Hoping for life in prison, convicted murderer Joseph McEnroe breaks down on stand

In a bid to avoid the death penalty, Joseph McEnroe continued testifying Monday before a King County jury, saying repeatedly he was forced to commit murder by his manipulative girlfriend, Michele Anderson.

He said he wanted to walk away, but Michele was intent on killing six members of her family on Christmas Eve 2007. McEnroe was found guilty on six counts of first-degree murder on March 25.

“She had a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, and she thought the best way to act on that was to go off and kill people.”

Michele was supposedly upset at her family over money and years of what she perceived as disrespect.

McEnroe claimed at one point during their relationship, on a daily basis he would look down the barrel of his gun and consider shooting himself.

“The only reason I didn’t actually [do it] is it would have made a huge mess, and would have left her vulnerable,” he said, referring to Michele.

During one bizarre turn in his testimony, McEnroe told the jury he threatened to castrate himself when Michele verbally abused him.

“I was going to just do it, and she stopped me. She said ‘Look, we don’t have insurance.'”

McEnroe then described how he and Michele began to wipe out three generations of Andersons. It started when the pair walked over from their mobile home, only a few hundred yards from Michele’s parents’ house, for a family celebration on Christmas Eve.

Michele first argued with Wayne, and took a shot at her father. She missed, and when her gun jammed, Wayne allegedly charged Michele.

That’s when McEnroe said he stepped in to finish the job.

“I killed him. I shot him in the head,” he explained.

Michele’s mother, Judy, witnessed the whole thing from the kitchen. McEnroe shot her next.

“The last thing she said was ‘no, no!'” McEnroe’s voice rose and became shrill in court.

In the aftermath, the murderers had to decide how to dispose of the bodies of Wayne and Judy, before Michele’s brother Scott, Erica, and their children showed up at the house.

When he discussed hiding Judy’s body, McEnroe appeared to emotionally break down on the stand, grabbing his head and violently shaking.

“I put a bag over her head because I couldn’t look at her, or see the emptiness where she should be,” he cried.

Eventually, with the help of his attorney, the convicted murderer reclaimed his composure.

King County prosecutors are expected to cross-examine McEnroe beginning Tuesday.