ALTON FRANKLIN

Jurors in McPherson County brought back a not guilty verdict today in the second-degree murder trial of ex-McPherson College football player Alton Franklin, who stood accused of killing Tabor College football player Brandon Brown last September in at a house party in McPherson. Brown died of trauma to the head — witnesses said Franklin sucker-punched him and then hit him while he was on the ground.

Another Ex-McPherson College football player, DeQuinte Flournoy, was also charged with second-degree murder, but he pleaded down to aggravated battery in exchange for his testimony.

Jurors also had the option of finding Franklin guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

The verdict is a high-profile defeat for McPherson County Attorney David Page and a black eye for the McPherson Police Department, who were heard on videotape laughing and joking as Brown lay unconscious in the front yard of the house party.

Some questions I have from the trial:

-What happened with the other witnesses? 

Two Mac College football players — Taajon Richardson and Torry Hammill — were the only two people who testified that they saw Franklin strike Brown. And both lied to police initially. Why weren’t the neighbors — specifically next-door neighbor Chris Garcia and McPherson College football player DeMarcus Trotter, who was hosting the party, brought in to testify? Trotter seemed to have been the calmest of everyone at the party and Garcia actually watched, hidden from his window next door as the whole thing went down. Garcia even spoke to me on the record about what he saw. Garcia’s description of the person who he said he saw hit Brown matches Franklin almost to a tee.

I also don’t  understand why Brown’s Tabor teammate who was with him that night, Ilai Eteaki, wasn’t called to the witness stand to at least give his account of the night up until whenever he could remember — he was drinking Everclear — which is the same line of questioning Page had for several witnesses from McPherson College.

There was also a jailhouse witness who Judge Richard Walker likely would’ve let testify against Franklin but Page didn’t give the defense proper notice and the judge wouldn’t allow the witness to testify — something Hutch News reporter Darcy Gray pointed out to me after the trial. His testimony about Franklin talking about the case in lockup, where he’ s been since September, could have been damning.

-Franklin never confessed? 

Franklin never admitted to hitting Brown, although almost all involved testified someone hit Brown and Garcia said he saw a “shorter, stockier” guy strike Brown and knock him out, then the beating continued on the ground. Which leads me to…

 -Flournoy’s deal?

How in the world was Flournoy able to cut a deal that reduced his charges from second-degree murder to aggravated battery when his testimony seemed to help the defense more than anything? Flournoy testified that he held Brown down after he got hit, but that he never saw who hit Brown in the first place or who struck him while he was holding him. How was he able to cop a plea when his testimony did so little to help the prosecution’s case?

-The knife?

Probably the most compelling reason to get Eteaki up to the stand would have been to ask him about the knife several witnesses said they saw both Eteaki and Brown with. Did he say he had it in his possession that night? Did he remembered how he got the cuts and lacerations on his hands. The witnesses said they saw both Eteaki and Brown with a small knife, but one has to question how reliable they are after lying to the police initially — one of the contributing factors to Franklin’s not guilty verdict.

-Who killed Brandon Brown?

Brandon Brown is dead, and the person responsible for that is yet to face justice. Somebody did it.  He didn’t fracture his own cheekbone. He didn’t give himself enough of a beating to the head that he was bleeding out of the mouth.

I tried to speak with Brown’s mother and aunt earlier today. They were not up for talking. I will continue to try to get their thoughts on what happened Tuesday.

TA

“It is with a heavy heart that I am informing the Tabor Community regarding the trial in McPherson on the death of our student Brandon Brown.  At approximately 2:30 this afternoon, the jury returned the verdict that Alton Franklin is not guilty of second-degree murder.  Our hearts are heavy and broken and our prayers go out to Brandon’s family, friends and teammates as we continue to mourn the loss of our loved one. The jury deliberated for approximately two hours.  Franklin is now discharged from jail and his $250,000 bond.

The words that keep coming to my mind are the words of Jesus. ‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do.’”

