Recently the Order Granting Part Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Francis Hernandez case was posted online. This is the order in which United States District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew vacated Francis' death sentence due to cumulative error during the penalty phase.
I read this long, legal document with the hope of finding answers about why Francis Hernandez -- a man with whom I was briefly acquainted when I was a teen -- murdered Edna Bristol and Kathy Ryan in 1981. While reading it answered many of my questions, I found myself asking even more questions after I read it.
Chiefly, why wasn't anything done about Fran until after he committed the murders?
Francis was adopted. I didn't think the courts would open sealed adoption records. But if a defendant is facing the death penalty, I suppose defense attorneys should be allowed to look at adoption records to find mitigating evidence.
Francis Hernandez was born in 1962. Beginning in utero, he had a horrific childhood. He was the product of a relationship between a 14 year old girl and an 18 year old man incarcerated for burglary. Both of his biological parents had histories of severe mental illness. While pregnant, his biological mother drank alcohol and used drugs. His biological parents' relationship was sometimes violent. Under the circumstances, it is easy to understand why his biological mother might have thought she was doing the best thing for her son when she gave him up for adoption.
Unfortunately, Francis' adoptive parents also suffered from severe mental illness. When he was five, his adoptive mother attempted suicide, was hospitalized for three months and diagnosed as having schizophrenia, paranoid type. This was the first of several hospitalizations. According to this legal document, relatives did not want their children around her because her medications made her behave like a zombie. Why didn't anybody try to help young Fran then?
I do not blame Fran for his adoptive mother's nervous breakdown. Having worked as a psych nurse for four years, I know that schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. However, I do not believe that children should be raised by a paranoid schizophrenic because the disease is so incapacitating. Why didn't the physicians and nurses who treated Fran's adoptive mother alert social services that she was the primary caregiver of a small child?
Francis' adoptive father had mental issues himself. He was frequently absent from the home and in denial about his wife's illness. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez tried to adopt a second child. The adoption agency turned them down. Why didn't the adoption agency notify social services about the problems they found in the Hernandez home? Why did an adoption agency allow Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez to adopt Francis in the first place?
When he was in preschool, Fran's behavior was abnormal. His preschool teacher suggested that his parents take him to a counselor. His adoptive father refused. Why didn't the preschool teacher notify social services?
Francis' adoptive parents punished him by forcefully administering enemas to him and making them hold them for 10 to 15 minutes. It's difficult to believe that nobody knew about the abuse.
Perhaps if young Francis had been removed from his adoptive parents' home and placed with a more stable family, Edna Bristol and Kathy Ryan might be alive today.
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Should Francis Hernandez's Death Sentence Have Been Commuted?
When Francis Gerard Hernandez was convicted of committing two murders in 1981, he was sentenced to death. Because he was only 18 years old when he committed his crimes, he was the youngest person on California's death penalty for a long period of time. He filed an appeal, claiming that the judge failed to consider that he was an alcoholic and under the influence of alcohol and marijuana when he committed the murders. He also claimed that there were not enough Hispanics on the jury pool. (According to the Los Angeles Times, only six of the 128 people in the jury pool had Hispanic surnames.) In 1988, the appeals court upheld his death sentence.
In September 2011, another appeals court ruled in Fran's favor. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison. This was rather surprising because Fran had served almost 30 years on California's death row.
When sentencing Francis Hernandez, should the judge have taken Fran's alcoholism and drug abuse into consideration? I don't think so. If the judge should have done so, defense attorneys could argue that judges should take those factors into consideration when sentencing drunk drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter. We have to draw the line somewhere. Being higher than a kite is not a valid excuse for two savage murders.
If more Hispanics had been on the jury, would they have felt sympathy toward Fran and given him a shorter sentence? No necessarily. Francis Hernandez was not persecuted because of his race or ethnic origin. Most of the Hispanics I know are Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to the culture of death. I see no reason to believe that Hispanics would have pitied a punk who raped, tortured and murdered two innocent young women.
While I disagree with the 2011 appeals courts' ruling, I feel that the judge should have considered whether Fran was abused as a child. His mother suffered from mental illness. I spoke to several people who knew Fran when he was a boy. All of them said that his stepfather did not treat him well. Violence begets violence. Abuse begets abuse.
Frankly, I'm not sure that any of the above factors really mattered when the appeals court commuted his death sentence. California can no longer afford the death penalty. I've read that the death penalty costs millions of dollars each year, yet few people are ever executed in California. The appeals court may have decided that Francis Hernandez simply isn't worth the enormous expense of executing him.
