THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504050459
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR, N.C. LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
A 17-year-old youth charged in the fatal shooting of a Portsmouth man last year pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping.
Theola Saunders of Edenton shot 25-year-old Wayne Thomas three times in the back on March 25, 1994, behind a Windsor convenience store after Thomas tried to help his pregnant sister, Leslie Dawn Thomas, escape.
Saunders and his accomplice, Charles P. Bond, had abducted the Thomases from their Portsmouth home at gunpoint late the night before after a foiled robbery attempt at a nearby Pizza Hut.
The two were forced to participate in an eight-hour crime spree that led them through southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.
Bond, who was at the county hospital seeking treatment for an accidental gunshot wound of his foot, had told Saunders two hours before the shooting to kill the Thomases if they tried to escape.
Saunders, who will be sentenced Thursday, could face life in prison.
Bond, 46, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death last month, even though he was not present when the shooting occurred.
Prosecutors said Saunders was simply following Bond's orders.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ROBBERY KIDNAPPING
SHOOTING ARREST TRIAL by CNB