Joseph Paul Franklin Explained

Joseph Paul Franklin
Birth Name:James Clayton Vaughn Jr.
Alias:The Racist Killer
Birth Place:Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Birth Date:13 April 1950
Death Place:Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, Bonne Terre, Missouri, U.S.
Death Cause:Execution by lethal injection
Victims:8 convicted and confirmed, 21 suspected, 6 wounded[1]
Motive:Desire to incite a race war
Country:United States
States:Missouri, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Utah
Beginyear:August 7, 1977 
Endyear: August 20, 1980
Apprehended:October 28, 1980
Penalty:Life imprisonment x4 (March 23, 1981 & September 1986)
Death (July 17, 1984 & February 27, 1997)
Criminal Status:Executed

Joseph Paul Franklin (born James Clayton Vaughn Jr.; April 13, 1950 – November 20, 2013) was an American serial killer, white supremacist, and domestic terrorist who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Franklin was convicted of several murders and received four life sentences, as well as two death sentences. He also confessed to the attempted murders of magazine publisher and pornographer Larry Flynt in 1978 and civil rights activist Vernon Jordan in 1980. Both survived their injuries, but Flynt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Franklin was not convicted in either of those highly publicized cases, and he made his confessions years after the crimes had occurred.

Franklin was on Missouri's death row for 15 years awaiting execution for the 1977 murder of Gerald Gordon.[2] [3] He was executed by lethal injection on November 20, 2013.[4]

Early life

James Clayton Vaughn Jr. was born in Mobile, Alabama, on April 13, 1950, the elder son of James Clayton Vaughn Sr. and Helen Rau Vaughn. He had two sisters and a brother.[5] Vaughn's father was a World War II veteran and butcher who left the family when Vaughn was aged eight.[6] His sister Carolyn recalled, "Whenever [Vaughn Sr.] came to visit he'd beat us," and their mother had Vaughn Sr. jailed twice for public drunkenness. Vaughn's mother was described by a family friend as "a full-blooded German, a real strict, perfectionist lady. I never saw her beat any of [her children], but they told me stories."[6]

Vaughn later stated that he was rarely given enough to eat and suffered severe physical abuse as a child,[7] and that his mother "didn't care about [him and his siblings]".[8] He claimed that these factors stunted his emotional development, and said he had "always been least ten years or more behind other people in their maturity."[8]

As early as high school, Vaughn developed an interest in evangelical Christianity, then in Nazism, and later held memberships in both the National Socialist White People's Party and the Ku Klux Klan. He eventually changed his name to "Joseph Paul Franklin" in honor of Paul Joseph Goebbels and Benjamin Franklin.[9] In the 1960s, Franklin was inspired to start a race war after reading Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. "I've never felt that way about any other book that I read," he later reflected. "It was something weird about that book."[10]

In the early 1970s, he took a road trip to an American Nazi Party conference in Virginia with David Duke (then a student) and Don Black.[11]

Crimes

For much of his life, Franklin was a drifter, roaming the East Coast seeking chances to "cleanse the world" of people he considered inferior, especially black and Jewish people.[7] His primary source of financial support appears to have been bank robberies. Franklin supplemented his income from criminal acts with paid blood bank donations, which eventually led to his subsequent capture by the FBI.[12]

1977

1978

1979

1980

Apprehension, conviction, and imprisonment

Following the two murders in Utah, Franklin returned to the midwestern U.S. Traveling through Kentucky, he was detained and questioned regarding a firearm that he was transporting in his car. Franklin fled from this interrogation, but authorities recovered sufficient evidence from his vehicle to potentially link him to the sniper killings.[12] His conspicuous racist tattoos, coupled with his habit of visiting blood banks, led investigators to issue a nationwide alert to blood banks. In October 1980, the tattoos drew the attention of a Florida blood bank worker, who contacted the FBI. Franklin was arrested in Lakeland on October 28, 1980.[12]

Franklin faced legal action across the U.S. for the next two decades, eventually being convicted of multiple murders, attacks, and other crimes at both the state and federal levels. He was sentenced to life in prison and received the death penalty in several states. [22]

