| . |
| Who is Frank Gable? Frank Gable was a small-time petty criminal who was convicted of the murder of Michael Francke on June 27, 1991. Francke was the Director of the Oregon Corrections Department at the time. He was found at 12:35 a.m on Jan. 18, 1989, lying on the north porch of the Oregon Department of Corrections office building in Salem, dead from a stab wound to the heart. I think, as do many others, that Francke was killed because he was on the verge of uncovering corruption within the Department of Corrections. I do not believe Frank Gable is guilty of this crime. In fact, I believe he was framed! Please go to the Story Links page of this site to review articles which will serve to give you a broader understanding of this case. After reading these articles pay attention to the mysterious man in the pin striped suit. It's reminiscent of the plot in the movie "The Fugitive" where a mysterious "one armed man" was the key to solving a murder that someone else was being framed for. |
| 10/10/07 Greg Johnson, friend of Tim Natividad reveals Tim killed Michael Francke, and why in this weeks edition of Portland, Oregon's Willamette Week newspaper. Should You Believe This Man? including 204 comments posted By Nigel Jaquiss “I’ve never believed that Frank Gable killed Francke,” says former two-term state Treasurer Jim Hill, who as a state senator in the ’80s was involved with an investigation into prison corruption. “The feds need to get to the bottom of this once and for all.” Willamette Week-10/10/07 |
|
|
| James Michael Francke October 2, 1946 - January 17, 1989 Michael Francke, murdered in 1989 while serving as the Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections. From what I've learned thus far, I'd say Scott McAlister, who was the Assistant Oregon Attorney General assigned to the Corrections Department until just before Francke was murdered, is the guy who orchestrated the hit. If you agree or don't, please take a moment to post a message in my Message Forum saying so. For further information backing this theory, read the 11/16/04 publication of the Portland Tribune or the statement given by Linda Parker, who was Scott McAlister's personal secretary. |
| Eric Mason interview of Evelyn Meeks In January of 1999, ten years after Michael Francke's murder, local reporter Eric Mason working for the local CBS affiliate KOIN-6 News, interviewed Evelyn Meeks, Mr. Francke's personal assistant. The video provides a good synopsis of the case, and also highlights Ms. Meek's assertion that Mr. Francke and Scott McAlister had a bitter argument during the Lake Tahoe trip. |
| Why Frank Gable is innocent There were questions from the beginning. For example, if it really was a bungled car burglary, why were there no signs of entry on Michael Francke’s car, a fully alarmed state vehicle, parked in front of the corrections department administrative headquarters? And if, indeed, the stabbing occurred at the car, why was there no evidence whatsoever that an intruder had even been inside the car? Matter of fact, why was there no physical evidence discovered anywhere that would link Frank Gable to this crime? Although Francke suffered two stab wounds, one finally and fatally to the heart, why was there no sign of a struggle? In fact, the first blood spatters were 95 feet away, on a sidewalk leading back to the Dome Building, as the corrections headquarters is called. And if it was, in fact, a robbery, why were none of Francke’s possessions missing? When his body was discovered that night at 12:35 a.m., some five hours after police say the murder took place he was still wearing his gold watch. His billfold was untouched. And come to think of it, why did it take more than five hours despite what corrections officials later described as a “meticulous search” to find his body, lying in plain view on a porch on the north front side of the Dome Building? The "meticulous search” was conducted after Francke's car was found with the driver door open around 7pm the night of the murder. See picture at the top of this page. A red "X" marks the spot where the body was found. Not to mention the sheer improbability that a small-time car burglar, with a city full of cars at his disposal, would pick on one belonging to a law enforcement official, parked in a slot conspicuously labeled “Director.” The answer is simple... ...****Frank Gable is innocent!