Posted on 02/22/2017 4:46:44 AM PST by Kaslin
Former Fort Worth, Texas, police officer Brian Franklin is finally free. But he is still fighting to clear his name.
"I've been vindicated," he told me in an interview last week, "but not yet exonerated." Franklin served 21 years in prison -- a harrowing 7,700 days -- of a life sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1995. But he steadfastly maintained his innocence, studied law in the prison library and won a reversal of his conviction last spring. In December, a jury acquitted him after a second criminal trial.
"It's been a roller coaster ride up and down," Franklin reflected. Hellish doesn't begin to describe the journey. His accuser had lied that she was a virgin before Franklin allegedly raped her. Prosecutors produced physical exam results of damage to her genitals as proof of his crime. In fact, she had been the victim of molestation by her stepfather for years.
Moreover, the young accuser's story of when she was allegedly raped changed to fit a timeline developed by prosecutors. That timeline was debunked when Franklin's employment time records and time-stamped and dated store receipts showed he was nowhere near the alleged rape location -- the backyard of her biological father, who was a friend of Franklin's.
There were no witnesses. There was no DNA. Yet, the cop with "law enforcement in my blood" lost his job, reputation and freedom.
"It's the easiest crime to be falsely accused of," Franklin told me. Prosecutors "used my position as a police officer against me." His family and church stood by him. But as soon as he was arrested, he had already been branded a "RAPIST" in the court of public opinion. His original jury "prejudged me," Franklin recalled. Given the reckless witch hunts in cases like his and the Duke Lacrosse case, he observed, "I'm surprised anybody gets acquitted these days."
After Franklin's conviction, lead prosecutor Rose Salinas learned that his accuser had signed an affidavit detailing the daily sexual abuse by her stepfather from the ages of 6-16. Those claims, Salinas concluded, "render irrelevant any medical evidence introduced at Brian Franklin's trial to show guilt," "clearly show she that she testified falsely" and "cast serious doubts on the integrity of his conviction." Had she known of the accuser's withheld evidence, Salinas acknowledged, she "would have immediately dismissed the charges" against Franklin.
But he was still years away from winning his release as his various writs and petitions worked through the laborious criminal justice system. "There were times when a court would rule against me and I felt hit it in the stomach and down in the dumps," Franklin recounted over the phone from Kerrville, Texas, where he now lives with his mother. He leaned on his faith and family to get through the darkest times.
"I did not become hardened and I did not become institutionalized. I would not let myself become one of them."
Though he and his resilient family celebrated what they call a "Merry Acquitmas" in December, Franklin must still win a declaration of actual innocence from the state of Texas before he can be eligible for financial reparations for the falsely accused. He took a job at a grocery story and is trying to raise money on GoFundMe -- https://www.gofundme.com/Brian-Franklin -- for his legal bills.
Someday, Franklin told me, he would like to work full-time again in law enforcement and help others who have been wrongfully charged, convicted and imprisoned. He has already weighed in to support former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who was railroaded by the social justice mob and accused of sexual assaults during the racially charged summer of Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
After reporting on the junk science, prosecutorial misconduct, police incompetence and due process violations run amok in his case over the past year, I've heard from several DNA experts, private investigators and former LEOs across the country disturbed by the gross miscarriage of justice against Holtzclaw. He filed his appellate brief with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Feb. 1.
"I've studied this case from both sides and have come to the conclusion that he really is innocent," Franklin wrote on Facebook. "I know about innocence. I was a cop wrongfully convicted of rape...For those of you who jump to conclusions when you don't know what you're talking about, shame on you. Learn the facts first."
Brian Franklin is a beacon not only for law enforcement officers fighting the tyranny of "guilty until proven innocent," but for every falsely accused citizen. His vow:
"I will not give up. I will persevere. I am right. I'm not gonna give up."
This area is rife for abuse. Prosecutors LOVE a child witness because the jury believes them hook line and sinker. The problem is these kids are manipulated by the shrinks and social workers who view all through the prism of child abuse.
