By Associated Press - Monday, March 30, 2020

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio judge has ruled that prosecutors will be allowed to use statements from a man accused of shooting and killing two teenagers he said were trespassing on his property last summer.

Sixty-four-year-old Victor Santana of Dayton is charged with murder, attempt to commit murder and felonious assault in the Aug. 28 deaths of Javier Harrison and Devin Henderson, both 17.

Public defender Michael Pentecost had argued that interviews with his client shouldn’t be used as evidence because a language barrier prevented him from understanding his rights or the questions posed to him.

The Dayton Daily News reports that Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy O’Connell said the defendant speaks “a kind of broken English.” But he ruled that Santana understood enough of the language to waive his Miranda rights before two interviews. He also said the defendant wasn’t forced into speaking with police.

Police say Santana called authorities and said he had discovered three people in his garage at night and shot two of them, while a third person fled. Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. has said that the evidence doesn’t demonstrate “a reasonable claim of self-defense.”

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