GUILTY CO - Kristine Kirk, 44, murdered during 911 call, Denver, 14 April 2014

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Richard Kirk sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2014 Observatory Park slaying of his wife

Richard Kirk, the man who claimed eating marijuana candy led him to kill his wife, was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison.

Kirk appeared before Judge Martin Egelhoff after pleading guilty in February to second-degree murder. As part of the plea agreement, Kirk agreed to relinquish custody of his three sons to his wife’s parents, Marti and Wayne Kohnke. He also will serve five years of parole after his prison release.

Kirk’s three sons have a wrongful-death lawsuit pending against the recreational marijuana industry. The lawsuit claimed that the company that made the orange ginger candy and the store that sold it failed to warn Kirk of its potency and possible side effects of hallucinations and other psychotic behaviors.

Grandparents left to raise 3 boys after dad kills mom

Grandparents raising grandkids is not unusual. But starting over at 70 with 16, 14 and 10 years old is hard.

Wayne and Marti Kohnke already raised three children. Kris Kirk was one of them.

“I’d like to say it’s keeping us young – it’s not,” Marti Kohnke laughed.

“It’s a fallacy, it’s a fallacy,” Wayne Kohnke chimed in.

On April 14, 2014, Kris’ husband Richard Kirk ate a marijuana candy, then shot her in the head while she was on the phone with 911, telling the call taker her husband was acting unusually. Their youngest, seven at the time, saw it. Police said his dad then walked in his room and tried to hand his son the gun, asking the boy to kill him.

“Just recently he’s been able to go to bed alone a few times a week,” Marti said. “For a number of years, I would lay next to him. I would tell him stories. He would beg me to get the picture out of his head. ‘I can’t get the picture out of my head. Can you just help me get that picture out of my head?’” he’d ask.

Very early on in the investigation, police said they found an empty prescription bottle for Hydrocodone in Kirk’s home. But toxicology screens performed on Kirk confirmed that he only had THC in his system.

The Kohnkes said the boys are doing better now. All have good grades at school and are involved in sports. There are still intense, often private moments of missing their mother.