Jul 16, 2020

Kansas woman sentenced to life for killing estranged husband

Posted Jul 16, 2020 12:00 AM
Frantz photo Leavenworth County
Frantz photo Leavenworth County

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her estranged husband more than three years ago.

Barbara Frantz, 54, was sentenced Tuesday and will serve at least 25 years before she is eligible for parole.

Leavenworth County prosecutors said Frantz shot Gary Frantz five times on Jan. 27, 2017. Police found him gravely wounded in a parking lot in downtown Leavenworth. Before he died, he told officers his wife had shot him, police said, and investigators found shell casings in her apartment that matched ones found at the shooting scene.

Barbara Frantz had maintained that her son carried out the shooting, and her case was delayed when a judge ruled her mentally unfit to stand trial in 2017. She was later declared well enough to stand trial and was convicted by a jury in 2018.

Her sentencing was delayed after her defense attorneys filed a motion for a new trial.