June 2, 2025 • 45 mins
In 1977, the small town of Dansville, Michigan, was shattered by a fire that killed a man in his sleep. But this wasn’t just another tragic house fire. What unfolded was a story of fear, survival, and justice in a system that offered none. And at the centre of it all was a woman named Francine Hughes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Smashing food in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage, rubbing
into my hair, hitting me. I remember how I felt
sitting there.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Nestled in the heart of mid Michigan, Mason is the
kind of place where life tends to move at a
slower pace. With its quaint courthouse square, historic brick buildings,
and tree lined streets, it gives off the unmistakable charm
of small town America. The community's close knit, the kind
where people nod to one another at the grocery store
and gather for Friday night football games. It's a place
(01:18):
that rarely makes headlines, Quiet, predictable, safe. Just beyond the
town's core, on the outskirts of Mason sits the Ingham
County Sheriff's Department, surrounded by open fields and framed by
the occasional passing car on a nearby country road. The
department is far enough from town to feel a bit removed,
but close enough to respond quickly when needed. On most nights,
(01:41):
the pace there is steady, but rarely frantic. The ninth
of March nineteen seventy seven was no different, at least
not at first inside the department. That evening, things are
running as usual. The radios crackle with the occasional traffic stop.
Officers filled out reports, sipped lukewarm coffee, and chatted quietly
(02:02):
in the dim light of the squadroom. The wind rattled
against the windows, a reminder that winter still lingered in Michigan.
It was a routine night, or so it seemed. Jeffrey
Simons was working as the gate guard that night, stationed
in a small booth near the department's entrance. At eight
forty five pm, his quiet shift took an unexpected turn.
(02:27):
A blue Ford Grenada pulled up abruptly, its headlights cutting
through the dark. Behind the wheel was a woman, white
eyed and visibly shaken. Four children sat silently in the
vehicle with her, their expressions confused, maybe even frightened. She
didn't wait for pleasantries. As soon as the window rolled down,
(02:49):
her voice cracked with panic. I think I've killed someone,
she blurted out. The night was no longer routine. Francine
(03:13):
Moore and Hughes was born in Stockbridge, Michigan, on the
seventeenth of August nineteen forty seven. Her mother, Hazel, had
high hopes for her baby girl, giving her a name
inspired by a French musician Francene. It was elegant, sophisticated,
a name that carried dreams far bigger than the town
that they lived in. But for Francine, childhood was less
(03:37):
about music and more about surviving the violent rhythm that
pulsed through her family's home. Her father, Walter, was a
farm worker by trade and an alcoholic by habit. His
anger would spill out in drunken rages, most often directed
at Hazel. Their modest home bore the scars of his outbursts,
(03:57):
shouted arguments, broken furniture, and bruises that couldn't be covered
by long sleeves. Hazel worked hard as a waitress to
keep food on the table, but money was always tight.
Francine grew up knowing what it felt like to go without,
but more than that, she knew what fair felt like.
Francing would often lie in bed at night, staring at
(04:17):
the ceiling, imagining what life could be like on the
outside of Stockbridge. She dreamed of a life without shouting,
without the sound of broken glass, without the threat of fists.
When Francie was just sixteen years old, she thought that
she saw her chance. He was eighteen and his name
was James Hughes. But everybody called them Mickey. He wasn't
(04:41):
like the other boys in town. He had his own car,
and to a teenage girl raised in poverty, that car
might as well have been a ticket out. Years later,
Francine would reflect on those early days. She stated, I
thought he was so sophisticated. He had his own car,
and most people I knew didn't. So Francine dropped out
(05:01):
of high school and she married Micky. She recollected, it
used to be a girl was taught to save herself
from somebody. We had intercourse before we were married. I
felt like I should marry him because of that. He
wanted to marry me so bad. I never felt I
had any one who loved me that much. The couple
moved into Micky's parents home in the nearby town of Dansville,
(05:22):
but instead of escaping the violence she had grown up with,
Francine had unknowingly stepped into another cycle of abuse, one
that would prove even more harrowing than the last. Within
weeks of their wedding, the first beating came. There wasn't
a specific trigger, Mickie didn't need one. He was angry, controlling,
and deeply insecure. He accused Francine of dressing indecently, of
(05:46):
drawing attention to herself. He forced her to take off
her clothing and then one by one, he tore them
to pieces in front of her. Wouldn't be the last
time that he used violence to assert control. On one occasion,
he forced Francine to he had a restaurant job because
he didn't like the brassy air with stratchy straps that
she had purchased. He said that it made her jiggle.
(06:08):
Another time, he gave her a black eye after she
purchased some Neil Varnish. While Mickey was overly jealous, he
openly had affairs with other women, and he made sure
to let Francie know about it. Over the years, the
abuse only escalated. Micky drank heavily, and with every drink,
his temper became more volatile. Francine endured baitings that left
(06:29):
her black and blue, and eventually she wasn't the only
one witnessing the violence. The couple had four children together, Christy, James,
Dana and Nicole. Francine tried to shield them, but how
do you protect your children when the person you need
protecting from sleeps in your own bed. Micky didn't try
to hide his rage from the children. In fact, sometimes
(06:51):
it felt like he wanted them to see it, to
know who was in control. He towered over Francine six
feet tall, two hundred pounds, and he rolled their home
with a mix of fear and brute force. One time,
he tore the telephone from the wall because Francine dared
to use it without his permission. On another occasion, he
took a sledgehammer and obliterated the toilet. Their daughter, Christie,
(07:14):
remembered that day vividly. She recollected because it was leaking
around the bottom, around the floor. The damage in the
family home wasn't just physical, It was emotional psychological. Every
slammed door, every insult, every bruise, it all shipped away
at Francine's spirit. By nineteen seventy one, Francine Hughes had
(07:45):
finally managed to break free. She divorced Mickey that year,
and for the first time in a long time, the
future seemed like it might hold something other than fair.
