Judge to rule on second day of testimony in 1997 homicide appeal
A Fayette County judge will determine if a man serving life in prison for a 1997 murder conviction should get a new trial.
Attorneys for Ronny Austin, 41, contend that those who represented him at trial should’ve presented evidence that a prosecution witness may have been lying.
Austin and two other men were convicted in the shooting death of Patricia “Flossy” Malec, 47, of Dunbar. Malec, a police informant, was supposed to offer testimony about a drug dealer; police believed that Austin and Stanley Brown killed her to curry favor with that drug dealer, Ed Monroe.
Over the years, Austin has filed several unsuccessful appeals. In his latest, his attorneys, Ryan H. James and John V. Siskopoulous, claimed that Peggy Franks, a prosecution witness in 1997, recanted statements that she and another woman knew of the killing and burned Malec’s purse.
On Monday, Franks’ son, Aaron Franks, testified as a defense witness. He told Judge Nancy D. Vernon that Austin with him for several hours the day that police believe Malec was killed.
“We were riding around, hanging out,” Aaron Franks said. “That’s all I know.”
Assistant District Attorney Rob Harper said Austin never listed Aaron Franks as an alibi witness when he went to trial. A pretrial motion in the case indicated that Austin claimed to be in New York when Malec was killed, Harper said.
Harper asked Aaron Franks why he never went to the district attorney’s office or the police if he believed the story his mother told the police was fabricated.
“I told her she should make it known,” Aaron Franks said, adding that he never told law enforcement.
Monday’s hearing was the second post-conviction hearing on the claims.
In November, prosecutors acknowledged that Peggy Franks recanted her statement about burning Malec’s purse as far back as 1997. Harper said jurors who presided over the trial knew that.
County Sheriff James Custer, then a state police trooper, was the lead investigator in Malec’s death.
Custer testified Peggy Franks contacted him about the case after she was arrested on a drug charge. He said told police about burning Malec’s purse, and burying it along Old Braddock Road.
When the snow and ice thawed, Custer testified, Peggy Franks and another woman helped him locate the purse.
Siskopoulous asked Custer if he was aware that other witnesses told investigators that they saw Malec three to four days after police believe she was killed, and four to five days before her remains were found.
Custer testified if those were the dates witnesses told investigators, then it was in the reports. However, he said, Malec’s family reported to police the last day she was seen, and forensic testimony showed her death likely occurred on June 5, 1995, when police believe she was killed.
Siskopoulous also asked about other people who may have made threats against Malec, as she was acting as an informant on other cases as well.
Custer testified there were people listed as persons of interest in case and investigators did speak to people who were talking about Malec being murdered.
Vernon permitted the prosecution and the defense up to 60 days to file any post-hearing motions, and she hopes to have a decision made sometime after those motions are filed.
Austin remains lodged at State Correction Institution at Somerset.