Leavenworth ? A Missouri man’s confession that he stabbed his 11-year-old developmentally disabled son and left him to die on the Kansas Turnpike last year can be used in court, a Leavenworth County judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling sets the stage for Raymond Boothe, 35, to stand trial starting Jan. 26 on a first-degree murder charge.

Boothe’s attorney, Gary Fuller, argued that Boothe’s confession in the early-morning hours of Aug. 28, 2002, should be suppressed because Boothe’s comments made it clear he was mentally ill and would not have understood his right to remain silent.

But District Judge Frederick Stewart ruled that as long as Boothe was informed of his right to remain silent and was neither coerced nor under duress, his confession would be admissible.

Boothe, who lived with his wife and three of their four children in Cameron, Mo., drove Aug. 27 to Creston, Iowa, to pick up the couple’s oldest son, Levi. The boy was living in a group home for developmentally disabled children. Boothe and his son, Levi, then drove back to the Cameron area, picked up the three remaining children and headed south.

Later that night, authorities allege, Boothe stopped his car on the Kansas Turnpike in Leavenworth County near the Douglas County line, stabbed Levi several times with a pair of needle-nose pliers, and left the boy on the highway.

Levi Boothe was found dead alongside the turnpike. An autopsy determined he’d died from multiple blunt trauma, possibly caused from being struck by vehicles. Numerous other wounds were found as well.

Hours later, Boothe crashed through a fence at 27th Street and Lawrence Avenue in an apparent suicide attempt. He and the other children survived.

Lawrence Police Detective M.T. Brown testified Wednesday that when he interrogated Boothe at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Boothe knew where he was, knew he was talking to a police officer and said he understood his rights.

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On cross examination, Brown said he was unaware of the Lawrence Police Department’s having guidelines for interrogating someone who appears to be mentally ill. He said he wasn’t trained to determine whether Boothe was mentally ill, even though Boothe:

• Confided he’d heard God’s voice on his car radio and that God had told him to kill the boy.
• Said he approached police officers after the car crash because “Jesus always walks in a steady line.”
• Said he had stopped at a church and tried to give Levi away, adding, “When they didn’t want him, so I had to handle it myself.”
• For no apparent reason, mentioned several times he’d bought for $1,500 a car that actually was worth $68,000, and that he intended to make amends with the seller.

Fuller asked Brown why, after hearing Boothe’s ramblings, it wasn’t apparent that Boothe was “crazy.”

Brown responded: “He knew what he had done, and he was able to explain it.”

Fuller later revealed that since Boothe’s arrest, he spent time in a psychiatric unit after an episode of self-mutilation. Boothe is now taking Haldol, an antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia, Fuller said.