And Never See Her Again (27 page)

As Ricky Franks traveled the now-familiar underground passageways to all of Tarrant County criminal courts, he ultimately entered the courtroom of Judge Robert Gill. His clean-shaven face revealed the sunless pallor of someone incarcerated for an extended amount of time. His hair was neatly trimmed, and he was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and tie, just as he had been only months earlier. Franks said nothing, but a broad smile crossed his face as he spotted his family sitting to the left of the defense table. His eyes then narrowed and his mouth formed into a tight line as Greg Miller and Lisa Callahan came into the courtroom and sat at the wooden table to the right of where Franks was sitting with his lawyers.

"Are both sides ready for the jury?" Judge Gill asked. Gill's demeanor expressed the command of the courtroom for which he was best known. Like the attorneys for both the state and the defense, it was believed Gill wanted this to be the last time he would preside over the kidnapping trial of Richard Franks.

"The state's ready," Miller replied. Lisa Callahan stood beside Miller. Absent was Robert Foran, who had been assigned another trial in another Tarrant County courtroom.

"Defense is ready, Your Honor," Haley stated.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Gill said as he addressed the jury. `We're ready to start the trial. I have to place you all under oath as jurors. Please raise your right hands."

Four women and eight men had been chosen from a jury pool of sixty-five to hear the second trial of Richard Lee Franks. The jurors raised their right hands and accepted the oath of service. Judge Gill explained the order in which the state and defense would present their cases, just as he had three months earlier to another jury, which had failed to reach a verdict for or against Franks.

"The state may read the indictment," Judge Gill said when he completed his comments to the jury.

Greg Miller rose from the prosecution table and moved across the courtroom to stand before Ricky Franks. Franks, likewise, rose and stood with his attorneys, facing Miller.

Commanding in a dark suit, white shirt, and patterned tie, Miller captured the attention of the jury, which listened intently to the formal charge of aggravated kidnapping. Although Miller looked at the defendant as he read the charge, Franks's eyes avoided the prosecutor's cold gaze.

At the end of the reading, judge Gill asked, "Mr. Franks, to this indictment, you may plead guilty or not guilty.

Like he had during the first trial, Ricky Franks spoke in a soft but distinct voice. "Not guilty."

The formalities were over. It was time for the state to begin again with the prosecution of Richard Lee Franks. Lisa Callahan walked from where she had been sitting beside Miller and stood before the jury.

Casting a striking figure in her black suit, her long dark hair shining under the bright lights of the courtroom, Lisa Callahan began by asking a question.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you, what are the odds? What are the odds that this defendant, Richard Lee Franks, is one and the same person who kidnapped Opal Jennings March 26, 1999?" Callahan pointed at the defendant as she spoke. "What are the odds?

"Now, we will be presenting to you evidence in this case, evidence of the defendant's actions and evidence of the defendant's deeds, in the months after this offense occurred. And we'll be asking you to consider at each step, what are the odds that a person could say the things this defendant did, and do the things that he did, and not be the guilty person?"

Callahan began to lay out for the jury the prosecution's case-how she and Miller would present their evidence-and named some of the witnesses they would call to prove Franks's guilt.

"We will present you evidence from people who were there right before the offense, when it occurred, and immediately afterward. The next group of witnesses will be individuals that knew this defendant, Richard Franks, for various periods of time. That the description given by Spencer Williams of a slender white male, with long hair and a ponytail, and wearing a red ball cap, fits this defendant. That the midsized dark car with dark tinted windows is a car that he was known to drive," Callahan explained.

The attractive ADA informed jurors that their witnesses would tell how immediately after Opal's abduction Franks had changed his appearance dramatically and that he had knowledge of the area where Opal was taken.

"What are the odds?" Callahan asked again. "Ask yourself, what are the odds that the same individual who would commit this crime would do these things, these attempts to change and avoid apprehension?"

Callahan touched on the upcoming testimony of investigators involved in the case and the statement Franks gave stating that he took Opal.

