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{{Short description|American serial killer (1950–2013)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name = Joseph Paul Franklin
| image = Joseph Paul Franklin.png
| caption = [[Missouri Department of Corrections|MODOC]] mugshot
| birth_name = James Clayton Vaughn Jr.
| alias = The Racist Killer
| birth_place = [[Mobile, Alabama]], U.S.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|4|13}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|11|20|1950|4|13}}
| death_place = [[Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center]], Missouri, U.S.
| criminal_status = [[Execution by lethal injection|Executed by lethal injection]]
| conviction = Multiple [[murder]] convictions across different jurisdictions
| victims = 8 convicted <br /> 22 total suspected <br /> 6+ wounded<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/11/20/joseph-paul-franklin-execution/3648881|title=Mo. executes white supremacist serial killer Franklin|last=Perry|first=Kimball|work=[[USA Today]]|agency=[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]]|date=November 30, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2019|access-date=August 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819105547/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/11/20/joseph-paul-franklin-execution/3648881/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| motive = Desire to incite a [[ethnic conflict|race war]]
| country = United States
| states = Missouri, [[Wisconsin]], [[Tennessee]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Virginia]], [[Indiana]], [[Ohio]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[West Virginia]], [[Utah]]
| beginyear = August 7, 1977
| endyear = August 20, 1980
| apprehended = October 28, 1980
| penalty = [[Life imprisonment]] x4 (March 23, 1981 & September 1986)<br/>[[Capital punishment in Missouri|Death]] (February 27, 1997)
}}
'''Joseph Paul Franklin''' (born '''James Clayton Vaughn Jr.'''; April 13, 1950 – November 20, 2013) was an American [[serial killer]], [[White supremacy|white supremacist]], and [[Domestic terrorism in the United States|domestic terrorist]] who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Franklin was convicted of several murders and received seven [[life sentence]]s, as well as one [[Capital punishment in Missouri|death sentence]]. He also confessed to the attempted murders of magazine publisher and pornographer [[Larry Flynt]] in 1978 and civil rights activist [[Vernon Jordan]] in 1980. Both survived their injuries, but Flynt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Franklin was not convicted in either of those highly publicized cases, and he made his confessions years after the crimes had occurred.
Franklin was on [[Missouri]]'s death row for 15 years awaiting execution for the 1977 murder of Gerald Gordon.<ref name="edition">{{cite news| url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/19/justice/missouri-franklin-execution/| title=Judge stays serial killer's execution| publisher=CNN| date=November 20, 2013| archive-date=July 7, 2018| access-date=November 20, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707201751/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/19/justice/missouri-franklin-execution/| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="usatoday">{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/11/20/joseph-paul-franklin-execution/3648881/| title=High court denies execution stay for racist serial killer| work=USA Today| date=November 20, 2013| archive-date=January 28, 2014| access-date=September 2, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128171946/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/11/20/joseph-paul-franklin-execution/3648881/| url-status=live}}</ref> He was executed by [[lethal injection]] on November 20, 2013.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217| title=Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed| work=BBC News| date=November 20, 2013| archive-date=June 9, 2020| access-date=June 20, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609124658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217| url-status=live}}</ref>
==Early life==
