LEAWOOD ? A statement from the man charged with killing a suburban Kansas City woman at a Leawood pool in 2002 can be used in his trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Benjamin Appleby, 30, is charged with capital murder and attempted rape in the death of Ali Kemp, 19, at a swimming pool where she worked.

Johnson County District Judge Steve Leben on Monday rejected a defense request to suppress the statement Appleby gave to Leawood police after his arrest in Connecticut in November 2004 on an unrelated warrant.

During his processing on that arrest, Appleby asked several times about a lawyer, according to testimony at a hearing in May.

A Connecticut officer testified that he told Appleby he could speak to a lawyer after the processing was complete. The officer then asked Appleby whether he would talk to “some people about an unrelated matter.”

Leawood officers who had flown to Connecticut read Appleby his Miranda rights and questioned him for more than two hours about Kemp’s killing.

At no point during the questioning by Leawood officers did Appleby indicate that he wanted an attorney, Leben said Monday.

Appleby’s attorney had argued that because Appleby had previously asked about an attorney, the statements he later gave about Kemp’s killing violated his constitutional rights and should be thrown out. He also argued that Leawood police, who had spoken to Appleby in 2003, were aware then that he had an attorney.

Appleby’s preliminary hearing is scheduled Sept. 28 in Johnson County District Court.