Many years ago, I worked in the California Rehabilitation Center's infirmary. My duties included supervising two inmate xray technologists who had been convicted of gang-related murders. One told me that inmates absolutely hated Sharon Tate's family because the Tates went to every parole hearing, demanding that Charles Manson and his girls be kept in prison. Not only did the Tates convince the parole board to keep the Manson family in prison, they dimmed other convicted killers' hope of being paroled.
As long as he lives, Francis Hernandez will be a threat to other women and children. If we don't want him to be released from prison, we should remember Edna Bristol and Kathy Ryan. If the parole board conducts a hearing to determine if Fran should be released, family members should appear on his victims' behalf. Residents of Long Beach should write letters to the board, asking the board to remember what Fran did to Edna and Kathy. Be proactive. California certainly cannot afford to let a convicted serial killer go free.
In September 2011, another appeals court ruled in Fran's favor. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison. This was rather surprising because Fran had served almost 30 years on California's death row.
When sentencing Francis Hernandez, should the judge have taken Fran's alcoholism and drug abuse into consideration? I don't think so. If the judge should have done so, defense attorneys could argue that judges should take those factors into consideration when sentencing drunk drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter. We have to draw the line somewhere. Being higher than a kite is not a valid excuse for two savage murders.
If more Hispanics had been on the jury, would they have felt sympathy toward Fran and given him a shorter sentence? No necessarily. Francis Hernandez was not persecuted because of his race or ethnic origin. Most of the Hispanics I know are Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to the culture of death. I see no reason to believe that Hispanics would have pitied a punk who raped, tortured and murdered two innocent young women.
While I disagree with the 2011 appeals courts' ruling, I feel that the judge should have considered whether Fran was abused as a child. His mother suffered from mental illness. I spoke to several people who knew Fran when he was a boy. All of them said that his stepfather did not treat him well. Violence begets violence. Abuse begets abuse.
Frankly, I'm not sure that any of the above factors really mattered when the appeals court commuted his death sentence. California can no longer afford the death penalty. I've read that the death penalty costs millions of dollars each year, yet few people are ever executed in California. The appeals court may have decided that Francis Hernandez simply isn't worth the enormous expense of executing him.
Many years ago, I worked in the California Rehabilitation Center's infirmary. My duties included supervising two inmate xray technologists who had been convicted of gang-related murders. One told me that inmates absolutely hated Sharon Tate's family because the Tates went to every parole hearing, demanding that Charles Manson and his girls be kept in prison. Not only did the Tates convince the parole board to keep the Manson family in prison, they dimmed other convicted killers' hope of being paroled.
As long as he lives, Francis Hernandez will be a threat to other women and children. If we don't want him to be released from prison, we should remember Edna Bristol and Kathy Ryan. If the parole board conducts a hearing to determine if Fran should be released, family members should appear on his victims' behalf. Residents of Long Beach should write letters to the board, asking the board to remember what Fran did to Edna and Kathy. Be proactive. California certainly cannot afford to let a convicted serial killer go free.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Why Did Francis Hernandez Kill His Friends?
How many people can say that one of their high school friends became a serial killer? Those who attended Millikan High School in Long Beach, California in the late seventies and early eighties can. I am one of those people.
Around the time I graduated from high school in 1977, my friend, Lori, introduced me to a 15 year old punk named Francis Gerard Hernandez. We called him "Fran." He lived on Petaluma Street behind the Four Square Church.
I liked Fran. I thought he was a cool guy who had a good sense of humor. I'm not sure if Fran was attending school when I met him. If he didn't, it wouldn't have bothered me. I knew a few other teenage boys who did not go to school. What I remember most about Fran was his long, dark hair.
Lori and I went partying with Fran several times. We went to El Dorado Park in the new car that Lori's parents bought for her as a graduation gift. I remember driving through the park, listening to the radio, talking and laughing with Fran and Lori. Basically, we did what teenagers normally do.
When Lori and I were with Fran, he did not make any sexual advances toward either of us. I saw nothing that indicated that Fran might have a tendency to be violent. He certainly did not behave as if he hated women. Nor did I see anything that would cause me to feel fearful or distrustful of him. To me, Fran was just another kid who hung out at the park.
But I would like to be honest. Fran did a lot of drugs. Not just alcohol and marijuana. I heard he did hard drugs, such as Angel Dust and LSD. My definition of a "cool guy" must have been slightly skewed.