James Clayton Vaughn Jr. was born in [[Mobile, Alabama]], on April 13, 1950, the elder son of James Clayton Vaughn Sr. and Helen Rau Vaughn. He had two sisters and a brother.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/423604/LIFE-OF-HATE-AND-KILLING-BEGAN-IN-50.html?pg=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813113420/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/423604/LIFE-OF-HATE-AND-KILLING-BEGAN-IN-50.html?pg=all |archive-date=August 13, 2016 |title=Life of hate and killing began in '50 |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |publisher=[[Deseret News Publishing Company]] |___location=Salt Lake City, UT |date=June 19, 1995 |access-date=November 27, 2018}}</ref> Vaughn's father was a [[World War II]] veteran and butcher who left the family when Vaughn was aged eight.<ref name="people">{{cite magazine |first=James R. |last=Gaines |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077938,00.html |title=On the trail of a murderous sniper suspect: The tangled life of Joseph Paul Franklin |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |publisher=[[Meredith Corporation]] |___location=New York, NY |date=November 24, 1980 |access-date=November 27, 2018 |archive-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914222452/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077938,00.html }}</ref> His sister Carolyn recalled, "Whenever [Vaughn Sr.] came to visit he'd beat us". Their mother had Vaughn Sr. jailed twice for [[Public intoxication|public drunkenness]]. Vaughn's mother was described by a family friend as "a full-blooded [[Germans|German]], a real strict, perfectionist lady. I never saw her beat any of [her children], but they told me stories."<ref name="people"/>
Vaughn later stated that he was rarely given enough to eat and suffered severe [[child abuse|physical abuse]] as a child,<ref name=Gladwell>{{cite magazine |first=Malcolm |last=Gladwell |author-link=Malcolm Gladwell |title=Damaged |url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1997-02-24#folio=132 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] |___location=New York, NY |date=February 24, 1997 |pages=132–47 |access-date=November 17, 2013}}</ref> and that his mother "didn't care about [him and his siblings]".<ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/justice/death-row-interview-joseph-paul-franklin/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 |title=Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin prepares to die |publisher=CNN |date=November 18, 2013 |access-date=November 18, 2013 |archive-date=October 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029121256/http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/justice/death-row-interview-joseph-paul-franklin/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 |url-status=live }}</ref> He claimed that these factors stunted his emotional development, and said he had "always been [at] least ten years or more behind other people in their maturity."<ref name="CNN"/>
As early as high school, Vaughn developed an interest in [[evangelical Christianity]], then in [[Nazism]], and later held memberships in both the [[National Socialist White People's Party]] and the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. He eventually changed his name to "Joseph Paul Franklin" in honor of [[Joseph Goebbels|Paul Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref name="Time">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949029,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224035925/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949029,00.html |archive-date=December 24, 2008 |title=Racist rifleman |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |publisher=[[Meredith Corporation]] |___location=New York, NY |date=November 10, 1980 |access-date=May 7, 2010 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In the 1960s, Franklin was inspired to start a [[race war]] after reading [[Adolf Hitler]]'s ''[[Mein Kampf]]''. "I've never felt that way about any other book that I read," he later reflected. "It was something weird about that book."<ref name="Wwwbbccouknewsworlduscanada">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217 |title=Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed |date=November 20, 2013 |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=June 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609124658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In the early 1970s, he took a [[road trip]] to an NSWPP conference in [[Virginia]] with [[David Duke]] and [[Don Black (white supremacist)|Don Black]].<ref name="slowburn_s04e02">{{cite podcast |url=https://slate.com/podcasts/slow-burn/s4/david-duke/e2/david-duke-ku-klux-klan |title=Robe and ritual |author=Josh Levin |author-link=Josh Levin |publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612175910/https://slate.com/podcasts/slow-burn/s4/david-duke/e2/david-duke-ku-klux-klan |series=Season 4 Episode 2 |archive-date=June 12, 2020 |work=[[Slow Burn (podcast)|Slow Burn]] |quote=As a student at LSU, [David] Duke wrote letters to the National Socialist White People's Party, the group formerly known as the American Nazi Party. These Nazis invited Duke to their annual conference in Virginia and suggested that he carpool with two other white supremacists. Here's the author, Eli Saslow. One of them was about his age. A guy named Joseph Paul Franklin. The other was about two or three years younger. A guy named Don Black. And they piled into this car and started driving, you know, at 800 miles up the highway. And over the course of those hours, these three kids became really close. |access-date=June 12, 2020 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
