Frank Basil McFarland

	DEFENDANT'S INFORMATION
Defendant's Name	FRANK BASIL McFARLAND
Date of Birth	October 7, 1963
Defendant's Race	White
Criminal History	juvenile offense of sexual assault
Execution Date	April 29, 1998
TDCJ Number	963
Age - time of crime	24
Age - time of execution	34
	THE CRIME
Date of Crime	02/01/88
County	Tarrant County (Northeast)
Victim(s)	Terry Hokanson
Race of Victim(s)	White
Relationship to Defendant	N/A - met her in a topless club, he was a patron, she was a shoe shine girl.
Offense Alleged	capital murder in the course of committing aggravated sexual assault.
Actual Allegations	Intentionally causing the death of Terry Hokanson by stabbing her in the course of committing the offense of aggravated sexual assault. Met Hokanson at a topless bar and arranged to meet her to party afterwards. Along with Michael Wilson, McFarland took her in his truck to Hurst Park where she was raped and stabbed 43 times and then left to die behind a church under construction.
	THE TRIAL
County where tried	Tarrant county - commenced October 26, 1989, verdict November 13, 1989
Trial Judge	Hon. Don Leonard, Judge Presiding, Criminal District Court # 3, Tarrant County, Texas, 76196
Prosecutor(s) (name, address and telephone)	Clair Theodore and Ken Dies – Assistant US DA's, Southern District of Texas, 910 Travis, Suite 1500, Houston, Texas.
Defense Attorney(s) (name, address, and telephone)	Hon. Tolly Wilson, 112 North Beach, Fort Worth, Texas, 76111Sharen Wilson, 400 The Professional Building, 303 West 10^th St, Fort Worth, Texas, 76102
Plea	Not Guilty
Racial Makeup of Jury	?
Convicted of (statute)	capital murder - TX. Pen. Code. Ann. s.19.03 (a) (2)
Confession?	No. Testimony of Revill – Wilson's girlfriend re: confession by Wilson implicating McFarland. Suggestion this testimony could have been due to a deal with the authorities re: Revill's illegal immigrant status. Before Wilson's funeral Detectives Blue and Teague had a telephone conference with Revill during which she did not implicate Wilson or McFarland. Investigator Craig Teague admitted Revill's status as an illegal immigrant was discussed when a videotape of her story re: Wilson's alleged confession was made. Alleged confession of Wilson to Mark Leonard Noblett re: Wilson and McFarland stabbing a woman in a church parking lot.
Accomplice(s)	Wilson - later murdered before McFarland's trial
Eyewitness(es)	not specifically BUT Angela Autrey - saw victim leave club with 2 men. Cheryl Kepp - owner of club saw Victim leave with two men, one of whom she said was Timothy Todd Tickle. Warren, Mires and Rich - three boys who saw white car with red roof drive away and then saw Victim before she died.
Scientific Evidence	Special Agent Blythe - FBI's Microscopic Analysis Unit - analyzed the hair samples found in the victim's hands and found that they were not consistent with the known hairs of Wilson/McFarland. Testimony that the DNA from semen found on the victim matched McFarland's semen, but 6% of the Caucasian population would also have the same characteristics. Evidence that McFarland had hair on the back seat of his car which matched the rabbit hair coat worn by victim - but McFarland's girlfriend had a rabbit hair coat she had previously worn in the truck.
Jail House Snitch?	NO - but police informant - Mark Noblett testified against McFarland(worked as police informant in other cases)
Defendant Testimony?	Defense presented no testimony or evidence
Exculpatory Evidence Offered?	None
Additional Punishment evidence by State	Witnesses testified about McFarland's bad character which should have been inadmissible in guilt phase of trial
Mitigating Evidence by Defense	Suzie Weber - testified she lived with McFarland since 1986 and never had any serious problems. No legal consequences to McFarland as a result of attack on Ruth McGuire - Juvenile offense.
Mental Retardation, Mental Illness, and/or neurological damage?	None
Sentencing Date:	November 15,1989 – Jury decided. November 27, 1989 – sentence passed.
