And Never See Her Again (20 page)

"That's after the fact, judge," Haley interrupted.

Jones argued that their client's statement had not been introduced to the jury and should not have been brought up by the prosecutor during his questioning.

"And I don't see the relevance of where he went, to prove that he was not booked in on time," Haley argued, pointing out that the prosecutor had mentioned Franks taking the investigators to possible sites where Opal could be found.

"When did the event supposedly occur?" Judge Gill asked.

"Right after the arraignment, when they were taking him back. Judge, the reason I approached is because Franks took them to various locations where Opal might possibly be. And they have talked about Franks not being booked in immediately, it was some hours later. They have misled this jury as to why," Foran explained.

"But was there an undue delay before the giving of the statement?"Judge Gill asked.

"I think what they have implied is a general misconduct on the part of the police, a pattern of misconduct that they want to argue was part of the statementtaking process and continued afterward. It's unfair and misleading," Foran argued vigorously.

"I don't think the witness answered in a misleading fashion," Judge Gill remarked, terminating any further discussion on the issue.

Neither Haley nor Foran had any additional questions for Mike Adair.

After a brief recess for the jury to smoke if they wished, enjoy a drink, or take a bathroom break, court reconvened with the state calling Eric Holden.

Richard Franks's narrow eyes followed Holden as he approached the witness stand. Franks pressed his lips tightly together, giving an aura of anger.

Just as he had done in the pretrial hearing the previous day, Holden testified that he had been called to the Special Crimes Unit on the evening of August 17, 1999, to interview someone. Holden was a skilled witness, often looking directly to members of the jury as he spoke.

Greg Miller led Holden through the questions he'd prepared in an effort for the jury to understand the procedures the polygraph examiner followed before, during, and after he spoke to Richard Franks. When Miller asked Holden to tell the jury his conclusions regarding Franks, Holden looked toward the jury and said, "My conclusion was that he was relatively bright. He was conversing very normally. There was virtually nothing that I talked with him about that he didn't communicate back to me in a very conversant way. Talked to me smartly, if you will. He didn't appear to me to be disadvantaged in the sense of his ability to communicate, to understand, and to deal with me on virtually any issue that we talked about. I was relatively impressed with him."

Franks's posture relaxed and he smiled at Holden's depiction of him. He had spent years with people telling him he was stupid, he appeared to like Holden's positive description of him.

Holden informed the jury that Franks not only told him he was familiar with Saginaw but, for a portion of his life, had grown up there. When Holden had asked him if he was accustomed to wearing a hat or cap, Franks said he wore one regularly, most often a red ball cap with a red dog on it.

Leon Haley's white teeth shone bright against his ebony skin as he approached Eric Holden. The shrewd defense attorney and the expert witness had been down the question-and-answer path the day before. Holden knew that Haley would try to poke holes in his testimony by playing up the significant amount of time he had spent with Franks, the late hour of the interview, and his client's lack of food and sleep-Holden was right. Haley then zeroed in on Holden's fee for conducting the interview.

"How much did you get paid for your services?" Haley asked.

"I'm going to guess, Counselor. I think eighteen hundred dollars," Holden answered.

If Haley expected to get a reaction from any member of the jury after hearing the large amount of money paid to Holden for a mere twelve hours of work, he was disappointed. The twelve jurors remained expressionless, but a low whistle could be heard from the rear of the courtroom.

"So eighteen hundred dollars and we got us a statement, right?" Haley asked, inferring that the amount of Holden's fee was payment for obtaining the defendant's statement.

"That was the time that I committed. The time that I spent," Holden said, unshaken.

"Did you put this red hat in your notes?" Haley questioned.

"I did not," Holden stated.

"So that's the first time I'm hearing about this red hat, right?" Haley asked.

"As far as I know."

"Is there anything wrong with him having a red cap?" Haley asked.

"No, sir."

"Did you ask him if he had any black tennis shoes, or blue clothes, or black clothes?" Haley pressed on.

"No, sir."

