LEWISTON – State prosecutors agreed Wednesday not to use certain statements made by two men charged with kidnapping and murdering 82-year-old James McManus last March.

Attorneys for Shaun Tuttle and David Lakin argued that investigators violated their clients’ rights when they secretly recorded a lengthy conversation between the two men.

The conversation took place in a room at the Lewiston Police Station on March 11, the day McManus’ beaten body was discovered in the trunk of his own car.

No officers were in the room at the time, and the two men did not know they were being recorded, the attorneys stated in their motions to have the statements thrown out.

The defense attorneys were planning to argue their motions at a hearing Wednesday. But state prosecutors agreed at the start of the hearing that they wouldn’t use the statements as evidence.

Tuttle, 21, and Lakin, 22, each face one count of murder and one count of kidnapping in connection with McManus’ death.

A former salesman, McManus was beaten, strangled with a rope and run over with his own car, police said. Police found his body after Tuttle called 911 to report that it could be found in the trunk of a car parked on Horton Street.

According to court documents, Tuttle and Lakin blame each other for killing McManus. Both men told police they were passed out inside the car while the other beat, strangled and ran over McManus.

Police said both suspects had blood on their clothing when they were first questioned by investigators.

Whether the men will be tried together or have separate trials has yet to be determined.

Lisa Marchese and Fern LaRochelle, assistant attorneys general, said in court Wednesday that one trial would save time and money because both men are charged with the same crime and many of the witnesses would be the same.

Attorney Kevin Joyce, who is representing Lakin, argued that separate trials would be the only way to ensure fairness. Attorney Thomas Goodwin, who is representing Tuttle, will make the same argument next month.

Goodwin had planned to make his case Wednesday, but his arguments were postponed because Tuttle was under quarantine at the Androscoggin County Jail after being exposed to another inmate with a contagious infection.

Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II will decide whether to have one or two trials after hearing Goodwin’s arguments.

No motive for the killing has been revealed.

Those who knew McManus and his family said there was likely little money to be stolen. A successful salesman more than a decade ago, McManus had experienced financial ruin shortly after his wife died.

McManus was living at 18 Blake St. at the time of his death.