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'I never meant to kill her'

Slumped in his seat, Mohammed Haroon Ali wept many times on Wednesday as jurors were shown the video in which he confesses to killing his girl friend Tracey Biletnikoff.

He was not the only one weeping; relatives of the victims also cried from time to time.

Ali, convicted for kidnapping his previous girlfriend, has admitted to the murder of Biletnikoff but denies killing her because she wanted to leave him.

His lawyers have told reporters that Ali had relapsed into using drug and alcohol - and was not behaving rationally in the days leading to the murder.

Calling the death a tragic mistake, the lawyers are seeking a manslaughter conviction with a maximum sentence of 22 years.

But officials have called the murder a premeditated act and are asking a first-degree murder conviction for Ali with a sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

According to the taped confession that was introduced for the first time since the trial began about two weeks ago in a San Mateo, California court, Ali says he was overwhelmed with anger at his girlfriend because she was nagging him about the relapse.

Ali had been sober for nearly 18 months.

"My anger I had, I'm just like, I don't know what happened at that point," Ali told the detectives after his arrest. "She kept hitting me, and I didn't stop.''

"You didn't stop what?" detective Douglas Steiner asked. "Choking her?"

"Yeah."

Biletnikoff was killed on February 15, 1999.

Officials say that for at least seven hours Ali refused to acknowledge he had killed Biletnikoff.

Jurors also heard Ali telling the detectives that he had lost hope after the murder and wanted to kill himself. He said he could not believe what he had done.

"I never meant to kill her."

Earlier story:

Fiji Indian On Trial For Killing Football Legend's Daughter

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