User blog:UnderAPineapple/Hurricane Pineapple 7: Frances Newton

Being on death row in itself is a haunting feeling. The fact that at any point in time, you could be whisked away and sent to die without consent, can scare even the toughest of criminals. What’s even worse is if you are being sentenced to death, for a crime you did not commit. Today on Hurricane Pineapple, we will be debating whether or not a woman was in fact guilty or innocent of the murders of her husband, and two children. Today we discuss the case of Frances Newton, a woman in Huntsville, Texas, who was tried, convicted, and executed for the murders of three people; all of whom lived with her. Questions have risen over the past couple years following her execution as to whether or not she actually committed these crimes. I’ll be giving you the prosecution’s case and the defense’s case. After that, I’ll let you decide if she was guilty or innocent. Let’s brace for Hurricane season.

Hurricane Pineapple Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3DwJMhWdkY

Introduction
Former Texas Governor and now the Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, has been vocally supportive of capital punishment. When he ran for President in 2012, he even stated that, "If you come into our state, and you --- kill one of our citizens, --- you will face the ultimate justice". Rick's stance on the death penalty has been controversial considering that there are numerous cases that could prove that an innocent person was executed. Cameron Todd Willingham was a father of three in 1991 when his three daughters were killed in a house fire. Many were quick to blame Cameron as an "arsonist" as he was the lone survivor. In 2004, Cameron was executed by lethal injection under Rick's request. But did another innocent person become an executed inmate in the hands of Rick Perry? Before we jump to conclusions, let's start off with the prosecution's case. This is the case that won out in court, and eventually led to 40-year old Frances Newton being executed on September 14, 2005.

Prosecution's Case
April 6, 1987: 21-year old Frances was currently a mother of two and married to 23-year old, Adrian Newton. Financially, she was broken; Frances bore her first child, Alton when she was 14 years old, and in 1985, she gave birth to her daughter, Farrah. Fights between Adrian and Frances soon became an everyday habit for the two. What was keeping them together? Two things in general: 1) Adrian Newton was a member of a drug cartel. Selling illegal substances such as crack cocaine and methamphetamines were the only way money actually came in. 2) The kids were of the utmost importance, and rightly so. 7-year old Alton & 1-year old Farrah, needed to be fed, comforted, and looked after. The problem was that neither parent was financially, emotionally, or morally acceptable to parent them. Both of them were known to be very violent, especially when money wasn't being brought to the table by the hands of Adrian in the form of drug money. Frances was also cheating on Adrian with another man, and some people believe that Frances wanted to get rid of anything or anyone that stood in the way of the two of them spending the rest of their lives together... even if the threats were children.

On April 7, Adrian was discovered by a family friend of Frances' to have been on the couch. He had been shot several times by what appeared to be an intruder. No sign of struggle was shown, but it was clear that he had been dead for at least a couple of hours. In another room, were Alton & Farrah; they were too shot dead. Forensic evidence proved that whilst Adrian was shot multiple times, both Alton & Farrah were only shot once, since one shot would've easily been enough to kill the innocent children. Would the lifestyle of a wife and mother, along with the financial difficulties of being unemployed, lead to Frances wanting to murder for money?

Prosecutors thought so. Three weeks before the murders of Adrian Newton, Alton Newton, and Farrah Newton, Frances purchased three life insurance policies; two of which were on Adrian & Farrah. Each of them held $50,000 adding up to a total of $150,000 in life insurance if Frances were to outlive her family. This would be more than enough to not only pay off the drug debt she might've had from using and abusing narcotics, but it would've been enough to settle down with her new lover. Initially people suspected that Adrian killed the two kids, and them himself in some murder-suicide tragedy. However, one shot to the heart would've been enough to kill himself, but Adrian was shot more than once, which meant that two options were available. 1) a home intruder killed the three of them... or 2) pre-meditated murder.

