A white mother accused of forcing her adopted Black children to work as 'slaves' with her husband, who is also white, has denied locking the teens in the shed, a court has heard, per reports

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A woman accused with her husband of forcing children they adopted while living in Minnesota to perform hard farm labor denied confining two of the children to a shed despite police finding them in the structure behind a locked door, news outlets reported.

In Charleston, West Virginia, Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and her husband Donald Ray Lantz are on trial, accused of exploiting four of their adopted Black children for labor and confining them in harsh conditions.