"Now, that is what the state's evidence will show you in this case. And I ask you, listen to every bit of evidence, absorb every detail, focus on every drop that we can bring you. Because at the conclusion of this case, we will ask you to find that the odds are not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond any doubt that this defendant is one and the same person that kidnapped Opal Jennings on March 26, 1999, that he is guilty, and we will ask you to find him guilty."

As Callahan took her seat beside Greg Miller, Audrey Sanderford took a long, deep breath. She had not been well in the weeks leading to the second trial. The loss of Opal, the media demands, the stress of the first trial and the inconclusive outcome, as well as the strain the last eighteen months had taken on her marriage, had once again sent her to the hospital for a stress-related condition.

It was time to move on, but Audrey knew that would never be possible until Opal's kidnapper was brought to justice. But she wasn't sure that Ricky Franks was responsible. Greg Miller had gone over all the evidence and it was apparent he was convinced they were prosecuting the right man. The only thing Audrey was certain of was that she felt sympathy for Ricky Franks's mother and she wanted the whole thing to be over for both of them.

Leon Haley stood beside his client; then he walked to the jury box. His ebony face was serious before a small smile turned up at the corners of his full lips as he addressed the jury.

"What are the odds?" Haley began, repeating Callahan's words. "That's good. What are the odds that what they have told you is going to be totally different? There are always two sides to a story. So what are the odds?"

Haley paced in front of the jury box, capturing the attention of each juror.

"I anticipate the odds are going to show this. It's going to show that a little bitty girl named Opal Jennings was playing in her yard, like any little child would play. And the odds of somebody coming and snatching a little bitty baby, and nobody ever knowing where that child is again, is disgusting to all of us.

"But what are the odds that, as the state has said here today, that the state, in their efforts to find the culprit, the person that did this, they have a mass investigation. The FBI, the Saginaw police, the Tarrant County District Attorney's investigators, are all involved in this mass effort. Thousands of man-hours, about thirty-five agents involved. Everybody was trying to find Opal Jennings's abductor."

Haley looked toward the prosecutors' table and pointed.

"One day a lead is passed off to a group of investigators with this office. And in a rush to judgment, they try to do the right thing. They take the lead they got on Ricky, who I anticipate the evidence will show has an IQ of about sixty-five, a young man with a child's mentality of about ten to twelve years old. They follow the young man around. And what are the odds that you are not doing anything but minding your business, going to the store, being with your wife or your other family members? And what are the odds that one day you are abducted by seven people from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office and told you have a traffic warrant? But what are the odds that somebody would snatch somebody over a traffic ticket and, instead of taking them to jail so they can make bond and their family can get them out of jail, they take them to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office and lock them in a room?"

Haley had the full attention of the jurors. They were following his scenario, captivated by the story. He told them that his client had been interrogated by a person trained to manipulate the minds of individuals. A person trained to "mess with you," to "screw with your head." He stated that investigators hadn't allowed his client to sleep, had only given him soft drinks and some chips in the twelve hours he had been held for questioning. Haley then emphasized in an accusatory fashion that investigators had gotten what they had worked for, a statement from Ricky Franks indicating his role in Opal Jennings's disappearance.

"And I anticipate the evidence will show that he steadily kept crying, that he steadily kept telling them, `No, no, no, I didn't do this. You're confusing me, you're manipulating me. Can I go home?' That's what the evidence is going to show," Haley announced.

The experienced trial attorney lastly stated with outward confidence that the evidence would show that Ricky Franks was a scapegoat, that the DA's investigators made a very serious error they couldn't rectify. Haley informed the jury that there was no physical evidence that tied his client to the offense. No blood, no fingerprints, no saliva.

"I'm going to ask you, and I'm going to expect from you, a not guilty [verdict] when this is over," Haley stated. "We are tired of this. Thank you."

