FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2016 file photo, Rodney Earl Sanders leaves the Durant Municipal Building after an initial appearance in court in Durant, Miss. Sanders was charged with two counts of capital murder in the slayings of Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill, both 68. Sanders is scheduled for a court hearing, Friday, Sept. 16, where prosecutors will present evidence before the case goes to a grand jury. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) (The Associated Press)
JACKSON, Miss. – A man charged with killing two nuns in Mississippi is scheduled for a court hearing Friday.
Prosecutors will present some evidence against 46-year-old Rodney Earl Sanders of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and his attorneys will have a chance to respond in Durant municipal court. The case will later go to a grand jury.
Sanders is charged with capital murder in the slayings of Sisters Paula Merrill and Margaret Held, who worked as nurse practitioners in one of the poorest counties in the nation.
The women, both 68, were found stabbed to death Aug. 25 in their home in the small town of Durant after they failed to show up for work at a clinic in nearby Lexington. Their families and colleagues have said they oppose the death penalty, including for Sanders.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
