Skip to main content

The Only Woman on Louisiana’s Death Row Is Getting One Last Shot at Clemency

Antoinette Frank, who was convicted of a triple-murder in 1995, hopes details about her traumatic history of abuse could ultimately spare her life

The last woman on Louisiana’s death row is hoping that details about her traumatic history of abuse could ultimately spare her life.

Next month, Antoinette Frank is set to go before the state's pardon board to present crucial details about her past, which were kept hidden from the jury who sentenced her to be executed.

Frank, 52, a former New Orleans police officer, was convicted in 1995 of the triple murder of an off-duty New Orleans police officer and the owners of a Vietnamese restaurant during a botched robbery.

While she has largely been painted as a corrupt cop and mastermind of the crimes, Frank’s legal team says she has a long, painful history of being subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse. They argue that history gives a fuller picture of what led to the killings.

“Antoinette’s trial lawyers failed to do the most basic investigation into her tragic history of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her father," Letty Di Giulio, Frank’s attorney said. "As a result, neither the jury that sentenced her to death nor the people of Louisiana knew the truth about Antoinette."

Her clemency hearing, which is scheduled for Oct 13, will be the first of 19 hearings spurred by the mass appeal of 56 out of the 57 death row inmates who simultaneously filed a clemency plea in June.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who will leave office in January, directed the board last month to consider granting clemency, citing his “deep faith” and “pro-life stance against the death penalty.” 

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a front runner to become the state's next governor, staunchly opposes mass clemency.

Landry has expressed support for the death penalty, saying that he would bring back firing squads and the electric chair to carry out the executions, which have been on hold because of a problems procuring the usual cocktail of lethal injection drugs.

Manipulated by Men


Frank, described as a “gentle and timid” natured person by her attorney, went through “horrific abuse by her own father that left her vulnerable to being manipulated and coerced."

Frank's father had severe post traumatic stress disorder as a Vietnam veteran and created an atmosphere of terror, filled with violent rages and death threats to his family in her childhood home, according to her clemency petition. 

He admitted to the Veterans Administration that he choked and threw Frank across the room when she was two years old.  Instead of being removed from him, she stayed with her father who began raping her from nine until the age of 22, which resulted in multiple abortions. 

Her mother eventually walked out taking three of her four children, but leaving Frank behind at the insistence of her husband. At that point, every aspect of her life was controlled by her father, including bathroom use until the age of 19, her petition stated.

Details about this childhood trauma was not included in the death penalty trial.

Two jurors who sentenced Frank to death said that had they known about her abuse as a child and “her psychological makeup” they would not have given the death penalty, according to sworn affidavits. 

2 Shooters, 1 Death Sentence


Frank's lawyers say her history of being abused also allowed her conspirator, Rogers LaCaze, to manipulate her.

Frank, then 23, had befriended LaCaze, then 18, after meeting him during the course of an investigation. Being just a few years older, she wanted to mentor him towards a better life, but he took advantage of her naive and sheltered personality, using her position of power for his own personal gain, according to Frank's petition.

Although local media reports referred to LaCaze as Frank's boyfriend, Di Giulio says that their relationship was not romantic.

On March 4, 1995, Frank went inside Kim Anh restaurant in New Orleans where she frequently split private security with fellow officer Ronald Williams. 

According to court records, after Frank went in looking for the restaurant owners, LaCaze followed.

In the minutes after, shots were fired killing Williams, and siblings Ha and Cuong Vu.

At trial there was no evidence that showed who fired the deadly shots and both Frank and LaCaze were convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and given the death penalty.

But the full account was not presented to jurors, according to Frank's lawyer, Di Giulio.

In a 2013 post-conviction hearing for LaCaze, a state witness testified that he told her that Frank tried to shield the victims from him, but that he “put the [gun] to the back of Antoinette's head and said, ‘B, you gon’ shoot somebody too. I’m not going down by myself,’” which prompted her to pull the trigger. 

Frank told police that she shot at Ha and Cuong Vu that night but didn't know if she hit them.

In 2019, LaCaze's conviction was reversed based on ineffective assistance of counsel and he was resentenced to life imprisonment.

So Frank alone now faces execution. If given clemency, Frank's conviction would also be commuted to life without parole.

Chau Vu, the sister of the victims who was present on the day of killings but survived after hiding in a freezer, did not return a request for comment by The Messenger. 

In a 2019 interview in response to LaCaze’s resentencing with The Advocate she said she wanted to “close the book and open a new chapter in my life, just close the book” as it “brings back all my anger and everything."

“It’s just something already wrapped up."

Source: themessenger.com, Safia Samee Ali, September 17, 2023


_____________________________________________________________________




_____________________________________________________________________


FOLLOW US ON:












HELP US KEEP THIS BLOG UP & RUNNING!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."


