Criminal Justice
Absent Defendant Gets Probation, But is Now Jailed for Fleeing Court
Posted Jan 9, 2009, 03:10 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Apparently frightened when the prosecution argued to the jury that he deserved a life term, a Texas man being sentenced Wednesday after his conviction for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance went to the restroom in the Wise County courthouse and never returned.
Although his lawyer, Jim Shaw, says he told his client that probation was likely, James Carroll Franklin, 47, wasn't reassured and led authorities in three counties on a high-speed chase before he was recaptured after allegedly ramming a police car, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Meanwhile, although the jury, in fact, did recommend probation for Franklin in the drug possession case, he is now serving a six-month sentence for violating his probation in the case, according to the Associated Press. The news agency says Franklin could also get 180 days to two years on a new felony charge of evading arrest in a motor vehicle.
"He told me, 'I fouled up, didn't I?" recounts Shaw. "I said, 'Yeah, legally you probably did," the attorney tells the Fort Worth newspaper.
Says Wise County District Attorney Greg Lowery: "We did a better job of convincing the defendant of our punishment than we did the jury."