COEUR d'ALENE - Final arguments were heard in Kootenai County District Court Wednesday on a pre-trial motion that could invalidate testimony given to police in March by a Coeur d'Alene teen following his arrest on suspicion of killing his father and brother.

Public Defender John Adams asked Judge Benjamin Simpson to suppress statements made by Eldon Samuel III while the then 14-year-old was detained and interrogated by Coeur d'Alene Police Department detectives.

Samuel was arrested March 24, after allegedly killing his father, Eldon G. Samuel Jr., 46; and his younger brother, Jonathan Samuel, 13; at the Coeur d'Alene home in which they lived. Police records show the boy called in the report himself at 9:09 p.m. and told the police dispatcher he had shot and killed his brother and father.

Adams said that prior to the teen being arrested in connection with the homicides, Samuel had never had an adversarial relationship with law enforcement officers. Instead, the public defender argued that Samuel relied on officers to help him during incidents of abuse and neglect in his household.

"The police that interrogated him continued to play into that relationship," Adams said. "They lied to him and misled him over and over again."

The public defender argued that detectives downplayed the gravity of Samuel's situation - the teen faces life in prison if found guilty - and coerced him to sign a waiver so they could interrogate him without an attorney present.

"He clearly does not understand the consequences of waiving his Miranda rights and the police do everything they can to make sure he does not understand," Adams said.

In his closing remarks on the motion, Prosecuting Attorney Art Verharen argued that Samuel possesses the intelligence needed to understand his Miranda rights.

The prosecutor also mentioned Adams' argument that Samuel was misled and coerced by law enforcement investigators after his arrest. Verharen said officers were not rude and all of their contact with the teen was recorded.

He added that Samuel was not only read his Miranda rights, but was given the document to read for himself.

"The information came to him in two different ways and he had the intellect to understand those rights," Verharen said. "The bottom line is that the officers did what they are required to do under the law."

Once the arguments were concluded, Simpson said he would have a decision as soon as possible.

The judge heard five other motions involving the case on Wednesday. Those motions included a request by Adams for a change of venue, as well as a challenge to the constitutionality of a state statute that requires Samuel to be tried as an adult.