CULLMAN, Ala. – A defense lawyer says authorities are overreaching with a murder charge against an Alabama father charged in the slaying of his daughter's sexual abuser.
Tommy Drake is representing the 41-year-old man held in the shooting death of convicted sex offender Raymond Earl Brooks.
Drake says the murder charge is too severe. He says the man should at most be charged with manslaughter, which carries a lesser sentence.
Brooks was shot to death at his home near Cullman on Sunday. The shooting occurred moments after police say the father opened fire at a nearby store.
Brooks pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the man's daughter 2002.
The Associated Press doesn't identify victims in sex crimes, and it isn't naming the suspect to protect the daughter's identity.
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