ORLANDO, Fla. – The defense team for the man accused of killing a woman in her downtown Orlando apartment in 2015 is asking a judge to dismiss statements their client made to police and a polygraph test as evidence.
Stephen Duxbury's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the polygraph test and a subsequent interview with Orlando police.
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Duxbury was working as a security guard at Uptown Place Condominiums the night 27-year-old Sasha Samsudean was murdered.
Orange County Judge Leticia J. Marques heard from Duxbury in a hearing on Tuesday during which the state and defense presented their arguments.
Marques said she will review the evidence and make a decision in a few days as to whether the evidence will be included during the trial.
The defense argued that Duxbury's interview with police after the polygraph test is prejudicial because it inferred he failed it, according to the motion.
Duxbury told the judge that he cooperated with police because it's protocol. He said he feared he could lose his job and his security guard license if he did not.
The state argued that the motion was overly broad because it called for all statements made during the polygraph test to be dismissed. The state said it would like to possibly use testimony from the former Orlando police homicide detective who asked the interview questions during the polygraph test, without including the fact that it was part of a polygraph test. Polygraph results are not admissible in Florida, which includes video of the test.
Duxbury faces charges of first-degree murder, sexual assault and burglary. His trial is set to begin next month.
Samsudean's parents were in court Tuesday during the hearing.
Earlier this year, Samsudean's family filed a lawsuit against Uptown Place Condominiums, the company that made the lock on her apartment door, and the security company that hired Duxbury.
The victim's family alleges that Duxbury was able to gain access to Samsudean's apartment by hacking the Kwikset digital deadbolt after “running internet searches on his smartphone” minutes before Sasha was killed, according to court records.