Kansas City News Blog

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​The Kansas Supreme Court ruled today that the man convicted of murdering Ali Kemp, a 19-year-old University of Kansas student from Johnson County, in a public swimming pool pump room in 2002 could not also be guilty of attempted rape without violating the "double jeopardy" protection of the Fifth Amendment.

In 2005, Kemp's murderer, Benjamin Appleby (aka Teddy Hoover), was convicted of first degree murder and attempted rape. He got a "hard 50" year sentence (five decades without the possibility of parole) for the murder conviction, and 228 months for the attempted rape, to be served consecutively.

The court ruled that since attempted rape is one of the two provisions that make a homicide first degree murder (the other is premeditation), convicting Appleby of attempted rape was double-dipping.

As such, the 228 month sentence was overturned. Appleby started serving the hard 50 in 2007. He'll be 81 when his debt to society is paid.