A Pennsylvania woman was charged and convicted to life imprisonment for first degree murder after stabbing her fiancé barely eight hours before their wedding.
Na Cola Franklin, 31, was found guilty of killing her husband-to-be, Billy Brewster, 36, in their Eastern Pennsylvania apartment on August 11, 2011. The jury did not take more than three hours to get into a decision of putting Franklin to life imprisonment that could begin in July 16. Previously, Franklin refused the bargain plea that would have reduced her sentence to no more than 40 years in prison. The jury did not buy her self-defense alibi that said Brewster beat her and threatened her and their month old baby saying that she did not show any indication of beating at the time the arrest was made. Witness statements also indicated that it was actually Franklin who initiated the violence.
According to the prosecution, the crime occurred around 2:45 in the morning of August 11, 2011. Brewster, who was drunk and found to have had a blood alcohol level of .13 percent in later autopsy, came home from an impromptu bachelor’s party at a local strip club. Franklin allegedly started a fight and she was holding a huge kitchen knife during the altercation. A cousin of the victim, Nakia Kali, heard the fight and decided to get in between the two. However, somebody started screaming ‘knife!’ which prompted Kali’s wife, Monique to come out of the bedroom and tackle Franklin. But by then, Brewster was already crawling outside to the balcony, bleeding from two stab wounds. One of the stab wounds hit Brewster in the abdomen while the other was a fatal stab to the chest that bore 7-inches in and pierced the victim’s heart and caused his death. Nakia and Monique Kali were staying with them in the apartment for the wedding.
A dispatch call recording was also said to have been played during the hearings. In the call recordings, Franklin and Brewster’s fighting were heard. The expletive-laced confrontation had indications of Franklin threatening Brewster when she said, ‘You want to die tonight? You f****** want to die tonight?’ The call ended and Franklin makes another call, this time calling for an ambulance for Brewster, who was later found by the responding police sprawled and bloody on the balcony. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:34 in the morning of August 11.
The defense counsel of Franklin tried to lower the charge to voluntary manslaughter from first degree murder saying there was no intent or plan to kill Brewster. The attorney further argued that the discrepancies in Franklin’s stories were all but the result of her own internal confusion. The prosecutor, however, said that a murderous intent could be formed in seconds and not just days or weeks or months.
Franklin’s lawyers are set to appeal in court before the July sentencing. Na Cola Franklin used to be a preschool teacher while Brewster, whom she has a child with, was a truck driver. The two were set to marry at 10 am of that day in Allenstown Rose Garden.
Premium Link: The Mays Law Firm – Brevard County Defense Lawyers – How can you get your link here?