STATE : Man Gets Life Term in ’69 Murder
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Calling him a “depraved and wicked man,†a judge today sentenced George Franklin Sr. to life in prison for the 1969 murder of his daughter’s playmate in a case reopened when Franklin’s daughter suddenly remembered witnessing the crime.
Franklin, 51, was brought to justice when his daughter, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker, came forward in 1989 to tell authorities that she had recalled the slaying after repressing the gruesome memory for two decades.
When asked if he wanted to make a statement before sentencing, Franklin told San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Thomas McGinn Smith, “I am innocent of that of which I have been convicted.â€
But Smith gave Franklin the maximum sentence allowed by law. Franklin, convicted of murder Nov. 30, will be eligible for parole after serving seven years in prison.
He avoided a life sentence without parole or the death penalty because the crime occurred before the death penalty was reinstated in California.
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