There was a sense of relief, a fragile calm that
settled over Francine's life. She was finally standing on her
own and doing her best to rebuild but that sense
of peace it was short lived. Not too long after
(08:08):
the divorce, Mickey was in a car accident. It left
him with lasting injuries in a deeply altered sense of self.
He moved him with his parents, and it was then,
out of a complicated mix of guilt, compassion, and pity,
that Francine made a fatal decision. She agreed to move
into the home next door. The idea was that she
(08:28):
could help care for Mickey, especially for the sake of
their children. After all, she had once loved him, he
was the father of her children. Maybe, just maybe, things
would be different now. But abuse doesn't heal with time,
and Mickey didn't change. It wasn't long before he was
back in Francine's home, back in her space, and back
(08:50):
in control. The cycle of abuse picked up right where
it left off, only now the violence came from a
man who had been weakened physically but not emotionally. If anything,
the accident had actually made his temper worse. He resented
his new reality, and Francine became his outlet once more.
He was no longer her husband, but he still acted
(09:12):
like he owned her, and so Francine once again found
herself trapped, trapped in a house with a man who
saw her as something to be controlled, trapped in a
system that offered her no safety net. She recollected, I
wouldn't move without him saying it was all right. And
it was hard to believe, but it's true. It was
like he wanted to possess me. He didn't want me
(09:34):
to go to places or see anybody, not even my
own family. I think maybe he was afraid that I
would leave. The home next door, where Mickey's parents lived,
was the only sanctuary. Whenever his temper erupted, She and
the children would escape across the yard, ducking into the
neighboring householding their breath. Christie, Francine's daughter, remembered those nights vividly.
(09:57):
I heard him say, all right, where is she? I
know she's and I heard Grandma say, I don't know.
Down in that dark, musty basement, Francine and her children
would huddle together, clinging to each other in silence, praying
that the storm would pass. But the storm never really ended.
Francine tried to get help. She called the police again
(10:19):
and again, but helped rarely came, and when it did,
it was often worse than nothing. On one occasion, Mickey
was so violent that he managed to overpower not one,
but two police officers. Another time, Francine escaped the house
after he tried to strangle her. She thought that she
was safe until Mickey chased her down and ran her
off the road. On another occasion, Francine sought help from
(10:42):
a police officer outside a grocery store. When he asked
Mickey what was going on, he snarled, you don't ask
me anything. Nobody asks me anything. These weren't isolated incidents.
This was the reality that Francie lived in and the
people who were supposed to protect her were At the time.
The law wasn't on Francine's side. In fact, it was
(11:05):
never really on any abused woman's side. There were no
domestic violence shelters in the area, no restraining orders, no
emergency protections. The police saw domestic disputes as private family matters,
something to be settled behind closed doors. The court system
often traded battered women as hysterical or over dramatic. There
(11:26):
were no specific laws criminalizing sposil abuse in Michigan at
the time. Even if Mickey had been arrested, it's likely
he would have been le go go with a fine
or at most a short stint in jail. The system
viewed marriage as a private contract. What happened inside that contract,
even if it was violent, was often invisible to the law.
(11:48):
Francine wasn't just fighting Mickey, she was fighting an entire
culture that told her she had no way out. It
was the ninth of March nineteen seventy seven. Francie Hughes
had just returned home from Lancing Business College, where she
was trailing to become a secretary. It was more than
(12:11):
just a class for Francine. It was a lifeline and
escaped from the chaos, a shot at independence, away to
finally become someone that she could be proud of. She
would later say, I wanted to feel better about myself.
I wanted to feel like somebody. I didn't feel good
about myself. I was ashamed of myself. It was the
(12:32):
kind of dream that Francine had kept hidden. She didn't
there let Micky see how much she enjoyed it because
she knew what would happen if he did. And Francine
was right. When she walked through the door that evening,
Micky was drunk again. He was angry, again. The children
were there, quiet and cautious, moving carefully around their father.
(12:54):
Francine had brought home TV dinners. She was exhausted, but
it didn't matter not to make. He wanted a home
cooked meal and he didn't care how tired she was.
The side of those frozen meals was enough to light
his short fuse. Her daughter Christie remembered it clearly. He
was mad because we were having TV dinners. He started yelling,
(13:16):
accusing Franccene of neglecting her duties at home. Then he
turned on her schooling. He demanded that she drop out.
When she refused, he stormed off, returned with her books
and tore them apart right in front of her. Then
he dragged her outside and forced her to burn them
in a barrel. Her ambitions, her future just turned to ash.
(13:38):
He threatened to take a sledge hammer to her car
so that she couldn't drive to school. Then Micky got violent.
He grabbed Francine by the hair and punched her in
the face over and over. Francie managed to break free.
