A Lawrenceburg man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for stabbing to death a Frankfort man.
Frederick C. Graeter, 19, was sentenced Tuesday in Anderson Circuit Court to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter and three years for tampering with physical evidence.
Graeter pleaded guilty earlier this year to stabbing Robert Snider, 20, of Frankfort.
On Jan. 16, 2008, the two got into a fight at the Lawrenceburg Food Court, an area with several restaurants on the U.S. 127 Bypass.
The stabbing was the result of a drug deal, according to court testimony by Kentucky State Police Detective Mike Carnahan.
Carnahan said Graeter confronted Snider after trying to buy marijuana from him on Jan. 16.
Graeter paid Snider $50 for a bag of marijuana valued at $20, but Snider left without giving him the drugs or money, Carnahan said.
Graeter covertly arranged to meet Snider at the Food Court later that afternoon and confronted him after Snider got out of his vehicle, Carnahan said.
According to statements of witnesses, the two started to argue at 5:48 p.m. and Snider shoved Graeter. As Snider got back in the car, Graeter stabbed him on the left side of the stomach with a 3.5-inch pocketknife, severing the aorta, Carnahan said.
He said Snider died from internal bleeding and was pronounced dead at Frankfort Regional Medical Center at 6:34 p.m.
However, Carnahan said witnesses never saw the knife as Graeter struck Snider.
Graeter fled the scene but called 911 to report the stabbing and was later apprehended, Carnahan said. Graeter threw away the knife but Carnahan said it was recovered in a nearby subdivision and sent to the state crime lab.
He also said Graeter confessed to police and described being ripped off by Snider in the drug deal.
A native of Knox County, Tenn., Snider worked with Jackson Construction, according to his obituary in The State Journal.