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Call today to have The Gazette delivered to your mailbox every week! 847 -6131Thursday, April 11, 2019

THE GAZETTE

Serving the Unadilla and Butternut Valleys Since 1871 • A Continuatio n of the Wharton Valley Pennysaver

NORWICH - A

mother accused of kill- ing her adopted son pleaded guilty to man- slaughter in Chenango

County Court Tuesday,

and admitted that she worked with her hus- band and tied their adopted son to a bed but found that he had died after returning hours later.

Heather Franklin

said the couple's adopt- ed son had unintention- ally died after she and her husband left him tied to a bed for several hours without care. She said the couple then set fire to their home to cover the death up.Heather Franklin,

34, of Guilford plead-

ed guilty to first-degree manslaughter, a class

B felony, third-degree

arson, a class C felo- ny, and tampering with physical evidence, a class E felony.

According to

Chenango County

Court Judge Frank

Revoir, Jr., Franklin

could have served 25 years to life in pris- on if convicted on the second-degree murder charge at trial. Revoir said a significant aspect of the plea agreement revolved around the recent conviction of her husband and co-defen- dant, Ernest Franklin.

He said as part of the

plea deal in this case,

Franklin will receive

between 7 and 11 years in prison with 10 years of probation. He added that Franklin would be required to sign a waiv- er of appeal, severally limiting her ability to appeal the plea deal in the future.

During her husband's

trial, prosecutors said at around midnight on March 1, 2017 at their home at 457 State

Route 8 in the Town

of Guilford, Franklin worked with her hus- band to kill their

16-year-old disabled

son Jeffrey Franklin and burn the evidence.

As part of her plea

deal, Franklin was required to testify about certain aspects of the crime, and during that testimony she didn't say anything about kill- ing her adopted son.

She said she worked

with her husband to tie the hands of Jeffrey

Franklin over his head

onto the bed in his bed- room, left the house forBusiness

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Unadilla Valley

History ...............4INDEXCause of woodworking factory Þ re still unknown

COLUMBUS - A

woodworking factory fire is still under inves- tigation after officials said the cause and origin of the fire has yet to be determined.

According to

Sherburne Fire

Department Chief

Jansen Casscles, at

approximately 4:09 p.m. a fire at 154 Casey

Cheese Factory Road,

also known as Columbus

Wood Working Factory

was reported to fire offi- cials.

Casscles said respond-

ing fire departments immediately faced sever- al challenges both before and after arrival. "Firefighters had sev- eral challenges we need- ed to overcoming includ- ing the distance of the fire from the fire house, the size of the building, and the contents of the building," he said. "The first units arrived at 4:20 p.m., and at that point there was fire visible through the roof of the building."

They were limited to

3,000 gallons of water,

said Casscles, and after they ran through that water, firefighters had to replenish their supply through a nearby pond and other tankers.

He added that most of

the companies were sent home right around 10:30 p.m. the first night, but that fire officials left crews there to ensure the fire didn't reignite overnight. "There was a tremen- dous stockpile of saw- dust, dried hardwood, and the ceiling in the main part of the build- ing were panels of sty- rofoam," said Casscles. "While two of the employees were still in the business at the time of the fire, no one was injured."

He said the employees

attempted to fight the fire using a fire extin- guisher, and called 911 shortly after. He added that fire departments from North Norwich,

Smyrna, Earlville, New

Berlin, South New Berlin,

and Hubbardsville along with Chenango County

Fire Coordinators and

Investigators assisted

with the fire.- By Zachary

Meseck, The Gazette

After approximately six hours of

Þ ghting the Þ re, ofÞ cials said it had been contained enough so the majority of the departments could go home. (Zachary Meseck photo)

Mother admits she

tied her son up and left for hoursContinued on Page 2

BY ZACHARY

M ESECK

THE GAZETTE

PRESORTED

STANDARD

US POSTAGE PAID

WHARTON

VALLEY

PENNYSAVER

THE GAZETTE

2

Thursday, April 11, 2019

several hours, and when they came back he was still restrained.

She added that when

they went to untie him, they discovered he was dead. "Did you then untie

Jeffrey, change the

position of his body, and proceed to set the home on fire and absent yourselves from the scene," asked Revoir.

Franklin responded

that she did.

She said they came up with the plan with

together, and had left the house to make it look like Jeffrey had accidentally died in the fire.

District Attorney

Michael Ferrarese also

discussed some of the evidence that would have been presented if this case had continued to go to trial. "Witnesses would have testified about this defendant's mis- treatment of Jeffrey up until his death," said

Ferrarese. "We would have presented evi-

dence that the defen- dant and co-defendant absented themselves from the scene of the crime, and we would have provided testimo- ny from two expert wit- nesses that said Jeffrey died before the fire."

Ferrarese said he

believes Franklin would have been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt if the case had gone to trial, but that this plea agreement serves justice as well.

Defense Attorney Michael Trosset spoke

on his client's behalf and said that she has taken responsibility for her actions. "My client has taken responsibility for her actions and is ready to accept her punish- ment," said Trossett.

Court officials dis-

cussed if she shouldquotesdbs_dbs31.pdfusesText_37

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