A parole hearing is set for May for a 48-year-old man convicted for a series of rapes that occurred over 17 days in 1978 in Lawrence.

The Kansas Parole Board will accept public comments in April on the parole eligibility of Charles Curtis Hunter, who has spent more than 30 years in prison.

Even if he’s granted parole in the Douglas County cases, Hunter wouldn’t get out of prison, parole board officials said. If paroled, he would begin serving a nearly 11-year sentence for a 2005 conviction for assaulting a corrections officer at Larned State Hospital.

In Lawrence, Hunter was convicted in connection with seven burglaries and six sexual assaults in east Lawrence and Oread neighborhood that occurred between Dec. 5, 1978, and Dec. 22, 1978. Four women were raped, and he was convicted of attempted rape during two of the burglaries.

Hunter was 16 at the time of the crimes.

He’s been in prison since Oct. 21, 1982, and is currently in maximum security at Larned State Hospital. In 2009 Hunter told the Journal-World he should have been found “not guilty due to temporary insanity.”

Also in 2009, a New York-based group that helps inmates obtain DNA testing of evidence said the test results confirmed the prosecution’s theory at trial and closed his case.

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said he planned to write a letter asking the board to deny Hunter’s parole in the Douglas County cases.

“We still object to his parole,” Branson said. “He’s shown no accountability for these offenses.”

Public comments can be made online at the parole board’s website, www.dc.state.ks.us/kpb.