Murder Suspect Takes Stand In Own Defense 15 Years After Slayings

The gloom outside the Mecklenburg County Courthouse was no different than the mood inside a fifth-floor courtroom Wednesday.

The double murder trial of Antwan Sanders has been going on for almost two weeks. On Thursday, tensions rose when he took the stand.

Sanders is one of three men accused of kidnapping, robbing, sexually assaulting and killing two teenaged girls in Charlotte 15 years ago. Sanders told the jury, "It wasn't my intention for nothing to happen to those girls. I hate it happened."

He said the other two men who were with him are responsible for their deaths. When prosecutor Clayton Jones disputed his claims, Sanders said, "Mr. Jones, you weren't there."

Jones yelled back at Sanders on the stand, "Why did you let them kill them? Rape them? You had a 45-caliber gun and you didn't do a thing."

The two Olympic High School students, Raylynn Shelton and Tasha Lopes, disappeared after a party in 1993 in west Charlotte. They were taken from a parking lot, but their bodies were found naked in a field in northwest Charlotte five days later.

Both were shot in the head.

The attorney will give their closing arguments Thursday. The jury will then deliberate on Sanders' role in the slayings.

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