Woodham broke down in tears on the stand Thursday

PHILADELPHIA, Mississippi (CNN) -- A forensic psychologist testified Thursday that accused Pearl High School gunman Luke Woodham, on trial for his mother's murder, was paranoid, out of touch with reality and saw "red-cloaked" demons who urged him to kill.

"He saw demons on several occasions," said Dr. Mick Jaspen, hired by the defense to examine the 17-year-old.

"He said they were red-cloaked with glowing eyes ... they would always come out at night ... they would tell him things they wanted him to do, which was to kill people. Luke believed those demons were real," Jaspen said.

Earlier, Woodham took the stand, broke down in fits and sobs and admitted he opened fire on his former girlfriend and other classmates on October 1, killing two of them and wounding seven.

While he repeatedly said he did not know if he killed his mother, who was stabbed and beaten to death the same day as the school shootings, Woodham tearfully acknowledged that he went into her room with a butcher knife, a baseball bat and and a pillow, began hearing voices, then suddenly realized she was dead in her bed.

'I wasn't in control'

Under aggressive questioning by prosecutor Tim Jones, Woodham quickly became emotional. "You make me sick," he lashed out at Jones. "You've never walked in my shoes. Yet you stand to judge me."

In admitting to the high school shooting, Woodham shouted, "Sir, I can't help I went to school and did that ... I'm sorry I did that ... I wasn't in control."

Woodham is on trial for the October shooting at Pearl High School in Mississippi

When Jones tried to press him to admit killing 50-year-old Mary Woodham, the son at first said he couldn't remember. He insisted that his confessions relating to his mother's death were what accused co-conspirator Grant Boyette told him to say.

But after further cross-examination, Woodham said, "I remember getting a knife and a pillow and going into my mother's room." He said he then heard Boyette's voice urging him on.

"My eyes were closed. When I opened them, my mother was lying in her bed dead," Woodham testified.

Woodham is scheduled to go on trial next week for the shooting rampage at the school.

Family dog beaten, set on fire and tossed in lake

He testified that he believes in satanism and insisted that the only person who really cared for him was Boyette, for whom Woodham said he would do anything.

Woodham also testified that he and Boyette sadistically killed the family dog, "Sparkle," by beating it repeatedly, setting it on fire with lighter fluid and then throwing the dog in the lake. Although Woodham's own writings, introduced into evidence, suggested he was the one who killed the dog, in his testimony he blamed Boyette for making it happen.

"He has a lot of power, sir," Woodham said of Boyette.

Boyette has not been charged in Mrs. Woodham's murder. But Woodham's attorneys are trying to show that Woodham was under Boyette's influence and that Boyette may have been at the scene of the Woodham slaying.

Charges against five other accused co-conspirators are pending.

Boyette, out on bail and subpoenaed to testify for the defense, refused to do so, claiming protection against self-incrimination under the Constitution's Fifth Amendment.

Sheriff's Department investigator Greg Eklund testified for the prosecution that he believed Boyette was the leader of a group that included Woodham and the five other youths.