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Convicted killer claims ineffective counsel in appeal

King Phillip Amman Reu El
King Phillip Amman Reu El
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 42-year-old Kansas man claims he didn’t have effective counsel during a retrial of his death penalty case.

King Phillip Amman Reu-El wants a Shawnee County judge to void his two consecutive sentences, as well as his convictions based on no-contest pleas.

He was convicted in 2005 of capital murder and other charges.

The 2013 convictions were overturned, and the case was sent back for retrial. During his second trial, Amman Reu-El says he was misled into thinking a no-contest plea wouldn’t be used by the Kansas Supreme Court to deny a pre-trial action he filed in 2014.

Amman Reu-El changed his name from Phillip D. Cheatham Jr. while awaiting retrial in the capital murder case.

Cheatham was charged with the 2003 shooting deaths of Annette Roberson and Gloria Jones. A third victim survived.

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