**** Over the years there have been a few theories on why, how, and what really happened on January 17, 1989. Ironically, the state's theory of a "bungled car burglary" is the most preposterous. To explain how a jury reached a unanimous verdict of guilty on all counts after seventeen hours would be yet another example of the same reasons others have been wrongfully convicted, and there are many. (see Wrongful Convictions) The Story Links page contains links to all of Jim Redden's Portland Tribune articles of the past year, as well as Phil Stanford's columns regarding this case. There are also links to some of Phil Stanford's Oregonian columns, and other media as well. Please take a moment to read a three-part series written by Phil Stanford of the Portland Tribune which will enlighten those of you who may be unfamiliar with this case. A MUST READ! ****A killing that won't go away **** 5/24/05-10 things you may not have read about Francke case By Jim Redden 5/24/05-What case rests on a witness like this? By Phil Stanford 6/14/05-‘Eyewitness’ recants-By Jim Redden 6/17/05-Maybe it’s just a matter of time-By Phil Stanford 6/17/05-Official: ’86 probe ended in a ‘deal’-By Jim Redden 6/28/05-The evidence just isn’t there-By Phil Stanford 6/28/05-2 say Gable didn’t do it-By Jim Redden Order your copy now $19.75 Paperback book $4.98 Download Click here to order at http://books.lulu.com The following is a comment left by Patrick Francke in the review section of the web page you can purchase this book from... I have not read the book, may do so though just for fun. I have never heard of this fellow, don't know what his area of expertise is or where he is coming from; but I do know that Mike was scheduled to "testify" before a budget committee the morning after his murder. He was working on his bi-annual budget presentation, not testifying about a corruption investigation. I would invite any interested parties, including the author, to visit the web site- www.freefrankgable.com-to get an accurate view of the case. Mike was my younger brother. Regards E Pat Francke I appreciate Mr. Francke's attempt to direct people to this website for an more accurate view of the case. While there are some factual errors in Mr. Rundy's book such as citing current Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski as the Attorney General of Oregon at the time of the Francke murder when in fact it was Dave Frohnmayer who held that position for ten years ending just after Frank Gable's trial, I feel Mr. Rundy offers some plausible theories in what Michael Francke discovered that got him killed, who the perpetrators of that assasination were, and how the murder was carried out. Considering Mr. Rundy wrote this book on a library computer while homeless, and with limited access to resource material, I found it to be an intriguing read. |
| Video Segments |
| Linda Parker Statement On Dec. 11, 1990, only 11 months following the Francke murder, Linda Parker provided a statement to Gable defense team investigator Roger Harris. Learn what Scott McAlister and others don't want you to know. Why wasn't any of this investigated further or admitted at trial? Read the entire statement here |
| Subscribe to the Mailing List to receive the FreeFrankGable newsletter. |
| All messages made available in the Message Forum, Guestbook, and Web Blog of this website, and any opinions, advice, statements or other information contained in any messages posted or transmitted by any third party are the responsibility of the author of that message and not of FreeFrankGable.com (unless the Webmaster (rob@freefrankgable.com) is specifically identified as the author of the message). The fact that a particular message is posted on or transmitted using this FreeFrankGable.com web site does not mean that FreeFrankGable.com has endorsed that message in any way or verified the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message. I encourage visitors to the Message Forum, Guestbook, and Web Blog to report any objectionable message to rob@freefrankgable.com. These forums are not monitored 24/7. Any previously published and copyrighted materials used or displayed by FreeFrankGable.com are done so entirely for non-commercial, non-profit enlightenment of individual persons. It is the intention of the Webmaster (rob@freefrankgable.com) only to utilize materials for which the site has permission or which constitutes "fair use." Any alleged incidents of copyright or trademark infringement or other intellectual theft or plagiarism should be brought to the attention of the Webmaster (rob@freefrankgable.com) for appropriate action. FreeFrankGable.com reserves the right to reproduce or remove material uploaded or posted to this web site. FreeFrankGable.com is not liable to visitors for information posted to the site. FreeFrankGable.com is not liable for the actions of users of this website. |
Copyright © 2004-2008 www.freefrankgable.com
| Also... ...for those of you familiar with this case you might recognize some of the people in this photo slideshow I created. Just a quick effort here...watch for new and improved version to come. You must have Windows Media Player installed on your computer to view slideshow. Click here for slideshow |
"A Killing That Won't Go Away" Jim Hill - Former Oregon Senator
| "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." -Benjamin Franklin |
