Reginald Potts Faces Death Penalty for Nailah Franklin Murder
April 28, 2008 – 12:32 pmPosted Under: society
I’ve been looking for updated information but haven’t found any except the excerpt below. I don’t believe in the death penalty but I don’t think people should die senselessly either.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday that the state will seek the death penalty for a Chicago man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and leaving her naked body in Calumet City.
Reginald Potts Jr., 31, was charged in December with the murder of Nailah Franklin, 28, a pharmaceutical representative from the Near South Side reported missing more than a week before her badly decomposed body was found late September.
Cook County Assistant State’s Atty. Maria McCarthy said two factors qualify capital punishment. First, Franklin was killed during the commission of a felony. In addition to murder, Potts is charged with robbery, kidnapping and vehicular hijacking. Second, the slaying was committed in a “cold and calculated,” or premeditated, manner, she said.
In Circuit Judge Thomas Gainer Jr.’s courtroom Tuesday, private attorney Robert Johnson said he would be taking on the case.
Later that day, Johnson said he decided to represent Potts after his family approached him. Potts had considered representing himself.
“I do this type of work, and I’ve done it for a long time,” said Johnson, who worked for the public defender’s office for 13 years. “He just doesn’t seem like the type of person who would do it.”
Although prosecutors have said Potts was caught lurking around Franklin’s residence the nights leading up to her disappearance, Johnson said his client was trying to break off the relationship.
“They painted a picture like he was stalking Ms. Franklin, and that’s just not the case,” Johnson said. “He didn’t want anything to do with her.”
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2 Responses to “Reginald Potts Faces Death Penalty for Nailah Franklin Murder”
i think the state is going to get it too.
By don on May 5, 2008
I would like to know more of what happened with this case. I started bloggin about the time he was arrested and I only read clips of this case. Where can I go to really read up on it? Hey princess, I hope all is well with you.
By KIM on May 9, 2008