The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What to know about Spalding murder trial
1st of 2 men on trial for murder in 35year-old cold case.
A trial nearly 35 years in the making is likely to end after just five days of testimony.
The Spalding County jury tasked to determine whether 60-year-old Franklin Gebhardt murdered a young black man is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday. Gebhardt and his brother-in-law, William Moore Sr. — who will be tried separately later this fall — are accused of stabbing Timothy Coggins some 30 times before dragging him, by metal chain, behind a pickup truck. Prosecutors say the two defendants were sending a message, targeting Coggins because he socialized freely with white women. Here are five things to know about the case so far as the trial resumes today:
1. More proof that cold cases pose a steep challenge for prosecutors.
According to a 2011 U.S. Department of Justice study, only 5 percent of crimes considered “cold” ever produce an arrest. And only 1 percent end in a conviction.
Few cases were colder than this one. Lots can happen in 35 years: Memories fluctuate, witnesses disappear and, as with any investigation from that time, DNA evidence was neither collected or processed.
2. Apparent indifference and incompetence don’t help.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Marie Broder characterized the initial investigation into Coggins’ death as “incomplete” and “shameful.”
“They didn’t care about Timothy Coggins,” she said.
Clint Phillips, who led the 1983 probe, confirmed the case was never a top priority for then-Sheriff James Freeman. Phillips said he was one of three investigators in the office and testified he was often shifted to other cases in the weeks and months after Coggins’ mutilated body was discovered in the rural town of Sunny Side. After a few months, the case was closed.
That’s not the half of it. When the case was reopened last year, significant evidence collected from the crime
scene had gone missing. Tire impressions from the truck that allegedly dragged Coggins’ body back and forth under the power lines off Minter Road, where his body was found, were gone. Same for the victim’s bloody sweater, which contained hair samples. Also missing: a wooden club and an empty Jack Daniels bottle.
3. A motley crew of witnesses.
Six men have testified that Gebhardt told them he killed Coggins. Five are incarcerated.
One is a member of the Aryan Nation. Christopher Vaughn, who wore a wire when placed in a cell with Gebhardt, is a convicted child molester. (Benjamin Coker, the Griffin Judicial Circuit district attorney, insists no deals were offered to the imprisoned witnesses in exchange for their testimony.)
Some of their accounts varied. Terry Reed, a former cellmate of Gebhardt’s, said the defendant claimed to have severed Coggins’ penis and stuffed it into the victim’s mouth. Willard Sanders said Gebhardt, a friend since childhood, told him a few weeks after the murder that he was responsible and did so not because of racism but over a “drug deal gone bad.”
4. Not very smart or just playing the part?
As he sat for an interview with investigators last year at the Spalding jail, Gebhardt made it clear he’s not very smart, telling them he can’t read or write and stopped attending school after sixth grade.
Peppered with questions for an hour, Gebhardt neither denied or confirmed. Just a series of non-denial denials. Asked if he had anything to do with Coggins’ death, Gebhardt replied, “I ain’t going to tell you I did. I’m not going to tell you I didn’t.”
Patrick John Douglas, the Aryan Nation member, testified Gebhardt confided he was going to tell differing stories to opportunistic informants in order to trip up investigators.
And, as the defense noted, Gebhardt volunteered samples of his hair to see if it matched one found on Coggins’ body. Could he have known that hair sample was actually missing?
Told that a witness said he threw the knife used to kill Coggins down a well on his property, Gebhardt dared them to dig it up, knowing he had thrown, stuffed and burned decades’ worth of debris down the well.
5. A dare accepted, a bigot exposed.
Using a hydrovac, GBI agents basically sucked out everything that was in Gebhardt’s well, filled with trash and debris dating back to the 1980s. They turned up some suspicious items, including a metal chain, a knife handle and two blades. An undershirt and a size 10 tennis shoe were also found, noteworthy because Coggins’ body was covered only by underwear and jeans. But storing evidence in a dank well is a sure way not to preserve it. Incriminating, perhaps, but not conclusive.
That pretty much sums up the state’s case. But there was some clarity. During questioning by law enforcement, Gebhardt said he didn’t like being around black people, and when told some had suggested Coggins had been intimate with his sister, Gebhardt grew irate, hurling racial epithets and threatening a lawsuit.