She ran through the house, her face bruised, and called
out to Christie, telling her to call the police. Nickie
(13:59):
didn't even flinch. He sat down in the living room
waiting for them to arrive, like it was all part
of a game that he had played before. Deputy Stephen
Schlater was the first to walk through the door. Francie
told them what had happened. McKie didn't deny it. He
admitted the abuse. He even continued to threaten Francine in
front of the officer. Deputy Schlater would later recall he
(14:23):
made numerous threats to kill her. A second officer, Deputy
Dean Malm, soon arrived, but the threats didn't stop. Miggye
was emboldened. He told the officers outright that once they left,
he'd get even, and still they did nothing. At the time,
police procedure was clear and devastatingly inadequate. Officers weren't allowed
(14:47):
to arrest a man in a domestic dispute unless they
personally witnessed a physical assault. Francie knew that she thanked
the officers for coming anyway. They offered to drive her
to a friend's house, a relative place, but Francine had
nowhere to go, nowhere safe, nowhere that Mickey couldn't find
her when they left, So did any sense of protection
(15:11):
The err inside, the home remained heavy. The children were hungry,
but they were too scared to speak. Francine quietly prepared
the TV dinners. She sat down with the kids, trying
to offer them some sense of normalcy. She later recalled,
I remember the salt on the food, stinging my split
lip where he'd hit me. But there was no peace
(15:32):
in that house, not even for a meal. Mickie returned
to the kitchen. He opened another beer. His voice rose again.
He pointed on the table, sending dishes flank. The children screamed,
so he sent them upstairs. Then he turned back to
France scene. He dumped the dinners on to the floor
and demanded that she cleaned it up. As she knelt
(15:53):
on to do just that, he walked off. When he
came back, he saw that the mess was gone and
dumped the entire garbage can back onto the floor. Francie recollected,
I was crying. I got down and was picking it
up again. Then he got some food and smeared it
on my back. He smeared it in Francine's hair and
(16:14):
then leaned in close and snarled. If you think things
were bad before, they're going to be worse now.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Smashing food in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage, rubbing
it into my hair, hitting me. I remember how I
felt sitting there, and it was just I don't know
if I can describe it to you, but it was
the most a lone feeling in the whole world. And
I could hear the kids crying and alarn, Mommy, are
(16:42):
you all right?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
He hit her again. Francie backed into the corner of
the kitchen, curled into herself with her arms covering her
head as the blows rained down upstairs. Her children could
hear it. They cried all out, asking if she was okay. Eventually,
Mickey lost interest. He wandered to the bedroom with his
beer and told Francene to bring him something to eat.
(17:06):
She did. After he finished eating, he called her back again.
He then raped her. When he was done, he passed out,
and Franciine left the bedroom quietly. She gathered her children
in the living room and turned on the television. Nobody
was hungry anymore, Nobody spoke. They just sat there in silence,
(17:28):
and in that moment, Franccene felt it the absolute depth
of her powerlessness. She would later say, during that time,
I was thinking about all the things that had happened
to me, my whole life, all the things he had
done to me, all the times he had hurt me,
how he had hurt the kids. Francie knew that she
had to leave. She thought about packing up the children,
(17:50):
putting them in the car, and disappearing, just vanishing from
the life that had consumed her for over a decade.
But Francie Hughes didn't get into the horror, at least
not yet. Instead, she walked into the garage, and what
she did next would change her life and the conversation
of ron domestic violence in America forever. Sometime later, on
(18:23):
the same night of March ninth, Francine Hughes appeared at
the guard hut outside Ingham County Sheriff's Department. Her children
were in the vehicle with her. Silent and exhausted, she
pulled up and said to the guard on judy, I
killed somebody. The Sheriff's department also housed the county jail
and Sergeant Edward, and I happened to be on judy
(18:44):
that night he was called out. When he arrived at
the window, he found Franccene trembling, her face pale and
her hand shaking. He leaned in. What's wrong, he asked.
Franccene began to cry. Before she could answer, her daughter, Christie,
stepped forward and said firmly, he's been beating my mother
(19:06):
for years. And I looked at her how, he asked.
Christie didn't flinch her husband. Then Francine threw sobs, said
the word she never imagined herself, saying he was sleeping,
and I set the bedroom on fire. Sergeant and I
immediately phoned dispatch and sent fire crews racing towards one
(19:29):
O seven nine Grove Avenue. Francine turned off. The ignition
in her hand was a screw cap. She handed it
to the officer. Its stank of Gasolene. I threw it
around the bed, she explained softly. She and the children
were scorted inside. She collapsed into a chair and whispered,
(19:49):
oh God, he must be burning. About half an hour earlier,
back at the home on Grove Avenue, Francene had been
sitting quietly thinking Gie us asleep upstairs, passed out cold
in a drunken haze. The children were safe, at least
(20:10):
for the moment. Francine, however, was unraveling. She was tired,
tired of the bruises, tired of the fair, tired of
the never ending cycle of violence and apologies and threats.
She later said, I decided the only thing to do
was get in the car and drive off to a
different state. I was going to drive west, just go.
(20:33):
I decided there wasn't going to be anything to come
back to. I decided to burn everything. She had made
up her mind. Franccene turned to her son James, and
asked for the combination to the lock in the garage.
Inside the garage, Mickey kept cans of gasoline. Francine retrieved
one and returned to the home. She told the children
(20:53):
to put on their coats and weigh in the car.
It was cold. They didn't ask questions. They were used
to strange tense nights. Francie walked back inside. She climbed
the stairs to the bedroom, the same bedroom where Mickey
had assaulted her just stars earlier. He didn't stir. Francie
opened the gas can and began to pour. She slotted
(21:16):
it around the bed, letting the fumes rise and spread.
Then she struck a match. She never looked back. She
ran down the stairs, climbed into the car, and told
the children they were going for a drive. As they
pulled away, one of the children asked what the smell was.
Francie only responded, I lit a match. Then she drove
(21:38):
past the homes on Grove Avenue, past the sleeping city.
