IMPORTANT. . . RELENTLESS. . . A many-faceted and accomplished study. . . MacLean has taken a gruesome story and retold it with considerable sensitivity. . . A lawyer himself, he give an account of the trial that is comprehensible yet suspenseful, enriched by his insights into the tactics and emotions of the opposing lawyers. His understanding and clarity with regard to psychological issues is exemplary.

– New York Times

 

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"Once Upon A Time"
A True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law
Did Eileen Franklin suddenly remember a 20 year-old murder? Or did she suffer from "False-Memory Syndrom?"

Harry N. MacLean

In 1989 Eileen Franklin, a beautiful young California housewife, claimed to recover a repressed memory of her father murdering her playmate Susan Nason twenty years earlier. Eileen told two San Mateo County detectives that she had just remembered as a little girl watching her father bring a rock smashing down on her friend’s head as she sat in a clearing. The detectives were convinced, the prosecutor was convinced, and after watching her tell her story on the stand for two days a San Mateo County jury was also convinced. Despite an absence of any other evidence linking George Franklin to the crime, based only on Eileen’s repressed memory, the jury convicted Franklin of first-degree murder in the death of Susan Nason.

There was no science to support the idea that the mind could repress a traumatic memory and bring it back in pristine form some twenty years later, but the early nineties were awash in dramatic stories of children being sexually abused in day care centers, churches, and their homes. Therapists of all stripes helped patients “recover” repressed memories of early abuse to explain their difficulties in living as adults. The Franklin case was the first time a person was prosecuted for murder based on a recovered memory.

Since that time, the prevailing wisdom in psychology, the courts and in public opinion has turned radically against the validity of “recovered memories.” Studies have shown repeatedly how easy it is to implant such memories in people’s minds and have them later recovered as true. More courts refuse to allow recovered memories into evidence. Parents and patients have successfully sued therapists for implanting or suggesting false memories of
sexual abuse.

“Once Upon A Time” tells the story of the trial and the Franklin family. It recounts the abuse suffered by the children of George Franklin and examines why this character evidence was allowed into trial. The book explores the issue of the competing theories of memory and how the mind handles traumatic events. It raises the question of whether Franklin was really convicted of being an abusive father rather than a murderer. It sharpens and gives context to the debate over repressed memories, particularly as they are used as statements of the truth in courts of law.

In 1995, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction of George Franklin, finding, among other things, that Eileen had been operating as an agent for the prosecution when she visited him in jail and obtained a supposed incriminating statement. The prosecution refiled the charges against Franklin and was preparing for a new trial, when its case fell apart. Eileen had a falling out with her older sister, Janice, a key witness in the trial. Janice called the prosecution and left a message on the answering service saying that both she and Eileen had lied in the trial when they testified that they hadn’t recovered their memories in therapy. With their primary witness now a liar, the prosecution could not proceed. The case was dismissed and, after seven years George Franklin was released from prison.

“Once Upon A Time” was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the
New York Times.

MacLean gives us a fascinating look at a fascinating crime. No one will be bored reading this one.

– Tony Hillerman, author of Talking God and Coyote Waits