Opinion ID: 2364198
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Franklin King

Text: Franklin King made several statements that corroborated the testimony of other witnesses at the PCR hearing. He stated that he had admitted to killing John Weist to at least one other person. Nevertheless, King insisted at the hearing that he did not kill Weist. King also confirmed that around the time of the shooting he possessed a .44 Magnum, that he tried to sell the gun to a few people, and that when asked by a prospective buyer whether there was a body on the gun, he replied, there might be. (According to King's trial testimony, he only possessed the gun from April 22, 1989, the day before the killing, to April 24, the day he discovered the gun was missing from its hiding place.) King testified that Anthony Ways was innocent of the crime, adding, someone else did it. It wasn't this guy. In response to the court's question whether he knew the trigger guy, King said, I do know who did it. In spite of that response, the court asked no follow-up questions requiring King to identify the shooter. During his testimony, King informed the court that the State was charging [him] with three attempted murders and that his lawyer had advised him against making any incriminating statements. The PCR court gave little weight to King's testimony, and noted that King did not provide a basis for his knowledge of the shooter's identity.