A Colorado court convicted Humaidan Al-Turki, 36, of sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her as a virtual slave for four years. Al-Turki’s lawyers lodged an appeal to revise the 28-year sentence that he was handed, saying it contains a legal error.

The district attorney admitted that the judge presiding over the case was only allowed to issue a sentence between four and 12 years. The general attorney also suggested changing the 20-year sentence to life, which was also rejected by Al-Turki’s lawyers.

Al-Turki’s lawyers have submitted documents and supporting letters requesting the case to be dropped or the sentence to be reduced. Among the letters is one from the director of the Colorado jail where Al-Turki is in prison, describing his good behavior and requesting a reduction in the sentence.

The director also said that medical costs to treat Al-Turki are high, and that he should therefore be sent home to receive better medical care.

Fahd Al-Nassar, spokesman for Al-Turki’s family, said the Saudi Embassy in the US has filed a request for his release and that no response has been received so far. He added that the embassy has hired the services of four law offices to handle the request.

Meanwhile, Al-Turki’s wife and five children anticipate the result of the hearing and hope to be reunited after four years.

“His wife and children have not seen him since they left the US,” said Al-Nassar, adding that Sara Al-Khonaizan, Al-Turki’s wife, was arrested along with her husband in 2004 for overstaying her visa and was released 12 days later when her family paid her bond on the condition she never returns to the US.