The trial began Wednesday for a Canyon Country man accused of killing his seriously ill wife and sister, the prosecution alleging the murders were planned and deliberate, while his defense argued Lance Anderson committed mercy killings.”

Lance Holger Anderson, 61, sat before a judge while opening statements were read in the court trial, as Anderson decided to forgo a jury trial and instead pleaded his case before Judge Hayden Zacky.

Assistant District Attorney Julie Kramer told judge Hayden Zacky how Anderson arranged funerals for the pair before he killed them, even preparing flowers to be laid out on the caskets.

Kramer argued that he had gone to a gun range “to practice shooting the gun that he would use,” approximately two weeks before the murders, in addition to the memorial he was organizing.

“The murders were willful, deliberate and premeditated,” she said. Both were carried out over the course of December 11, 2013, when both bodies were found.

Anderson’s lawyer argued the facts were not in dispute, but called for the judge to sentence him for manslaughter due to the “mercy killing” nature of the shootings.

“This is not a case where there was a hope for monetary gain,” he said of the first killing, which took place at the couple’s apartment in the 26800 block of Claudette Street. “His wife was miserable, she didn’t like the way she was living, and he ended her life after hearing all of the evidence.”

Anderson’s lawyer said Anderson’s sister “was dependant fully on the facility” she was being kept at, receiving nutrients through a feeding tube and unable to hold a conversation, living without true quality of life in a convalescent home in North Hills.

The Andersons’ neighbors reported hearing “two loud booms” the night before Bertha was found during a welfare check to the house.

Anderson was apprehended by Los Angeles Police Department officials near the scene of Nave’s death.

A Derringer pistol, which detectives believe was the murder weapon in both deaths, was found nearby, and Lance Anderson reportedly was arrested without incident at the convalescent home.

The term “mercy killing,” is being applied to these killings because the victims were not chosen at random and no other patients inside the convalescent home were injured.

Anderson is facing two counts of first degree murder, and could receive life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

Testimony from the case continued into the afternoon Wednesday.