Jurors on Tuesday heard a Dallas man confess in great detail to killing his two young sons.
Naim Rasool Muhammad is being tried on capital murder charges in the deaths of 3-year-old Elijah and 5-year-old Naim Muhammad.
During a taped confession that played in court Tuesday, Muhammad told investigators he told the children to pretend they were swimming and then held them underwater until they drowned.
As the interview played, the defendant sobbed so loudly it could be heard in the hallway.
The boys' mother, Kametra Sampson, testified on Tuesday.
She described how her former boyfriend hit her in the head with a brick while she was walking the boys to school in August and forced all of them into his car. She escaped at a stoplight and ran to a nearby constable for help, she said.
Police were called, but they didn't find them in time.
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A few hours later, Sampson learned her children were dead.
"Everybody was just crying and then one of the detectives, she told me they were dead," she said.
"I didn't believe her," she said.
Muhammad's attorneys have said they believe their client will be convicted, saying they simply hope to keep him off death row.
The case could go to a jury as early as Wednesday.
