Activist arrested by deputies before his trial
Local activist Keedran Franklin was arrested Thursday morning by Shelby County sheriff’s deputies before his bench trial began in General Sessions Court on charges from his April 3 arrest during an immigration protest.
But it’s not clear what Franklin did and his attorney, Jacob Brown, did not know what these new charges will be.
Franklin was arrested by deputies in Division 7 of General Sessions Court after Judge Bill Anderson left the bench and everyone else in the courtroom had been asked to leave.
“The affidavit of complaint is supposed to lay out the probable cause for arresting this individual and proceeding with the prosecution,” Brown said. “Once that’s filed, we should know what he’s being charged with.”
A longtime member of the city’s activist community, Franklin waited quietly outside the courtroom with family, witnesses and supporters before court began.
Anderson disposed of several cases on his docket, called for a recess and left the bench. The deputies, the bailiffs in the courtroom, then ordered the room to be cleared.
It’s not clear why Franklin stayed behind or what was said during the exchange between him and the deputies. “If there are cameras in the courtroom, it will be very powerful for us to be able to see video footage of who may have been the instigator,” said the Rev. Earle J. Fisher, pastor, college instructor and fellow activist.
“We certainly do not want to hear that this time the cameras were suddenly off,” said Bill Stegall, a local activist who was arrested with Franklin on April 3.
Franklin was scheduled to be tried on the charges of obstructing a highway and disorderly conduct outside the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar Ave.
Brown said Franklin was escorting members of a theater group across the street at a crosswalk when he was arrested by Memphis police officers.
That case, Brown said, will no longer be heard in General Sessions Court, but will be bound over to the grand jury.
“If the state feels this is an appropriate case to put the resources in to prosecuting, it will put it before a grand jury, and if a grand jury returns a indictment, Mr. Franklin will be indicted upstairs in Criminal Court and the matter will be settled or set for a jury trial,” Brown said.
Franklin was arrested again in July on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana, both with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell.
In addition, he incurred misdemeanor charges of driving with a revoked or suspended license, improper display of registration, resisting official detention and operating a car with reflectorized windows.
A hearing on those charges is scheduled for October.
Franklin was also one of 43 people placed on a Memphis City Hall escort list in January 2017 and was one of four plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against the Memphis Police Department.
He testified during the August trial that because of the police surveillance he limits where he goes, including visits to his mother and family members who work in law enforcement, who are “afraid” they’ll lose their jobs if they claim him.