==Crimes==
{{prose|date=July 2025}}
For much of his life, Franklin was a [[drifter (person)|drifter]], roaming the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] seeking chances to "cleanse the world" of people he considered inferior, especially [[black people|black]] and [[Jews|Jewish]] people.<ref name="Gladwell"/> His primary source of financial support appears to have been [[bank robbery|bank robberies]]. Franklin supplemented his income from criminal acts with paid [[blood bank]] donations, which eventually led to his capture by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]].<ref name="FBI">{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-4/|title=FBI - Serial Killers, Part 4: Joseph Paul Franklin|date=March 7, 2017|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|access-date=March 8, 2017|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211183109/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-4|url-status=live}}</ref>
===1977===
* July 29, 1977: Franklin [[Incendiary device|firebombed]] Beth Shalom Synagogue in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], destroying it. Loss of life was prevented because some of the worshippers left early that Friday evening and as a result, there were not enough worshippers for a [[minyan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1977/08/02/archive/explosion-demolishes-synagogue-in-tennessee-wires-found-leading-from-synagogue-to-motel-100-yards-a|title=Explosion Demolishes Synagogue in Tennessee; Wires Found Leading from Synagogue to Motel 100 Yards a|date=August 2, 1977|access-date=November 3, 2018|archive-date=November 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103131428/https://www.jta.org/1977/08/02/archive/explosion-demolishes-synagogue-in-tennessee-wires-found-leading-from-synagogue-to-motel-100-yards-a|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Richard|last=Severo|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/08/us/former-klansman-indicted-in-bombing-of-a-synagogue.html|title=Former Klansman Indicted in Bombing of a Synagogue|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|___location=New York City|date=March 8, 1984|access-date=November 27, 2018|archive-date=November 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103131455/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/08/us/former-klansman-indicted-in-bombing-of-a-synagogue.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* August 7, 1977: Franklin shot and killed a young interracial couple, Alphorance “Alphonce” Manning and Toni Lynn Schwenn, both 23, in a parking lot at East Towne Mall in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]. He was later convicted of both murders and was sentenced to life in prison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/15/us/man-is-convicted-of-killing-interracial-couple-in-wisconsin-in-77.html|title=Man Is Convicted of Killing Interracial Couple in Wisconsin in 1977|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|___location=New York City|agency=[[The Associated Press]]|date=February 14, 1986|access-date=November 27, 2018|archive-date=November 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127152105/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/15/us/man-is-convicted-of-killing-interracial-couple-in-wisconsin-in-77.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* October 8, 1977: In suburban [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]], Franklin hid in the bushes near [[Shaare Zedek Synagogue (University City, Missouri)|Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel]] [[synagogue]] and fired on a group attending services. In this incident, Franklin killed 42-year-old Gerald "Gerry" Gordon.<ref name="Gladwell"/> He also wounded Steven Goldman and William Ash.<ref>{{cite book|first=Kris|last=Hollington|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8LHU4f_hkQC&pg=PA212|title=Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes: The Assassins Who Changed History|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|___location=London, England|date=2008|isbn=978-1-4299-8680-9}}</ref>
===1978===
*March 6, 1978: Franklin, according to his later account, used a [[Ruger Model 44|Ruger .44 caliber semi-automatic rifle]]<ref name="Ayton2011">{{cite book|first=Mel|last=Ayton|title=Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CO7wbCkKsYC&pg=PA1745|date=2011|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|___location=Lincoln, Nebraska|isbn=978-1-59797-574-2|pages=1745–}}</ref> to ambush ''[[Hustler (magazine)|Hustler]]'' publisher [[Larry Flynt]] and his lawyer Gene Reeves in [[Lawrenceville, Georgia]]. In his confession, Franklin said this was in retaliation for an edition of ''Hustler'' displaying interracial sex.<ref name="Gladwell"/> Neither Franklin nor anyone else was ever charged in that shooting.
