Wichita — A truck driver convicted of killing and beheading a housekeeper was sentenced to death on Wednesday.
Jurors recommended capital punishment for Douglas Belt earlier this month, after convicting him of capital murder, attempted rape and aggravated arson in the 2002 slaying of 43-year-old Lucille Gallegos.
The killing took place inside a vacant apartment at a building where Gallegos worked as a maid.
Judge Rebecca Pilshaw affirmed the jury's sentence during Wednesday's sentencing hearing, even as Belt continued to maintain his innocence.
Once, Belt interrupted a statement by Gallegos' brother, Randy Baldenado.
Baldenado also criticized the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for mishandling evidence in an earlier rape case against Belt.
The KBI acknowledged last year that Belt was mistakenly cleared of a 1991 rape when another person's DNA sample was accidentally labeled with his name in an agency lab. Belt's sample had been labeled "unknown."
Belt faces seven counts of rape in four Kansas counties and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Illinois. He could still stand trial on those charges.
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