Maxine Bernstein
oregonlive.com
SALEM, Ore. — The brothers of slain Oregon prison director Michael Francke have asked the state to reopen the investigation of his 1989 fatal stabbing in Salem now that the man prosecuted for the crime has been freed and won’t be retried.
E. Patrick Francke and Kevin B. Francke have long believed the man convicted in the killing, Frank Gable, was innocent and now want Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to “persuade the FBI” to get involved in a new investigation.
“We are determined to expose the truth behind Mike’s murder,” they wrote in a letter to Rosenbaum.
Their letter follows a lawsuit filed by Gable last month against the state, seeking more than $2 million for wrongful conviction in Michael Francke’s killing. The civil suit, filed in Marion County, seeks compensation for the 29 years and 81 days that Gable spent in prison for the crime.
Michael Francke, 42, bled to death from stab wounds and was found dead on the north porch of the Dome Building, where he worked in Salem. The door of his nearby state-issued Pontiac stood open.
Gable, a local methamphetamine dealer at the time, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the murder in 1991. The state argued at trial that Francke interrupted Gable as Gable broke into Francke’s car. Prosecutors said Gable was after “snitch papers,” based on one witness’ grand jury testimony who later recanted and said what she testified to was a lie.
The trial jury found Gable guilty of aggravated murder.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta threw out Gable’s conviction in 2019, ruling that he didn’t get a fair trial. Acosta noted that another man’s confession to the crime was excluded during Gable’s trial, and Gable’s lawyers didn’t properly challenge the exclusion of the confession.
Acosta also ruled that no reasonable juror could find Gable guilty of the crime, considering that eight witnesses who either said Gable killed Francke or placed Gable at the crime scene had recanted their testimony. The judge further found a pattern of improper interrogations and flawed polygraphs administered during the investigation. He ordered the state to “completely expunge” all records of Gable’s prosecution.
The U.S. Supreme Court in April declined Oregon’s petition to hear arguments or reverse an appellate court’s ruling that upheld Acosta’s ruling.
In May, Acosta ordered Marion County to dismiss with prejudice the indictment against Gable, barring the state from bringing any future charges against Gable in the killing.
In a response to a separate letter earlier this year from a Salem lawyer who represents the surviving Francke brothers, Marion County District Attorney Paige E. Clarkson told him to contact Oregon State Police, citing the agency as the lead investigator in the original case.
“I am very sorry for the loss experienced by your clients. Nobody should lose a loved one in that way,” Clarkson wrote. “I hope they find continued healing.”
The attorney general’s office said it received the Francke brothers’ letter “and will consider next steps,” said Roy Kaufmann, a spokesperson. The FBI also is aware of the request but can’t comment, said Joy Jiras, bureau spokesperson.
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