Joran van der Sloot Defiantly Won't Talk to Peru Judge

June 21, 2010— -- Murder suspect Joran van der Sloot refused to speak to a Peruvian judge today who travled to the Lima prison to grill the Dutch playboy about the murder of Stephany Flores.

Van der Sloot's refusal to cooperate came after he told a Dutch newspaper that he was tricked into signing a confession that he killed Flores.

Out of concern for van der Sloot's safety, Superior Court Judge Carlos Morales went to the prison to take a statement from the 22-year-old murder suspect rather than bringing van der Sloot to court.

But when Morales appeared, van der Sloot defiantly refused to cooperate. Before he makes any statement, he wants his confession thrown out of court.

Van der Sloot's lawyer Maximo Altez, told the Associated Press the confession isn't valid because the defense lawyer present when Van der Sloot made it was state-appointed.

Van der Sloot is accused of murdering Flores, 21, on May 30 and is the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba five years ago.

Van der Sloot is arguing that he didn't realize he was signing a murder confession, which was written in Spanish. Van der Sloot speaks some Spanish.

"During the interrogations I was very frightened and confused, and I wanted to leave," van der Sloot told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in the notorious Castro Castro jail in Lima, Peru.

"'If you sign these papers you will be extradited to the Netherlands,' they were telling me all the time. In my blind panic I then signed everything, but I did not even know what was written down," he told the newspaper.

When asked about the murder of Flores, van der Sloot replied, "I have been framed. What happened exactly, I will explain later."

He also complained to the newspaper that he has to share his prison cellblock with a Colombian murderer, a corrupt Peruvian general and rats that creep into his cell through the toilet at night.

In the alleged confession, van der Sloot is quoted as saying he met Flores at a Lima casino and they were playing poker in his room when an email popped up on his computer linking him to the Holloway case.

He claims Flores became upset and struck him. Enraged, van der Sloot allegedly smashed her in the nose with his elbow. Blood gushed out and she nearly fainted from the blow, the confession states. He then grabbed her by the throat and banged her head against the wall, the confession says. He finally used his shirt to smother her, according to the reputed confession.

As ABC News reported at the time of his arrest, van der Sloot appeared confused before signing some police documents. He even asked his interrogatiors, "This only says I understand what my rights are, correct?"

Van Der Sloot's Mom Still Believes He's Innocent in Natalee Holloway's Disappearance

Van der Sloot, who is the son of a judge, is even losing the support of his mother, who only recently insisted her son "is not a murderer" and once said that the van der Sloot family believes "200 percent that he's innocent."

This weekend, Anita van der Sloot told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaph, "I now believe that Joran may indeed have done something to Stephany in Peru. Maybe in a burst of anger? I don't know."

During the emotional interview, Anita van der Sloot said, "I will not visit him in his cell. I cannot embrace him."

At another point, the distraught mother added, "It's time to let him go. I cannot cry for Joran. If he killed Stephany, then he will have to carry the burden of that. He who commits a crime has to pay."

She described her son as a loving boy, but said that something happened to him as he grew up.

"He was a sweet kid, who loved animals and his grandma. Happy, open," she said. "He lost his way along the way. It was gradual.

"After he was arrested for Natalee's disappearance, he was traumatized," the paper quoted her as saying. "We then made a big mistake. We sent him to the Netherlands to study. He should have gone to a closed clinic. He needed psychological help even back then. He wasn't getting any rest, he was being persecuted."

Anita van der Sloot still believes her son is innocent in Holloway's disappearance.

"I believed Joran. Despite his many lies. I felt that he didn't have anything to do with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005," she said. "He had left her on the beach. I still believe that."

Dr. Michael Welner, one of America's top forensic psychiatrists, told "Good Morning America" today it wasn't surprising for van der Sloot to try to take back his confession.

"He realizes that the confession was very damaging to him, not only with his legal situation, but with his own family, so I would expect him to do this."

Joran van der Sloot's Past

Those family ties have likely been critical to van der Sloot in the past.

"We know it's quite possible that he killed two young women in two countries with no accountability... Maybe he went from country to country because he had the financial means to do so, because he had a mother and a support system that said, 'My son can do no wrong,'" Welner said.

He dismissed Anita van der Sloot's contention that he son was under pressure for being accused of Holloway's murder and then cracked when his father died last year.

"People mourn their parents all the time and they're not homicidal," Welner said. He added, "People don't kill because they are in mourning. They kill for other reasons and other motivations."