President Glanzer

RONNIE WEST

Apologies for my absence — I’ve been gone the last 3 weeks as part of The Eagle’s NCAA Tournament coverage team, which we all know by now took a pretty wild turn when Wichita State ended up in the Final Four for the first time since 1965. I spent a week in Kansas City with K-State and KU, the next week in Dallas with KU and finally to Atlanta with the Shockers.

But now I’m back, so let’s take a look at some of what I missed while I was gone:

KCAC

-Former McPherson College football player Alton Franklin’s second-degree murder trial has begun in McPherson. Franklin is charged in the beating death of Tabor College football player Brandon Brown last fall. Another former McPherson College football player – DeQuinte Flournoy – was also facing the same charges but has pled no contest to aiding and abetting aggravated battery and is expected to testify in the trial. Both sides agree Brown was drunk — his BAC was 0.3, nearly four times the legal limit of .08 — and that Brown and a teammate were asked to leave a party. Everything else? That’s why they’re having the trial. The thing that sticks out to me so far is that Brown didn’t receive any medical assistance for the 10 minutes after the police found him unconscious in the front yard of where the party was happening.

-The Tabor and Sterling baseball teams are in a heck of a battle for first place — they’re both 15-1 in KCAC play and meet up again April 18 in Sterling.

-It’s the same in softball, with Kansas Wesleyan and Friends both 8-0 in KCAC play.

JAYHAWK

-The Butler softball team is still tearing it up – they’re 32-2 overall, 8-0 in Jayhawk play and ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division I. The Grizzlies are deep, talented and have their sights set on making a run deep in the national tournament. Five teams in the Jayhawk are ranked — the other four are in Division II with No. 6 Highland, No. 8 Cowley, No. 17 Labette and No. 19 Johnson County.

-In baseball, there is just one – Jayhawk East leader Cowley at No. 6.

MIAA

-The Emporia State track team has been tearing it up. Wichita Northwest product Andrew Etheridge, an ESU hurdler with a national title under his belt, seems poised to make a run at another title.

-The MIAA announced its 2013 Hall of Fame class – among those who made it in was Pittsburg State football player Ronnie West, who won the Harlon Hill Award in 1991 and led the Gorillas to the NCAA Division II title the same year. He was the only one of the 10 inductees from the four Kansas schools.

NEWMAN

-The Jets have a new volleyball coach, Natalie Rawson, the top assistant at Midwestern State. Newman’s last two seasons have been among the worst in school history — they went 4-19 in 2012 and 5-22 in 2011. They haven’t had a winning record in the last five years – 14-16 in 2010, 11-21 in 2009 and 8-25 in 2008.

 TA

MATTHEW S. HICKS/COLLEGIATE PRO PHOTO SERVICES

CUTLINE: Emporia State forward Merissa Quick receives the MIAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player plaque from MIAA commissioner Bob Boerigter after the Hornets defeated Central Missouri in the MIAA championship game last Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. Quick scored 22 points in the win.

BEYOND THE CUTLINE: This photo stood out to me mainly because of Quick, a Cheney native who has battled back from microfracture knee surgery after last season and has dominated as the knee has gotten better and the season stretched on. Props to ESU assistant AD Don Weast for sending me the pic as part of a larger feature I’m writing on Quick.

MATTHEW S. HICKS: Basketball games are a free for all once games start, and after a big win things can get even more unpredictable. I’ve covered the MIAA Tournament for all 11 years it’s been in Kansas City, and I think Emporia State has been in the championship game here 5-6 times and this is the first time they won so the emotions the girls were showing was really kind of special … I even remember a lot of them walking around saying “This is just unbelievable” and they were kind of just taken with the moment. With the shot of (Quick), I’m not one of these photographers that will yell out to someone to get them to look my way. I just wanted to let her have that moment, do her thing and make sure I press the button.

MERISSA QUICK: We’d just won the conference tournament so we got to extend our season, which was the main thing. I was just shocked to find out I was outstanding player of the tournament, that was exciting. I just wanted to do anything I could do for the team to win, getting the award that was just extra bonus. I was so happy I wasn’t even thinking about who was handing me the award.