As Haley sat down, Miller mentally agreed with Haley. He, too, was tired of the Franks case. The Sanderfords were tired of it. The Frankses were tired of it. But they all realized the case wouldn't go away until Ricky Franks was definitively found guilty or not guilty of abducting Opal Jennings.

Before the first state's witness was called to testify, Judge Gill invoked the rule of sequestration, commonly known as "the rule." Sequestration of witnesses was frequently ordered by the court at the request of the parties to insure that in-court testimony of each witness not be colored by what another witness said.

Greg Miller had other witness concerns.

"Is the court going to instruct them to not watch TV, the TV monitors? How do you want to handle that, Judge?" Miller asked.

Reporters and cameramen from all four local news channels had positioned themselves right outside Judge Gill's courtroom. In order to keep an eye on the events of the trial, each station had a monitor that was fed by one pool camera located inside the courtroom. The state, as well as the defense, wanted to make certain that scheduled witnesses were not privy to the proceedings.

"They have subpoenaed one of the Frankses and that was a problem before," Haley stated. "He's out there griping right now. But it's up to Greg, it's his witness, but we really don't want him out in the hall. He caused a disturbance last time. It needs to be dealt with somehow."

Judge Gill agreed. He didn't want any potential hallway ruckus to run over into his courtroom. The judge ordered that Harold Hemphill be told to leave and he would be contacted when it was time for him to testify.

"Okay. I would like one of you to go with me to tell him," Miller remarked to Haley.

The two attorneys left the court momentarily to speak to the hostile witness. When they returned, Lisa Callahan called the first of the state's witnesses.

Teresa Ann Sanderford walked from her seat on the bench next to her husband to take her place in the witness chair. She appeared more confident than when she took the stand in the first of Ricky Franks's trials. Although her voice quavered only slightly at first, she soon projected self-assurance as she spoke of her family. Teresa knew what would be asked of her and she was ready to tell the story. She only hoped this would be the last time she would have to take the stand.

As before, Callahan guided Teresa through identifying photos of her Saginaw neighborhood and its connecting streets. She spoke of Austin and Spencer, Opal's playmates, and she told them about Opal.

The savvy assistant DA had Opal's aunt paint a picture of a child who was a good student, mischievously fun-loving, and adored by everyone. Teresa brought to life a child whom the jury wouldn't meet personally, but would never forget. Callahan presented a photo of Opal. It had been taken at her school only about a month before her kidnapping. Crooked bangs and dark hair framed her bright, happy face.

Callahan walked slowly down the double row of jurors, showing them the photo of Opal Jennings. She was putting a face to the victim. It was a face of innocence and hope, a face that had been tragically snatched from her family with no warning. The picture of the smiling child made the crime personal. The jury was being asked to convict a man of aggravated kidnapping, not of an unknown, unseen child, but of Opal Jennings, the girl with the captivating smile and deep blue eyes that stared out of the photo as Callahan passed by.

As she had done in Franks's earlier trial, Teresa told about the kids playing in the yard, the grandparents checking on them periodically, and of hearing Austin crying on the porch. A terrifying cry she would never forget.

Ricky Franks stared at Teresa Sanderford with blank indifference. He showed no emotion.

Teresa described the steps she had taken to find Opal and the fear at not being able to locate the child.

When Teresa recalled the description of the car and the man who had snatched Opal away, Ricky Franks's eyes began to flutter. He blinked them tightly as if he were afflicted with an uncontrollable twitch that occurred twenty times a minute. As he blinked, he moved restlessly in his chair.

Callahan ended her direct examination by asking, "Mrs. Sanderford, since March 26, 1999, have you ever heard from Opal again?"

"No," Teresa said softly.

"Have you ever seen her again?" Callahan pursued.

"No," Teresa said, bowing her head slightly.

"Pass the witness," Callahan announced.

Teresa Sanderford took in a deep, long breath as Edward Jones, attorney for Ricky Franks, approached the witness stand. Teresa exhaled and waited for Jones's questioning to begin.