Appeal denied for man who murdered wife outside house in Fairway

A man in prison for the 2009 killing of his wife in Fairway had an appeal of his sentence thrown out Monday.

Franklin L. Grammer Jr. was challenging the sentence he received for the attempted murder of another man at the same time he killed his wife, Betty Grammer.

But the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the previous rulings in state court and by a federal judge denying Grammer’s appeal.

Betty Grammer and two men were painting a house in Fairway when Franklin Grammer walked up, grabbed her in a headlock and shot her.

He then allegedly went looking for the other men with the gun in a “ready position,” but did not find them, according to Monday’s court opinion.

As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in his wife’s death and pleaded no contest to the attempted murder of one of the other men.

On appeal, he argued that he never intended to or tried to kill the other men.

But the appeals court noted that he did not object at the time of his plea, and his new claim that he was coerced into pleading by his attorney was never previously raised.

Grammer was sentenced to 24 years and six months in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until 2030, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.

This story was originally published February 12, 2018 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Appeal denied for man who murdered wife outside house in Fairway."