Michael Fitzgerald testified at the murder trial of his friend Thursday that he heard voices inside his head telling him to help kill his father.

"I started hearing my voices and they started yelling at me, telling me to hurt my dad," Fitzgerald told a Jefferson County jury. "I grabbed the post-hole digger and threw it like a spear. It hit him in the stomach."

Michael Fitzgerald pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against his friend, Michael Tate, who is on trial for first-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of Steven Fitzgerald, 41. Tate, then 16, and Michael Fitzgerald, 17, were runaways from Social Services when they broke into the Fitzgerald family’s Westminster home Nov. 8, 2004.

Michael Fitzgerald, who is serving a 62-year prison sentence, said a struggle between Tate and his father began in the garage as the two teens tried to steal his father’s car.

Tate was stabbing at Steven Fitzgerald, as he tried to defend himself with his daughter’s scooter.

Michael Fitzgerald said he didn’t see the knife at first, but saw Tate hitting his father with a shovel.

Tate yelled for his friend to help, and Michael Fitzgerald said he threw the post-hole digger at his father, who grabbed it and began swinging it at Tate.

Michael Fitzgerald said he hid behind the car during part of the attack.

"I saw blood on the left side of his leg," he said. "I saw my dad fall to his knees. I saw Tate hit him in the face and head with the shovel. My dad falls to the ground face first and rolls over, and Tate kept hitting him in the face. Multiple times. Eight or 10 times. I started crying. I started seeing blood come out of his mouth, and he was shaking really violently and then all of a sudden he stopped. "

After the murder, Michael Fitzgerald said they went upstairs to change clothes. He said Tate was eating cookie dough ice cream.

"Michael Tate came up behind me. He told me to stop crying and acting like a little baby."

After the murder, Fitzgerald said he went to his parents’ bedroom and gathered family photos, preparing to flee to Ireland.

"I didn’t want to be caught," he said.

The two boys were arrested at a vacant building near the Fitzgerald home where they had been staying.

Michael Fitzgerald said Tate wanted to kill his parents when they first burglarized the home Nov. 7, 2004.

"He said, ‘Let’s wait for your parents to come home to surprise them and tie them up so we could kill them,’" Fitzgerald said. "I told him I didn’t want to kill my family because I loved them too much."

Although both boys have a history of mental illness, court-appointed doctors found them sane at the time of the killing.

Tate’s defense team contends he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.