Courtroom Sketch Artist Shocked By Deputy Shootings Suspect's Admission

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Witnesses inside a Sacramento County courtroom on Wednesday say a murder suspect seemed agitated, and clearly wanted to get his message out, but it was one no one expected to hear.

Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte didn't mince words in front of a Sacramento County judge on Wednesday morning—he admitted to the killings of a Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy and a Placer County Sheriff's deputy.

The unusual outburst turned heads and sped up the tip of the pencil for veteran courtroom sketch artist Vicky Behringer. With cameras not allowed in the courtroom, the artists sketches were the only images for media outlets to use.

She knew right away this suspect would make things interesting.

"When he walked in he looked at the audience and said something to the effect--of hey how you doing something like that, and that's not allowed first of all--and it's not normal," she said

He's accused of killing Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff's Det. Michael Davis Jr. in a crime spree that stretched 30 miles from Sacramento into Placer County.

Legal experts CBS13 spoke with say it's a pretty clear-cut case and the focus will most likely be on the penalty phase, but that doesn't mean what he said today won't come back to hurt him.

"Statements that are made by defendants are generally going to be admissible against a defendant. There's obviously exceptions to that: statements that are in violation of Miranda rights, statements that are coerced by police," said legal expert Kevin Adamson. "I don't know exactly who he said it to—if he turned to his lawyer and he was specifically stating it to his lawyer, and he meant for only his lawyer to hear it, it could potentially fall into a lawyer-client privilege context. It doesn't sound like that's the case here."