| Slideshow with captions and comments can also be viewed at Windows Live Spaces http://freefrankgable.spaces.live.com |
| Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City By Phil Stanford Order your copy now www,powells.com www.amazon.com |
| Anti-Polygraph.org Comments on Dale Penn's Confidence In The Use of Polygraphs George W. Maschke, Moderator/Administrator of AntiPolygraph.org, who started a message thread at their site concerning the use of polygraphs in this case, is quite troubled by the alleged abuse of polygraphs referred to in Nick Budnick's Willamette Week article of 12/01/04 entitled "True Lies". In the article, Dale Penn the former Marion County district attorney who oversaw the Gable prosecution, says it is the heavy use of polygraphs that convinces him the Gable conviction was sound. Says Penn, "If you call a polygrapher, they'll tell you the accuracy is 90 percent." Maschke says if you ask scientists who understand such things as experimental control, you'll be told that polygraph testing has no scientific basis at all, as Professor William G. Iacono explains in his article, "Forensic 'Lie Detection': Procedures Without Scientific Basis." Maschke also believes Mr. Budnick's article raises a very serious issue: namely, that when investigators wrongly believe that polygraph "testing" is a highly accurate means of determining whether or not a person has spoken the truth, when in fact it has no scientific basis whatsoever, they may end up committing the kinds of abuses alleged in the Willamette Week article, even without consciously acting in bad faith. Mr. Maschke also comments on Dale Penn's expressed confidence that there was no "vast conspiracy" to kill Michael Francke because "all 20 prison officials tested about the murder passed tests." Maschke says, " given the known inaccuracy of the polygraph, one would expect some of these 20 to fail, even if telling the truth. Even if the polygraph were a 90% accurate truth test (as Mr. Penn, who should know better, wrongly suggests), one would still expect at least one of the twenty to fail, even if truthful. The fact that all "passed," if anything strongly suggests that someone was manipulating the results." Care to comment Mr. Penn? |
| Email Webmaster at rob@freefrankgable.com |
| If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. |
| They were literally dreamed onto death row. And in spite of the fact that the dream has been proven false - and proven false again and again in multiple ways - Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward remain in prison. Tommy Ward, for hours, told police he didn't kill Denice Haraway. He told them, however, that he had a dream about her. |
X
| Segment of an interview conducted with Kevin Francke approximately six months after the murder of his brother Michael |
| Former Oregon State prison guard Bob Merchant talks about corruption behind the walls of the Oregon State Prison |
| 12/06-Frank Transferred From Florida To Nevada Frank has been transferred to Nevada and classified as a "medium security" risk, however, after being sent to the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, the Warden at NSP has had him reclassified as "maximum security" and moved to the maximum security prison in Ely, Nevada. His current mailing address is as follows... Frank Gable #94488 Ely State Prison PO Box 1989 Ely, NV 89301 Click here for Nevada Department of Corrections website |
| Don't forget to turn off audio by clicking stop button on media player near the top of page before viewing videos. |
| 5/9/07 The Oregonian’s Frank Gable Affair: “Unprecedented Access” Not to the murder defendant By Pam Quinn - AKA Granny Click here to read article on the "What's Happening" page |
| This site is dedicated to those individuals, who, because of the selfish reasons of others who conspired for their false imprisonment resulting in malicious prosecution, judicial injustice and impropriety, prosecution for the sake of prosecution, lack of funds for legal aid to prove their innocence and/or other errors of one kind or another, have been wrongfully accused and wrongfully convicted of a crime which they did not commit and have been left to languish resulting in loss of liberty, civil rights, productive lifestyle, financial and personal ruin, mental anguish, social condemnation and personal and family embarrassment for the remainder of their lives. "Justice depends on fully informed juries." The AWC website was originally established due to the wrongful conviction of Robert McClendon. You can read his story, and the story of others that have been wrongfully convicted, by clicking on "Stories of the Wrongfully Convicted" |
