over his open statement relaying how Bracamontes took the lives of two officers and injured others, the defendants was giddy, and smiled from ear to ear.
‘There was no need to prove all this s***,’ Bracamontes said to Judge White, in yet another outburst.
‘I don’t f***ing regret that s***. The only thing I f***ing regret is I only killed two.’
Judge White instructed Bracamontes that whether he chose to help his attorney represent him was irrelevant to the trial moving forward.
‘You will not disrupt this trial, you will not speak out,’ Judge White told him.
‘If you do, you will be removed from the courtroom.’
Bracamontes has a history of arrests and has been deported twice from Arizona.
Monroy is accused of assisting Bracamontes in this deadly 2014 tirade by moving a firearm from car to car as the two fled authorities over a span of 40 miles.
Monroy faces the possibility of life in prison, and will be tried by a separate jury.
Judge White instructed Bracamontes that whether he chose to help his attorney represent him was irrelevant to the trial moving forward