'You lost a son...I lost my family,' says man given 55 years in fatal stabbing

Before being sentenced Wednesday morning, Harley Sims was given a few moments to speak to the family of the man he killed early last year.

He wiped his eyes and looked in the direction of where Kristopher Griner's family was sitting in the courtroom. He followed by offering an emotional and practically inaudible statement of remorse for his actions.

While sobs and shallow breaths made most of Sims' words difficult to understand, one statement fell clearly on the ears of those still mourning the loss of Griner.

"I take responsibility for what I did. ... I'm sorry," Sims said as tears rolled down his face. "You lost a son, and I lost my family. ... I don't know what else to say but I'm sorry."

Sims, 26, Morgantown, was sentenced to 55 years for the fatal stabbing of Griner, 31, Indianapolis, during the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2014. He was found guilty of murder in early February after a two-day jury trial.

Sims was ordered by Marion Superior Judge Sheila Carlisle to spend 53 years behind bars with the Indiana Department of Correction. Two years will be spent on probation, and Sims was given credit for time served since his arrest by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers on Jan. 7, 2014.

Because Sims' crime was committed before changes to Indiana's criminal code went into effect in July 2014, he is required to serve at least 50 percent of his sentence. The new standard is at least 75 percent.

At the end of the hearing, Sims stated that he would like to appeal his sentence.

"It all just came down to choices ... and you, Mr. Sims, are here because of the choices that you made in your life," Carlisle said. "If one thing is abundantly clear in this case, it is that you were on a train about to wreck your life.

"It was only a question of how it was going to end for you, and now we know."

Court documents say that on the morning of the slaying, Sims stabbed Griner in the neck with a knife as they sat in a pickup truck in the parking lot the Hyatt Place Indianapolis Airport Hotel. A woman who was a friend of Griner's was also in the vehicle.

Sims, according to a probable cause affidavit, was upset with Griner because he had become unruly. Griner had asked the woman to pick him up so he could get some heroin, documents said, but grew impatient as Sims and the woman drove around running errands.

Sims told police he was defending the woman as Griner tried to assault her, documents said.

After the stabbing, Griner ran to the hotel lobby where he collapsed, court documents said. He died a short time later at Eskenazi Hospital.

Surveillance video of Griner making his way to the hotel was shown during Sims' trial.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that video," Carlisle said. "Watching a young man die in a hotel lobby."

During the hearing, about a dozen people sat in support of Sims on one side of the courtroom. He would occasionally glance in their direction, make eye contact and nod silently.

When his sentence was announced, muffled sobs could be heard throughout the room.

Across the aisle sat the loved ones of Griner. Jana Griner, Kristopher Griner's stepmother, tried to put the pain the family has experienced in the last year and a half into words while on the witness stand.

"There hasn't been a day go by that we haven't thought about Kris and the suffering and horror he must have been feeling as he stumbled into the hotel lobby, fell to the floor and bled to death as the hotel workers tried to help him," she said. "We will never forget the pain you have caused our family by your senseless act of violence."

Sims' sentence also includes both treatment for mental health and substance abuse. The defense cited drug dependance and a traumatic childhood as mitigating factors in the case.

Carlisle also encouraged Sims to obtain a GED diploma while serving his sentence, once again explaining to him the importance of choices.

"I think you're actually a person that has a lot of potential, but you made some bad choices along the way," she said. "This is your time to start, front this point forward, making the right choices for you and the rest of the people that care about you."

Call Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.