Conviction upheld in Kan. pool attendant's killing

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the capital murder conviction and 50-year sentence of a swimming pool maintenance man in the 2002 killing of a college student.

But the court also threw out Benjamin Appleby's separate 19-year sentence for the attempted rape of Kansas State University freshman Ali Kemp.

The court said Friday the separate sentence amounted to double jeopardy, since attempted rape was an element of the capital murder charge.

Appleby was convicted of beating and strangling Kemp at the Leawood pool in suburban Kansas City where she had a summer job.

The court rejected several other arguments in Appleby's appeal, including his claim that he was denied a lawyer after he was arrested in Connecticut.