Shooting victim Kristine Kirk's family, sister Tammy Heman, from right, parents Marti and Wayne Kohnke, and an unnamed family member, talk with members of the media a following the sentencing of Kirk's... (Associated Press) 
 
 Shooting victim Kristine Kirk's family, sister Tammy Heman, from right, parents Marti and Wayne Kohnke, and an unnamed family member, talk with members of the media a following the sentencing of Kirk's husband Richard Kirk in the 2014 fatal shooting of Kristine Kirk at their home, at court in Denver,... (Associated Press) 
 
 DENVER (AP) — A Denver man who claimed that eating marijuana-infused candy led him to kill his wife was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison in a case that helped raise concerns about the potency of pot edibles. 
 
 Richard Kirk, 50, was charged in the April 2014 shooting of Kristine Kirk at the couple's home. Moments before he shot her in the head, Kristine Kirk told a 911 dispatcher her husband was hallucinating and was getting a gun after eating pot candy. 
 
 Kirk initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but right before he was about to go on trial in 2015, he changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming that he was intoxicated with THC, marijuana's psychoactive ingredient. 
 
 In February, he agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors, avoiding a potential life sentence that could have come with a conviction on the more serious charge. 
 
 Prosecutor Helen Morgan said after Friday's hearing that Kirk's use of marijuana played a role in deciding to broker a plea deal. 
 
 "There were a myriad of factors that went into it, but it was certainly one of them. One of many," she said. 
 
 Kirk's attorneys sought lenience on the grounds that he had consumed THC to relieve back pain and it had severely impaired his judgment. They also argued he suffered "involuntary intoxication" because he did not know he was at high risk for marijuana psychosis due to schizophrenia in his extended family. 
 
 Denver District Judge Martin Egelhoff did not address that argument Friday in sentencing Kirk to the high end of the 25- to 30-year range set out in the plea agreement. 
 
 Authorities have said low levels of THC were found in Kirk's blood, and a partially eaten piece of marijuana candy was found in the house. But they have not said what role, if any, they thought pot played in the shooting. 
 
 According to investigators, the couple had escalating marital and financial problems, and Kristine Kirk had told a friend she was afraid of her husband because they had been fighting so much — a conclusion disputed by defense attorneys. 
 
 Kristine Kirk told dispatchers that her husband was acting more drunk than violent, crawling through a bedroom window and cutting his legs on broken glass. But prosecutors said he had the wherewithal to remember the code to a locked gun safe and press the weapon to his wife's head. 
 
 District Attorney Beth McCann has said that plea deal was reached because the family wanted to avoid a trial given the emotional toll they have already suffered. Under the plea deal, Kirk also allowed his wife's parents, Marti and Wayne Kohnke, to adopt the couple's three children. 
 
 "On the evening she needed me most, I wasn't there," Marti Kohnke said of her daughter. "I couldn't save her, and I will live with that guilt for the rest of my life. ... My daughter's murder was the culmination of a lifetime of his bad choices." 
 
 Last year, the Kohnkes sued two marijuana businesses that sold candy to Richard Kirk, saying they failed to warn him about its potency and possible side effects. 
 
 In response to the Kirk case and the death of a Wyoming college student who jumped from a hotel balcony after eating a potent marijuana cookie, Colorado lawmakers tightened regulations on marijuana snacks that became popular after the state legalized recreational marijuana stores. The state also now has stricter limits on how much marijuana they can contain and tougher labeling requirements. 
 
 Kirk said in court Friday that if he had not eaten the marijuana candy, his wife would still be alive. 
 
 "I had no idea how it would affect me. ... I'm so sorry that I became the monster that I was supposed to protect them from," he said of his family. ||||| As the man who killed their daughter rose to speak, the family of Kristine Kirk walked out of a Denver courtroom Friday, refusing to hear their son-in-law’s explanation as to why he put a gun to her temple and shot her while the couple’s three sons were in the house. 
 
 Afterward, a weary Marti Kohnke, Kristine’s mother, said: “There’s nothing he could say to alleviate our pain.” 
 
 Richard Kirk, who continued to blame a marijuana edible for his behavior the night of the April 14, 2014 murder, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He also will serve five years on parole and will be barred from contacting his three sons, now 15, 14, and 10, until the parole period is finished. 
 
 Kirk, 50, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder. As part of the plea agreement, Kirk also relinquished custody of his three sons to his wife’s parents, Marti and Wayne Kohnke. 
 
 The plea agreement allowed the Kirks’ three sons to avoid being called to testify against their father, said Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Helen Morgan. A trial also could have been a test for Colorado’s marijuana industry because attorneys were prepared to argue over how much influence THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot, had on his behavior the night of the murder. 
 