ALEX DAVIS/HUTCH NEWS PHOTO

ALEX DAVIS

It’s easy to be critical of all-conference teams when you’re not the one picking the teams … but sometimes the mistakes are so egregious they can’t be ignored. The Jayhawk Conference made one of the more head-scratching mistakes in recent history when they left 6-foot-9 Hutchinson forward Alex Davis off the All-Jayhawk West and All-Region VI Division I teams. Davis, who is headed to Fresno State, is the best big man to play in the Jayhawk since Seward County/Texas Tech forward Darko Cohadarevic, who led the Saints to the Region VI title (just like Davis)  in 2008 and might be the best to play in the Jayhawk in the last decade.

Davis averaged 13.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a league-best 2.8 blocks for the Blue Dragons, who are 31-3 headed into next week’s NJCAA Division I Tournament in Hutchinson. If you saw Davis play last year, it was easy to see the potential was there. If you saw him this year, it was easy to see he’d tapped into it. An All-Jayhawk team with five guards … think of an all-conference football team with all running backs and quarterbacks.

 REGION VI PICKS

Here were my picks for Region VI – missed on the women, hit it right on the head with the men. My biggest whiff? Putting the Barton men out in the quarterfinals, of which I got a suttle reminder of while sitting on press row Friday night.

 TA

At Hartman Arena, Park City

Women’s semifinals

No. 3 Hutchinson 60, Butler 59 FINAL — Hutchinson’s Chrisstasia Walter led all players with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Butler had to play the final 10 minutes without All-Jayhawk West guard Jamillah Bonner, who injured her ankle.

Cowley 68, No. 12 Garden City 52 FINAL — Cowley rolled to the win over a depleted Garden City squad.  Cowley’s Tonisha Walker led all scorers with 28 points, including 13 of 14 at the free-throw line. Deni Jacobs led the Broncbusters with 16 points. Cowley plays Hutch at 5 p.m. Saturday for the Region VI title.

Men’s semifina

No. 9 Hutchinson (29-3) vs. No. 2 Coffeyville (31-1), 7:30 p.m.

COFFEYVILLE’S MONTEL JAMES

Everything goes down beginning tomorrow at Hartman Arena — two women’s semifinals followed by two men’s semifinals.

Here’s a look at the teams, but first …

My picks

I filled out brackets for the Region VI Tournament. I went 4 for 4 in the women’s semifinals and 3 for 4 in the men’s semifinals. The only team I didn’t pick to make it in? The Barton men.

And yes, I got a “3 out of 4 ain’t bad!!!” e-mail from Barton coach Craig Fletchall on Wednesday morning.

Women

No. 3 Hutch (31-1) vs. Butler (26-6), 1:30 p.m. – The Blue Dragons are the defending Region VI champions and lost in the NJCAA championship game last season. Butler has never won a Region VI title. Hutchinson’s sophomores have more wins — 67 — than any other two-year run in school history. Last titles: Hutchinson (2012), Butler (n/a).

No. 12 Garden City (29-3) vs. Cowley (28-4), 3:3o p.m. -- The Broncbusters are responsible for Hutchinson’s only loss this season – 64-62 on Feb. 6 at Garden City. Garden City sophomore forward Tamara Jones leads the Jayhawk in scoring (20.5 points) and is second in rebounding (10.2 rebounds). Montia Johnson leads Cowley in scoring at 12.2 points per game. Last titles: Garden City (2003), Cowley (1989).

Men

Seward County (25-7) vs. No. 24 Barton (26-6), 5:30 p.m. – Barton sophomore Algie Key does a little bit of everything, leading his team with 17.7 points, 1.8 steals and 4.1 assists per game. The Saints are the defending Region VI champions. Kaheem Ransom leads Seward at 16.6 points. Last titles: Seward (2012), Barton (2001).

No. 9 Hutchinson (29-3) vs. No. 2 Coffeyville (31-1), 7:30 p.m. – It’s tough to draw an attention away from the madness that is is the Kansas state high school basketball championships. This game does it. Coffeyville has a pair of surefire Division I players in 6-7 freshman forward Montel James (17.6 points, 8.8 rebounds) and 6-3 freshman guard Earl Peterson (12.5 points). Last titles: Hutchinson (1997), Coffeyville (2011).

