Lawyers Fight To Squelch Confession Man Apparently Told Officials He Killed, Robbed 13-Year-Old Girl In Spokane

Accused killer John Medlock’s lawyers are battling their worst enemy - their client’s detailed confessions to Canadian and American authorities.

With the murder trial to start in a few days, the defense wants to suppress the confessions and key evidence gleaned as a result.

Testimony began Monday in the crucial hearing before Spokane County Superior Court Judge James Murphy. A decision is expected late today or Wednesday.

Medlock, a former Spokane warehouseman, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 17, 1993, killing of Rebecca Hedman.

Hedman was a 13-year-old runaway who became a crack-smoking Spokane prostitute.

Police say Medlock, 35, confessed to picking up the girl on a downtown street corner, paying her $50 and driving her to his motel room.

After having sex, he allegedly beat her to death with a baseball bat, then stole the money.

He dumped her naked body along the Spokane River near Downriver Golf Course, authorities said.

In court Monday, police officers from Port Moody - a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia - detailed how the suicidal Medlock fell into their laps on Dec. 28, 1993.

Depressed and vowing to jump off a bridge, he left his mother’s Port Moody home that night after telling her he was responsible for a girl’s death.

Alarmed, Beverly Medlock called 911. Minutes later, Patrolman Jack Sarna pulled over Medlock’s blue-gray Yugo.

When Sarna asked what was wrong, Medlock didn’t hesitate.

“I killed a girl in Spokane,” he began.

“I didn’t believe him,” Sarna testified.

He and his supervisor, Cpl. Al Dunn, decided to detain Medlock under the province’s Mental Health Act, which requires persons deemed a danger to themselves or others be taken immediately to a doctor. They then may be held for up to 72 hours.

But Dunn and Sarna first took Medlock to the police station and questioned him for 27 minutes. He wasn’t taken to Vancouver’s Royal Columbian Hospital until nearly midnight, about 2 1/2 hours after he was stopped.

Because of the delay, defense attorney John Muenster of Seattle claims Canadian authorities violated his client’s rights.

The confession they obtained and a second one to Spokane detectives the next day should be tossed out, Muenster contends.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Kinn disagrees. He says the spirit of the mental health law wasn’t violated by the brief questioning.

If the initial confessions were obtained improperly in Canada, the evidence would be inadmissible even in an American court.

The Canadian police testified Medlock waived his rights, including the right to call a lawyer, before any questions were asked.

Dunn said he wrote down Medlock’s statement word for word and had him review it for accuracy, then sign his name to it.

The victim’s father, Dennis Hedman of Tacoma, attended Monday’s hearing.

He said he wants to demonstrate how much the family loved Rebecca Hedman.

“I’d like the people of Spokane to keep an eye on this trial and make sure justice is served,” he said.