ML man sentenced for murder of middle school teacher

YAKIMA — A Moses Lake man will be spending 15 years in prison for murdering a middle school teacher in Yakima County in April 2013.

Marty Grismer, 30, of Moses Lake, previously entered an Alford plea in Yakima Superior Court to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Wapato Middle School teacher Desiree Sunford. In an Alford plea a defendant is not pleading guilty to a crime, but believes they would be found guilty if the case were to proceed to trial.

Grismer was initially charged with first-degree aggravated murder, but the charge was amended in a plea deal, according to the Associated Press. Grismer received a 15-year prison sentence. Prosecutors initially believed Grismer shot Sunford at her Terrace Heights home in an attempt to keep her from discovering that her husband “may have” impregnated another woman, according to a Yakima Herald report.

Prosecutors reportedly gained further information from Grismer’s former cellmate that Grismer was captivated by Sunford and was attempting to frame her husband for the murder. The cellmate allegedly refused to testify in court and prosecutors ended up amending the charges against the defendant.

In 2014 the Columbia Basin Herald reported Sunford was a 2000 Moses Lake High School graduate and taught as a substitute at the school until she later found employment at Wapato Middle School.