I’ll be covering all four games tomorrow from Park City – will post updates here and on Twitter.

TA

REGION VI MEN’S DIVISION I

I think this is Hutch’s year. I also think Cowley is just starting to become the team I thought they could be all year. One of the most competitive years I’ve ever seen in the Jayhawk, the credit going to that extra NJCAA Tournament berth. Coffeyville should already be in, leaving that one spot up for grabs.

REGION VI WOMEN’S DIVISION I

Garden City coach Alaura Sharp outrecruited her competition in the offseason and it has paid off in one of the best regular seasons in league history – don’t forget the Busters made it to an NJCAA Final 4 in the last decade, so there’s some tradition there.

FERNANDO SALAZAR/THE WICHITA EAGLE

“Mac Madness” 

Cutline: McPherson’s Kasey Miller shows the student fans the championship trophy after the Bulldogs defeated Sterling College 87-80 in the 2013 KCAC Championship at Hartman Arena Tuesday night.

Beyond the Cutline: Just a great job by Fernando of capturing the emotions of McPherson’s improbable run to the KCAC title and a fourth straight NAIA Division II Tournament berth. The improbability of the Bulldogs winning the tourney … they barely made it in the tourney, y’all. Here’s Taylor Eldridge’s game story from Tuesday night, which includes a link to a photo gallery from Fernando. The shot of Miller ran on the front of our Wednesday sports section.

Fernando Salazar: By the time the game is over, you already have an idea of which players or coaches are the ones that are really showing emotion and might make for some good shots. You try to find the one or two guys you know might deliver, but in this case as soon as the game was over and they were passing around the trophy, I was just following whoever had it and (Miller) went over to the fans

Kasey Miller: We’d been through so much adversity this year that at the moment the picture was taken I was just so happy, which I think you can tell, and just grateful to be a part of this team and with this particular group of guys that did this. I’m from Derby, so the picture running in my hometown paper was pretty cool, and I’ve kind of felt like a celebrity since it came out because a lot of people have been approaching me and saying stuff about the shot. My mom came into work on Wednesday morning in Derby and all the people she works with were telling her about it and she sent me a picture of the paper. It was the end of a crazy week of basketball for us, and like I said I’m just glad I got to be around this group of guys and this team.

Here’s the KCAC’s official release on the postponements.

I like McPherson in the men’s final and Southwestern in the women’s. Here are the stories from Saturday night by Eagle stringer Lionel Tipton on the Friends men losing to McPherson on a last-second shot. The top-seeded Friends women – the KCAC regular-season champs – lost to Kansas Wesleyan at home in the semifinals but already have a bid to the NAIA Division II Tournament next month in Sioux City locked up.

NEWMAN’S LOSS

I covered No. 21 Newman’s loss to Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday at Newman – the Jets and UAFS were tied for first place in the Heartland, and the win clinched at least a share of the title for the Lions and the right to host the Heartland Tournament. The Lions won this game in the post and from beyond the three-point arc — Newman can usually negate any team’s three-point shooting when Trae Beck gets hot, but he was ice cold on Saturday. In the post, there wasn’t much the Jets could do … especially when UAFS big men showed they were able to hit the three, handle the ball in the open court and then post up in half-court sets. That’s a tough out for anybody.  UAFS swept the regular-season games against Newman this year and a third matchup, at Fort Smith, would be incredibly entertaining. Key for Newman? Senior guard Shamar Acuay has to stay out of foul trouble. He’s a physical guard

THE OSCARS

Last night’s Oscars were as much fun as I’ve had watching the Academy Awards in I don’t know how long. Yeah, I know it’s long, but it’s long every year. Yeah, I know it can be a little stuffy, but it’s stuffy every year. That’s just the Oscars.

From the variety of movies that won (Jennifer Lawrence, Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, Daniel Day Lewis … wow) to MacFarlane as a host to Ben Affleck’s amazing, heartfelt speech at the end, this was a home run.

TA