A Colorado man sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder of a Montrose gay man is asking the state Court of Appeals to reduce his sentence or order a new sentencing hearing. Attorneys for Jason Fiske claim that the trial court violated his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, resulting in an excessive sentence. In a brief to the court, the lawyers say that that the sentence was out of step with sentencing guidelines for reckless manslaughter. The appeal does not take issue with the plea bargain Fiske agreed to in the 2005 strangling death of Kevin Hale in Montrose, Colorado. Fiske pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges of manslaughter and robbery. He originally was charged with murder. Fiske's partner in the killing, Adam Hernandez, 21, was sentenced to eight years in prison on reduced manslaughter and theft charges. He too was originally charged with murder, but Fiske received a longer sentence because he was deemed to have been the ringleader in the killing. Hale's body was found in a Montrose park in July 2005, weeks after he had gone to police to complain he had been threatened because he was gay. Hernandez, Fiske and Hale had been at a bar. Hernandez told investigators he wanted to beat up Hale because Hale had made sexual advances toward him, authorities said. The day after, Fiske told police he placed Hale in a choke hold while breaking up a fight between the other two men. The arrest affidavit said Fiske told police he thought Hale was unconscious when they left him in the park. An autopsy showed Hale died of strangulation, and that he had methamphetamine and an epilepsy medication in his system. LGBT groups called for hate-crime charges, but prosecutors declined to do so, saying robbery was the real motive for the killing. Hale's wallet containing $8 was missing when the body was discovered.