Emotional Kelsey Grammer Forgives His Sister's Killer During Parole Hearing: "I Accept Your Apology"

"I accept that you live with remorse," Grammer said. "But I live with tragedy every day."

By Bruna Nessif Jul 31, 2014 2:39 AMTags
Kelsey GrammerFrederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Kelsey Grammer did something that seems almost impossible to do.

The Cheers star forgave the man who raped and killed his sister, Karen Elisa Grammer, in 1975 while testifying at the parole board hearing for inmate Freddie Glenn via video conference on Tuesday, according to The Denver Post.

"I want to believe you have actually changed your life," an emotional Grammer said to Glenn. "Things you say, I accept a lot of it..I accept that you live with remorse," Grammer later continued. "But I live with tragedy every day."

At one point, Glenn interruped Grammer to apologize. "Thank you," Grammer said. "I accept your apology. I forgive you. However, I cannot give your release my endorsement. To give that a blessing would be a betrayal of my sister's life."

"I thought I would die. I thought I would be killed," Glenn said at the hearing. "I think I deserve a second chance."

Glenn, who was 18 at the time of the murders, was convicted of killing two men and Grammer's sister after kidnapping her from a Red Lobster restaurant in Colorado Springs where she worked, and is serving a life term at the Buena Vista Correctional Facility.

He was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was changed to a life term when Colorado's death penalty was overturned.