It took less than five minutes for a Cobb County prosecutor to present his case against Raymond Franklin. The defense attorney called no witnesses to counter charges the then-21-year-old committed two armed robberies and an aggravated assault in 1979.
"Guilty" on two counts of armed robbery and one charge of aggravated assault, Judge Lark Ingram said, who now will decide the key issue in the case -- Franklin's punishment.
Raymond, 53, is already in prison for a murder committed 32 years ago. The charges for an armed robbery he committed 10 days before the murder were revived only because Raymond came within five days of parole in 2007. Prosecutors want added time.
“It’s a difficult case,” said Ingram, who decided the case instead of a jury.
She told the lawyers she wanted time to “mull” their arguments and promised to decide by Wednesday Franklin’s punishment.
Both lawyers agreed Franklin had committed the crimes and the prosecution's power point presentation took less than five minutes.
Swindle offered no defense so the case quickly moved to the punishment phase.
Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans wants two concurrent life sentences and 20 years in prison. But he wants that time to start after Franklin has served his life sentence for killing Cobb resident Claude Collie while trying to escape while in custody on the armed robbery charges.
Defense attorney Jason Swindle asked five years for each of the armed robberies and a year for the aggravated assault. At the very least, Franklin should get what his two co-defendants got for their robbery spree in 1979; six years. Swindle says his 32 years in prison should also count for the armed robberies.
Cobb District Attorney Pat Head took the unusual step of reviving the armed robbery charges that had been placed on the “dead docket” when Franklin was convicted of murder because he wanted to ensure Franklin is never free. Initially Franklin was sentenced to die but his conviction was overturned and the second jury recommend life in prison.
Randy Franklin told Judge Ingram his brother is "a changed man" since the day he took a deputy’s gun and escaped, with a hostage, from a dentist’s office where he and three other jail inmates had been taken for treatment. He shot Collie when the 72-year-old man resisted Franklin's demand for the key to the car in the driveway.
But Evans said Raymond Franklin’s robbery victims also needed justice for what happened to them in 1979. “He showed absolutely no remorse,” Evans said.
About the Author
