PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "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. Acosta found that no reasonable juror would have convicted Gable in light of another man’s multiple confessions to Francke’s killing and because nearly all the witnesses in the case had recanted their testimony since the trial. Acosta also found that Gable’s conviction resulted from improper interrogation of witnesses by investigators and flawed polygraphs that further shaped witness statements to police."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Gable separately is seeking more than $2 million from the state of Oregon to compensate him for the time he spent in prison. The state, so far, is challenging the compensation. It has argued unsuccessfully in prior court hearings that Gable and his lawyers failed to meet the legal threshold for showing Gable didn’t commit the fatal stabbing in 1989."
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STORY: "Frank Gable sues 24 investigators, alleging they framed him for state prison chief’s killing," by Reporter Maxine Bernstein, published by The Oregonian, one July 12, 2024. (Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice.)
PHOTO CAPTION: "Frank Gable was released from Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas on June 28, 2019. He lives with his wife in Kansas and is working to rebuild his life, his lawyer said.
GIST: :"Frank Gable on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against 24 police officers, claiming their improper tactics led to his wrongful conviction in the 1989 killing of Oregon’s prisons chief.
The suit alleges officers with Oregon State Police and the Salem Police Department engaged in malicious prosecution and violated his due process rights, resulting in his 29 years and 81 days of imprisonment for the murder of Michael Francke, director of Oregon’s Department of Corrections.
An officer “choked” Gable during one interrogation “until he lost consciousness” and others used “selective recordings to falsely suggest” that he made statements incriminating himself, the suit alleges. It also alleges the officers suppressed evidence that would have undermined his prosecution.
“They went to a lot of extreme ends to coerce a confession from Mr. Gable, but he’s maintained his innocence throughout,” his attorney Megan Pierce said.
Gable, a local methamphetamine dealer at the time, was sentenced in 1991 to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Francke’s murder.
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.
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.
Acosta found that no reasonable juror would have convicted Gable in light of another man’s multiple confessions to Francke’s killing and because nearly all the witnesses in the case had recanted their testimony since the trial. Acosta also found that Gable’s conviction resulted from improper interrogation of witnesses by investigators and flawed polygraphs that further shaped witness statements to police.
In May 2023, Acosta ordered the state to “completely expunge” all records of Gable’s prosecution, citing the extraordinary circumstances of his “constitutionally invalid” conviction. He also granted Gable unconditional release from custody and barred the state from retrying him in the case after ordering Marion County to dismiss his murder indictment with prejudice, meaning the state couldn’t bring future charges against Gable.
“Plaintiff spent almost 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit,” Pierce wrote in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene. “Defendants built a case against Plaintiff based on nothing but false, fabricated evidence that was the product of unlawful investigative techniques.”
The suit alleges the officers engaged in an unconstitutional conspiracy to deprive Gable of his rights, failed to intervene and halt the improper tactics and were negligent in their investigation and supervision of officers to prohibit misconduct.
Pierce said everyone named as defendants was “directly involved in misconduct that resulted in Mr. Gable’s wrongful prosecution.” They were identified as defendants in the suit in place of the state, which is shielded by immunity from such damages in federal court.
It seeks unspecified damages for Gable’s claims.
Gable separately is seeking more than $2 million from the state of Oregon to compensate him for the time he spent in prison. The state, so far, is challenging the compensation. It has argued unsuccessfully in prior court hearings that Gable and his lawyers failed to meet the legal threshold for showing Gable didn’t commit the fatal stabbing in 1989.
Gable was released from Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas on June 28, 2019. He lives with his wife in Kansas and is working to rebuild his life, Pierce said. He will turn 65 next month.
“He’s still struggling with all the physical and emotional damage and injury he suffered from three decades of incarceration in harsh and difficult conditions,” Pierce said. “The issue of Mr. Gable’s innocence has been litigated thoroughly in post-conviction proceedings. We are really hopeful the state will do the right thing and make Mr. Gable whole for the injuries the defendants in this case caused him.”
Gable has since changed his name to Franke J. Different Cloud, but has used his former name in the legal filings.
The dismissal of all charges against Gable has left Francke’s killing unsolved."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
