AN illegal Mexican immigrant standing trial for the 2014 murders of two police deputies has made a shocking outburst in court, saying he wished he had killed more officers.

Luis Bracamontes, 37, shot and killed Deputies Danny Oliver and Michael Davis Jr in a day-long spree of violence that started in a Motel 6 parking lot near a local mall.

"I wish I had killed more of the motherf***ers," Bracamontes boasted to the jury as prosecutor Rod Norgaard described the violence.

As the prosecutor went over his open statement relaying how Bracamontes took the lives of two officers and injured others, the defendant grinned from ear to ear.

"There was no need to prove all this s***," Bracamontes said to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White. "I don't f***ing regret that s***. The only thing I f***ing regret is I only killed two."

According to The Sacramento Bee, the statement came during a shocking first day of the trial during which the defendant called the police officers "cowards" and "stupid" and laughed as a prosecutor described his crime spree. He also stared at the dead deputies' families.

In addition to killing both deputies, Bracamontes shot a motorist in the head to steal his car and wounded another police officer before fleeing with his wife and an assault-style rifle in different cars.

Smiling broadly, Bracamontes threatened, "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."

That outburst led to Judge White briefly removing the jury, then cautioning Bracamontes.

"You will not disrupt this trial, you will not speak out," Mr White told him. "If you do, you will be removed from the courtroom."

Bracamontes' own lawyers have questioned his client's sanity, and has asked the judge to reconsider his finding that Bracamontes is mentally competent to stand trial.

"We believe Mr. Bracamontes' outbursts, his laughter, are a function of his mental illness," Mr Barbour said.

Mr White denied the motion, noting that the issue already had been litigated in previous hearings and that Bracamontes "is not incompetent to stand trial."

Bracamontes, 37, is from Mexico and is in the United States illegally. He has been arrested and deported multiple times prior to his murderous 2014 rampage.

He is on trial along with his wife, Janelle Monroy, 41. She faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

But his defence lawyers hope Bracamontes will avoid the death penalty due to the fact that after his arrest a blood test found an "excessively high" amount of methamphetamine in his system that may have made him paranoid.

He wrote a suicide note and tried to gas himself in his house before surrendering to authorities.

"Forgive me, God," the note read. "Please take me with you. I love you, Janelle."

Monroy's lawyer is trying to distance the role of Bracamontes' wife, arguing that she did not shoot anyone and that she is a victim who lived in fear of her husband, especially after she saw him kill Oliver.

"The evidence is going to show that this woman who loved this man and was married to him for years was stuck in a car with a crazy person," the lawyer said.

Court filings have described Bracamontes as paranoid and abusive, and say that while the couple drove from their Salt Lake City home to Sacramento, he smoked methamphetamine and marijuana and threatened to sell his wife into sexual slavery.

The case has drawn widespread media attention, partly because of Bracamontes' status as an illegal immigrant and his history of arrests and deportations in Arizona.

President Donald Trump has weighed in on the case, mentioning it during a speech to Congress last year and introducing the widow of one of the slain deputies.

The trial continues.

AN illegal Mexican immigrant standing trial for the 2014 murders of two police deputies has made a shocking outburst in court, saying he wished he had killed more officers.

Luis Bracamontes, 37, shot and killed Deputies Danny Oliver and Michael Davis Jr in a day-long spree of violence that started in a Motel 6 parking lot near a local mall.

"I wish I had killed more of the motherf***ers," Bracamontes boasted to the jury as prosecutor Rod Norgaard described the violence.

As the prosecutor went over his open statement relaying how Bracamontes took the lives of two officers and injured others, the defendant grinned from ear to ear.

"There was no need to prove all this s***," Bracamontes said to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White. "I don't f***ing regret that s***. The only thing I f***ing regret is I only killed two."

According to The Sacramento Bee, the statement came during a shocking first day of the trial during which the defendant called the police officers "cowards" and "stupid" and laughed as a prosecutor described his crime spree. He also stared at the dead deputies' families.

In addition to killing both deputies, Bracamontes shot a motorist in the head to steal his car and wounded another police officer before fleeing with his wife and an assault-style rifle in different cars.

Smiling broadly, Bracamontes threatened, "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."

That outburst led to Judge White briefly removing the jury, then cautioning Bracamontes.

"You will not disrupt this trial, you will not speak out," Mr White told him. "If you do, you will be removed from the courtroom."

Bracamontes' own lawyers have questioned his client's sanity, and has asked the judge to reconsider his finding that Bracamontes is mentally competent to stand trial.

"We believe Mr. Bracamontes' outbursts, his laughter, are a function of his mental illness," Mr Barbour said.

Mr White denied the motion, noting that the issue already had been litigated in previous hearings and that Bracamontes "is not incompetent to stand trial."

Bracamontes, 37, is from Mexico and is in the United States illegally. He has been arrested and deported multiple times prior to his murderous 2014 rampage.

He is on trial along with his wife, Janelle Monroy, 41. She faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

But his defence lawyers hope Bracamontes will avoid the death penalty due to the fact that after his arrest a blood test found an "excessively high" amount of methamphetamine in his system that may have made him paranoid.

He wrote a suicide note and tried to gas himself in his house before surrendering to authorities.

"Forgive me, God," the note read. "Please take me with you. I love you, Janelle."

Monroy's lawyer is trying to distance the role of Bracamontes' wife, arguing that she did not shoot anyone and that she is a victim who lived in fear of her husband, especially after she saw him kill Oliver.

"The evidence is going to show that this woman who loved this man and was married to him for years was stuck in a car with a crazy person," the lawyer said.

Court filings have described Bracamontes as paranoid and abusive, and say that while the couple drove from their Salt Lake City home to Sacramento, he smoked methamphetamine and marijuana and threatened to sell his wife into sexual slavery.

The case has drawn widespread media attention, partly because of Bracamontes' status as an illegal immigrant and his history of arrests and deportations in Arizona.

President Donald Trump has weighed in on the case, mentioning it during a speech to Congress last year and introducing the widow of one of the slain deputies.

The trial continues.