TOPEKA, Kan. — The conviction and sentence for a man serving 8 ½ years in prison was upheld Friday by the Kansas Court of Appeals.

Forty-six-year-old Bradley Verstraete was convicted by a Pratt County jury in September 2016 of the attempted second-degree murder of Pratt Police Officer Kenneth Wright.

He was also convicted of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer concerning Pratt Police Sergeant James Ferbert, stemming from an altercation with law enforcement in January of 2015.

Verstraete has been in and out of trouble and had a case in Reno County where he also got into an altercation with law enforcement.

He was sentenced in the case to 21 months and was released on time served after the case meandered through the state’s court system while on appeal.