TACOMA, Wash. - Physically drained and emotionally exhausted, Charlene Sanders relived the night her husband was murdered and life as she knew it ended forever.
I've been basically ripped out of my home, my family ripped apart... in minutes, she said during testimony at the Pierce County Courthouse.
Prosecutors say Kiyoshi Higashi and three others killed Jim Sanders during a plot hatched over a Craigslist ad to rob the home. Higashi is the alleged triggerman but all of the defendants are accused of terrorizing the family - putting a gun to Charlene's head as her children watched.
He pointed it to mom's head and counted down 3,2,1... Sanders' 11-year-old stepson said before trailing off in tears.
He didn't shoot, testified Sanders' teenaged son. But he kicked her in the face.
The family pleaded with the gunmen to take their belongings but spare their lives. When the intruders started beating Jim Sanders' son, though, prosecutors say he broke free of his zip-ties and attacked Higashi - who then shot him. Sanders was wounded, but still alive. The gunman, however, wasn't done yet.
My dad was dragged around the corner by two of them so we couldn't see and he was shot three more times, said the teen.
Tuesday, Charlene Sanders sat just a few yards from the man accused of killing her husband - and stealing the wedding rings right off both of their fingers. She now wears those rings around her neck in tribute to the husband taken away and a love that lives on.
My husband never took off his ring ever. That's what broke my heart, she said.
Higashi has admitted taking part in the robbery but denies shooting Sanders. He blames one of the other people who were with him that night. Higashi is the first of four defendants to go to trial in the case and faces up to 85 years in prison.
