Oregon DOJ acknowledges Frank Gable is innocent

PORTLAND, Ore. (Portland Tribune) -- The lengthy, convoluted saga of the unsolved 1989 murder of Oregon Corrections Director Michael Francke took another twist in early March. That was when Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield offered nearly $2 million in compensation to Frank Gable, who was wrongly convicted of killing Francke and spent nearly 30 years in prison until his conviction was reversal in federal court.

Until Rayfield’s offer, the Oregon Department of Justice had been fighting the reversal of Gable’s conviction and request for compensation, as allowed by state law. ODOJ appealed the reversal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the highest court in the land declined to consider the appeal, ODOJ fought Gable’s request for compensation in Marion County Circuit Court, arguing that he had not proven his innocence, as request by the state law.

But now ODOJ is acknowledging Gable’s innocence, officially making Francke’s killing an unsolved murder again after more than 36 years.

Gable's attorney, Rachel Brady of Loevy + Loevey, told KOIN 6 News no amount of money will give back the time taken from him, but it is a first step in righting that wrong.

The amount of money in the settlement was determined by how many years an innocent person was imprisoned, Brady said.

"The deepest pits of despair that he had to sit with, knowing that he was innocent and that there was nothing that he could do except continue crying out for somebody to tell his story and somebody to listen," she said. "You know, there's no amount of money that can really fix that."

Oregon AG Dan Rayfield said, in part, "Expediting the process for those who have been exonerated is not just about fairness. It's about correcting wrongs, restoring dignity and rebuilding trust in our justice system."

Francke’s brothers Kevin and Patrick have consistently argued that Gable is innocent. They have long believed their brother was killed by corrupt officials within the corrections department that he was going to expose. Following ODOJ’s admission of Gable’s innocence, the Francke brothers are renewing their request that the case be reopened and thoroughly reinvestigated.

“It is not only the right thing to do under the law, it is the moral thing to do,” Patrick Francke told the Portland Tribune.

Read the full story on the Portland Tribune

This settlement comes more than a year after Gable's attorneys and the Oregon DOJ discussed settling his $2 million claim for being wrongly convicted and imprisoned.

And that discussion came months after the brothers of murdered Oregon Corrections Director Michael Francke formally asked then-Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to reopen the investigation into his death after Gable had been exonerated.

Because a federal judge ruled that Gable cannot be rearrested and retried for the murder in 2023, Kevin and Patrick Francke called it an “unsolved case” that needs to be reinvestigated in a Dec. 11, 2023 letter to Rosenblum.

KOIN 6 News reporter Joelle Jones contributed to this report.