Oregonian, The (
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Author: PHIL MANZANO
- of the Oregonian Staff
Summary: Testimony
indicates Michael Francke
was moving toward a door where his body was found, countering theories he was
moved there.
A criminalist
who examined the scene where Corrections Director Michael Francke was stabbed and killed
testified Tuesday that blood drops at the scene tell a fairly specific story
about Francke's
last moments.
Oregon State Police criminalist Lt. James Pex
testified the blood drops indicate Francke, who was attacked as he left work, was moving
slowly toward a door where his body was found.
Pex indicated Francke was probably alone since no evidence was found of
anyone else on the porch and no evidence was found that Francke was dragged, carried or
dumped in that location.
But defense attorneys
for Frank E. Gable tried to show there could be more than one explanation for
the path Francke
took to get to the porch that would open the door to other theories of Francke's
death. In addition, they hinted that someone may have been standing next to the
body and threw Francke's
scarf on his chest after he died.
Gable, 31, is standing
trial for the Jan. 17, 1989, Francke killing and could face the death penalty. Francke was
stabbed in the heart and found dead at the base of a side door of the
Corrections Department, which is located in the
Prosecutors are trying
to show that Francke
was stabbed in the arm and chest at or near his car and walked about 100 feet
to a narrow sidewalk that leads to the Dome Building's north portico while an
assailant ran off in the opposite direction.
With 30 slides, Pex gave the jurors a quick lesson in blood spatter science,
showing how investigators can determine a number of factors by examining blood
at a crime scene.
Pex said the small, circular blood drops found at the Francke
scene were low velocity or dripping blood. Blood from a person who is being beaten, running or shot lands in
distinctive patterns wholly unlike those of dripping blood.
About 25 crime scene
photos were shown to jurors, including those of the first blood drops found on
a narrow sidewalk about 10 feet south of the stairs leading to the north portico.
Pex said the shape of the blood drops shows Francke
heading directly for the portico stairs.
Bleeding steadily, Francke
walked up the stairs, paused briefly at the top then walked about 30 feet to a
side door that led inside the building. Pex said he
walked off a possible route from Francke's car and estimated it would take 30 to 35 seconds
to reach the side door.
But defense attorney
Robert Abel challenged Pex's description of the
event.
``You're telling me Mr. Francke
follows the pavement (leading to the Dome Building's front steps) instead of
taking a direct path to the (portico) steps?'' Abel asked.
Pex said Francke probably walked the driveway pavement, instead of
across a grassy area directly in front of the portico, because
he had an unobstructed view of the building before he crossed the grass to the
portico stairs.
The distinction is a key
ingredient in one conspiracy theory that Francke was walking back toward
the main doors of the
Earlier this year, the
television program ``Unsolved Mysteries'' aired a re-enactment showing a theory
that Francke
was abducted as he left work and then returned to the Dome Building where he was chased to the north portico by a group of men,
beaten and stabbed.
``Any evidence to rule
out an assailant on the porch?'' Abel asked Pex.
``That's difficult to
answer,'' Pex said. ``There's no evidence of someone
(else) being there.''
According to earlier
testimony, Francke
got to the side door on the portico and punched out a small window pane in a
desperate attempt to reach in and open the door.
Pex told Marion County deputy district attorney Tom Bostwick that when he first saw Francke's body, he wondered if
it had been turned over. He noted that Francke's body was lying face
up with one leg tucked awkwardly under another, his glasses and keys were away
from him at his feet and his scarf was draped across his chest.
But after analyzing smears
in the blood found around Francke's body, Pex said it
appears that one of his knees was in the blood and that Francke fell backward when he
died.
Abel asked Pex why the scarf was found in an odd position on Francke's
chest, as if it had been dropped there.
Pex answered that Francke may have pulled the scarf off his neck just before
he died because people suffering chest wounds often
experience a sense of suffocation. Or Francke could have been
crawling and caught the scarf under his knee and pulled it loose.
``Could it also be the
result of someone picking it up and throwing it on the body?'' Abel asked.
``I'd have a hard time
believing it,'' Pex said, adding that a corner of the
scarf was tucked underneath Francke's left arm.
The defense has been
trying to show that investigators missed a crucial piece of evidence by not
taking sequenced rectal temperatures of Francke to determine what time Francke
died.
Abel asked Pex about a scientific paper he had published about using
body temperature and eye fluid samples to determine the time of death for elk
and deer for use in investigating poaching cases.
Pex said his method can usually place the time of death within
one to two hours.