Antoinette Frank was sentenced to death on October 20, 1995 for the March 4, 1995 murder of Officer Ronnie Williams, Ha Vu, and Cuong Vu in New Orleans Louisiana (Wikipedia 2007). Antoinette Frank a former police officer and her accomplice Rogers LaCaze committed an armed robbery at the Kim Anh Restaurant where the victims worked (Hustmyre 2005). It took the jury only forty minutes to sentence Antoinette Frank to death by lethal injection (Hustmyre 2005 & Hustmyre 2004). Frank’s accomplice received the same sentence in July 1995 (Hustmyre 2005).
Offender: Antoinette Frank was born on April 30, 1971 (Wikipedia 2007). Antoinette was abused; physically, sexually, and emotionally by her father as she grew up (Hustmyre 2005). Antoinette always wanted to be a police officer since she was an adolescent (Hustmyre 2004). She became a police officer for the New Orleans Police Department in 1993, despite several complications with her application (Hustmyre 2004). Antoinette was tested psychologically to determine her ability to be a productive police officer; she scored below average because she appeared to be small minded and insincere (Hustmyre 2005).
First Victim: Police Officer Ronnie Williams age twenty-five; worked at the Kim Anh Restaurant as a security officer along with Antoinette Frank (Hustmyre 2005). Officer Williams’ wife Mary had delivered their son Patrick, just days before his death (Hustmyre 2005). Together they had another son Christopher who was five years old at the time of his father’s death (Another Police Murder).
Second Victim: Ha Vu age twenty four: worked at the Kim Anh Restaurant, owned by her parents (Hustmyre 2005).
Third Victim: Cuong Vu age seventeen; worked with his sister at the Kim Anh Restaurant, owned by his parents (Hustmyre 2005). He played football while in high school, he wanted to be a priest and he was an alter boy at his Catholic Church (Hustmyre 2005).
Incident: On March 4, 1995 Antoinette Frank and her accomplice Rogers LaCaze entered the Kim Anh Restaurant where she was an off-duty security officer (Hustmyre 2004). The two had already been to the restaurant several times that evening (Hustmyre 2004). Antoinette Frank entered the restaurant with the keys she had stolen from an employee (Hustmyre 2004). She was in search for money, she knew the Vu did not put their money in the bank because they did not trust banks (Hustmyre 2004). The two had planned the robbery, two weeks earlier they got a nine millimeter pistol, and hours before the robbery they bought nine millimeter bullets at Wal-Mart (Hustmyre 2005).
Upon entering the restaurant they were confronted by Officer Williams, shooting him three times killing him (Hustmyre 2005). Antoinette continued to look for the money once she found the money she headed for Ha Vu and her brother Cuong Vu (Hustmyre 2004). The two were crouched down praying and asked Antoinette not to hurt them (Hustmyre 2004). She shot Cuong six times because he kept moaning, and shot Ha four times (Hustmyre 2004).
Frank attempted to act like she had been on duty and was trying to protect them, but the facts did not match up (Hustmyre 2004). She claimed to have run to the station and drove back to the restaurant to assist in the investigation (Hustmyre 2004). Detective Rantz realized that Antoinette Frank was not a witness when she said she left everyone to get help (Hustmyre 2005). Frank claimed she went out the back door; Rantz found the back door was locked; then he realized she was a suspect (Hustmyre 2004). Rantz stated “She is without a doubt the most cold-hearted person I’ve ever met” (Hustmyre 2004).
Detective Rantz said latter that he was sure Antoinette Frank went back to the restaurant to kill the two survivors who where hiding in the freezer (Hustmyre 2004).Ten years after the Kim Anh Murders the New Orleans Police Department crumbled (Hustmyre 2005). They reformed the entire department eliminating bad apples and hiring new officers (Hustmyre 2005). Antoinette and her accomplice Rogers blame each other, filing appeal after appeal as they battle over who is at fault; still sitting on death row (Hustmyre 2005). Antoinette Frank’s attorney continues to appeal the death penalty based on the fact that she had been denied a state paid expert (Filosa 2006).
Bibliography
Another Police Murder/The Feds Build Their Case. Courtroom Television Network LLC. www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/len_davis/15.html
Filosa, G. (2006). Appeals Process Begins in Antoinette Frank Murder Case. Times-Picayune Updates Nola.com. www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?//mtlogs/nola_tpudates/archieves/print196136.html.
Hustmyre, C. (2004). Killer Behind a Badge. Crime Magazine an Encyclopedia of Crime.
