Jurors in the Michael Carlson murder trial left Pima County Superior Court Friday afternoon with his confession being the last thing they heard.
Carlson, 56, is on trial in the May 2009 deaths of Kenneth Alliman, 49, and Rebecca Lou Lofton, 52. He is accused of shooting the two to death before burning their remains over the course of several days.
Carlson's police statement was thrown out because of Miranda rights violations, but on Friday, prosecutors played jurors a segment of an interview Carlson did with a local TV station shortly after his arrest.
Carlson told the reporter Alliman and Lofton were stealing "left and right" from people who had taken him in after he fled Texas while on parole.
Three years ago, Alliman, Lofton and Carlson were living on a rural piece of land near Marana with members of the Menden family, who owned the property.
On May 25, 2009, Carlson told Alliman he was tired of what Alliman was doing to the Mendens, and he and Lofton were being "evicted," Carlson said.
He forced Lofton to tie Alliman up at gunpoint, Carlson said. After he tied Lofton up, he put both of them in the trunk of his vehicle. His original intention was to leave the pair out in the desert, not caring if they lived or died, Carlson said.
He ended up shooting them to death when Lofton got her hands loose and Alliman began to struggle, he said.
He brought their bodies back to the Menden property where he burned them in several fire pits. Carlson told the reporter he regretted having killed Lofton and that it "messed (him) up."
If he had the chance to talk to Lofton's daughter, Carlson said he would tell her, "I truly regret having taken your mother and put her to sleep the way I did."
Alliman, however, "committed a cardinal sin," Carlson said.
"He got what he deserved, just like I'm gonna get what I deserve," Carlson said. Carlson then went on to tell the reporter about the eight to 10 other murders he said committed. However, detectives have found no evidence any of the other murders actually took place.
Defense attorney Harley Kurlander told jurors during opening statements that if Carlson would lie about committing murders that didn't take place, he would lie about murders that were committed by someone else, especially if he was protective of the actual killers.
Kurlander also said Carlson falsely confessed because he doesn't want to return to the Texas Department of Prisons, where he has been raped, beaten and stabbed repeatedly.
Carlson was sentenced to 99 years in a Texas prison for aggravated armed robbery in the early 1980s and is wanted there now for violating his parole.
If convicted here, Carlson could get the death penalty.
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