A dentist on trial for killing his mistress’ son has been trying to kill his former paramour so she wouldn’t testify against him.
Bert Franklin’s trial was set to begin for the July 2016 death of 19-month-old Lincoln Von Henry Lewis, who prosecutors say the dentist killed inside his mom’s Oklahoma City home.
District Judge Cindy Truong pushed the trial back, however, because prosecutors tacked on a conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charge.
They accused Franklin, 36, of convincing his wife to feed him $300 so he could fund the death of Lincoln’s mother, Roxanne Lewis Randall.The married father of four, who once was a practicing dentist in Tulsa, has been in jail since his July 2016 arrest.
His plot began in August was in the works as recent as Sunday, prosecutors charged in an affidavit cited by the Oklahoman.
Franklin asked a fellow inmate in August about “the possibility of killing a witness in the murder case,” the affidavit claimed.
The inmate was an informant for a separate case for an investigator for Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.
The chatted about bringing in another man formerly in jail — who turned out to be another informant — to potentially carry out the killing.
Authorities gave the inmate a cellphone capable of recording “to provide Franklin with a tool should he choose to act on his predisposition and move forward in his plans,” the affidavit continued.
The plot thickened last Thursday, when he texted his wife through the county jail’s messaging system, telling her how distressed he was.
Franklin asked her to deposit $300 into the bank account of another inmate, which prosecutors said was “compensation for the murder if and when Franklin decided to act.”He later called the wife, who prosecutors don’t think knew of the plot, with the contraband phone to vent how his lawyers had a weak case.
“Mr. Franklin swears up and down he didn’t have anything to do with it,” his attorney, Scott Adams, said, according to the Oklahoman. “He didn’t want anything bad to happen to Ms. Randall.”
Franklin has denied killing Lincoln, and last week turned down a deal that carried a 30-year sentence, the newspaper reported.
The only reason he directed his wife to put the $300 in the account was because Franklin was afraid for his life behind bars, Adams said.
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