Wichita ? Lawyers presented their final arguments Friday in the decapitation murder case against a man who went unconnected to several rapes for more than a decade because investigators mislabeled a blood sample.

Douglas Belt, 42, a Wichita truck driver, could face the death penalty if convicted in Sedgwick County District Court for the death in June 2002 of Lucille Gallegos, 43. He is charged with capital murder and attempted rape, as well as aggravated arson for allegedly setting fire to the Wichita apartment complex where the victim worked as a maid.

Prosecutors said Belt had demonstrated a pattern of behavior that began in the late 1980s with a series of violent rapes and ended in 2002 with the attempted rape and beheading of Gallegos.

Defense lawyers contended the real killer was Gallegos’ boyfriend, Chris Branch.

Jurors were expected to resume deliberations Monday.

Belt also is accused of seven counts of rape in four Kansas counties and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Madison County, Ill. He could still face trials on those charges.

Last year, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation admitted an error involving a blood sample taken after a 1991 rape. Evidence from another suspect was mismarked as belonging to Belt, and nobody was charged with the rape.