A southern York County man serving five years in a Pennsylvania state prison for a marijuana-growing operation has been sentenced to an additional 11 months to four years for attempting to have Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bill Graff, the man who convicted him, killed.

William Eric Kleinicke pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit retaliation against a prosecutor, a second-degree felony that is punishable by a maximum sentence of five to 10 years. Graff, who earlier voiced displeasure over what he considered a lenient plea agreement, said he was "not going to comment about it." He said that Kleinicke might withdraw the guilty plea he gave in January, and "I hope he does."

"Otherwise he's going to jail and may do some consecutive time," Graff said.

Kleinicke was arrested in 2001 for growing almost 700 marijuana plants at his home in rural East Hopewell Township and was convicted and sent to Somerset State Correctional Institute the following year.

According to court documents, Kleinicke tried to enlist another inmate, Keith Sawyer, who he thought was being released soon, to kill Graff. Sawyer contacted Graff who forwarded the information to Pennsylvania State Police.

An undercover trooper posing as a hitman recommended by Sawyer met with Kleinicke in the prison visiting room. Kleinicke reportedly offered the trooper, who was wearing a body wire, $140,000 in marijuana to kill Graff.

Kleinicke initially was charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder, a first-degree felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years under the state crimes code.

The plea agreement was offered to Kleinicke because of "credibility issues" with Sawyer and problems with the audio tape from the body wire, Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler said.