 The Kohnkes asked for a 30-year sentence because they want their sons to mature as much as possible before having to decide what kind of relationship they will have with their father. Kirk will receive credit for the time he has spent in jail awaiting his trial, and his sentence likely could be shortened through other sentencing rules. 
 
 During an emotional hearing that lasted more than two hours, Kristine Kirk’s parents and sister, Tammy Heman, described the layers of loss the death had brought on the family. The family also read poems and letters the boys had written their mother since her death, leading to heavy sobs from friends who packed the courtroom. 
 
 “Mom, I always know you’re going to be right here in my heart,” one letter said. 
 
 Marti Kohnke described the anguish over losing her daughter and the challenges that come when a couple is forced to forego retirement to raise grandchildren. She said she sometimes locks herself in a bathroom and screams into a towel. 
 
 “Her death will go unnoticed by the world, but she was important,” Kohnke said. “I need to shout from the rooftops, ‘This was my daughter!’ ” 
 
 Richard Kirk, who was shackled and wearing a gray jail jumpsuit, never cried, even when he stood before the judge to accept responsibility. He said he hoped that one day the anger and sadness would be replaced with hope and love for the entire family. 
 
 Kirk admitted it was his choice to buy marijuana and eat it. But he did not back off his assertion that the edible caused erratic behavior that led him to kill his wife. 
 
 “I did not know it would affect me the way it did,” he said. “That’s the honest truth, your honor. I know with certainty if I did not ingest that marijuana edible, Kris would still be here today.” 
 
 Kirk shot his wife as she pleaded on the phone with a Denver 911 operator to send help. The phone call lasted 13 minutes as Kristine Kirk told an operator her husband was hallucinating, ranting about the end of the world and asking her to kill him. 
 
 Kristine Kirk was killed just seconds before Denver police officers arrived. The oldest two sons ran to the patrol car for help, and the youngest, then 7 years old, was found in a bedroom near where his mother was lying dead from a gunshot wound. 
 
 Kirk had bought marijuana-infused candy, and police found a partially eaten “Karma Kandy Orange Ginger” chew in the family’s Observatory Park home. 
 
 David Rosen, one of Richard Kirk’s public defenders, told the judge they had been prepared to show that marijuana led to the shooting. They had an emergency room doctor and other experts ready to testify, but Kirk ultimately agreed that his sons needed to avoid a trial. 
 
 “Obviously, this would have been a groundbreaking defense,” Rosen said. 
 
 A toxicology report from one of Kirk’s blood tests the night of the shooting showed he had just 2.3 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. The state’s legal limit for stoned driving is 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter. 
 
 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. 
 
 Before the trial, prosecutors had indicated that financial problems were putting pressure on the Kirks’ marriage. Rosen said Friday they were working through the financial problems as a team and there was no deep animosity in the relationship. 
 
 Richard Kirk suffered serious back pain and had fought opioid addiction because of it, Rosen said. He experimented with marijuana in an attempt to ease the pain. 
 
 But Morgan, the prosecutor, said Kirk committed a coldblooded murder, pointing out that he had the wherewithal to remember the code to a safe where he kept a loaded gun. He shot his wife point-blank while she was trying to protect their sons from their raging father. 
 
 “There simply can be no justice when your father murders your mother in your home, your sanctuary, shattering your life in one shot,” Morgan said.
– Richard Kirk will not be going on trial for the murder of his wife—and neither will the "Karma Kandy Orange Ginger" marijuana edible he blames the killing on. The 50-year-old Denver man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the April 2014 shooting death of his wife, Kristine, the AP reports. During a 13-minute call with a 911 dispatcher, Kristine Kirk said her husband was hallucinating and getting a gun after consuming marijuana-infused candy. Her family is suing the maker and seller of the pot edible. Kirk claimed the marijuana candy caused delirium and psychotic-like symptoms, though prosecutors noted that he was sober enough to remember the code to his gun safe. One of Kirk's public defenders told the judge Friday that they had been ready to prove that marijuana led to the shooting, but Kirk agreed to a plea deal to save his three sons from having to testify, the Denver Post. Kirk admitted it had been his choice to buy and consume the marijuana, but said he didn't know it would affect him the way it did. "I know with certainty if I did not ingest that marijuana edible, Kris would still be here today," he said. Kirk's sons, who are now 15, 14, and 10, were present during the shooting. As part of the plea deal, Kirk relinquished custody of the boys to his wife's parents. He is banned from contacting them until the end of a five-year probation period that will follow his sentence.