— Oscar Wilde

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Saudi Arabia imposes death sentence for Bible smuggling

November 28, 2014: In a recent official statement from the Saudi Arabian government, the death sentence will now be imposed on anyone who attempts to smuggle Bibles into the country. In actuality, the new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and "all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam."  In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or Gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death.  Source: heartcrymissionary.com, November 28, 2014

Iran | Convicted killer hanged in Tabriz. Execution carried out by his uncle, who was plaintiff in the case

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 10, 2025: Hassan Saei, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. His execution was carried out by his uncle, who was the plaintiff in the case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 6 May 2025. His identity has been established as Hassan Saei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hassan Saei was arrested for the murder of his cousin and his maternal uncle carried out the execution.”

Oscar Franklin Smith, Tennessee death row inmate, declines to select execution method

Oscar Franklin Smith, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution on May 22, will die by lethal injection if the process moves forward. Smith, who was asked to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, declined to pick, his attorney Kelley Henry, a supervisory assistant federal public defender, said. When an inmate does not choose, the method defaults to lethal injection. It's not the first time Smith has been given this grim decision and declined. That decision to not choose ultimately saved his life for three more years.

Oklahoma | Former death row inmate Richard Glossip’s legal limbo

Former death row inmate Richard Glossip's court hearing gets postponed, leaving the next steps in his high-profile case uncertain. With his conviction overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state must now decide whether to retry him for a 1997 murder of motel owner, Barry Van Treese.  Richard Glossip’s long-running legal battle is once again delayed. His much-anticipated court hearing set for May 9 in Oklahoma County District Court has been postponed at the request of both prosecutors and defense attorneys, according to online court records. A new date has not yet been scheduled.

Wyoming Hasn't Executed Anyone In 33 Years, But It's Tried

It's been 33 years since Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan stood in his office next to his priest, warring with himself over the execution of convicted serial killer Mark Hopkinson. The state hasn't executed anyone since that day — but it's tried. In the final few moments of convicted killer Mark Hopkinson’s life, protesters converged on the Wyoming State Capitol while the governor stood in his office, with a priest by his side. The state of Wyoming executed Hopkinson by lethal injection Jan. 22, 1992, at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins — 13 years after he was convicted.

Florida executes Glen Rogers

Florida executes suspected serial killer once eyed for possible link to the OJ Simpson case  A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the O.J. Simpson case that riveted the nation in the 1990s was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman found dead in a Tampa motel room.  Glen Rogers, 62, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., authorities said. He was convicted in Florida of the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of 2 he had met at a bar.

Indiana man set for execution in state's second since 2009

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer is set to receive a lethal injection early Tuesday - the hour of sunrise - in the state’s second execution in 15 years. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there’s last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials.

Texas Set to Execute Fourth Inmate of the Year

Matthew Johnson was convicted of the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris in Dallas County. Matthew Johnson’s guilt was never in question. On the stand during his 2013 trial, he admitted to the crime that landed him on death row. The attack—an early morning robbery and murder in a populous Dallas suburb—was also caught on camera. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on May 20, exactly 13 years to the day after he robbed a Fina Whip-In convenience store in Garland and set the store clerk on fire. Johnson was convicted of the murder of Nancy Harris, the 76-year-old clerk. 

Execution methods used in the US today: The promise of a quick and painless death

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The practice of execution has been around since the days of ancient civilisations, and, as uncomfortable as it may be to think about, this punishment is still handed out in various countries around the world today. Capital punishment for murder was suspended in the UK as recently as 1965, within living memory.  Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans became the last prisoners to be executed on British soil on August 13, 1964, with the pair hanged at separate prisons in Manchester and Liverpool for the murder of John Alan West. Since then, there have been frequent calls to bring back the death penalty, which some supporters believe to be an effective deterrent against the most despicable crimes. Those on the other side of the debate believe capital punishment to be an inhumane measure, often citing the numerous instances where convicts have faced agonising deaths.

Woman who killed pregnant victim she met on Facebook, cut fetus from womb, ‘claimed’ child as her own to face death penalty trial after double jeopardy appeal rejected

"The stuff that nightmares are made on." Reader discretion advised. A 45-year-old woman in Arkansas who lured a pregnant victim into an ambush and cut out her fetus in a botched scheme to “claim” the child as her own will face the death penalty after the state’s highest court rejected an appeal in which her lawyers argued that her upcoming state murder trial was barred by double jeopardy. The Arkansas Supreme Court last week denied the appeal of Amber Waterman, holding that her federal kidnapping convictions did not prohibit the state from pursuing murder charges against her for the 2022 slayings of 33-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn daughter, whom she had named Valkyrie Grace Willis.