Philadelphia man imprisoned for 44 years released after judge vacates murder conviction, grants new trial

By Dan Snyder, Adam Fox

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — William Franklin, 77, reunited with his daughters and other family members on State Road Tuesday morning after 44 years in prison. It was the first time Franklin has been free since 1980, the year he was convicted for a 1976 murder.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to do this, man!” shouted a family member as he embraced Franklin.

“Surreal, that’s what I’m feeling,” said Franklin.

Franklin reunited with his four daughters, who have mostly only known their father in prison. The daughters and much of Franklin’s extended family waited for him outside Curran-Fromholm Correctional Facility. Daughter Gina Gibson was just 5 years old when her father went away.

“It’s just indescribable,” Gibson said, fighting through tears. “It is indescribable.”

“We didn’t have weddings. We missed graduations. We’ve missed so much, y’all don’t even know,” daughter Lisa Justice said. “But we can’t even put it into words what this moment means.”

The family brought Franklin to his grandson’s home in North Philadelphia, where they caught up and ate lunch together. Franklin said it was his family’s unwavering commitment all these years that kept him going.

As for what he wants to do now that he’s out, Franklin responded with “everything,” but specifically noted he wants to get a car. Family members want to take him on a vacation.

But Franklin’s legal battles aren’t over yet. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office can still retry him for the 1976 homicide, and the DA’s office did fight Franklin’s release. In court filings last month, prosecutors said Franklin’s petition for freedom “should be dismissed.”

“This is a man who is as innocent as can be. There was never one piece of evidence to convict this man,” Franklin’s attorney Joseph Marrone said.

Marrone claims Franklin was convicted on false witness testimony that was recanted eight years ago.

“It was a witness that lied and his testimony was basically orchestrated by DAs. Some of his testimony was created by detectives,” Marrone said.

Officials with the district attorney’s office declined to comment on whether they will seek to retry Franklin or drop the charges. Franklin, though, says he’s not worried.

“Really I’m not concerned at all about them trying to retry me again. Whatever they have, they have,” he said.

Franklin is slated to be back in court on Thursday when he’ll learn the DA’s plan. Until then, his attorneys say he’ll be on house arrest in North Philadelphia.

Family members say they plan to spend as much time with Franklin as they can, to make up for decades of lost time.

“We’re going to celebrate as long as we can. We’re going to take advantage, full force. Nothing else matters at this point,” daughter Rasheedah Franklin said.

“We want everyone to see that we love him and that he’s not the person they painted him to be,” said Steve Crawford, Franklin’s grandson.

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