Franklin tried unsuccessfully to escape during the judgment phase of his 1997 Missouri trial on charges of murdering Gerald Gordon but was ultimately convicted. Psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis, who had interviewed him at length, testified for the defense that she believed that he was a paranoid schizophrenic and unfit to stand trial. Lewis noted his delusional thinking and a childhood history of severe abuse.[7]

In October 2013, victim Larry Flynt called for clemency for Franklin, asserting "that a government that forbids killing among its citizens should not be in the business of killing people itself."[23]

Franklin was held on death row at the Potosi Correctional Center near Mineral Point, Missouri. In August 2013, the Missouri Supreme Court announced that Franklin would be executed on November 20.[24] Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement that by setting execution dates, the state high court "has taken an important step to see that justice is finally done for the victims and their families."[25]

Execution

Franklin's execution was affected by the European Union export ban when the German drug manufacturer Fresenius Kabi was obliged to refuse having their drugs used for lethal injections.[26] In response, Missouri announced that it would use for Franklin's execution a new method of lethal injection, which used a single drug provided by an unnamed compounding pharmacy.[27]

A day before his execution, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey (Jefferson City) granted a stay of execution over concerns raised about the new method of execution.[28] A second stay was granted that evening by US District Judge Carol E. Jackson (St. Louis), based on Franklin's claim that he was too mentally incompetent to be executed. An appeals court quickly overturned both stays,[29] and the Supreme Court subsequently rejected his final appeals.[30] [31]

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper published on November 17, 2013, Franklin said he had renounced his racist views. He said his motivation had been "illogical" and was partly a consequence of an abusive upbringing. He said he had interacted with black people in prison, adding: "I saw they were people just like us."[32]

Franklin was executed at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri, on November 20, 2013. The execution began at 6:07 a.m. CST and he was pronounced dead at 6:17 a.m.[29] His execution was the first lethal injection in Missouri to use pentobarbital alone instead of the conventional use of three drugs.[30] An Associated Press agency report said that of the barbiturate pentobarbital was administered.[33]

Three media witnesses said Franklin did not seem to show pain. He did not make any final written statement and did not speak a word in the death chamber. After the injection, he blinked a few times, breathed heavily a few times, and swallowed hard, the witnesses said. The heaving of his chest slowed, and finally stopped, they said.[34]

Representation in other media

Hunter (1989), a novel by the white supremacist William L. Pierce, revolves around protagonist Oscar Yeager, a racist serial killer who murders interracial couples.[35] Pierce, founder of the National Alliance and author of a similarly themed novel, The Turner Diaries, dedicated the book to Joseph Paul Franklin,[36] and said of Franklin that "he saw his duty as a white man and did what a responsible son of his race must do."[37] [38] In the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt, Franklin was portrayed by Czech actor Jan Tříska. In 2009, Franklin appeared in the MSNBC TV series Criminal Mindscape.[39]

See also

General:

