Smith obtains convictions in starvation death of 15-year-old boy
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Smith led the successful prosecution of a Vancouver couple who were found guilty Friday of homicide by abuse in the 2020 starvation death of their 15-year-old son, Karreon Franks. Smith presented evidence showing that Felicia Adams-Franks and Jesse Franks kept food locked away while Karreon — who had severe autism and could barely speak — wasted away, begging to eat. At the time of his death, he weighed just 61 pounds, having lost nearly half his body weight during the pandemic when school meals were no longer available.
In her closing argument, Smith rejected the couple’s claims of remorse, telling jurors: “The defendants were not crying when Karreon was wasting away in front of them.” She also highlighted how the couple used state funds intended for the children’s care to gamble at a nearby casino. The jury also found the couple guilty of criminal mistreatment of their two surviving sons, who testified to years of abuse.
Smith’s work helped expose the couple’s manipulation of appearances and secured a full conviction in a case that drew scrutiny of Washington state’s child welfare system