*July 29, 1978: Franklin hid near a [[Pizza Hut]] in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], and shot and killed 20-year-old William Bryant Tatum, a black man, with a 12-gauge shotgun; he also shot Tatum's white girlfriend, Nancy Hilton, who survived. Franklin later confessed and pleaded guilty. He was given a [[life sentence]], as well as a sentence for an unrelated armed robbery in 1977.<ref name="Gladwell"/>
===1979===
*July 12, 1979: 29-year-old [[Taco Bell]] manager Harold Bruce McIver, a black man, was fatally shot through a window from {{convert|150|yd}} in [[Doraville, Georgia]]. Franklin confessed but was not tried or sentenced for this crime. Franklin said that McIver was in close contact with white women, so he murdered him.<ref name="Gladwell"/>
*August 18, 1979: Franklin shot and killed Raymond Taylor in [[Falls Church, Virginia]].<ref name="Auto9W-8">{{Cite news |date=November 20, 2013 |author=Brooke Adams |title=Joseph Paul Franklin Timeline |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57119474&itype=cmsid |access-date=2025-04-24 |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>
*October 21, 1979: Franklin killed 42-year-old Jesse E. Taylor, a black man, and his white girlfriend, Marion Vera Bresette, 31, in [[Oklahoma City]], [[Oklahoma]].<REF name="Auto9W-8"/>
===1980===
*May 29, 1980: Franklin confessed to shooting and seriously wounding civil rights activist and [[Urban League]] president [[Vernon Jordan]] after seeing him with a white woman in [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]]. Franklin initially denied any part in the crime and was [[acquittal|acquitted]], but later confessed.<ref name="Gladwell"/>
*June 8, 1980: Franklin killed cousins Darrell Anthony Lane (14) and Dante Evans Brown (13) in [[Cincinnati|Cincinnati, Ohio]]. Waiting on an overpass to shoot a racially mixed couple, he shot the boys instead, a crime to which he later confessed. He was convicted in 1998 and received two life sentences for these murders.<ref name="Horn"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/franklin/102298.html |title=''Ohio v. Joseph Paul Franklin'' Updates |website=[[TruTV|Court TV Online]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031023011631/http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/franklin/102298.html |archive-date=October 23, 2003 |access-date=November 22, 2013}}</ref>
*June 15, 1980: Franklin shot and killed Arthur Dale Smothers (22) and Kathleen Mikula (16) with a high-powered rifle as the couple walked across the Washington Street Bridge in [[Johnstown, Pennsylvania]]. Smothers was black; Mikula was white. On the day of the murder, Franklin took a concealed position on a wooded hillside overlooking downtown Johnstown and waited for potential targets to enter his line of sight. He was never arrested for these murders, but he confessed to them during a jailhouse interview after he was apprehended.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 18, 2013|first=Dave|last=Sutor|title=Death nears for couple's killer|url=http://www.tribdem.com/news/local_news/death-nears-for-couple-s-killer/article_3659e44b-ff53-5b7d-82c0-5a84a6717ff3.html|newspaper=[[The Tribune-Democrat]]|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-date=June 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620054622/https://www.tribdem.com/news/local_news/death-nears-for-couple-s-killer/article_3659e44b-ff53-5b7d-82c0-5a84a6717ff3.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*June 25, 1980: Franklin used a .44 Ruger pistol to kill two hitchhikers, Nancy Santomero (19) and Victoria Ann "Vicki" Durian (26), in [[Pocahontas County, West Virginia]]. He confessed to the crime in 1997 to an Ohio assistant prosecutor in the course of investigation in another case. He said he picked up the white women and decided to kill them after one said she had a black boyfriend. Jacob Beard of Florida was convicted and imprisoned in 1993 on these charges. He was freed in 1999 and a new trial was ordered based on Franklin's confession.<ref name="Horn">[http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/01/30/loc_franklins_confession.html Dan Horn, "Franklin's confession frees man: Judge grants new trial in W.Va. slayings], ''Cincinnati Enquirer'', January 30, 1999. Retrieved May 7, 2012</ref> On May 31, 2000, a jury found Jacob Beard not guilty, and he later filed a lawsuit, wanting compensation for wrongful conviction, which led to a $2 million settlement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ponti |first=Crystal |title=The Unsolved Rainbow Murders: What Happened to Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero? |url=https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/rainbow-murders-unsolved-vicki-durian-nancy-santomero |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250623210057/https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/rainbow-murders-unsolved-vicki-durian-nancy-santomero |archive-date=June 23, 2025 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=A&E |language=en}}</ref>