Several years later, my parents and I moved to California's High Desert. In January 1981, I was watching the news when something a newscaster said grabbed my attention. A young woman named Edna Bristol had been raped, tortured and strangled. Then her body was dumped at John Marshall Junior High, a school I attended when I was a girl.
Five days later, the body of a 16 year old girl named Kathy Ryan was dumped at Millikan High School. Millikan was the high school I attended. Like Edna, Kathy had been raped, brutalized and strangled. I did not know either of the victims. What was done to those unfortunate girls -- both before and after their deaths -- was unspeakable.
Shortly thereafter, Lori telephoned me. She told me that Fran had been arrested for the murders. I didn't know who she meant when she said Fran. At that time, I was acquainted with a woman named Fran in the desert. Lori reminded me of El Dorado Park. Memories of the young, dark-haired punk flooded my mind.
At first, I believed that Fran snapped after smoking Angel Dust or dropping acid. Angel Dust was prevalent in southern California in the late seventies. I was acquainted with some young men who went to a party and smoked what they thought was marijuana. The joint they smoked was laced with Angel Dust. They freaked out and ended up in a hospital's emergency room. I also read information put out by law enforcement about Angel Dust. At one time the drug was an animal tranquilizer, but vets stopped using it because it was too unpredictable. A person could use Angel Dust regularly for an extended period of time without having any problems. Suddenly and without warning, that person could have a bad reaction to the drug. For those reasons, I did not use Angel Dust.
I'm sure that most of you have heard about Art Linkletter's daughter and LSD. Do you wonder why I thought hard drugs may have contributed to the murders?
My theory that Francis killed Edna and Kathy while on a bad acid trip soon fell apart. He may have been higher than a kite when he killed Edna, but he enjoyed raping, torturing and killing her so much that he decided to make Kathy his second victim five days later. That was too logical and well-planned for a person having a bad reaction to drugs.
Years later, when appealing his death sentence, Fran's attorney argued that the court did not consider that he was an alcoholic and under the alcohol and marijuana when he committed the murders. (There was no mention of history of using hard drugs.) I've known many alcoholics. To my knowledge, none of the other alcoholics I've known has murdered anyone. Obviously, Francis Hernandez's case involves more than alcoholism or drug addiction.
I read on the internet that Fran's mother had a nervous breakdown and was prone to bizarre behavior. Perhaps he directed the rage and hatred he felt toward his mother at Edna and Kathy. Schizophrenia tends to run in families. Those who knew him have suggested that he was always odd. Fran was obviously out of his mind when he set out on his killing spree.
I don't know if it is true or not, but I remember reading in the newspaper that Fran's stepfather abused him. Violence begets violence. If he was abused as a child, would that have caused him to experience sadistic sexual fantasies?
Are some people just born evil?
I have often wondered why Fran killed Edna and Kathy, but he did not kill Lori or me. Some of my female friends also hung out with Fran. Why didn't he rape or kill them? I already know the answer. Fran was only 15 years old when I met him. He may have been already experiencing dark, violent sexual fantasies. But he had not yet acquired the old, dark green van that he turned into a portable torture chamber by gerry-rigging it so that the only way a person could get out was via the driver's door.
Some serial killers murder strangers. When apprehended by law enforcement, they cannot provide information that would identify their victims. Others kill prostitutes, topless dancers, the homeless or other people they think will not be missed.
Francis Hernandez did not target strangers. He knew both of his victims. He was able to catch Edna and Kathy off guard because they considered him to be a friend. He would have killed more friends too because he said at court that he was "just getting started" when he was arrested.
I was a young and naive woman in 1981. While I believed that it was morally wrong to murder anyone, I could not imagine why anyone would want to kill his friends. You were supposed to love your friends and be good to them. You weren't supposed to do anything that might harm your friends. I lost part of my innocence when I learned of Fran's crimes. By murdering Edna and Kathy, Fran ultimately betrayed all of his friends.
Around the time I graduated from high school in 1977, my friend, Lori, introduced me to a 15 year old punk named Francis Gerard Hernandez. We called him "Fran." He lived on Petaluma Street behind the Four Square Church.
I liked Fran. I thought he was a cool guy who had a good sense of humor. I'm not sure if Fran was attending school when I met him. If he didn't, it wouldn't have bothered me. I knew a few other teenage boys who did not go to school. What I remember most about Fran was his long, dark hair.
Lori and I went partying with Fran several times. We went to El Dorado Park in the new car that Lori's parents bought for her as a graduation gift. I remember driving through the park, listening to the radio, talking and laughing with Fran and Lori. Basically, we did what teenagers normally do.
