State calls Gable trial a shut case

Brief: Conviction in 1989 Francke murder was properly reached

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Mar 18, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The controversial Michael Francke murder case should not be reopened, according to a legal brief filed by the Oregon Department of Justice with the state Court of Appeals.

The 60-page brief, filed late last week, argues that Frank Gable, who had been found guilty before of several crimes, was properly convicted of the killing more than 16 years ago.

Francke was the director of the Oregon Corrections Department when he was stabbed to death outside his office on Jan. 17, 1989. A Marion County jury convicted Gable of killing Francke during a botched car prowl on June 27, 1991.

Gable is serving a sentence of life without parole in a Florida prison, where he was transferred from Oregon several years ago.

Family suspected fouler play

The killing has been the subject of public debate and media scrutiny for more than 16 years. Shortly after Francke was murdered, members of his family claimed that he told them he had discovered a network of corrupt officials within his department. They speculated that Francke was killed to stop him from breaking it up.

Several subsequent state investigations turned up instances of criminal wrongdoing by department employees. However, the investigators, including retired Oregon appellate Judge John Warden, did not find evidence of conspiracies or widespread corruption within the department.

Gable’s current lawyer, David Celuch of Portland, filed a brief with the appeals court last year arguing that his client’s rights were violated during the trial. Among other things, Celuch said that Gable’s trial attorneys did not allow him to testify on his own behalf and did not present evidence that other people may have killed Francke.

Celuch also claimed Francke did not agree to accept life without parole, a sentence that was not on the books when Francke was killed.

But the state’s brief said that Gable did not tell the court he wanted to testify at the trial. The brief said that defense attorneys tried but failed to develop admissible evidence of an assassination plot against Francke.

And the state’s brief argued that Gable waived his rights and agreed to accept the life sentence.

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