Peru ? A Peruvian judge on Friday denied a defense motion to void the confession of Joran van der Sloot in the murder of a 21-year-old Lima student 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 Stephany 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.