When Lori and I were with Fran, he did not make any sexual advances toward either of us. I saw nothing that indicated that Fran might have a tendency to be violent. He certainly did not behave as if he hated women. Nor did I see anything that would cause me to feel fearful or distrustful of him. To me, Fran was just another kid who hung out at the park.
But I would like to be honest. Fran did a lot of drugs. Not just alcohol and marijuana. I heard he did hard drugs, such as Angel Dust and LSD. My definition of a "cool guy" must have been slightly skewed.
Several years later, my parents and I moved to California's High Desert. In January 1981, I was watching the news when something a newscaster said grabbed my attention. A young woman named Edna Bristol had been raped, tortured and strangled. Then her body was dumped at John Marshall Junior High, a school I attended when I was a girl.
Five days later, the body of a 16 year old girl named Kathy Ryan was dumped at Millikan High School. Millikan was the high school I attended. Like Edna, Kathy had been raped, brutalized and strangled. I did not know either of the victims. What was done to those unfortunate girls -- both before and after their deaths -- was unspeakable.
Shortly thereafter, Lori telephoned me. She told me that Fran had been arrested for the murders. I didn't know who she meant when she said Fran. At that time, I was acquainted with a woman named Fran in the desert. Lori reminded me of El Dorado Park. Memories of the young, dark-haired punk flooded my mind.
At first, I believed that Fran snapped after smoking Angel Dust or dropping acid. Angel Dust was prevalent in southern California in the late seventies. I was acquainted with some young men who went to a party and smoked what they thought was marijuana. The joint they smoked was laced with Angel Dust. They freaked out and ended up in a hospital's emergency room. I also read information put out by law enforcement about Angel Dust. At one time the drug was an animal tranquilizer, but vets stopped using it because it was too unpredictable. A person could use Angel Dust regularly for an extended period of time without having any problems. Suddenly and without warning, that person could have a bad reaction to the drug. For those reasons, I did not use Angel Dust.
I'm sure that most of you have heard about Art Linkletter's daughter and LSD. Do you wonder why I thought hard drugs may have contributed to the murders?
My theory that Francis killed Edna and Kathy while on a bad acid trip soon fell apart. He may have been higher than a kite when he killed Edna, but he enjoyed raping, torturing and killing her so much that he decided to make Kathy his second victim five days later. That was too logical and well-planned for a person having a bad reaction to drugs.
Years later, when appealing his death sentence, Fran's attorney argued that the court did not consider that he was an alcoholic and under the alcohol and marijuana when he committed the murders. (There was no mention of history of using hard drugs.) I've known many alcoholics. To my knowledge, none of the other alcoholics I've known has murdered anyone. Obviously, Francis Hernandez's case involves more than alcoholism or drug addiction.
I read on the internet that Fran's mother had a nervous breakdown and was prone to bizarre behavior. Perhaps he directed the rage and hatred he felt toward his mother at Edna and Kathy. Schizophrenia tends to run in families. Those who knew him have suggested that he was always odd. Fran was obviously out of his mind when he set out on his killing spree.
I don't know if it is true or not, but I remember reading in the newspaper that Fran's stepfather abused him. Violence begets violence. If he was abused as a child, would that have caused him to experience sadistic sexual fantasies?
Are some people just born evil?
I have often wondered why Fran killed Edna and Kathy, but he did not kill Lori or me. Some of my female friends also hung out with Fran. Why didn't he rape or kill them? I already know the answer. Fran was only 15 years old when I met him. He may have been already experiencing dark, violent sexual fantasies. But he had not yet acquired the old, dark green van that he turned into a portable torture chamber by gerry-rigging it so that the only way a person could get out was via the driver's door.
Some serial killers murder strangers. When apprehended by law enforcement, they cannot provide information that would identify their victims. Others kill prostitutes, topless dancers, the homeless or other people they think will not be missed.
Francis Hernandez did not target strangers. He knew both of his victims. He was able to catch Edna and Kathy off guard because they considered him to be a friend. He would have killed more friends too because he said at court that he was "just getting started" when he was arrested.
I was a young and naive woman in 1981. While I believed that it was morally wrong to murder anyone, I could not imagine why anyone would want to kill his friends. You were supposed to love your friends and be good to them. You weren't supposed to do anything that might harm your friends. I lost part of my innocence when I learned of Fran's crimes. By murdering Edna and Kathy, Fran ultimately betrayed all of his friends.
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