“as soon as he was arrested, he had already been branded a “RAPIST” in the court of public opinion.”
Unfortunately, I think we’ll be seeing more of this kind of thing if the “future is female”.
See my tagline.
Press reports convicted him before the trial. Richard Jewel is another who was convicted by public opinion orchestrated by the press. His life was ruined by the “scoop” - yet the press walks away clean as they interpret the first amendment and are somehow erroneously perceived as untouchable.
This is interesting. I didn’t see that it was written by Michelle Malkin until now, but it sure makes sense. I wonder how many people are sitting in jails and prisons who have been wrongly convicted? It almost happened to one young man I knew only through the media, but I thought the police were wrong and prayed for him many times. I had the pleasure of meeting him and telling him of my prayers one day when he happened to come into my check out line about a year or so after he was freed.
I just saw a preview this morning of a local news (Detroit) station’s report on men who are being forced to pay child support to women whose kids are not their biological children. I can’t imagine that there can be legal justification for it. However, I’m not a lawyer.
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This is the only line I disagree with ,, I have paid many traffic tickets over the years (I drive 100,000 miles a year) and have had many LEO's perjure themselves in traffic court against me. When LEO's testily against us THAT is the easiest crime to be accused of. He's only been abused by the court system ONCE.. most of us have been abused multiple times by LEO's. They want it both ways ,, they want to be held above us where their testimony trumps us at every turn ,, but when they are no longer at the top of the heap when it comes to being given that power all of a sudden having an uneven playing field becomes a bad thing ...
Hitler-y Clinton declared the “future is female”. However,
Hitlery is NOT President of the United States. (Unless the
pussy hat marchers can manage to get her & Blowjob Bill
installed as POTUS & FIRST LADDIE magically somehow.)
A couple months after that, my wife gave a more "detailed" statement, and the state took the case to a grand jury, and they came back with 2 counts of felony strangulation, and 3 counts of misdemeanor assault.
Several months after that, my wife "remembered" more details of the horrific attack, and gave a new statement, and they added on 3 more misdemeanor assault charges, for a total of 2 felony and 6 misdemeanor charges. All stemming from an encounter that lasted less than 30 seconds, and my wife refusing medical treatment when offered by the State Police.
I went to trial a year after the incident, and was acquitted of the 2 felonies and 3 of the misdemeanors, but was convicted of 3 "unprivileged contact" misdemeanors (no injuries). The judge sentenced me to 3 consecutive 1 year sentences in the County Jail, with 1/2 of those 3 years suspended.
Just yesterday I had a bail hearing to determine if I had the right to stay out on bail pending appeal. The judge didn't have any choice but to grant our motion, as the law in my State is clear on this subject, but he doubled my bail and I am not allowed to leave the state.
I have never been involved with the court system, and whatever respect I had for it has evaporated. The truth has little to do with anything in a "court of law". My attorneys caught out one State Trooper that filed a false affidavit (we had tape to prove it), and caught another one in a lie on the stand. Between the State Police, the collusion with the State M.E. and my wife's testimony, and the crooked assed witch of a prosecutor, there wasn't much of a chance of seeing justice done in my case. My attorneys called it accurately, and said I would be convicted of several lesser misdemeanors because a jury would think there was some "there" there with so many charges brought against me. Here is a link to the only evidence in the case, besides my wife's ever evolving testimony. It's a picture taken of her "injuries" the night of the incident - click here
Don't think it couldn't happen to you. One day you can be living the life, and the next day you're dropped into the meat grinder.
bmfl
Actually, I think the prism they view everything through is drama and power. The social workers I have observed love drama and power. They are in the field because they are seriously lacking in critical thinking skills. It is all emotion with them. And when they are able to jerk people around and run other people’s lives, so much the better. These are the same people who love to take kids away from parents, who love to encourage people to have sex change surgery, etc., etc.
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