Topeka ? A lawyer for a man who admitted killing a southeastern Kansas sheriff tells the state Supreme Court that prosecutors violated her client’s constitutional rights by providing privileged psychological testimony at his trial.

The high court heard arguments Wednesday in Scott Cheever’s appeal for the 2005 murder of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels. Cheever was sentenced to death.

Cheever admitted killing Samuels. But he argued at his trial that he was high on meth and incapable of premeditation when he opened fire on Samuels and four other officers.

Death sentences get an automatic review by the state’s high court.

The Wichita Eagle reports that public defender Debra Wilson said Cheever didn’t give permission to use the psychological records, which usually fall under a client-provider privilege.