One of the suspects in the 2013 killing of Anthony Giles will represent himself at his capital murder trial in September.
Emmanuel Sanders, 32, of Castle Hayne, is one of four suspects charged in 2015 by Lee County Sheriff’s deputies (subscription required) in connection with the death of Giles, who was killed in November of 2013 during a home invasion style robbery at his home on Hickory Nut Court in southern Lee County.
Sanders first telegraphed his intent to represent himself during a bizarre 2016 court appearance reported on by the Sanford Herald (subscription required) at which he argued to Lee County Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist that “his arrest was unconstitutional.”
From the article:
During his appearance, Sanders again asked that his attorneys, Kelly Mannette and Lisa Miles, be fired and he be allowed to represent himself.
“I have in fact waived my right to council and fired my attorneys on my last four court appearances,” Sanders said, calling it his “constitutional right.”
Judge C. Winston Gilchrist said the matter will be decided at Sanders’ next court appearance, planned for the week of Nov. 14.
Speaking without consulting his attorneys, Sanders then presented a number of motions to Gilchrist, many concerning his bond. Each was denied.
“What about a bid bond? Is there a bid bond?” Sanders asked.
“A what?” said Gilchrist.
“Bid bond. B-I-D bond,” Sanders said.
“This is not a question and answer session, Mr. Sanders,” Gilchrist answered. “If there is something you want to say the court will be more than happy to hear it as long as it is relevant.”
Sanders then challenged the constitutionality of the charges against him, citing a Supreme Court case. Gilchrist did not entertain the motion. Sanders then asked for N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper to personally review his case, a motion Gilchrist also denied.
Documents in Sanders’ court file show that in a psychiatric examination he was found to have an IQ of 98 and the “capacity to waive counsel” and defend himself. Still, presumably because he potentially faces the death penalty, two lawyers in the form of “standby counsel” will apparently be present at the trial.
Jury selection in the case is set to begin next week. If he is convicted of the charges against him – first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, and robbery with a dangerous weapon among them – he could face the death penalty.
Three other suspects in the case, Harley Chavis, Rodney Mintz, and Anthony Strickland, all of Wilmington, have court dates in December and January, although it was unclear whether those are trial dates or just administrative settings.
Sanders, Chavis, Mintz, and Strickland – who were arrested in connection with the case in late 2014 – were not the initial suspects in the murder. Six local suspects accused in the case had charges dismissed about a month after the arrests of the Wilmington area men.
Anthony Wayne Giles is my brother ,
it is beyond me that SCUM like this decides that they are deserving of what HARD -WORKING people have worked for all their life and decide to take it away from them at any cost .
The devastation that that these four have caused in my family has been astronomical, the murder was of my brother in the early morning hours of November 22 2013 literally removed a piece of my soul, there is space in my life that can never be replaced,
The horror that my sister-in-law and their children experienced that night Is something that is burned into the very fiber of their being never to be a erased from their memory .
All because four low life sub humans made a conscious decision to get into a vehicle and drive to my brothers house in the darkness of morning while he and his family slept and rob him of the money that he had worked for his whole life, did you hear me when I say HE WORKED for it !!???
If there is any justice in our judicial system they will be found guilty of first-degree capital murder , first – degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon .
My brother was not giving the opportunity that these four people have been entitled to buy the law of North Carolina these four people decided to be judge, jury and executioner for my brother.
Yet they are afforded every opportunity available that the state has because that is the law.
He is my brother and was viciously taken away from his family I think about them every single day I wonder if I can remember what his voice sounds like I worry sometimes that I can’t remember what his laugh was like or how he answered the telephone when he knew I was calling.
He is MY BROTHER connected by flesh and blood never to be separated in life or death .
I pray every day of my life that the sentencing for these four sub humans is DEATH , my only wish is that I could be the executioner the person to push the injection ,the person to pull the handle for the electric chair ,the person to drop the pill of cyanide into the chamber , To look into the eyes of the two people who shot my brother in the darkness of morning on November 22 ,2013 the same way they looked at him .
Wayne Giles