Recommendation regarding confession draws objection

JACKSON, Miss. -- Defense attorneys in Louisiana are objecting to a federal magistrate's recommendation to allow a jury to hear the confession of a Mississippi man declared dead in 1994 but suspected in the deaths of a Las Vegas woman and her daughter.

Thomas Steven Sanders is charged in Louisiana with kidnapping resulting in the death of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts. Her body was found in 2010 in Catahoula Parish, La. Her mother, Suellen Roberts, was found dead the following month in Arizona.

Sanders' lawyers want U.S. District Judge Dee Drell to throw out Sanders' confession. Trial is scheduled for January.

Magistrate James Kirk in Alexandria, La., has recommended Drell allow the confession.

Sanders' lawyers filed an objection to the recommendation Wednesday. They insist Sanders asked for a lawyer and questioning should have stopped.