FRANKLIN SPARED: Convicted murderer gets third life sentence instead of death penalty

Richard P. Franklin (left) is escorted out of the Columbia County Courthouse Friday afternoon after a jury decided he wouldn’t face a death sentence for the 2012 murder of Columbia Correctional Institution officer Ruben Thomas. (MORGAN MCMULLEN/Lake City Reporter)

A jury has spared the life of a convicted murderer.

Instead, he’ll continue to spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison.

The sentencing phase for Richard P. Franklin concluded Friday afte…