The arc of the moral universe is long
There's news this week about the Michael Francke murder. Phil Stanford, the career journalist who's spent about half of his life unearthing the truth about it, has the latest details here, and he tells it way better than I could. If you've followed the case, you should go over there and read what he's got.
To summarize, Frank Gable, the patsy who was wrongfully convicted of murdering Francke, is about to receive roughly $2 million from the state as compensation. (And it should be tax-free, by the way.) Gable's suing for much, much more. I hope he gets it.
But there's still one thing missing, and that's the State of Oregon telling the truth about who killed Francke, the state's prison director, and why. We all pretty much know the why, but the state has never acknowledged it. And even Stanford has never figured out with certainty the who.
The state also needs to look into who railroaded Gable, and how. Some of those involved in the prosecution are still alive, and even if they weren't, the public needs assurance that whatever dark crimes may have been committed, they aren't going to be repeated.
Neil Goldschmidt, governor at the time and up to his eyeballs in this lethal caper, is now dead, and his direct lieutenants, who had a stranglehold on all levels of government in Oregon for many decades, are either also dead or retired. It's time for the new state attorney general, Dan Rayfield, not only to pay Gable but also to open all the files and show the public what really happened, not only in the murder but also in the coverup. A new investigation, a real one, should be undertaken. And if there are people still around who were responsible, it's long past time for them to face the music.
I’m not holding my breath for the whole truth to come out, especially at this time.
ReplyDeleteOdd, no mention of the Oregonian's baleful influence on the case. They essentially convicted Gable in the court of public opinion. Maybe they'll rehire the reporter who spent a year convicting the paper's first publishers of racism.
ReplyDeleteThe state police were responsible transporting Neil back and forth from Salem. He often made them drive past his teenage victim's house and see if the light that signaled all clear was on. So they had complete knowledge of the sex abuse and likely used that as blackmail. And now that Oregon is a super majority one-party monolith there is close to zero chance they want to reveal how seamy things really are, both in the past and today.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly should be fully, vigorously investigated. Stanford has indeed spent much of his life on this case, as has the victim's brother. I am not confident that our state government has the will and cojones to do the job.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Rayfield will announce a new investigation at his next town hall in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteOver the decades, I’ve read a lot of stories about killing. But, not much about the “corruption”.
ReplyDeleteListen to the podcast Murder in Oregon.
DeleteIt details massive corruption in the case.