Posted on 09/10/2012 2:37:51 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
CARROLLTON, Texas (AP) — A Texas man killed a 16-year-old girl who accused him of rape to prevent her from testifying against him, police said Monday. But the man insisted in a jailhouse interview he only wanted to talk to the teen and prove his innocence.
Franklin B. Davis, 30, of the Dallas suburb of Irving, was charged with capital murder Sunday in the death of Shania Gray. Gray was last seen alive Thursday afternoon at Hebron High School in nearby Carrollton. Her body was found Saturday in a secluded area near the Trinity River.
Carrollton police say Davis confessed to arranging a meeting with Gray under false pretenses, driving her to a trail near the river and shooting her twice with a .38-caliber pistol. According to an arrest affidavit, Gray fell into the river and called Davis by his nickname: "Why, Wish?"
Davis told police he then stepped on her neck until she stopped breathing, the affidavit said.
Carrollton police spokesman Jon Stovall said in an email that police believe Davis killed Gray because she was about to testify against him.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Interesting case, the perp confesses to the murder but still denies the rape. I tend to believe him as at this point he really does not have anything to loose, they’ve already got him for capital murder so why not come clean?
My though is that for whatever reason she falsely fingered him for a rape that did not happen, if this guy had really raped her there is no way that she would have got into the car with him. I guess that he figured it would be better to stand trail for murder than rape which does make a certain amount of sense if you think about it, of course it would have been better not to confess to the murder but the guy doesn’t have the look of a thug about him so he probably isn’t used to dealing with the police.
All that said there should be a law against charging someone with rape based solely on the word of one woman, without some kind of supporting evidence. In this case there wasn’t even evidence that they had sex and she didn’t say anything for days or weeks (the article doesn’t really say) before she told her grandmother and even then it was her grandmother that told the police. How is it that with absolutely no evidence they can arrest and bring to trail this guy? Just amazing.
“... if this guy had really raped her there is no way that she would have got into the car with him.....”
I disagree. Not wanting to play “blame the victim” here, but plenty of victims do things that thet regret.
“... I guess that he figured it would be better to stand trail for murder than rape...”
I thought of that too. Naturally I don’t think the rapist/murderer is smart enough to have weighed the sentencing consquenses between raping an underaged girl vs. murdering her, but he just might be (legally) better off with her dead.
That’s a sad thought, huh?
“I thought of that too. Naturally I don’t think the rapist/murderer is smart enough to have weighed the sentencing consquenses between raping an underaged girl vs. murdering her, but he just might be (legally) better off with her dead.”
The maximum sentence for forcible rape in Texas is life in prison. Given that you really don’t have much to loose and a lot to gain if you can plead out to manslaughter you’ll be out in 7 or less years or better yet get away with it if they can’t prove you killed her. I really don’t think that he raped her but as it was a he said she said there really is no way to tell and we don’t have any other info about the dead teenager so who really knows, just my gut feel is that this was a false rape accusation.
Uh, this guy had a gun that he shot her with twice, he could of just as easily used it to threaten her and force her into his car.
He's the one that says she got into his car willingly, because otherwise it's a kidnap/homicide and the death penalty. Of course he's going to claim she went with him of her own free will.
He's a lying, raping, murdering POS.
cool it - I am sure that is NOT what dfwgator meant
This is a common response here to THE MEDIA ignoring this type of crime (black-on-black) and grandstanding for white-on-black crime (which happens thousands of times LESS OFTEN)
“You and 6 million other muzzies.”
Actually most Christian and Jewish laws/traditions would agree with me as well. Read the Bible some time dude or bother to look at the history of western laws and you’ll see that until very recently (1970’s) this was NOT the norm. But ignorance is common now days and all you knee-jerk white knights like to wave the Muslim threat whenever you get an uncomfortable proposition. Pathetic.
” He’s the one that says she got into his car willingly, because otherwise it’s a kidnap/homicide and the death penalty. Of course he’s going to claim she went with him of her own free will.
He’s a lying, raping, murdering POS.”
He has already confessed to capital murder and most likely is going to get a needle in his arm within a few years. So given that why would he lie about the particulars of what happened? Makes no sense to me unless you think that in some twisted way he feels that being labeled a kidnapper is worse than being labeled a murderer. The guy looks like a normal dude that you’d see in a typical suburban neighborhood and I would bet has no criminal record other than this, why else would he be walking around free (on bail most likely) if he was a thug with a record on trial for rape?!? So your irrational hate I think is clouding your judgement of what happened here.
Kidnap/murder IS worse than murder. You can't plea that down to manslaughter because the act of kidnapping is proof of premeditation. The harshest penalties come into play.
So of course he's going to say she got in the car willingly, duh! Did you even read the article? She was the babysitter and the alleged rape occurred when she was 14. He was probably being charged with statutory rather than assault rape and thus out on bail.
He further claims to have been overcome by "demons" when he killed her.
He's been charged with capital murder (2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),
So yeah, he's going to deny that he kidnapped her or that was retaliating or trying to prevent her testimony because those are the very elements that make this a capital murder case.
Nope, he didn't kidnap her, she got in the car willingly and Nope, he didn't kill her to prevent her from testifying, it was "demons".
It's pretty simple logic. Guys who are railroaded by lying rape claimants don't kill the liar because guess what? Guys who don't rape pretty much don't murder either. Guys who kill are guys who are willing to use violence to get what they want... you know, like rapists.
Pull your head out and quit impugning a dead girl.
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