OAKLAND (BCN) — A man who possibly faces life in prison for fatally stabbing two men at an auto auction lot in Hayward five years ago should only be convicted of lesser charges because he thought he was acting on behalf of the FBI and God, his attorney said Tuesday.

William Linehan, the defense lawyer for Karl Sanft, admitted that Sanft killed security guard Angelito Erasquin, a 63-year-old Hayward man, and James Wightman, a 63-year-old trucker from Central Point, Oregon, at about 3 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2010, at the Manheim San Francisco Bay lot at 1901 Addison Way in Hayward, a 73-acre property that houses more than 2,000 cars.

Erasquin was stabbed 22 times and Wightman was stabbed 48 times, according to Hayward police.

But in his closing argument in Sanft’s non-jury trial in Alameda County Superior Court, Linehan said Sanft didn’t premeditate and deliberate stealing a car from the auto lot and then killing the two victims because he was hearing voices and suffering from methamphetamine-induced psychosis.

Linehan said Sanft began using methamphetamine in 2005 after his brother was murdered and his father died after suffering from dementia.

The defense lawyer said Sanft told police after he was arrested that he heard voices telling him that the FBI wanted to take a 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer and kill Erasquin and that he killed Wightman, who had been sleeping in his truck while it was parked at the lot and witnessed the slaying of Erasquin, because God doesn’t like his snitches.

Prosecutor Warren Ko told Judge Joseph Hurley, who is presiding over the case, that Sanft should be convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and the special circumstances of committing multiple murders and committing a murder during a robbery.

Sanft could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted of special circumstances murder.

Ko admitted that Sanft suffers from mental problems but said he should be held responsible for the choices he made and the crimes he committed because he knew what he was doing and intended to steal the car and kill the two victims.

Ko said, “He chose a path of criminal behavior and it’s the innocents who suffered for it. He chose to kill.”

But Linehan said Sanft should only be convicted of two counts of second-degree murder.

Linehan said Sanft’s statement to police that he committed the crimes at the behest of the FBI wasn’t a fabrication because his family members testified during his trial that he had been telling them for six months before the killings that he was hearing voices and was working for the FBI.

However, Ko alleged that Sanft stole the car and killed the two victims because he wanted to sell the car to get money to support his methamphetamine habit.

The prosecutor said Sanft had committed other robberies that night and on previous occasions to pay for drugs and said it can be inferred that his intent in taking the Chevrolet Trailblazer also was to get money to

support his habit.

Ko said it’s tragic that Sanft’s brother was murdered but he said that wasn’t an excuse for Sanft to kill people. He pointed out that Sanft’s other surviving brother hasn’t killed anyone and said the family members of Erasquin and Wightman “aren’t entitled to butcher people for their loss.”

Hurley said he will announce his verdict in Sanft’s case on Wednesday morning.

If Hurley finds Sanft guilty of any crimes, he will hold a separate penalty phase to determine if Sanft was legally sane at the time of the incidents.

If Sanft is found to have been legally insane at the time of the killings, he would be committed to a mental institution instead of sentenced to state prison.

Linehan said at the beginning of the case that he waived Sanft’s right to a jury trial and asked that his fate be decided by a judge in a court trial because he thinks a judge can “dispassionately review the evidence since a jury would be overwhelmed by the horror of what happened.”