Travis Franklin gets 10 years for slitting man's throat

EPHRATA — A Yakima man will be spending over 10 years in prison for slitting a Moses Lake man’s throat in May.

Travis Franklin, 26, of Yakima, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder in Grant County Superior Court. Judge John Antosz followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCrea and defense attorney Rafael Gonzales and sentenced Franklin to 123.75 months in prison. Two counts of first-degree assault and a charge of first-degree robbery were dropped in a plea agreement between McCrea and Gonzales.

Franklin’s sentence stems from a incident on May 11, when the Moses Lake Police Department responded to an apartment complex in the 1000 block of West Third Avenue for a report of an individual with a slit throat. The male victim was immediately transported to the hospital and was eventually able to tell police that a few days before the incident Judy Kirchoff, 25, of Spokane, whom he believed to be his girlfriend, brought a man over to his residence. The victim said Kirchoff and the man stole his phone and Kirchoff told him, “the phones were taken so he couldn’t call for help.”

On the night of the assault five different individuals came over to the victim’s Third Avenue apartment, with Franklin, Kirchoff and Christiann Artz, 38, of Moses Lake, staying at the apartment when the two other people left. They reportedly tied up the victim with duct tape and rope and told him they were there to “make him pay.”

Franklin injected the man in the neck with an unknown drug when his hands and feet were bound. The victim passed out and described being in a drug-induced state when he observed Franklin, Kirchoff and Artz rummage through his belongings and pack some of his items into two of his backpacks. The three suspects left the room, but returned a short time later and collected a number of different pills that were in the apartment.

“They ordered him to take all of the pills and gave him a Coke to wash them down. I found the partially consumed Coke and three empty pill bottles scattered about the residence. (The victim) stated they made him write out a suicide note and they explained they were going to make his death appear to be an overdose,” wrote an officer. “During my warrant execution I found a suicide-like note. (The victim) stated he had to write it and read it back to them to ensure it said what they wanted.”

The victim said Franklin attempted to inject him in the throat again with an unknown substance, but he injected the substance too deep and it went through an artery, causing him to lose consciousness. The victim woke up when Franklin attempted to force his face into a bed and cut his throat.

He claims that he lost consciousness again and woke up to find Franklin, Artz and Kimberly Halstead, 22, of Moses Lake, in his room, with Halstead attempting to clean blood off of the walls of the apartment. Kirchoff, Artz and Halstead were located and arrested by police a short time after the incident. Franklin was arrested about a week later in Ephrata.

Kirchoff was initially charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery, but the robbery charge was dropped in a plea agreement between McCrea and defense attorney Michael Morgan and Halstead was sentenced to 98 months in prison. Artz remains charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery in Grant County Superior Court.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.