Joran van der Sloot Confession Valid Says Judge
A Peruvian judge has ruled that the initial confession of murder suspect Joran van der Sloot will stand up in a court of law
The 21-year-old Dutchman accused of killing a Peruvian university student while attending the Latin American Poker Tour in Lima, Peru, is to be judged by his initial confession.
Joran van der Sloot admitted to killing Stephany Flores in his hotel room a few weeks ago but has since recanted and claimed that his confession should not hold since there was not an interpreter in the room. That said, van der Sloot went into full gory detail of the events, suggesting he understood the questions being asked of him.
A Peruvian judge on Friday denied a defense motion to void the confession because the attorney representing him at the time was state-appointed.
Superior Court Judge Wilder Casique rejected the habeus corpus motion on behalf of Van der Sloot, who is jailed pending trial on charges of first-degree murder and robbery in the May 30 death in his hotel room of Flores, whom he met playing poker in a casino.
Van der Sloot also remains the sole suspect in the unresolved 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba.
Van der Sloot is a known online poker player whose screen names included AngryShark68.
Ace King, Gambling911.com