ATLANTA — A prosecutor said a 17-year-old girl was murdered to cover up another crime, but the man now convicted in her murder was caught anyway.
Dennetta Franks was shot in the face and killed in September 2017 after she got in with a bad crowd.
“You have to make sure that you associate yourself with people who are doing the right thing because it just takes one bad decision to literally end your life,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said.
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne talked to Deputy District Attorney Vincent Faucette, who said Franks was at a low point in her life after leaving a group home in Columbus. She was part of a group of young people involved in an attempted armed robbery of a food delivery man which went bad.
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The food delivery man and a would-be robber were wounded.
Franks knew the plan was to lure the delivery man to the robbery. Almost immediately, she started texting her family and planned to turn herself in.
“She was having a crisis of conscience?” Winne asked.
“We believe so, yes. That’s what the evidence indicates,” Faucette said.
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One of the robbers, Eddie Byrd, found out about her plan to go to the police.
“They were scared that she was going to snitch on them,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wilis said.
Byrd shot her in the face, among other places.
“Ms. Franks had several different gunshot wounds,” Faucette said. Willis called it a very brutal murder of a young girl.
Byrd was found guilty on attempted robbery charges anyway and sentenced to 20 years. Prosecutors said another would-be robber got 17 years in the DeKalb County case and he was charged with the murder too, but acquitted of that.
Now, Byrd is facing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole plus five years after his conviction last month for murder.
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Franks’ brother, Michael, said he was in the military at the time that she was killed.
“I mean, I was crushed,” he said. “You know, I was boo-hoo crying like a baby, man. It broke me.”
Franks said he always remembers his sister’s face with a smile.
“She always made me laugh,” Franks said. “We always laughed together, joked together.”
Franks said he got through his sister’s death with a lot of faith in God.
“You know, even though she passed away and the way she passed away hurt me. But, you know, I knew through him. You know I would have strengthened,” Franks said. “That’s how I dealt with it. I prayed about it. I prayed every day about it. I still pray about it.”
Faucette said he believes the co-defendant was acquitted because testimony indicated Byrd fired the first shot, which was to the face. A text message to Dennetta from the co-defendant after the robbery indicated he wanted her to come live with him and his family.
Faucette said Byrd’s defense was basically that he wasn’t at the murder, which the jury obviously rejected. A motion for a new trial has been filed on Byrd’s behalf.
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