"What you call the death penalty, I call freedom," George Rivas said during the penalty phase of his trial for the Dec. 24 slaying of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins. "I can finally be free. I'm telling you right now I don't want another life sentence."

Defense attorneys have argued that Rivas never intended to murder Hawkins.

Rivas' testimony Wednesday came a day after he said he took pains to limit bloodshed in the prison escape. Rivas also detailed his bleak childhood and recounted his criminal background.

"You said in your confession you deserved to die," prosecutor Toby Shook said Wednesday. "Do you still stand by that?"

"Absolutely," Rivas said.

Rivas said he took full responsibility for the death and does not blame anything in his past for the action.

"To this very day, even now, I still feel responsible completely for his death," Rivas said.

Rivas said he didn't know Hawkins was married and said he was sorry for his wife.

"I don't want more time," he said. "I don't want to just exist anymore like an animal in prison."

The case was expected to go to the jury Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, Shook said Hawkins was ambushed by Rivas, who led a gang of violent escapees from a South Texas prison on a spree of armed robberies. Rivas, 31, was the first to go to trial.

Rivas said he only wanted to disarm Hawkins by shooting him in the shoulders.

"You could have given up," Shook said.

"And go back to prison? No," Rivas responded.

Prosecutors have said five weapons were used to shoot Hawkins, who was hit 11 times and then run over with a vehicle driven by Rivas outside an Oshman's Sporting Goods store.

When Rivas escaped, he was serving 17 life sentences for two robberies, along with another life sentence for violating probation for a home burglary.

Rivas said he didn't know he had run over Hawkins until it was stated in court.

"Someone told me I ran over one of the duffel bags," he said as the officer's widow, Lori, cried. "Not until I came into this courtroom did I know it actually was Mr. Hawkins."

Also Tuesday, Rivas took jurors step-by-step through his Dec. 13 prison escape, portraying himself and his gang as humane men who tried to avoid hurting guards and other inmates in the breakout.

"Quite honestly, if we wanted to be brutal, we had sledgehammers," he said. "We had axes. We had huge pieces of steel rebar and pipes. The reason every single one is alive is because we didn't want to hurt them."

Rivas told jurors he hand-selected some of his fellow escapees and got them transferred to the prison maintenance department after he gained the trust of his supervisors.

"I watched these people every day. I could have picked the most violent men in prison ... if all I'd wanted to do is hurt people," he said.

Prison workers testified they were beaten, knocked unconscious and tied up during the escape.

Six of the escapees were caught in January in Colorado. One man committed suicide rather than surrender.