Olathe ? The attorney for a man accused of killing a Kansas State University student at a suburban Kansas City swimming pool acknowledged during opening arguments on Wednesday that her client is guilty.

Benjamin Appleby, 31, is charged with first-degree capital murder and attempted rape in the killing of Ali Kemp, 19. Her father waged a national publicity campaign to find his daughter’s killer after discovering her battered body in the pump room of the Leawood pool.

Defense attorney Angela Keck told jurors in Johnson County District Court that Appleby killed Kemp, but she said the murder was not premeditated.

“This is not a case of whodunit,” Keck said. “We are not asking you to let him go home after this. … You are here to administer the right justice.”

Keck argued the jury should find Appleby guilty of a lesser charge than capital murder, which would reduce the time he would spend in prison.

But District Attorney Paul Morrison maintained that Appleby went into the pool’s pump room in July 2002 intending to have sex with Kemp. After she fought with him, Morrison said, Appleby beat and strangled Kemp.

“Obviously they don’t have to tell us what they are going to do and they didn’t,” said Morrison, who was surprised at the sudden admission of guilt. “We might make some adjustments (in prosecuting) … but we’ll still follow the same basic strategy.”

Morrison said that under Kansas law, capital murder charges apply because the murder occurred during an attempted rape. It carries a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

Roger Kemp, who found his daughter in the pool pump house, said he was “furious” that Appleby’s attorney chose to admit guilt in the hopes of getting a lesser sentence.

“When you are dealing with evil like he is, I guess it is what you would expect,” said Roger Kemp, who was among 13 people called to testify on Wednesday.

Roger Kemp helped set up a $50,000 reward fund, got billboards put up around the Kansas City area seeking information on his daughter’s killer and bought advertisements in USA Today. Her case also was the subject of “America’s Most Wanted” segments.

The exposure led to the arrest of Appleby in November 2004 in Bantam, Conn., where he was living with his fiancee under an alias. Authorities tracked him there after receiving an anonymous tip.

The defense had repeatedly argued that Appleby was innocent and that an earlier confession was coerced. A Web site maintained by Appleby’s friends and family remained up Wednesday night, espousing his innocence.