*August 20, 1980: Franklin killed two black men, Theodore Tracy "Ted" Fields, 20, and David Lemar Martin III, 18, near Liberty Park located in [[Salt Lake City|Salt Lake City, Utah]].<ref name="Gladwell"/> He was tried on federal civil rights charges as well as state first-degree murder charges.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EEDE173BF935A35752C0A967948260&n=Top%2fNews%2fNational%2fU%2eS%2e%20States%2c%20Territories%20and%20Possessions%2fUtah | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | ___location=New York City | title=AROUND THE NATION; Judge Denies Trial Request For Suspect in Iowa Deaths | date=January 6, 1981 | access-date=May 7, 2010 | archive-date=April 23, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423030048/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EEDE173BF935A35752C0A967948260&n=Top%2FNews%2FNational%2FU.S.%20States%2C%20Territories%20and%20Possessions%2FUtah | url-status=live }}</ref> He was convicted of both murders and was sentenced to life in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/utah/supreme-court/1987/18052-0.html|title=State v. Franklin|website=Justia|access-date=October 2, 2024|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104164027/https://law.justia.com/cases/utah/supreme-court/1987/18052-0.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Apprehension, conviction, and imprisonment==
Following the two murders in Utah, Franklin returned to the midwestern U.S. Traveling through [[Kentucky]], he was detained and questioned regarding a firearm that he was transporting in his car. Franklin fled from this interrogation, but authorities recovered sufficient evidence from his vehicle to potentially link him to the sniper killings.<ref name="FBI"/> His conspicuous racist [[tattoo]]s, coupled with his habit of visiting blood banks, led investigators to issue a nationwide alert to blood banks. In October 1980, the tattoos drew the attention of a [[Florida]] blood bank worker, who contacted the FBI. Franklin was arrested in [[Lakeland, Florida|Lakeland]] on October 28, 1980.<ref name="FBI"/>
Franklin faced legal action across the U.S. for the next two decades, eventually being convicted of multiple murders, attacks, and other crimes at both the state and federal levels. He was sentenced to life in prison and received the death penalty in several states.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-4 | title=Serial Killers, Part 4: White Supremacist Joseph Franklin }}</ref>
Franklin tried unsuccessfully to escape during the judgment phase of his 1997 Missouri trial on charges of murdering Gerald Gordon but was ultimately convicted. Psychiatrist [[Dorothy Otnow Lewis]], who had interviewed him at length, testified for the [[defense (law)|defense]] that she believed that he was a [[paranoid schizophrenic]] and unfit to stand trial. Lewis noted his delusional thinking and a childhood history of severe abuse.<ref name="Gladwell"/>
In October 2013, victim Larry Flynt called for clemency for Franklin, asserting "that a government that forbids killing among its citizens should not be in the business of killing people itself."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24579849|title=Larry Flynt: Don't execute man who shot me|date=October 18, 2013|access-date=October 18, 2013|work=BBC News|archive-date=September 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924201200/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24579849|url-status=live}}</ref>
Franklin was held on [[death row]] at the [[Potosi Correctional Center]] near [[Mineral Point, Missouri]]. In August 2013, the [[Missouri Supreme Court]] announced that Franklin would be executed on November 20.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/08/15/execution-date-set-for-infamous-racist-serial-killer |title=Execution Date Set for Infamous Racist Serial Killer |publisher=Splcenter.org |date=2013-08-15 |access-date=2014-01-18 |archive-date=April 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423060201/http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/08/15/execution-date-set-for-infamous-racist-serial-killer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Attorney General of Missouri|Missouri Attorney General]] [[Chris Koster]] said in a statement that by setting execution dates, the state high court "has taken an important step to see that justice is finally done for the victims and their families."<ref>{{cite news|date=16 Aug 2013|first=Jim|last=Salter|title=Concern over pending Mo. executions|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/08/15/concerns-raised-over-pending-missouri-executions/jRrn2Xuq3gd3u5drmm6EUO/story.html|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|access-date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=July 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707172519/https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/08/15/concerns-raised-over-pending-missouri-executions/jRrn2Xuq3gd3u5drmm6EUO/story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Execution==
Franklin's execution was affected by the [[Lethal injection#European Union export ban|European Union export ban]] when the German drug manufacturer [[Fresenius (company)|Fresenius Kabi]] was obliged to refuse having their drugs used for [[lethal injection]]s.<ref name="Economist">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21588916-technical-hitch-stays-executioners-needle-cruel-and-unusable?frsc=dg%7Ca|title=Cruel and unusable|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=November 1, 2013|access-date=December 24, 2018|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304215415/http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21588916-technical-hitch-stays-executioners-needle-cruel-and-unusable?frsc=dg%7Ca|url-status=live}}</ref> In response, Missouri announced that it would use for Franklin's execution a new method of lethal injection, which used a single drug provided by an unnamed compounding pharmacy.<ref>{{cite news |date=20 Nov 2013|title=Missouri executes prisoner using single drug from secret pharmacy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/20/missouri-executes-joseph-paul-franklin-pentobarbital|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=November 21, 2013}}</ref>