The family friend of Frances Newton notified the police about Frances' absurd behavior. She saw Frances with a bag that looked like a duffel bag. Frances had been bringing it over to her neighbor's house, and inside the bag was a .25 caliber pistol that was proven by ballistic testings to be the gun that killed Adrian, Alton, and Farrah Newton. On April 19, Frances attempted to seek the life insurance policies of both Adrian & Farrah. But an insurance manager for the firm that had their policies, notified authorities. Frances was soon arrested for the murders of her husband, son, and daughter.

In November 1988, Frances Newton was convicted for three counts of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to death by lethal injection. After 17 years of fighting back, Governor Rick Perry signed her death warrant on September 14, 2005, and Frances was executed at the age of 40.

Defense's Case
Frances Newton has always maintained her innocence until the day she died, and refrained from letting the other inmates know about the crimes she was convicted of, in fear of possibly being given "vigilante justice" by one of the inmates. Now we're going to bring some points as to why she might in fact, be innocent of these crimes. Let's start out with the husband of Frances.

23-year old Adrian Newton was a known drug dealer and drug USER. At this time, it was not uncommon for drug debts to lead to violent crimes. The New York Times stated that the 1980's was the "worst decade in American criminal history", citing more than 30% of homicides in the United States from 1980-1990 to be related to a drug dispute gone wrong, a robbery gone wrong, or a gang-related shooting. Adrian had a lot of connections to people in the drug dealing community, which makes it possible that he could've been killed by a guy/girl he owed money to, or a guy/girl who owed money to him. Whilst this might not explain why Farrah was killed (since she would have no recollection of who shot her father at 21 months old), Alton would clearly know if Frances would've or would've not killed Adrian, hence being why him and Farrah were "witnesses" and not initial targets.

Frances stated multiple times that there was evidence that could've set her free that was either not shown or not ALLOWED to be shown in trial. Controversy surrounded the case following 1988 when it was alleged that a second gun was recovered from the murder scene; ballistics reports appeared to demonstrate that a gun recovered by law enforcement and allegedly connected to Newton after the offense was the murder weapon. A relative of Newton who was incarcerated shortly after the murders claimed a person he shared a cell with boasted of killing the family. Numerous individuals, including 3/12 members of the convicting jury, expressed concern over evidence that was not presented during the trial. Frances' father claimed to have been informed by Ron Mock, Frances' defense attorney, along with law enforcement, that there were two weapons present at the murder scene.

Frances claims that the controversy surrounding the life insurance policies being issued before the murders were a "coincidence", citing that she had also filed life insurance on another family member known as "Claudia". Claudia claimed that this was true, as did several other members of the Newton family, which many people claim prosecutors left OUT of the trial. In addition to her denial of being involved with the murders, Frances said that she "loved Adrian" and claimed that they were childhood lovers as well. Adrian was described as a "caring human being" who "only wanted what was best for his wife and children"; which Frances agreed with. When asked about her affair with another man, Frances states that Adrian was additionally unfaithful and Frances was wanting to have an affair to let Adrian see "how it felt".

In the end, Frances maintained her innocence, and never once said that she killed her husband, son, or daughter, which is why this case is widely controversial.

Hurricane Pineapple - My Thoughts
In terms of guilty vs. innocent, I believe that Frances Newton did kill her husband and children for money. I do not believe she did it without thinking about it first, as I believe she thought it was a difficult decision. I spent a lot of time (since June 2017) trying to investigate the defense and prosecution of this case, and I found more damning evidence that proved her guilt than her innocence.

Now it's time for you to decide. With the evidence you saw with the prosecution and the defense, do you believe that Frances Newton is the kille, or do you believe she was just an innocent woman executed? I want you to voice your opinions in the comment section below, and with that, I am going to end the episode on a cliffhanger.

Thanks for watching the episode and I will now give you a sneak peak into Episode 8 of Hurricane Pineapple.

Sneak Peak for Episode 8

 * In the world of drug dealing, partying, and illegal activity in the Golden state, one wrong move could lead to the elimination of an innocent person.
 * Did media attention lead to a possible death sentence?
 * One man's control can lead to another man's downfall.
 * "No matter where you go... no matter what you do... I'm gonna hunt you down!!!"
 * On November 11, 2017, we will hear the case of...

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