In brief: 35-year term set for career criminal
A career criminal was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty after being accused of holding officers at bay during a three-hour standoff following a home-invasion robbery.
Tony Jerome Franetich, 30, who twice shot a man in the face when he was 17, pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery in connection to a home-invasion robbery on Sept. 26.
Franetich was arrested on Sept. 29 when he surrendered after a three-hour standoff with Spokane police at 6109 N. Lidgerwood St. Franetich was in the apartment of a woman who told officers that he had held her prisoner overnight.
Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen sentenced Franetich to serve four consecutive sentences of 105 months each for the four robbery convictions. All told, he must serve about 35 years in prison.
According to court records, Franetich and David Hardison Hay, 24, terrorized and robbed three people at an apartment on North Colton.
Franetich put a gun to the head of one of the victims and pulled the trigger, but the bullet misfired and fell out of the gun. The victims denied having any drugs, but Franetich found a small amount of drugs on a mirror, which he snorted, according to court records.
Franetich now has 12 felony convictions dating back to 1993 when he was convicted of first-degree assault for twice shooting a man in the face. He and an accomplice thought the man was a security guard.
Evidence gathered in home invasion
Police gathered a collection of evidence from a north Spokane home where officers investigated a home invasion and shooting on Saturday.
A man broke into a home at 5807 N. Forest Blvd., where Anthony Garzia was sleeping in the basement, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Garzia heard the man break down the back door and went upstairs to check on the noise. The invader shot Garzia near one of his kidneys as he came upstairs.
Garzia ran to a neighbor’s house and was treated and released from the hospital.
Police looking into the crime said neighbors had told them the home on Forest Boulevard was often frequented by “short-term traffic” in and out of the residence, according to the documents.
Police searched the home Saturday with a drug dog and seized several items, including a baggie containing laundry soap, a “Seal-A-Meal” box and a container of Funions.
Antonio Green, 26, is in jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery in the home invasion. He was driving a black Chevrolet and dropped off the alleged shooter at the home, according to documents.
Police are still looking for the as-yet unnamed shooter, who fled the scene.
MISSOULA
Ex-SR editor named dean at UM
Peggy Kuhr, a former managing editor of The Spokesman-Review, has been named dean of the University of Montana School of Journalism.
Kuhr is a Great Falls native and UM graduate. She replaces Jerry Brown, who is retiring at the end of July.
Kuhr currently is at the University of Kansas, where she serves as Knight Chair on the Press, Leadership and Community for the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
“She has the experience and competencies we need at this stage in the development of the school and the university,” UM President George Dennison said Wednesday in a news release.
During her tenure in Spokane, Kuhr was an adjunct faculty member for Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University.