The attorney for a former Kentucky lawmaker serving life in prison says without a plea agreement his client likely would have gotten a death sentence.
Warren Scoville testified Thursday at a hearing for 61-year-old Stephen Roberts Nunn. Nunn is trying to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2009 death of his former fiancéAmanda Ross in Lexington.
WKYT-TV in Lexington reported that Scoville told a judge he thought Nunn would get a death sentence if the case went to a jury and recommended he take the deal for life in prison.
Nunn is also appealing a civil judgment for $24 million stemming from Ross' death.
Nunn is a one-time member of the state's General Assembly and the son of former Kentucky Gov. Louie B. Nunn.