12-13-04 - Attorneys for accused murderer Andre Thomas are asking a judge to have his confessions to police barred from being used in court.

Thomas, who Sherman police say confessed to the gruesome murders of his wife and her two small children last spring, will go on trial for murder early next year. In court on Monday, his defense team played several audio and videotaped interviews that were made in the days after the murders.

Thomas told investigators it was God who told him to kill his estranged wife Laura, his own son, Andre, and Laura's daughter Leyha. He said he had been reading the Bible in the weeks before the March murders. He believed his wife was Jezebel and his own son was the Antichrist.

He also told in detail how he went to the apartment to kill Laura and the children. But Thomas' attorneys argue their client was found incompetent to stand trial at the time he made the statements.

The hearing could last until the middle of the week. The trial is scheduled to begin January 3rd.