A Douglas County District Court judge has ruled that recorded statements regarding the slaying of a Lawrence businessman were voluntarily made by a teenage defendant and may be used at her upcoming trial for first-degree murder.

Judge Paula Martin made the ruling Thursday in the case of Sarah B. Gonzales McLinn, who is accused of killing Harold M. Sako, 52, in mid-January at Sasko’s Lawrence home, where McLinn, 19, was living at the time.

Thursday’s ruling came during a Jackson v. Denno hearing, which is conducted to determine whether confessions or statements by a defendant were given involuntarily and, if so, whether they can be used in court as evidence.

McLinn’s recorded interviews with investigators were not played at Thursday’s hearing. Martin listened to them privately to make her determination.

McLinn’s attorney, Carl Cornwell, said the defense did not object to the recordings being played at the jury trial. He reiterated Thursday that his client has never denied committing the crime.

McLinn and Sasko, who owned Cici’s Pizza franchises in Lawrence and Topeka, had been living together at 2905 W. 26th St. Prosecutors allege that in mid-January McLinn drugged Sasko at the home, bound his wrists and ankles with zip ties and cut his throat with a large hunting knife, nearly decapitating him. They also allege that she wrote in Sasko’s blood on a wall. After the crime, they said, she stole Sasko’s car and fled to Florida, where she was apprehended at Everglades National Park.

Cornwell intends to argue that McLinn should not be found guilty of first-degree murder by reason of mental disease or defect.

McLinn sat solemnly through Thursday’s five-minute hearing, looking down at her folded hands in her lap, her dark hair pulled into a bun. Her ankles were shackled together beneath her orange, jail-issued pants.

Her jury trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 5, 2015.