	DIRECT APPEAL TO COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
State's appellate attorney	Defense appeal cites Ken Dies and Clair Theodore - BUT State's reply is done by: Tim Curry, C. Chris Marshall and Edward L. Wilkinson of The Office of the Criminal D. A. Tarrant County, Texas, 76196
Defendant's Attorney	Jack V. Strickland and Michael Logan Ware, The Bryce Building, 909 Throckmorton St., Fort Worth, Texas 76102, Telephone: 817-338-1000.
Date appellate brief filed	Nov. 13, 1991
Grounds Raised	No innocence claim, but note failure to put on mitigating evidence.
Date of opinion	September 23, 1992 – opinion by Campbell J. Overstreet and Benavides JJ concur Clinton J dissents Baird J not participating.
Opinion citation	McFarland v. State, 845 F.2d 824 (1992)
Cert to S. Ct?	Denied petition for writ of certiorari - June 7, 1993
	STATE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
Writ Attorney (name address & telephone)	Danny D. Burns -115 North Henderson St., Fort Worth, Texas 76102, Tel: 817-870-1544
Appointed, retained or volunteer?	Appointed
Grounds for Alleged Ineffective Assistance of Counsel.	Need for further discovery and investigation: Prosecution's suppression of exculpatory evidence and subordination of perjured testimony. Failure to preserve meritorious claim re: hearsay testimony Failure to object to prosecution's use of applicant's post-arrest silence. Objection to State innuendo that McFarland was involved with Wilson's murder Possibility one of State's witnesses - BAKER - was offered deals by the State on his theft case (pending at time of McFarland's trial) in return for his testimony against McFarland Prosecution didn't make statements of Rich and Mires available to defense (although Warrant was given) Police Officer Oringderff who took statements from dying victim did not testify at trial even though he was available to do so. Another witness - PARSONS - who also worked at club later identified the two men seen on the night of the murder and got boss to card them - one of them was Timothy Todd Tickle. Meyers - police officer on the crime scene omitted to put in report boy's apparent mention of "blue" car, and said boys didn't refer to white thunderbird with red top - (referred to in boys statements) Timothy Todd Tickle testified he didn't know victim - but was at the club on the night of the murder.
Writ Judge	Don Leonard District #3, Tarrant County, TX
Date of Decision	November 15,1995 - denied first Writ of habeas corpus; April 29, 1998 -denied; Second Writ of habeas corpus
Decision	Denied
Cert to S.Ct.?	Yes - filed Feb. 13, 1996 - placed on docket Feb 21^st 1996 - denied April 29 1996.
	NEW EVIDENCE OF INNOCENCE
Developed by:	Defense counsel and Texas Resource Center
Presented to:	TX C.C.A.
Summary:	Case based on: Hearsay evidence - alleged statements of a dead man Circumstantial evidence DNA evidence which only limited semen donor to 6% of the Caucasian population. Post-trial investigation Revealed Noblett (prosecution star witness) offered perjured testimony about Wilson pointing a gun at him. State suppressed Noblett's history as police "snitch" and Noblett's criminal history. York – man present in motel room at time of alleged confession by Wilson to Noblett could have testified as to his lack of knowledge of it. Victim stated she hadn't met assailants before and evidence that she already knew McFarland and Wilson. Sworn statements from Mires and Rich were not given to Defense - that victim said she didn't know guys who killed her and she got in the car and took off - not that she met them at a club. "She thought she recognized them" were her words - not "she thought she knew them." Suggests mistaken identity - statements are exculpatory and refute states theory of the case. Constitutional obligation and Brady violation by prosecution for not disclosing these statements. Boys (Warran, Mires and Rich) could also have testified they saw a white (not a blue) car at the crime scene. (not a blue car - McFarland's car was blue and the prosecution's theory of the case involved a blue car) No evidence the boys ever said they saw a blue car - perjured testimony of PO (previously mentioned) Applicant's girlfriend owned a rabbit hair jacket that could have explained the presence of rabbit hair in McFarland's car

Frank Basil McFarland (TX)