TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) _ John Lotter is among those arguing that Nebraska can no longer execute him because electrocution was declared unconstitutional. But Lotter says he doesn't want to get his hopes up, so he's not counting on the courts to see the issue his way.

Lotter was convicted of killing Teena Brandon in 1993, and his crimes inspired the 1999 movie Boys Don't Cry. The state Supreme Court ruled in February that electrocution is cruel and unusual punishment. That left Nebraska without a means of execution.

Lotter was sentenced to death in 1996 for killing Tena Brandon, Lisa Lambert and Phillip DeVine. The murders happened after Brandon reported that Lotter and Thomas Nissen had raped her. Brandon was born a female but for a time lived as a man in rural southeast Nebraska.