PORTLAND, Ore. (Portland Tribune) — Frank Gable, who was wrongly convicted of killing Oregon Corrections Director Michael Francke, was completely exonerated on Monday, May 8.
Oregon US District Magistrate Judge John Acosta ordered Gable’s unconditional release and barred the state or any political subdivision from ever trying him again for the 1989 murder. Gable was convicted by the Marion County District Attorney in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Acosta ruled that Gable was likely innocent and did not receive a fair trial on April 18, 2019. He ordered that Gable either be given a new trial within or have the charges dropped against him at that time. Acosta extended the deadline while the Oregon Department of Justice appealed the ruling all the way the US Supreme Court, which declined to accept the appeal on April 24.
The May 8 order followed a contentious May 1 status conference where the Oregon Department of Justice challenged Acosta’s authority to impose a 90-day decision deadline on the Marion County DA.
Read the full article at PortlandTribune.com. The Portland Tribune is a media partner with KOIN 6 News.
Broken Dome
Just after midnight on the morning of Jan. 18, 1989, a security guard stumbled upon a terrible scene on the steps of the Dome Building in Salem, the headquarters for multiple Oregon state agencies, including the Department of Corrections.
Lying in spatters of his own blood, underneath a bloody handprint on the door to his own office was the body of Michael Francke. The director of the Oregon prison system had been slain.
Interactive: Who’s who in the Francke-Gable case
More than a year later, a former inmate named Frank Gable was arrested and eventually charged, convicted and sentenced for the murder. After serving nearly 30 years of a life sentence, Gable was ordered released by U.S. Magistrate Judge John C. Acosta, who ruled that the convicted killer’s due process was likely violated when state prosecutors failed to include a confession into evidence during Gable’s trial.
Listen to the entire KOIN.com Broken Dome series, along with complete Frank Gable coverage
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.