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Mo. executes white supremacist serial killer Franklin. Perry. Kimball. USA Today. The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 30, 2018.
  2. News: Judge stays serial killer's execution. CNN. November 20, 2013.
  3. News: High court denies execution stay for racist serial killer. USA Today. November 20, 2013.
  4. News: Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed. BBC News. November 20, 2013.
  5. Web site: Life of hate and killing began in '50 . . . Salt Lake City, UT . June 19, 1995 . November 27, 2018.
  6. James R. . Gaines . On the trail of a murderous sniper suspect: The tangled life of Joseph Paul Franklin . . . New York, NY . November 24, 1980 . November 27, 2018 . September 14, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160914222452/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077938,00.html . dead .
  7. Malcolm . Gladwell . Malcolm Gladwell . Damaged . . . New York, NY . February 24, 1997 . 132–47 . November 17, 2013.
  8. News: Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin prepares to die . CNN . November 18, 2013 . November 18, 2013.
  9. News: Racist rifleman . https://web.archive.org/web/20081224035925/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949029,00.html . dead . December 24, 2008 . . . New York, NY . November 10, 1980 . May 7, 2010 . subscription.
  10. Web site: Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed . November 20, 2013 . British Broadcasting Corporation.
  11. Robe and ritual . Josh Levin . Josh Levin . . June 10, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200612175910/https://slate.com/podcasts/slow-burn/s4/david-duke/e2/david-duke-ku-klux-klan . Season 4 Episode 2 . June 12, 2020 . . As a student at LSU, [David] Duke wrote letters to the National Socialist White People’s Party, the group formerly known as the American Nazi Party. These Nazis invited Duke to their annual conference in Virginia and suggested that he carpool with two other white supremacists. Here’s the author, Eli Saslow. One of them was about his age. A guy named Joseph Paul Franklin. The other was about two or three years younger. A guy named Don Black. And they piled into this car and started driving, you know, at 800 miles up the highway. And over the course of those hours, these three kids became really close. . June 12, 2020 . bot: unknown .
  12. Web site: FBI - Serial Killers, Part 4: Joseph Paul Franklin. March 7, 2017. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  13. Web site: Explosion Demolishes Synagogue in Tennessee; Wires Found Leading from Synagogue to Motel 100 Yards a. August 2, 1977.
  14. News: Richard. Severo. Former Klansman Indicted in Bombing of a Synagogue. The New York Times. New York City. March 8, 1984. November 27, 2018.
  15. News: Man Is Convicted of Killing Interracial Couple in Wisconsin in 1977. The New York Times. New York City. The Associated Press. February 14, 1986. November 27, 2018.
  16. Book: Hollington, Kris. Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes: The Assassins Who Changed History. Macmillan Publishers. London, England. 2008. 978-1429986809.
  17. Book: Ayton, Mel. Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin. 2011. Potomac Books, Inc.. Lincoln, Nebraska. 978-1-59797-574-2. 1745–.
  18. Web site: Ohio v. Joseph Paul Franklin Updates . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20031023011631/http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/franklin/102298.html . October 23, 2003 . November 22, 2013.
  19. News: November 18, 2013. Dave. Sutor. Death nears for couple's killer. The Tribune-Democrat. June 19, 2017.
  20. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/01/30/loc_franklins_confession.html Dan Horn, "Franklin's confession frees man: Judge grants new trial in W.Va. slayings
  21. News: AROUND THE NATION; Judge Denies Trial Request For Suspect in Iowa Deaths . . New York City. January 6, 1981 . May 7, 2010.
  22. https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-4
  23. News: Larry Flynt: Don't execute man who shot me. October 18, 2013. October 18, 2013. BBC News.
  24. Web site: Execution Date Set for Infamous Racist Serial Killer . Splcenter.org . 2013-08-15 . 2014-01-18.
  25. News: 16 Aug 2013. Jim. Salter. Concern over pending Mo. executions. The Boston Globe. November 20, 2013.
  26. News: Cruel and unusable. The Economist. November 1, 2013. December 24, 2018.
  27. News: 20 Nov 2013. Missouri executes prisoner using single drug from secret pharmacy. . November 21, 2013.
  28. News: November 19, 2013. US serial killer Joseph Franklin granted stay of execution. BBC News. November 20, 2013.
  29. News: Joseph. Kohler. Missouri executes white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin . . November 20, 2013.
  30. News: November 20, 2013. Missouri executes serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin. Los Angeles Times. November 20, 2013.
  31. News: November 20, 2013. Lateef. Mungin. Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay. CNN. November 20, 2013.
  32. News: Jeremy. Kohler. Condemned serial killer on Missouri death row says he has remorse, is no longer a racist . . November 19, 2013 . April 17, 2014.
  33. News: Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed. BBC News. 20 November 2013. December 24, 2018.
  34. News: Kohler. Jeremy. Missouri executes white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin. January 9, 2014. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. November 20, 2013.
  35. News: Mills. David. Don't Think Twice, It's All White. The Washington Post. May 16, 1993. December 24, 2018.
  36. News: William Pierce, 69, Neo-Nazi Leader, Dies. The New York Times. July 24, 2002.
  37. Web site: MURDER'S PRICE. Don. Perry. Southern Poverty Law Center.
  38. Book: Jenkins, Philip. Images of Terror: What We Can and Can't Know About Terrorism. Transaction Publishers. Piscataway, New Jersey. 2003. 0202306798. 76.
  39. Web site: Criminal Mindscape. November 8, 2009. IMDb.

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