Haley continued by establishing that Holden's interview with Franks had not been videotaped or recorded on audiotape. The only accounts of the proceedings were Holden's nearly illegible handwritten notes and the typed copy. Holden also admitted that Franks had become agitated at the end of the interview, had stated he was tired and wanted to stop. At that request Holden immediately had ceased to question the suspect.

As he had done in the pretrial hearing before Judge Gill, Haley asked about Franks's mental capacity and if Holden would have interviewed a ten- or eleven-yearold child in the same manner. The crafty attorney continued to build his client's diminished-capacity defense.

"Sometimes children can be manipulated. Would you agree with me on that?" Haley asked.

"Sure. "

"And mentally retarded people can be manipulated. Is that fair?" Haley pushed on.

"They can be, sure," Holden admitted without hesitation.

His point made, Haley turned the witness over to the prosecution.

During redirect, Miller asked Holden why Franks had become agitated during the interview.

"He became agitated at the very end of the interview, shortly before I terminated it," Holden explained. "Based on everything that I had been told by him and what he had said to me, I told him that I believed firmly that he had caused the death of Opal Jennings and knew where her body was."

Loud murmurs could be heard from the Franks family. They were obviously unhappy with Holden's testimony and, in particular, Holden's accusations concerning Ricky's knowledge of the crime.

Miller completed his questions by asking Holdenas he had the previous day-if he had told Ricky Franks he was impressed with both his handwriting and his spelling. When Holden answered yes, Miller set Holden up for the response he wanted the jurors to hear.

"What response did Ricky Franks give you?" Miller asked.

"He looked up at me and smiled and winked."

After Miller left, in the minds of the jurors, the image of Ricky Franks coyly winking at Eric Holden, he passed the witness.

Haley attempted to counter the picture Miller had painted of his client as a sly, competent adult by asking Holden if Franks actually winked, or if he could have been so sleepy at that point that his eyes were blinking. But Holden stood firm, he stated to him it appeared to be a wink.

The defense counsel asked Holden why, if he had been so impressed with Franks's handwriting, hadn't he simply asked him to write a statement, rather than writing it himself. Holden denied he had written a statement, saying that he simply had taken notes based on what Franks had told him while they talked.

With Holden still in the witness-box, Haley asked permission to approach the bench. Speaking softly and leaning uncomfortably over the bar to speak, Mr. Haley addressed the judge: "Your Honor, I'm only doing this for cautionary purposes because I don't want to open the door to anything. I would like to be able to ask Mr. Holden: isn't it true that when Mr. Franks got agitated at him, Mr. Franks was telling him, `I didn't kill her.' I just want to ask that one question, but if the court tells me that I'll be opening the door to a whole bunch of words, I'm not going to ask that question."

"I'm not going to tell you anything," Judge Gill stated with a stern face. "If you ask the question and if the prosecution wants to go into something, I'll rule at that time. I'm not going to advise you how I'm going to rule on something that may or may not happen."

Haley thought for a moment before announcing he had no further questions for Eric Holden.

The last witness of the day was Kathy Manning. Investigator Manning explained to the jury that she was the person responsible for learning about the outstanding traffic warrant for Richard Franks and for securing a warrant for his arrest. Manning, as Holden had done before her, repeated much of her pretrial testimony during the kidnapping trial itself.

Most important, Manning was the vehicle used by the prosecution to introduce Richard Franks's statement into evidence.

Approaching the witness, the dark-haired Lisa Callahan handed a piece of paper to the blondcoiffed Manning.

"Is this the statement that was taken from Richard Franks on August 18, 1999?" Callahan asked.

Manning responded affirmatively, adding that she had witnessed Franks sign the statement, as had Danny McCormick.

"At this time, Your Honor, the state would offer State's Exhibit twelve for identification, subject to tendering it to defense counsel for their inspection," Callahan said.

Judge, if you would note our prior objection to the statement for legal reasons," Edward Jones stated.

"Those objections are noted and overruled,"Judge Gill responded.

"Ms. Manning, let me present you with State's Exhibit twelve. If you would go ahead and read that out loud to the jury, and if you could please read it slowly," Callahan instructed.

