Kansas – from www.kansascw.com – In opening statements Tuesday morning, prosecutors describe how they say Israel Mireles brutally killed Emily Sander [aka Zoey Zane]. But the defense says he didn’t do it.

Mireles is charged with capital murder, rape and aggravated criminal sodomy in Sander’s murder in November 2007.

Attorney General Steve Six, lead prosecutor, says Sander was stabbed and strangled with a phone cord. Her body was found on the side of Highway 54, a few days after she was last seen. Witnesses saw Sander and Mireles leave the Retreat Bar in El Dorado together after a night of drinking. Six says the two went back to Mireles’ motel, where the crime occurred.

“You will hear the evidence of the beating,” said Six. “You will see the cuts to her head and face, the bruising on her body. She has two stab wounds to the chest.”

Six says Mireles got rid of Sander’s body on the drive to Baxter Springs, where he was going to meet his girlfriend. The couple then drove to Texas, where they ditched his rental car. The two then fled to Mexico. Mireles was arrested there in December 2007. He was brought back to Kansas last summer to stand trial.

“Ladies and gentleman, this is that trial,” said Six. “When all the evidence has been presented, the state will ask you to return a verdict of guilty of capital murder, aggravated sodomy and rape.”

The defense agrees that Mireles did leave the bar with Sander. Defense attorney Melanie Freeman-Johnson says the two drank beer in Mireles’ motel room and then had sex. Freeman-Johnson told the jury that a man knocked on the door of the room, and Sander invited him in.

“His guard is down,” said Freeman-Johnson. “He figures, she must know him.”

The man was there to sell the couple some cocaine. Freeman-Johnson says Mireles and the man got into a fight when the man tried to take his wallet. She says Mireles left the room and decided to drive around for a while to “cool off”. When Mireles returned, Freeman-Johnson says he found Sander dead.

“He’s wanting to get out of there, as quick as he can,” she said.

She says Mireles panicked, packed his stuff, and put Sander’s body in the trunk of his car. He headed to Baxter Springs to see his girlfriend, a previously planned trip. The defense says about an hour down the road, he dumped body on the side of Highway 54.

“He gets the presence of mind to realize that he has Emily with him and he can’t take her with him. But he can’t go back. He’s absolutely terrified of going back to that room,” said Freeman-Johnson.

The defense says he wasn’t trying to hide in Mexico. She says he had family there and wanted to be near his sick grandmother.

“He panicked and he ran away,” she said. “But he didn’t do this. He wishes he would have done things differently. Please keep an open mind.”