Lawyer Seeks Dismissal of Key Evidence in Sobek Case

An attorney for the man accused of killing former Hermosa Beach model Linda Sobek has asked a judge to throw out cornerstone evidence, alleging that it was coerced by detectives who denied the suspect’s repeated requests to be represented by counsel during questioning.

If granted, the motion could greatly alter the high-profile murder case against freelance photographer Charles Rathbun. The 38-year-old Hollywood man has been held without bail since his arrest Nov. 22, three days before Sobek’s body was recovered in Angeles National Forest.

“From the moment the police began interrogating Charles Rathbun until after he led them to Linda Sobek’s corpse, the entire course of dealings between the police and the defendant was compromised by a blatant, sustained and systematic disregard for Mr. Rathbun’s 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself,” attorney Mark J. Werksman said in a 37-page motion filed late Tuesday.

The motion, to be heard at Rathbun’s preliminary hearing Feb. 26, includes Werksman’s numerous allegations of misconduct by detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and the Hermosa Beach Police departments.

It also includes copies of investigative reports and a transcript of a secretly recorded interview with Rathbun--both showing that detectives repeatedly asked Rathbun to help them find Sobek despite his requests for counsel.

But prosecutor Steven Kay insisted that the documents show only a portion of the interviews with Rathbun.

More important, Kay said he intends to prove that the detectives, desperate to locate Sobek, were operating under a “public safety” exemption to the Miranda rule that requires officers to advise suspects of their right to counsel before being questioned.

“It is clear from the entire [transcript], which we will offer, that the officers were concerned with the safety of Linda Sobek,” Kay said. “They didn’t know whether she was dead or alive, and they just wanted to find her.”

Sobek’s body was recovered after authorities’ questioning of Rathbun, who told detectives that he accidentally ran over the former Raiderette during a photo shoot in the forest. An autopsy concluded that the 20-year-old model had been sexually assaulted and killed by asphyxiation.

During the Nov. 22 questioning, sheriff’s Investigator Mary Bice and Hermosa Beach Det. Raul Saldana had just begun to interview Rathbun when he first indicated that he wanted an attorney present, according to a transcript submitted with the court motion.

But the detectives, though acknowledging Rathbun’s comment, pressed ahead with questioning.

Later, when Rathbun suggested that he was confused about exactly where Sobek’s body could be found, the detectives said they would go with him, according to the transcript.

“I can never, I can never make it right,” Rathbun said.

“This, this part you can,” Saldana responded, later adding, “If we find her, you’ll have made this part right. What happened, happened. I mean there’s no, there’s nothing we can do about that. . . . But for her family, for her, we ought to bring her back.”

Werksman maintained that if the motion to suppress evidence is granted by Torrance Municipal Judge Benjamin Aranda, the prosecution’s case “will most likely fall apart.”

But Kay said the case against Rathbun will proceed with or without the questioning that led to the discovery of Sobek’s body.