She didn't stop until she reached the Sheriff's department. Sirens
tore through the quiet, lancing night as fire cruise and
police officers raced towards the home on Groove Avenue. Even
before they reached the home, the flames were visible dancing
above the rooftops, licking the sky, illuminating the neighborhood. By
(22:03):
the time the fire was finally extinguished, nearly half of
the two story which framed home had been reduced to
charge wreckage. Amidst the destruction, firefighters found a body just
outside the bedroom door. It was Mickey Hughes. Captain Clarence
Wheeler of the fire department stated it looks as though
the death was apparently caused by the fire, but were
(22:26):
not too sure if anything happened to him prior to
the fire. Mickey's remains were transported to the County Morgue
for an autopsy. Doctor Lawrence Simpson, the medical examiner determined
the cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning, brought on by
extreme heat and smoke inhalation. Mickey's blood showed a seventy
(22:46):
two percent carbon monoxide saturation level, more than enough to
be fatal. It also found that Mickey had been heavily
intoxicated at the time of his death. Back at the
Ingham County Sheriff's Department, France was still reeling from what
she had done. She sat with the detectives and, through
quiet sobs, began to unravel the years of terror, violence
(23:08):
and control. Her children confirmed everything Christit told detectives. He
hit my mum a lot of times. Francine was arrested
and charged with first degree murder and murder by orson.
Judge Bell ordered her to be held without bond. Even
as he spoke, he made his own conflict clear when
(23:28):
he stated, were I not a judge, my initial reaction
would be one of compassion. I do not believe missus
Hughes will leave the area under the law. However, my
hands are tied. The judge wasn't alone and feeling torn.
As words spread throughout the community, something unexpected happened. People
started to rally behind Franccene. A Lancing area group formed
(23:52):
the Francine Hughes Defense Committee, and they began advocating for her,
calling for understanding, not punishment. The public statement the committee
declared wife assault has been treated much like rape, the
victim and not the assailant, is put on the defense.
Activist Carrie Shandel called Francine a symbol of battered women everywhere.
(24:14):
Jan Harper from the National Lawyer's Guild added the community
failed Francene, just like it fails countless other victims of
domestic violence. She had no way out. The committee called
on the state to reconsider its definition of self defense,
especially for women who live in constant fear in their
own homes. They demanded the charges be dropped or at
(24:36):
very least Francine be granted bond. The prosecutor of Peter
Hooke wasn't swayed. He'd stood firm and stated, if they're
suggesting all charges be drop, I guess they're saying committing
murder should be sanctioned by the state. He insisted that
he never would have filed the first degree murder charge
if he felt that it was too harsh. The case
(25:00):
continued its path through the courts, and on the thirteenth
of August nineteen seventy seven, Francine Hughes was ruled competent
to stant trial. The trial of Francie Hughes was originally
scheduled to begin on the fifteenth of October nineteen seventy seven,
but just before proceedings could get under way, Judge Michael
Harrison made a surprising announcement he was stepping down. Harrison
(25:24):
said he feared he couldn't be impartial in the case,
and so the trial was delayed. It was fished back
to the twenty fourth of October. Then, just days before
the trial began, one of the two charges against Francine
was dropped. While she was still facing first degree murder.
The felony murder charge was tossed out. By the twenty fifth,
(25:45):
the jury had been seated twelve women and two men,
and Francine Hughes was finally ready to fight for her freedom.
The courtroom slowly began to phil. Many of the observers
were women who had come to show their support for Francine.
(26:06):
The Michigan chapter of the National Organization for Women sent
a representative from each of its twenty six branches. The
Francine Hughes defense committee even organized corporals to help women
get to the courthouse. The prosecution was led by Martin Pallis.
In his opening statements, Pallas made a shocking claim. He
(26:26):
said that Francine had been in an intimate relationship with
another mam and that this alleged affair was the motive
behind the fire. He didn't explain the supposed connection between
this relationship and Mickey's death, only referencing a series of
letters that Francine had written from jail. He told the
jury this man was the one she wanted to be
(26:47):
with more than anyone in the world. But Francine's defense attorney,
Aaron grayd Annas approached the podium with a much different story.
He said Francine didn't deny starting the fire. He told
the jury, Francine Hughes is not going to deny that
in her memory of that particular event, as well as
she can remember, she was the one to set the fire.
(27:10):
But he said that she was a battered woman, a
woman who feared for her life and the lives of
her children. He stated, I'm going to ask you to
put yourself in the place of Francine Hughes. James Hughes
threatened to kill Francine Hughes on numerous occasions, and you'll
find out that she believed it, believed it with oliver heart.
(27:31):
Testony began with the two debuties who had responded to
the Hughes home just ours before the fire. Deputy Stephen
Schlatter described Mickey as being heavily intoxicated, swearing at Francine
and making threats. He stated, he told her it was
all over for her because she called me. He made
numerous threats that he would kill her, and he made
(27:53):
threats to me. Deputy Dean Maam then added, he stated
that once we left, he was going to get even
with her. But then the prosecution brought forward a surprising witness,
Mickey's mother, Flossie Hughes. She had lived next door to
the couple. Flossi claimed she had never seen her son
(28:13):
lay a finger on Francine. She said, never did I
see any of my sons strike any of their wives.
But under cross examination, defense attorney Greydnas revealed that Flossie
had previously filed the police complaint saying that her son
had struck her and Francine. The courtroom then grew tense
(28:34):
as Flossie snapped back, my son never beat on me,
how dare you? She also denied ever calling the police
to intervene of Francine and Mickey's home. Sheriff Barry Kingsley
testified that Flossie had in fact told officers that her
son was very erratic violent, even he said, she stated
(28:56):
that her son, James Hughes, was very erratic and had
been causing trouble had assaulted her. She advised me that
she had been struck by her son several times in
the face. Eventually, Flossie did admit that Francine often came
to her home for help, frequently hiding there even before
the couple were married. She hid in my house so
(29:16):
many times. I didn't know if they were playing games
or what, she admitted. But some of the most powerful
testimony came from Francine and Mickey's two oldest children, Christie
and James Junior, now living with their grandmother and Jackson.
