Jurors convict former dentist
Tulsan found guilty of killing mistress’ son
Jurors Thursday found a former Tulsa dentist guilty of causing fatal skull fractures to his mistress’ 19-month-old son.
After deliberating about three hours, the jury chose life in prison without the possibility of parole as punishment for Bert Glen Franklin, whom prosecutors called a “baby murderer.”
Franklin showed no reaction as Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong announced the verdict. Relatives of the victim then cried and hugged outside the courtroom.
“The evidence, in our opinion, was overwhelming of his guilt,” Assistant District Attorney Gayland Gieger told news reporters afterward. “It’s hard to fathom a man who can do what he did to this little baby and then coldly and calculatedly plan to solicit the murder of this child’s mother.”
Franklin, 37, was charged with firstdegree murder in the death of Lincoln Von Henry Lewis. Prosecutors alleged
Franklin caused the skull fractures to the toddler on July 16, 2016, inside the mistress’ Oklahoma City house.
Jurors also convicted Franklin of a conspiracy charge, finding him guilty of attempting to arrange from jail the murder of the mother so she couldn’t testify against him.
The jury chose life in prison on that charge.
Franklin denied all allegations.
His hatred of the boy’s father may have motivated the deadly assault, prosecutors alleged. He also would get jealous when his mistress, Roxanne Lewis Randall, put her child before him, according to testimony.
A key piece of evidence at trial was a video recording taken from a home surveillance camera.
Prosecutors alleged the video depicts Franklin kicking Lincoln before slamming the toddler head first to the floor.
However, what Franklin is kicking, throwing or interacting with cannot be seen due to a dividing wall inside the house.
Franklin claimed he was interacting with a dog seen in the video.
“He just threw the dog,” defense attorney Scott Adams told the jury during closing arguments. “It wasn’t Bert Franklin who inflicted these injuries. ... He didn’t kill Lincoln Lewis.”
However, what appears to be a child’s hand or foot can be seen just above the dividing wall as Franklin makes a throwing motion. “Children need to be protected from people like Bert Franklin,” Gieger told jurors. “Here’s a man who has thrown a baby to the ground.”
The video first shows Franklin walk down a stairwell holding the toddler. The child is upright and awake.
After placing the child out of view of the camera in the living area, Franklin grabs a piece of pizza and a bottle for the child from the kitchen.
A small dog follows Franklin from the table to the living area.
Franklin then returns to the living area and makes a kicking motion. Almost immediately after, Franklin bends over, appears to pick something with both hands, and makes a throwing motion toward the floor.
Minutes later, Franklin is seen carrying the child again. The toddler, though, is no longer upright but lying horizontal, like a “ragdoll,” Assistant District Attorney Ryan Stephenson said. “Bert Franklin destroyed that child’s life,” Stephenson told the jury. “That limp body tells the whole story right there.”
While holding the motionless child, Franklin walks back into the kitchen to grab more pizza. The child died two days later at a hospital.
A medical expert who testified for the defense disagreed that the toddler had been abused.
During the trial, attorneys noted the toddler had suffered two separate falls the week of the deadly attack.
However, doctors who treated the toddler said the injuries were not accidental but intentional.
One doctor said the boy had the “worst fracture he’s ever seen, period. Adult or child,” prosecutors said.
While awaiting trial, Franklin became a member of a jail ring known as “The Kings of the South.” Prosecutors said Franklin goes by the nickname “Doc” and got a crown tattoo on his chest. Defense attorneys contended Franklin joined the group to survive in the Oklahoma County jail.
Franklin initially was scheduled to go to trial last year.
The trial was postponed after prosecutors learned of Franklin’s murder-forhire scheme related to his mistress.
His plan, though, never had a chance because the fellow jail inmates he enlisted to help were confidential informants already working with law enforcement in unrelated cases, investigators reported.
Before his arrest, Franklin lived in Tulsa with his wife and four daughters. Franklin and Randall had been having an affair about a year when Lincoln was killed.
Franklin’s formal sentencing is set for Oct. 19.