A day before his execution, U.S. District Judge [[Nanette Kay Laughrey|Nanette Laughrey]] ([[Jefferson City, Missouri|Jefferson City]]) granted a stay of execution over concerns raised about the new method of execution.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 19, 2013|title=US serial killer Joseph Franklin granted stay of execution|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25012654|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=October 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013005156/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25012654|url-status=live}}</ref> A second stay was granted that evening by US District Judge [[Carol E. Jackson]] ([[St. Louis]]), based on Franklin's claim that he was too mentally incompetent to be executed. An appeals court quickly overturned both stays,<ref name="Jackson-stay">{{cite news|first=Joseph|last=Kohler|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-executes-white-supremacist-joseph-paul-franklin/article_2ccc002e-4105-5424-a7e6-e99702a1f644.html|title=Missouri executes white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=February 7, 2019|access-date=February 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207192426/https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-executes-white-supremacist-joseph-paul-franklin/article_2ccc002e-4105-5424-a7e6-e99702a1f644.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] subsequently rejected his final appeals.<ref name=latimes1>{{cite news|date=November 20, 2013|title=Missouri executes serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-court-lifts-stay-of-execution-for-serial-killer-20131120,0,2989739.story|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=November 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131120145845/http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-court-lifts-stay-of-execution-for-serial-killer-20131120,0,2989739.story|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=cnn1>{{cite news|date=November 20, 2013|first=Lateef|last=Mungin|title=Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay|url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/justice/missouri-franklin-execution/|website=[[CNN]]|access-date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=May 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502173419/https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/justice/missouri-franklin-execution/|url-status=live}}</ref>
In an interview with the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' newspaper published on November 17, 2013, Franklin said he had renounced his racist views. He said his motivation had been "illogical" and was partly a consequence of an abusive upbringing. He said he had interacted with black people in prison, adding: "I saw they were people just like us."<ref name="Wwwbbccouknewsworlduscanada" /><ref name="St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2">{{cite news|first=Jeremy|last=Kohler|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/condemned-serial-killer-on-missouri-death-row-says-he-has/article_bff3dc15-9f96-5858-891a-a46d2ad5bd43.html|title=Condemned serial killer on Missouri death row says he has remorse, is no longer a racist|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|date=November 19, 2013|access-date=April 17, 2014|archive-date=August 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821235045/http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/condemned-serial-killer-on-missouri-death-row-says-he-has/article_bff3dc15-9f96-5858-891a-a46d2ad5bd43.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Franklin was executed at the [[Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center]] in [[Bonne Terre, Missouri]], on November 20, 2013. The execution began at 6:07 a.m. CST and he was pronounced dead at 6:17 a.m.<ref name="Jackson-stay"/> His execution was the first lethal injection in Missouri to use [[pentobarbital]] alone instead of the conventional [[Lethal injection#Conventional lethal injection protocol|use of three drugs]].<ref name=latimes1/>
An [[Associated Press]] agency report said that {{convert|5|g}} of the [[barbiturate]] pentobarbital was administered.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217|title=Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed|work=[[BBC News]]|date=20 November 2013|access-date=December 24, 2018|archive-date=June 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609124658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217|url-status=live}}</ref>
Three media witnesses said Franklin did not seem to show pain. He did not make any final written statement and did not speak a word in the death chamber. After the injection, he blinked a few times, breathed heavily a few times, and swallowed hard, the witnesses said. The heaving of his chest slowed, and finally stopped, they said.<ref name="St. Louis Post-Dispatch">{{cite news|last=Kohler|first=Jeremy|title=Missouri executes white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-executes-white-supremacist-joseph-paul-franklin/article_2ccc002e-4105-5424-a7e6-e99702a1f644.html|access-date=January 9, 2014|newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|date=November 20, 2013|archive-date=February 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207192426/https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-executes-white-supremacist-joseph-paul-franklin/article_2ccc002e-4105-5424-a7e6-e99702a1f644.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Representation in other media==