Both children described a household that was ruled by fear.
They said that Mickie had beaten their mother too many
(29:38):
times to count. Christie was asked if she ever missed
her father. She gave a simple answer no. She recalled
seeing him punch her mother for the first time when
she was just seven years old. Both children described how
Mickie had once pulled a knife on fran Scene and
how they often hit out in their grandmother's basement when
(29:59):
things became too violent. Christie said that Flossie, despite her denials,
had seen the abuse. On the day of the fire,
both children remembered their father's rage. They described him hitting
Franccene again and again. Christie said, I couldn't see, but
I could hear her scream. I could see him swinging
at her, and Mom was crouched down in a corner.
(30:22):
They described how Francine had rushed them into the car
and drove them to the sheriff's department. Christie remembered her
mother shaking and crying uncontrollably. She testified she was saying,
oh my God, and she was shaking real bad. She
kept looking out the back window. For the first time
in the trial, Franccene broke down as her children testified.
(30:45):
Neighbors and friends also testified about what they had seen.
Connie fell pouch a friend and neighbors said I would
ask him where Francine was and he would say she's
home mending herself from the night before. She testified the
Mickey forbade Franccene from having friends or guests. He once
told her she didn't need friends. Another neighbor, Alice Quenby,
(31:08):
said that Mickey was very mean when he drank, which
was often. She'd seen him beating Francene through the living
room window. Even Mickey's treatment of his own parents came up.
Donna Johnson recall see him beat Francene in his mother's
front yard while neighbors tried to intervene. Several police officers
also testified, each one recounting the many times they had
(31:31):
been called to the Hughes home in response to the
domestic violence. During the second week of the trial, the
man that Francine had allegedly been having an affair with
was finally named, twenty six year old George Walcup. By
the time the trial had begun, George was dead. Just
three weeks earlier, he had shot and killed himself. It
(31:51):
was later revealed that he had been facing a charge
of first degree rape in an unrelated case. After Francine's arrest,
she and George had exchanged letters which prosecutors claimed showed
that they were romantically involved. According to Elizabeth Kover, a
friend of Francine's, the relationship had ended after Francine discovered
that George was married. He had initially claimed to be single,
(32:15):
and the two had only gone on one date before
Francine broke it off. Francine's defense attorney dismissed the claims
of an affair, steering if this was supposed to be
the blockbuster evidence the prosecution talked about, had fizzled somewhere.
He reminded the jury that Francine and Mickey were divorced
and that the relationship, if it had ever existed, was
(32:36):
relevant to the events of that night. Next on the
witness stand was Francine's doctor, John Deskin. He told the
jury that Francine had spoken to him about her fear
of Mickey and the physical abuse she had suffered. He
said to the jury she was anxious, she was uncomfortable
with their home situation, and she wanted to get help.
(32:58):
After that, Francie Hughes herself took to the stand, calm
and composed. She began to describe the decade of torment
she had endured. She said, fear dominated my life. Almost
every day. I never knew what to expect when I
came home from school. Francine said that the abuse began
early in their relationship. She said, the clothes I put on,
(33:22):
he would tear them off. He didn't want me to
wear my blouses tucked into my slacks. When things got
particularly violent, she would flee next door to your in
law's home, but eventually even that refuge was toned. They
didn't want to be bothered, she said. Despite numerous calls
for help and attempts to report the abuse, Francine said
(33:42):
she felt completely alone. Speaking of the authority, she said,
they wouldn't do anything. I just felt like I was
alone and no matter what I did, it wasn't any help.
Francine spoke about her brief interaction with George walk Up,
confirming that they went on one date after learning that
he was married. However, she ended it. He later wrote
(34:04):
to her in jail telling her that he was getting
a divorce. She described the short lived connection as like
a dream, not a realistic hope. Then, Francine recounted the
night of the fire. She described feeling as if something
outside of herself had taken over. She said there was
like an urgent voice whispering do it do it. Psychologist
(34:28):
doctor Arnold Beckham testified that Francine was temporarily insane at
the time of the fire. He explained that she was
helplessly trapped by fear and unable to conform her behavior
to the law. He said to the cord she was
mentally ill at the time. She was at the mercy
of her impulses. Doctor Beckham noted that Francine wasn't a
violent person by nature, she was a battered woman who
(34:51):
had been pushed past the brink. His opinion was echoed
by another expert witness, doctor Anne Sedan, who prescribed France
as acutely psychotic. She likened Francine's actions to sleep walking,
telling the court it wouldn't make sense to call that
planning any more than it would call what someone does
in sleepwalking plan Because the legal system didn't yet recognize
(35:15):
self defense in cases of prolonged domestic abuse, Francine's defense
team argued temporary insanity. The prosecution brought in their own psychiatrist,
doctor Linn Blunt. While doctor Blunt disagreed with the insanity diagnosis,
she admitted that Francine's actions were impulsive. Under cross examination,
(35:35):
she made a critical concession. She acknowledged that Francine was
defending herself. Doctor Blunt testified she was defending herself in
a sense because he had told her he would follow
her wherever she went. After that, the defense made a
move to have the first degree murder charge dropped. Defense
(35:56):
attorney Greg Danis argued that the prosecution hadn't proved in
pre medicit, pointing out that even their own psychiatrist, doctor Blunt,
had said that Francine's actions were impulsive. The judge denied
the motion, and with that the trial moved into closing arguments.
