An Alabama man facing death says he should be spared because he did not rape a woman with a broomstick as prosecutors have alleged.
Gregory Hunt, 65, is scheduled to die on June 10 by inhaling nitrogen gas. Hunt was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing Karen Sanders Lane in August 1988, AL.com reported.
Hunt, acting as his own attorney, has filed an appeal arguing that he should not have been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death because the sexual assault did not occur. Hunt states that prosecutors argued that cervical mucus was found on a broom handle near Lane's body, but in his appeal, Hunt points out that Lane's cervix had been removed in a hysterectomy, AL.com reported.
"Without sex abuse as charged," the appeal states according to AL.com. "Mr. Hunt is not guilty of capital murder, nor felony murder. The jury would have likely convicted him of the lesser including (included) offense of murder...He has served his time for murder or would likely have been released on parole."
Hunt and Lane had been dating prior to the murder. According to the Associated Press, Hunt broke into Lane's apartment and savagely beat her. She sustained over 60 injuries, including more than 20 to her head.
Hunt would be Alabama's third execution this year and fourth overall with nitrogen gas, a relatively new execution method, the AP reported.