''[[Hunter (Pierce novel)|Hunter]]'' (1989), a novel by the [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] [[William Luther Pierce|William L. Pierce]], revolves around protagonist Oscar Yeager, a racist serial killer who murders interracial couples.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mills|first=David|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/05/16/dont-think-twice-its-all-white/da028467-ba72-448b-9af1-4d6c8a30d511/|title=Don't Think Twice, It's All White|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=May 16, 1993|access-date=December 24, 2018|archive-date=March 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326093204/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/05/16/dont-think-twice-its-all-white/da028467-ba72-448b-9af1-4d6c8a30d511/|url-status=live}}</ref> Pierce, founder of the [[National Alliance (United States)|National Alliance]] and author of a similarly themed novel, ''[[The Turner Diaries]]'', dedicated the book to Joseph Paul Franklin,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E5DC1238F937A15754C0A9649C8B63|title=William Pierce, 69, Neo-Nazi Leader, Dies|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 24, 2002}}</ref> and said of Franklin that "he saw his duty as a white man and did what a responsible son of his race must do."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2014/murders-price|title=MURDER'S PRICE|first=Don|last=Perry|date=February 25, 2014 |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|access-date=July 26, 2016|archive-date=August 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822201251/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2014/murders-price|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Philip|last=Jenkins|title=Images of Terror: What We Can and Can't Know About Terrorism|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]]|___location=Piscataway, New Jersey|date=2003|isbn=0-202-30679-8|page=76}}</ref> In the 1996 film ''[[The People vs. Larry Flynt]]'', Franklin was portrayed by Czech actor [[Jan Tříska]].
== See also ==
* [[Neal Long]], another serial killer motivated by racism
* [[List of people executed in Missouri]]
* [[List of people executed in the United States in 2013]]
* [[List of serial killers by number of victims]]
* [[List of serial killers in the United States]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Mel Ayton, ''Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin'', Potomac Press, Inc., 2011
*Ralph Kennedy Echols, ''Life Without Mercy: Jake Beard, Joseph Paul Franklin and the Rainbow Murders'', Kennedy Books, Scottsdale, AZ, 2014
==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/mugshots/indepth/franklin.html |title=Joseph Paul Franklin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818052957/http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/mugshots/indepth/franklin.html |archive-date=2000-08-18 |access-date=November 22, 2013}}, Court TV: police photography
*{{cite web |url=http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/franklin/ |title=Joseph Paul Franklin, second trial |publisher=Court TV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031023010812/http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/franklin/ |archive-date=2003-10-23 |access-date=November 22, 2013}}
*[http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1997-02-24#folio=132 Malcolm Gladwell, "Damaged"], ''New Yorker'', February 24, 1997
*{{IMDb name | id=1007023 | name=Joseph Paul Franklin}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151003223335/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/january/serial-killers-part-4-joseph-paul-franklin Serial Killers - Part 4: White Supremacist Joseph Franklin], [[FBI]]
*[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/17/witness-against-racist-serial-killer-says-prosecutor-raped-her Serial Killer's Survivor: Prosecutor Raped Me During the Trial]
{{Neo-Nazism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{s-start}}
! colspan="3" | [[Capital punishment in Missouri|Executions carried out in Missouri]]
{{s-bef|before=Martin C.Link|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">February 9, 2011</div>}}
{{s-ttl|title=Joseph Paul Franklin|years=November 20, 2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Allen Nicklasson]]|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">December 11, 2013</div>}}
|-
! colspan="3" | [[Capital punishment in the United States|Executions carried out in the United States]]
{{s-bef|before=Jamie Bruce McCoskey – [[Capital punishment in Texas|Texas]]|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">November 12, 2013</div>}}
{{s-ttl|title=Joseph Paul Franklin – [[Capital punishment in Missouri|Missouri]]|years=November 20, 2013}}
{{s-aft|after=Jerry Duane Martin – [[Capital punishment in Texas|Texas]]|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">December 3, 2013</div>}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Joseph Paul}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
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[[Category:People convicted of murder by Missouri]]
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[[Category:People convicted of racial hatred offences]]
[[Category:People executed by Missouri by lethal injection]]
[[Category:People from Mobile, Alabama]]
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[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Ohio]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Tennessee]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government]]
[[Category:Race and crime in the United States]]
[[Category:Racially motivated violence in Missouri]]
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[[Category:Serial killers from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
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[[Category:Serial killers from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:White nationalist terrorism in the United States]]
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