Gred Annas told the jury that Francine was a pitiful
creature who had finally defended herself after enduring thirteen years
(36:20):
of inhuman abuse. He said she wasn't a criminal, she
was a battered woman, failed by the system, who had
simply run out of options. The prosecution, on the other hand,
focused on the act itself. They said there was no
doubt that Francine had poured gasoline on Mickey's bed and
set it on fire. Whatever her reasons, they argued, the
(36:40):
law had still been broken. The jury deliberated for just
six and a half hours before they returned with a verdict.
The courtroom filled with people and then silence. Francine sat stiffly,
her children in the front row, her fate hanging in
the air. The jury found frank Seen Hughes not guilty
(37:02):
by reason of insanity. The silence broke into applause. Francine
hugged her attorney and then ran straight to her children.
After the courtroom had quiet and down, Judge Ray Hodgekiss
made a statement. He stated, all of a sudden, we
realize that we have thousands of women who have had
no recourse under the law. Where are we when these
(37:24):
people are crying for help? Defense attorney Gray Annas then
said to the courtroom, this is a president's setting decision.
I think she will be free tomorrow, and I think
she will be free from now. On the next day
Francine was released, she boasted a twenty five thousand dollars
personal bond, which meant that she didn't actually have to
(37:45):
pay anything up front, and was then ordered to meet
with a state psychiatrist within ten days. They would then
determine if she still needed any psychiatric treatment. Francine had
spent eight months behind bars, speaking to reporter, She said
she was looking forward to some real food, a real bed,
and a bath. She said, I want to take care
(38:07):
of my children and go back to school. Francine also
said that she wanted to speak out about what had
happened to her and what was happening to women like her,
and how does.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
It feel to be free? It was on my face.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
When a reporter asked if she considered herself a liberated
woman now, she responded, I don't think I've ever been liberated,
but I'd like to. The following week, Francine underwent her
psychiatric exam. She was fond to be seen. Her attorney said,
of course, she's very happy. As far as we're concerned,
(38:44):
that's the end of the story. After her release, Francine
returned to her mother's home in Jackson, Michigan, where her
children had been stink. The cameras were gone, the courtroom
was silent, and life, real life, had to go on.
(39:06):
Francin told reporters, I know there are going to be
certain things that I really want. I want to be
successful at the job. I was headed for a business career,
but the path forward wasn't daisy. Over the years, Francine
held a series of low skilled jobs, the kind of
work that didn't make the headlines, the kind that paid
(39:28):
the bills and kept her moving. She remarried a man
named Robert Wilson, who had spent more than a decade
in prison for armed robbery. Together, they relocated to Tennessee. There,
Francine enrolled in a nursing school and earned her certification
as a practical nurse. For a time, she and Robert
(39:48):
ran a small nursing agency. Later, they settled in Lton, Alabama.
Francine kept a low profile. She wasn't interested in public
appearances or interviews. She didn't want to be a symbol.
In one of the few conversations she gave years later,
she told People magazine, people still look at me like
(40:09):
they're trying to figure me out. I don't feel like
I have to explain myself to anybody, and I don't
need pity or sympathy. I'm just an ordinary person, and
that's what she was trying to be. Ordinary, a mother,
a nurse, a survivor. She never sought attention, never cashed
in on her story, never framed herself as a hero.
(40:31):
On the twenty second of March two thousand and seventeen,
Francine Hughes, known later as Francine Wilson, died at the
age of sixty nine. She had been battling complications from
pneumonia and passed away quietly. Most of her neighbors didn't
even know who she was. To them, she was just francing,
(40:52):
the kind woman down the street who once worked in nursing.
Her friend, Christy Holland, later said, she talked about it
with my mother a little bit, but it was something
she wasn't really proud of. She didn't understand she changed
things for battered women everywhere. She really deserved recognition, but
she never thought she did. Francine didn't want to be
(41:14):
remembered for what she had done. But the truth is,
Francine changed things for battered women, for the legal system,
for how society talks about domestic violence. For the very
first time, brutality of domestic abuse was laid bare in
a courtroom, not just as a side issue, but as
the heart of a murder trial. At the time, there
(41:35):
were no legal protections for battered women in Michigan, no
domestic violence shelters in Francine's hometown, no laws that recognized
long term abuse as a form of self defense, but
Francine's trial changed that. In the years that followed, there
was a surge in public awareness about domestic violence. Shelters
(41:56):
began to open across the country. Hotlines were established. Police
departments were pushed to take domestic abuse seriously, no longer
training it as a private matter. Legal minds, too, began
to rethink self defense laws. The concept of battered woman's
syndrome gained ground. It recognized that victims of long term
(42:17):
abuse may perceive danger differently and may act in ways
that don't fit the traditional mold of immediate threat. Francie
Hughes hadn't just taught for her life. She had also
exposed the failures of a system that left countless women
would nowhere to turn. In nineteen eighty four, her story
was turned into a made for TV movie called The
(42:38):
Burning Bed, starring Fire Faucet. It aired to over seventy
million people, and from any it was the first time
they had seen domestic abuse depicted so graphically on screen.
The film became a cultural touchstone. Suddenly people were saying
the words domestic violence. Suddenly people were listening. Francie Hughes,
(43:00):
Who's never wanted to be the face of a movement.
She just wanted to survive, but in surviving, Francine helped
pave the way for a world where women wouldn't have
to choose between silence. We're setting the bed on fire. Well,
(43:46):
Bestie's that is it for this episode of Morbidology's always
thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
say a big, massive thank you to my new supporter
of bomb Patreon, Lisa. The support of bomb Patroon seriously
goes such a long way and helps to defray the
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so I genuinely do appreciate all of your help. If
(44:09):
you'd like to join Morbidology up on Patreon, the link
is in the show notes. In exchange for your support,
I send out thank you card along with some cool
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(44:30):
Remember to check as out at morbidology dot com for
more information about this episode and to read some tricker articles.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Stay safe and
have an amazing week.
