Due to new evidence, the case of Terrance Franklin, a man shot to death by Minneapolis police on May 10, 2013, will be reopened. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that the new evidence is enough to warrant a fresh look by the BCA.
Franklin’s attorney, Mike Padden, joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Cory Hepola to discuss this and what he thinks will happen.
In 2013 police-involved killings were investigated by police, much different than they are today. But now, the finding of a video of the incident will reopen the case and be investigated by the BCA instead of the department, he said.
“For people who objectively looked at it, it was suspect in terms of how it went down,” Padden said.
Initially, it was thought that Franklin grabbed an MP5 sub-machine gun and shot two of the officers. Padden and his team, however, did not believe this to be true as they continued looking into the case.
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Padden said that someone across the street was recording on their iPod touch while the incident occurred. Because the door to Franklin’s basement where everything happened was open, sounds were picked up in the recording.
The video has been inspected by who Padden calls the “top audio specialists in the country.” He found listening to the recording that some of the officer’s original claims were not adding up.
“With his assistance, we were able to pick up words, and ... it was clear that Franklin was alive for over a minute after the two officers were shot, which completely contradicted their story,” Padden said. “In fact, they said he never uttered a word, which was complete nonsense.”
The case will be looked at by the BCA this time around, giving a different perspective than what was given the first time.
Padden shared that Franklin’s family is looking to get a criminal prosecution out of this case. He went on to say that they would like charges to be brought and a jury to hear the case as they feel the two officers wrongly killed Franklin.
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The case was first looked at by the Minneapolis Police Agency, which Padden called a joke. This was one of many factors that led to him writing a book about the case and the Minneapolis police system in general. Now, his client’s family will get a second chance at justice.
“I want people to understand that I did not write the book seeking a criminal investigation or a criminal prosecution,” he said. “I wrote the book because I knew the blue code of silence would not be applicable in the Chauvin case because of the video, and I wanted people … to have access to a book that would show the blue code of silence.”
According to Paden, if the BCA’s investigation does not lead to charges being brought by Freeman, then it seems the DOJ will do something. He even sees Attorney General Merrick Garland getting involved based on comments he has made.
“If state authorities don’t do something, we’re quite confident that the DOJ will,” he said.