A Beautiful Child by Matt Birkbeck

Author:Matt Birkbeck
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

On January 18, 1995, a federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment against Franklin Delano Floyd. Included among the charges were kidnapping, carrying a firearm, and stealing a car by force and driving it to another state. If convicted on all counts, Floyd faced life in prison, and would die behind bars.

The trial was scheduled for March 29, 1995, before Judge Wayne E. Alley, and Kumiega and Yancey had little more than two months to complete their preparations, which included additional interviews with potential witnesses and formulating a coherent strategy.

As the lead attorney, or “first chair,” Kumiega had ultimate authority on tactical decision making. But he and Yancey agreed on virtually everything. They enjoyed an easy and constructive rapport, often challenging each other intellectually while remaining huddled in their downtown offices well into the night, ordering dinner in and reading through hundreds of reports.

They knew they would have to focus on proving the kidnapping charges since none of the evidence alluding to the murder of Michael Hughes was admissible. Judge Alley did not want to turn this into a murder trial. It was a kidnapping case, period.

By the time the grand jury handed up the indictment, there was little the two attorneys didn’t know about Franklin Floyd.

Sharon was another matter. She was, simply, an enigma. With no positive identification and little information coming from the various cities where she and Floyd had lived, it was difficult for Kumiega and Yancey to formulate any opinion other than that she was a stripper and, allegedly, a prostitute while working in Tulsa. She also apparently danced nude in Florida when they lived in Tampa.

There was some information circulating that Sharon was something of a student during her high school years in Georgia, but the report from the FBI’s Atlanta field office was devoid of any useful background information. The prosecutors decided they would have to learn more about Sharon Marshall and reached out to the one person who knew her best.

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