Smashing food in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage, rubbing
into my hair, hitting me. I remember how I felt
sitting there.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Nestled in the heart of mid Michigan, Mason is the
kind of place where life tends to move at a
slower pace. With its quaint courthouse square, historic brick buildings,
and tree lined streets, it gives off the unmistakable charm
of small town America. The community's close knit, the kind
where people nod to one another at the grocery store
and gather for Friday night football games. It's a place
(01:18):
that rarely makes headlines, Quiet, predictable, safe. Just beyond the
town's core, on the outskirts of Mason sits the Ingham
County Sheriff's Department, surrounded by open fields and framed by
the occasional passing car on a nearby country road. The
department is far enough from town to feel a bit removed,
but close enough to respond quickly when needed. On most nights,
(01:41):
the pace there is steady, but rarely frantic. The ninth
of March nineteen seventy seven was no different, at least
not at first inside the department. That evening, things are
running as usual. The radios crackle with the occasional traffic stop.
Officers filled out reports, sipped lukewarm coffee, and chatted quietly
(02:02):
in the dim light of the squadroom. The wind rattled
against the windows, a reminder that winter still lingered in Michigan.
It was a routine night, or so it seemed. Jeffrey
Simons was working as the gate guard that night, stationed
in a small booth near the department's entrance. At eight
forty five pm, his quiet shift took an unexpected turn.
(02:27):
A blue Ford Grenada pulled up abruptly, its headlights cutting
through the dark. Behind the wheel was a woman, white
eyed and visibly shaken. Four children sat silently in the
vehicle with her, their expressions confused, maybe even frightened. She
didn't wait for pleasantries. As soon as the window rolled down,
(02:49):
her voice cracked with panic. I think I've killed someone,
she blurted out. The night was no longer routine. Francine
(03:13):
Moore and Hughes was born in Stockbridge, Michigan, on the
seventeenth of August nineteen forty seven. Her mother, Hazel, had
high hopes for her baby girl, giving her a name
inspired by a French musician Francene. It was elegant, sophisticated,
a name that carried dreams far bigger than the town
that they lived in. But for Francine, childhood was less
(03:37):
about music and more about surviving the violent rhythm that
pulsed through her family's home. Her father, Walter, was a
farm worker by trade and an alcoholic by habit. His
anger would spill out in drunken rages, most often directed
at Hazel. Their modest home bore the scars of his outbursts,
(03:57):
shouted arguments, broken furniture, and bruises that couldn't be covered
by long sleeves. Hazel worked hard as a waitress to
keep food on the table, but money was always tight.
Francine grew up knowing what it felt like to go without,
but more than that, she knew what fair felt like.
Francing would often lie in bed at night, staring at
(04:17):
the ceiling, imagining what life could be like on the
outside of Stockbridge. She dreamed of a life without shouting,
without the sound of broken glass, without the threat of fists.
When Francie was just sixteen years old, she thought that
she saw her chance. He was eighteen and his name
was James Hughes. But everybody called them Mickey. He wasn't
(04:41):
like the other boys in town. He had his own car,
and to a teenage girl raised in poverty, that car
might as well have been a ticket out. Years later,
Francine would reflect on those early days. She stated, I
thought he was so sophisticated. He had his own car,
and most people I knew didn't. So Francine dropped out
(05:01):
of high school and she married Micky. She recollected, it
used to be a girl was taught to save herself
from somebody. We had intercourse before we were married. I
felt like I should marry him because of that. He
wanted to marry me so bad. I never felt I
had any one who loved me that much. The couple
moved into Micky's parents home in the nearby town of Dansville,
(05:22):
but instead of escaping the violence she had grown up with,
Francine had unknowingly stepped into another cycle of abuse, one
that would prove even more harrowing than the last. Within
weeks of their wedding, the first beating came. There wasn't
a specific trigger, Mickie didn't need one. He was angry, controlling,
and deeply insecure. He accused Francine of dressing indecently, of
(05:46):
drawing attention to herself. He forced her to take off
her clothing and then one by one, he tore them
to pieces in front of her. Wouldn't be the last
time that he used violence to assert control. On one occasion,
he forced Francine to he had a restaurant job because
he didn't like the brassy air with stratchy straps that
she had purchased. He said that it made her jiggle.
(06:08):
Another time, he gave her a black eye after she
purchased some Neil Varnish. While Mickey was overly jealous, he
openly had affairs with other women, and he made sure
to let Francie know about it. Over the years, the
abuse only escalated. Micky drank heavily, and with every drink,
his temper became more volatile. Francine endured baitings that left
(06:29):
her black and blue, and eventually she wasn't the only
one witnessing the violence. The couple had four children together, Christy, James,
Dana and Nicole. Francine tried to shield them, but how
do you protect your children when the person you need
protecting from sleeps in your own bed. Micky didn't try
to hide his rage from the children. In fact, sometimes
(06:51):
it felt like he wanted them to see it, to
know who was in control. He towered over Francine six
feet tall, two hundred pounds, and he rolled their home
with a mix of fear and brute force. One time,
he tore the telephone from the wall because Francine dared
to use it without his permission. On another occasion, he
took a sledgehammer and obliterated the toilet. Their daughter, Christie,
(07:14):
remembered that day vividly. She recollected because it was leaking
around the bottom, around the floor. The damage in the
family home wasn't just physical, It was emotional psychological. Every
slammed door, every insult, every bruise, it all shipped away
at Francine's spirit. By nineteen seventy one, Francine Hughes had
(07:45):
finally managed to break free. She divorced Mickey that year,
and for the first time in a long time, the
future seemed like it might hold something other than fair.
