Michael Francke Murder

[BlueGalexy]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I am with you 100% on this. I used to accept the UM segments at face value. It wasn't until I dug deeper (thanks to the internet) that showed me how many of them were skewed to make the viewer believe a certain way through selective editing, leaving information out, etc.

Good God, what does it say when we're actually looking to the internet to get the straight dope on something?? I guess the truth really is out there...

[Huskerz85]

Reading through this thread before watching the segment (for the second time I think?) - this case strikes me as another example of Occam's razor in full effect (Suppose there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case, the simpler one is usually better.)

I don't doubt there was some level of corruption in the Oregon Prison System at the time and yeah, I'm sure Francke did ruffle his share of feathers. However the points raised in the excellent analysis by TheCars1986 can't be ignored.

For me particularly, it's how Francke died. For a premeditated hit, this strikes me as particularly sloppy. Additionally, if this was supposed to be not only premeditated, but staged as a suicide, yeah........stabbing isn't really going to jive with that.

This was just a case of the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Huskerz85]

Frank Gable might be getting out soon

https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/...francke-murder

[TheCars1986]

This article makes it clear that this had nothing to do with uncovering any evidence that supported what UM was implying: that Francke was the victim of some grand conspiracy and that the government wanted him dead. Here is a link to the judge's ruling. Multiple witnesses say he confessed to them.

Police first spoke with Gable in May 1989, after receiving a tip that Gable knew something about the Francke homicide. When asked whether he remembered anything about the Francke homicide, Gable replied that he first learned about the murder on January 18, 1989, when he drove his wife to work at OSH. He said that he did not know who had killed Francke. Gable reported that, on the day of the murder,“he was sleeping the whole day.”

Approximately one month later, in June 1989, Gable spoke with police again after he had agreed to work as an informant for the Keizer police. The Keizer police officer commented that Gable looked like the composite drawing of the suspect that had been printed in the newspaper, and Gable responded that the police had already questioned him a “couple days” after the murder because “he was on the grounds the day it happened.”

The "new evidence" discussed is another man who confessed to killing Francke, John Crouse. The suspicious man near the murder scene:



Frank Gable at the time of the murder:



John Crouse:



Crouse confessed multiple times:

-His first confession was where he was a witness to the murder where he was near the scene and saw 4 or 5 guys assault Francke and then flee.
-His second confession had a man named "Juan" who approached him to murder Francke for $300,000. He says he stabbed him once or twice "in the heart".
-His third confession said that he insulted Francke and forced him into a fight before stabbing him. He says he hit Francke with his fist at least once, and then stabbed him when Francke got the upper hand.
-His fourth confession was that he simply stabbed Francke 5 times, once in the heart, and that it was a "freak accident" what happened to Francke.

Detectives took Crouse to the scene of Francke's murder, and he changed his story yet again:

At this point, Crouse indicated that on January 17, 1989, he walked up to the car and took a piece of wire and used it to unlock the locked door. He then advised that he was grabbed by a lone man and at that point turned “furious”. At this point, he grabbed his knife, after being struck by this person. At this point, Crouse advises that he cannot remember exactly all the spots that he hit him. He did indicate, however, that he was going at his chest when he hit Crouse’s arm, causing him to hit in his heart. Then he pulled back, this person stated, “My God”. Crouse then indicated he looked at him for a moment, then took off running down the driveway, indicating westbound, and looked back to see if anyone was chasing him. He further indicated he kept running until he got down to approximately 17th Street.

4 days after these confessions, he recanted everything. 4 days after his recantation, he recanted that and said he did in fact kill Francke. He passed a polygraph. 2 months later, he claimed that he knew who killed Francke and that it was a part of a corrections conspiracy to get Francke out of power. Prior to Gable's trial, Crouse was given immunity solely for the charge of hindering a prosecution based off of false statements, and was interviewed yet again. This last time he denied any involvement with Francke's murder and at Gable's trial, he plead the 5th for every question asked by Gable's defense.

Virtually all of the witnesses who implicated Gable recanted (some up to 20+ years after the fact). This is not that uncommon. I don't see how Crouse is more of a likely suspect. Like Timothy Natividad before, Crouse is also dead (he died sometime in the early 2000's). I don't think it's that coincidental that now Crouse is the one Gable supporters are pointing at as the "real killer". I also find it a bit amusing that this judge places a ton of weight on the recantations of drug users and meth dealers (many of them claim that the police coerced them into implicating Gable...without any real motive as to why) over the words of the police officers and investigators. And if the cops were looking to solve this case quickly, they had Crouse months prior to Gable ever even being on their radar. So why would they railroad Gable but not Crouse? The judge also questions the reliability of polygraph results to the multiple witnesses but uses the polygraph result of Crouse as "evidence of innocence" for Gable.

This wasn't some new revelation either. Crouse was mentioned in a 1991 article about Gable's conviction. There is no doubt in my mind that they are about to let a killer go free.

[Huskerz85]

Sounds like this judge is incompetent on an almost grandiose scale then.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

Sounds like this judge is incompetent on an almost grandiose scale then.

This judge ruled this way because they think had the Crouse information been introduced at trial, Gable had an chance for acquittal. The only problem with this is that Crouse DID testify, under oath, at Gable's trial when he was asked if he had anything to do with Francke's murder and he said "no". He plead the 5th to every other question. And unlike Gable, there is no paper trail of witnesses who Crouse confessed to.

[TheCars1986]

Here is the state's response to Gable being let out of prison. They argue that there is no merit to Gable establishing "actual innocence". Gable's "actual innocence" relies on recanted confessions. No DNA. No physical evidence. No new eyewitnesses who could actually give him an alibi for the time of Francke's murder.

[Hambone2421]

Having read this thread and viewing the segment again this morning, I kept coming back to one thing. Frank Gable was convicted and given a life sentence. UM glosses over the situation revolving around Gable and his confession/conviction and focuses on the possibility of a government coverup. I wish they had shed more light on what all lead to Gable's conviction to give a clearer view of his conviction. It is very strange to me that Francke's family has jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon so much. The fact that they believe Gable is innocent likely played a part in him being released from prison. Sadly, I doubt this case is ever solved.

[TheCars1986]

Innocence fraud is a very lucrative industry.