Death penalty sought for Las Vegas girl’s killer after Biden commuted sentence

A Louisiana prosecutor said he will seek the death penalty against a man who brutally killed a Las Vegas woman and her 12-year-old daughter in 2010 — and whose federal death sentence was commuted by then-President Joe Biden during Biden’s final weeks in office.

Bradley Burget, the district attorney of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, said Saturday he’s confident that a jury will likely return a death penalty verdict against Thomas Steven Sanders, 67, who in September 2014 was convicted by a federal jury in the slaying of Lexis Roberts, 12.

“Initially, I was disappointed in President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Mr. Sanders,” Burget said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday. “I took office in 2009, so I was here and deferred to the federal government to prosecute Mr. Sanders at that time. When his sentence was commuted, I gathered as much information as I could from our local authorities, got the transcripts from the federal trial and presented all of that information to the grand jury.”

During his federal trial, Thomas admitted to killing the girl and her mother, Suellen Roberts, 31. The jury found him guilty of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death in connection with Lexis Roberts’ killing, according to the Justice Department. He is serving a life sentence in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.

On Monday, a grand jury in Catahoula Parish returned a first-degree murder indictment against Sanders in connection with the girl’s killing. Burget said he will pursue the death penalty against Sanders.

Girl witnessed mom’s slaying before she was also killed

In December, Biden announced that he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment. Sanders was among those whose sentences were commuted.

Biden’s move meant that Sanders would still need to serve his life sentence in federal prison, but that he wouldn’t face capital punishment. The decision by the grand jury on Monday means that is now back on the table, though it would be the state of Louisiana prosecuting this time.

Sanders had been dating Suellen Roberts. While returning to Nevada from a trip near the Grand Canyon, he shot Suellen Roberts on the side of Interstate 40, with the girl witnessing her mom’s slaying. Sanders then kidnapped Lexis and drove the girl across several states before killing her and dumping her body in Louisiana, according to authorities.

“He shot the child four times and also cut her throat so severely that it left cut marks on her vertebrae,” Burget said. “This child endured a very brutal death. There’s only two sentences in Louisiana for first-degree murder — a life sentence or the death penalty. As far as Mr. Sanders’ guilt, it’s overwhelming. Mr. Sanders is definitely guilty of the crime. He confessed to it and there’s DNA that links him to the crime.”

Body found on Oct. 8, 2010

Hunters found Roberts’ body in a remote part of Catahoula Parish on Oct. 8, 2010. Sanders was arrested Nov. 14, 2010, at a truck stop he frequented in Gulfport, Mississippi.

He was driving Suellen Roberts’ car, authorities said at the time.

The case took a bizarre twist when authorities realized Sanders, a Mississippi native, had been declared legally dead in 1994.

Sanders’ parents, brother and ex-wife petitioned a Mississippi court for the death declaration in 1994, saying nobody had heard from him in years.

In recent days, some media reports on the grand jury’s decision have taken on a political context, though Burget said politics didn’t factor into his decision.

“At the end of the day, you have a person who killed a child,” Burget said. “It was a very brutal crime. I think the only appropriate punishment for that is the death penalty, but it will ultimately be up to a jury. We’re trying to seek justice for this 12-year-old girl.”

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.