As Callahan handed Manning the paper, Ed Jones again objected, this time to the reading of the statement to the jury. He contended that if they wanted to read it, they could do so themselves. He asserted that Manning reading the statement would be improper.

Judge Gill promptly overruled the objection.

The prosecution was pleased with the ruling. They wanted the confession heard aloud. They wanted the jury to listen to the damning language, for the Frankses to hear Ricky's own words, and the news media to capture every remark. They wanted Ricky Franks exposed for the convicted child molester, and kidnapper, they knew him to be.

Manning cleared her throat and began by reading the Miranda warning that Franks had initialed; then she began reading Franks's statement.

The courtroom was perfectly quiet. Only the voice of Manning broke through the eerie silence. Jurors leaned forward slightly to be certain to hear each word of the defendant's much anticipated statement. Franks sat back, seemingly undisturbed by what was about to be read in court:

"'My name is Richard Lee Franks. My date of birth is August 3, 1969. I live at [address blacked out] Sheridan in Fort Worth, Texas. I have completed twelve years of school and I can read and write the English language.

"`On March 26, 1999, I went to Saginaw, Texas, to see my brother Danny-" (That was a correction. The typed copy said "Donny" and he changed it to "Danny," placing his initials above that name.)

"Excuse me," Leon Haley interrupted. "Your Honor, may I approach the bench for a second?"

"You may," Judge Gill said.

Manning sat back as Haley argued that the defense had a prior motion before the court about getting into Mr. Franks's criminal record and that record, including his probation, appeared in the statement that was about to be read.

Greg Miller, who had followed Leon Haley to the bench, attempted to set the record straight.

"There is nothing in the statement about a prior record," Miller informed the judge.

Judge Gill instructed Kathy Manning to proceed with the reading of the statement as Miller and Haley both returned to their seats.

"`When I saw Opal Jennings and two other kids, a boy and a girl playing in a field beside a house, this was about four P.M. in the afternoon or a little later. I was driving a Ford Cougar and was by myself. I went by Danny's house, saw the girls and a boy playing outside, outside playing in the field. I stopped to talk to them and Opal said, "Where are you going?" I was in the car and Opal was talking to me through the fence. She asked where I was going and I told her that I was going to see if my brother was home so I could go visit with him.

"`I told Opal, if he's not there, I'm going home. She said they might be at work. And I then asked her how she was doing and she said she was doing good in school. She said that she was getting good grades. She came up to the car on the driver's side. The driver's door was open. She came up to the door, gave me a hug and shook my hand. I asked her if she was passing and she said, "I hope so." I then told her that if she was doing good in school, then she would. I said, "I hope you pass." The other kids wanted her to hurry up so she could play with them. I said, "You need to get back and finish playing what y'all are playing." They were playing some kind of ball.

"`She reached in the car. I thought she was going to grab me. I didn't know what she was going to try to do, so I pushed her hand and said, "What are you trying to do? I'm not the one to be doing it with." I didn't want to do nothing that would get me in trouble. She was just a kid. I don't see myself doing nothing like that. I was afraid she was going to make a pass at me or get me to take her somewhere. She was wanting me to take her to the store. She went around to the front of the car to get in the passenger side. I was afraid she wanted me to take her to have sex with her or something."'

Shocked spectators sucked in a breath that was audible throughout the courtroom. Jurors, attempting to keep their faces void of expression, wrinkled their brows as if not understanding the words Manning read.

"`I took her to the store. She got in the passenger side. The other two kids were outside playing. I told her I was going to bring her back so she could finish playing with the other two kids. I took her to the convenience store a block from the house. I sat in the car and she got something to drink.

"`She bought a Coke and then she came back to the car. She said, "Thank you for bringing me up here." But I said, "I won't do it again." Opal tried to move over toward me. I didn't know what she tried to do. She tried to grab me between my legs. She grabbed my dick. She wanted me to fuck her. I told her no. She said, "Fuck me." She tried to take her pants off. I told her no. She asked me why and I said because I don't do that. She asked me why and I said, "Because you are too young and I could get in trouble for it."