| This case ranks as one of Oregon's most extensive and expensive murder trials ever. Michael Francke was killed on January 17, 1989, and after many months of investigations with no suspects, authorities began building a case around Gable. Frank was indicted on 4/5/90. No physical evidence or DNA evidence exists linking Gable to this crime, and he has maintained his innocence from the beginning. The prosecutions theory was Gable had broke into Francke's car parked in front of a state building when Francke confronted him and Gable stabbed him in the heart. Nevermind there was no evidence of forced entry to the fully alarmed vehicle or anything to indicate anyone had been in the car. Nothing was damaged and nothing was missing. Not to mention Francke still had his watch and billfold on him. Witnesses consisted of meth heads and jailbirds who testified Gable told them he did it. The only alleged eyewitness was a drug dealer and criminal named Cappie "Shorty" Harden, who testified he happened to be in the area and saw Gable stab Francke. I located this witness in May of 2005, and got him to publicly recant his testimony in an interview with the Portland Tribune saying he lied under pressure from the state police, and that he never really was at the scene of the crime. (See-"Eyewitness Recants"-Portland Tribune) Another witness, Jodie Swearingen, who testified at the Grand Jury, recanted shortly thereafter, saying she was pressured into lying as well to corroborate Shorty's story. And yet another witness, John Kevin Walker recanted after the trial saying he lied. There was a guy named Johnny Crouse who confessed to the murder within the first few months of the investigations. Crouse knew details about the murder that only police or the killer would know, yet he was deemed not a suspect. Michael Francke's family has never been satisfied with the investigations conducted by police. So much so, that shortly after the murder, Kevin, Michael's younger brother moved from Florida to Oregon to investigate things himself. Just before Michael was killed he told his brother Kevin that he had found some things wrong within corrections and was going to have to "clean house." He was preparing to speak to a Senate Judiciary Committee about the wrongdoings he had discovered within his department when he was killed two days prior to that hearing. The Francke's believe Michael was killed by corrupt corrections officials to silence him, and they strongly believe in Gable's innocence Many have pointed the finger at another drug dealer, Tim Natividad, as the person who was contracted to do the hit. There is substantial evidence to support those allegations, although Gable's trial judge, Greg West, refused to allow mention of Natividad or Crouse at trial. Natividad was shot and killed two weeks after the Francke murder in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. She was acquitted. The defense tried twice to obtain documents relating to Natividad and Crouse from the DA's office that they felt could assist them in Gable's defense but were denied both times by the trial judge. Crouse has just been transferred from the Nebraska State Pen to their work release program in Omaha. He's serving time on unrelated charges. In October of 2007 another witness stepped up. Greg Johnson/Kellcy, serving 20 years in Oregon on robbery charges, told Nigel Jaquiss, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist of the Portland weekly "Willamette Week" that he unknowingly drove the getaway car for Natividad the night of the 17th, and that a couple of days later he witnessed Natividad receiving a $20,000 payoff from Hoyt Cupp, a former warden of the Oregon State Pen. Jaquiss won the Pulitzer by exposing former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt's pedophile secret. The two year long sexual abuse and rape of Goldschmidt's 14 year old babysitter when he was mayor of Portland, Oregon at the age of 32. Goldschmidt was Governor at the time of the Francke murder, and was directly responsible for bringing Francke to Oregon from New Mexico. |
| Rob's Blog Join me at my blog for daily commentary, updates, videos and downloads. View the entire Unsolved Mysteries episode of the Francke murder |
| New Site Pages New page on Johnny Crouse Crouse confessed to the Francke murder New Page Containing Old Newspaper Articles Of This Case Read media coverage from time of the murder up to conclusion of trial - (work in progress) Trial Testimony of Frank Gable's Ex-Wife Trial testimony of Janyne Vierra/Gable-Part 1 Trial testimony of Janyne Vierra/Gable-Part 2 |
| Breaking news On September 15, 2008, the Court of Appeals (through its Appellate Commissioner) granted reconsideration, and granted the motion for leave to pursue a late appeal. This means that Frank's PCR appeal is back on track. The appeal relates only to Frank's sentence. A link to the Court of Appeals' order and a recap of what has transpired since the appeal was argued by David Celuch in June of 2005 is available on the "What's Happening" page |