Man to be tried in shooting death of 76-year-old

Francis told police he shot the victim three times during a scuffle.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Alan Francis, 46, will go to trial Tuesday on a murder charge. He has had three sets of attorneys, contested his sanity, challenged twice the admissibility of statements he made to police and filed state and federal lawsuits over his treatment in the Trumbull County Jail.

Francis, with addresses in Niles and Girard, is charged with killing John P. Crocker, 76, of Emerson Street in Weathersfield Township, on Nov. 21, 2005, in Crocker’s home.

Francis is accused of shooting Crocker twice in the head and once in the hand, hitting him four times in the head and back with a stick and slashing Crocker’s throat, hands and arm with a knife.

Francis could get the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder and other charges he faces in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Judge John M. Stuard will preside over the trial.

Francis was arrested by Niles police Nov. 23, 2005, after police say he went on a crime spree that included purse snatchings and armed robberies at a couple of restaurants and other businesses in Niles in the days before and after authorities found Crocker dead.

An affidavit in the case says that after signing a waiver of his rights to remain silent, Francis told Niles police Nov. 23, 2005, that he was in Crocker’s house to borrow money and that he had shot Crocker three times after Crocker pointed a gun at him.

Francis is now represented by attorneys Donald Malarcik and Brian M. Pierce of Akron.

He was ruled competent to stand trial in July 2006 after a psychiatric evaluation.

The affidavit says Crocker suffered from pulmonary disease and emphysema and was always on an oxygen tube.

Francis told investigators he met Crocker on Nov. 19, when he and a friend went to Crocker’s home. Crocker wrote the friend a $100 check, which was cashed the same day.

The friend told police that Francis didn’t go inside Crocker’s house but waited in a car. Later during questioning, Francis admitted he was in the house — although it’s unclear when. He went to borrow money by himself.

In the house under a ruse to use the phone, Francis told police, he turned his back on Crocker. When he turned around, he said Crocker had a gun pointed at him. Francis said he lunged for the gun and grabbed Crocker’s wrist when the gun discharged three times.

Francis said he later sold the .38-caliber gun to buy crack cocaine.

Police allege Francis used a pillow to muffle the sounds of the gunshots.

Francis told police two wallets were taken from Crocker. He said they were at a North Chestnut Street house in Niles, where he had been staying with a woman.

Weathersfield police searched the house and found two wallets, one of which was Crocker’s.

The woman told police that on Nov. 21, 2005, she noticed Francis in the backyard — wearing only a towel in the cold — burning clothing in a pan over a fire.

“What are you doing?” the woman asked Francis. “You don’t want to know. It’s bad! Bad! Bad!” he responded.

This was the same day that Crocker was found dead in his bedroom by his stepson, Kenneth W. Watkins, of Warren, who went to the house to check on him.