Olathe ? Video cameras and audio recorders will not be allowed in the courtroom during a hearing to determine whether evidence should be suppressed in the case of accused serial killer John E. Robinson Sr., a judge ruled Thursday.

Johnson County District Judge John Anderson III issued his order regarding the April 1 hearing in Olathe, at which attorneys will argue whether certain evidence should be included when Robinson is tried later this year.

“Up to this point, the court has allowed still cameras, video cameras and audio recording devices in the courtroom as a matter of privilege, not of right,” Anderson wrote.

Anderson said his ban on the devices would continue at least through jury selection. Anderson kept his options open for the trial.

Robinson, 58, of Olathe, is scheduled for trial in September on capital murder charges in the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in June 2000 in metal barrels on property he owned in Linn County. He also is charged with first-degree murder in the death of another woman who disappeared in 1985 and whose body has not been found.

After the Kansas case is completed, prosecutors in Missouri plan to try Robinson on charges of killing three women whose bodies were found in barrels in Cass County.

Ron Keefover, spokesman for the state court system in Topeka, said Anderson acted on his own in issuing the order. Further, Keefover knew of no pending challenges to the order.

Any challenge would be made to the Kansas Supreme Court, asking the justices to compel Anderson to reconsider the action. Keefover said he was aware of only one other such request in recent years, which was rejected by the courts.

During the April hearing, Anderson must rule whether evidence found during the search that turned up the bodies at Robinson’s Linn County farm should be thrown out.

The defense claims the search that turned up the evidence was conducted under an illegally obtained warrant.

Anderson already has ruled against a change of venue sought by the defense.