“Unbelievable,” said one attorney connected to the case. “Just when you think this thing couldn’t take any more turns.”
The deadly turn came after a strange week in which special prosecutor Fred Franklin announced the charges late Tuesday afternoon. After his announcement, Franklin could be heard talking to Stu Dornan, Gardner’s attorney, outside the courthouse. Franklin was apparently trying to make arrangements to have Gardner turn himself in.
Questions and criticism mounted as the week wore on and Gardner remained free.
Franklin, a retired assistant U.S. attorney, later told others that he was accustomed to the federal system in which defendants (especially white-collar ones) are often allowed to turn themselves in after an indictment is issued.
In Omaha-area cases, the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force typically finds and arranges for the arrests of those sought on warrants. The task force just did so in a double homicide case, securing the arrest of a suspect in Texas.
In a Twitter…
