Grand jury transcripts released

Donjeta

Adji Desir, missing from Florida
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This bit of news is a couple of weeks old but I didn't see a discussion other than a link in the media thread.

The gun that police concluded was used to shoot one woman and a photograph taken moments after a second woman had been shot were found at accused serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr.'s South Los Angeles house, according to grand jury transcripts reviewed by The Times.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/05/local/la-me-0505-grim-sleeper-20110505


And firearms experts testified that the same gun had been used to shoot eight of the women. A different gun was used to kill 25-year-old Janecia Peters, Franklin's last alleged victim.

After police removed nine handguns from Franklin's house, Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman told jurors that authorities "were astonished to learn" through ballistics tests that one of the weapons — a blue steel Titan semi-automatic — was the gun used to shoot Peters in the back. The gun used to shoot the other women was not recovered.


They've got pretty incriminating evidence it seems. Yet his attorney said:

Franklin, who has been denied bail, pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. His attorney, Louisa Pensanti, criticized the grand jury proceeding, saying she was not present to challenge any of the evidence.

"There's an old adage," she said, "that you can indict a ham sandwich at a grand jury."

It happens easily indeed if they find a murder weapon and photographs of victims in the home of the ham sandwich, whose DNA matches evidence at the crime scenes. Wonder what she could have said to challenge that. "My client didn't know any of that was there, someone must have put it there."

JMO but it's a pretty lousy attempt from the lawyer. There is no comparison between a ham sandwich and Mr. Franklin being indicted here. Just because there is an old adage admitting that some people get indicted on the basis of flimsy evidence doesn't mean it happened to her client here. It is going to be very hard for the defense to explain how the ham sandwich's DNA ended up in a bag with Janecia Peters's remains in it and how her murder weapon ended up in the residence of said ham sandwich.


DNA experts told jurors repeatedly that Franklin's genetic profile had been matched conclusively to the saliva, semen, blood and other genetic samples collected from eight of the victims' bodies. Prosecutors paid special attention to the DNA sample taken from the plastic tie that was used to seal a garbage bag in which police discovered the body of one of the women. If Franklin's attorney plans to argue during the trial that Franklin had sexual relations with the women but did not kill them, prosecutors will probably use the discovery of his DNA on the plastic tie to show otherwise.




. Near the fridge, detectives also came across a photo of Enietra Washington, the alleged killer's only known survivor. The graphic photo depicted an "injured and bleeding" Washington laying inside a car.

Back in 1988, Washington told police that a man driving an orange-colored Pinto picked her up one night in November. The man shot her in the chest before sexually assaulting her, then took a photo of her using a Polaroid camera and pushed her out of the car.

During the grand jury hearing, Washington testified that her assailant called her "Brenda" and repeatedly said: "You know me, don't you? You know me." She said she begged her attacker to take her to the hospital, but all he said in response was, "Quit dogging me."

Does anybody know of any Brenda connected to Franklin? An ex-lover maybe? This sounds like it might mean something IMO.

Also discovered inside Franklin's home were hundreds of photographs and videotapes of naked women, thousands of dollars worth of stolen car parts, nine handguns, and a shotgun.

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/10374903/40672417/Whats_in_the_Grim_Sleepers_Grand_Jury/3


http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/05/local/la-me-0505-grim-sleeper-20110505
 
Hello,

I am producing "Dancing with Rip" the first movie inspired by the Grim Sleeper, and i would like to be in touch with anyone out there interested in the case.

The facebook page for the film is

http://www.facebook.com/Dancingwithrip


Please stop by there and take a look at our concept pictures and trailer.

Let's also start the discussion about the film here! I look forward to hearing from you.

Les Mahoney
Producer, "Dancing with Rip
 

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