There was a sense of relief, a fragile calm that
settled over Francine's life. She was finally standing on her
own and doing her best to rebuild but that sense
of peace it was short lived. Not too long after
(08:08):
the divorce, Mickey was in a car accident. It left
him with lasting injuries in a deeply altered sense of self.
He moved him with his parents, and it was then,
out of a complicated mix of guilt, compassion, and pity,
that Francine made a fatal decision. She agreed to move
into the home next door. The idea was that she
(08:28):
could help care for Mickey, especially for the sake of
their children. After all, she had once loved him, he
was the father of her children. Maybe, just maybe, things
would be different now. But abuse doesn't heal with time,
and Mickey didn't change. It wasn't long before he was
back in Francine's home, back in her space, and back
(08:50):
in control. The cycle of abuse picked up right where
it left off, only now the violence came from a
man who had been weakened physically but not emotionally. If anything,
the accident had actually made his temper worse. He resented
his new reality, and Francine became his outlet once more.
He was no longer her husband, but he still acted
(09:12):
like he owned her, and so Francine once again found
herself trapped, trapped in a house with a man who
saw her as something to be controlled, trapped in a
system that offered her no safety net. She recollected, I
wouldn't move without him saying it was all right. And
it was hard to believe, but it's true. It was
like he wanted to possess me. He didn't want me
(09:34):
to go to places or see anybody, not even my
own family. I think maybe he was afraid that I
would leave. The home next door, where Mickey's parents lived,
was the only sanctuary. Whenever his temper erupted, She and
the children would escape across the yard, ducking into the
neighboring householding their breath. Christie, Francine's daughter, remembered those nights vividly.
(09:57):
I heard him say, all right, where is she? I
know she's and I heard Grandma say, I don't know.
Down in that dark, musty basement, Francine and her children
would huddle together, clinging to each other in silence, praying
that the storm would pass. But the storm never really ended.
Francine tried to get help. She called the police again
(10:19):
and again, but helped rarely came, and when it did,
it was often worse than nothing. On one occasion, Mickey
was so violent that he managed to overpower not one,
but two police officers. Another time, Francine escaped the house
after he tried to strangle her. She thought that she
was safe until Mickey chased her down and ran her
off the road. On another occasion, Francine sought help from
(10:42):
a police officer outside a grocery store. When he asked
Mickey what was going on, he snarled, you don't ask
me anything. Nobody asks me anything. These weren't isolated incidents.
This was the reality that Francie lived in and the
people who were supposed to protect her were At the time.
The law wasn't on Francine's side. In fact, it was
(11:05):
never really on any abused woman's side. There were no
domestic violence shelters in the area, no restraining orders, no
emergency protections. The police saw domestic disputes as private family matters,
something to be settled behind closed doors. The court system
often traded battered women as hysterical or over dramatic. There
(11:26):
were no specific laws criminalizing sposil abuse in Michigan at
the time. Even if Mickey had been arrested, it's likely
he would have been le go go with a fine
or at most a short stint in jail. The system
viewed marriage as a private contract. What happened inside that contract,
even if it was violent, was often invisible to the law.
(11:48):
Francine wasn't just fighting Mickey, she was fighting an entire
culture that told her she had no way out. It
was the ninth of March nineteen seventy seven. Francie Hughes
had just returned home from Lancing Business College, where she
was trailing to become a secretary. It was more than
(12:11):
just a class for Francine. It was a lifeline and
escaped from the chaos, a shot at independence, away to
finally become someone that she could be proud of. She
would later say, I wanted to feel better about myself.
I wanted to feel like somebody. I didn't feel good
about myself. I was ashamed of myself. It was the
(12:32):
kind of dream that Francine had kept hidden. She didn't
there let Micky see how much she enjoyed it because
she knew what would happen if he did. And Francine
was right. When she walked through the door that evening,
Micky was drunk again. He was angry, again. The children
were there, quiet and cautious, moving carefully around their father.
(12:54):
Francine had brought home TV dinners. She was exhausted, but
it didn't matter not to make. He wanted a home
cooked meal and he didn't care how tired she was.
The side of those frozen meals was enough to light
his short fuse. Her daughter Christie remembered it clearly. He
was mad because we were having TV dinners. He started yelling,
(13:16):
accusing Franccene of neglecting her duties at home. Then he
turned on her schooling. He demanded that she drop out.
When she refused, he stormed off, returned with her books
and tore them apart right in front of her. Then
he dragged her outside and forced her to burn them
in a barrel. Her ambitions, her future just turned to ash.
(13:38):
He threatened to take a sledge hammer to her car
so that she couldn't drive to school. Then Micky got violent.
He grabbed Francine by the hair and punched her in
the face over and over. Francie managed to break free.
She ran through the house, her face bruised, and called
out to Christie, telling her to call the police. Nickie
(13:59):
didn't even flinch. He sat down in the living room
waiting for them to arrive, like it was all part
of a game that he had played before. Deputy Stephen
Schlater was the first to walk through the door. Francie
told them what had happened. McKie didn't deny it. He
admitted the abuse. He even continued to threaten Francine in
front of the officer. Deputy Schlater would later recall he
(14:23):
made numerous threats to kill her. A second officer, Deputy
Dean Malm, soon arrived, but the threats didn't stop. Miggye
was emboldened. He told the officers outright that once they left,
he'd get even, and still they did nothing. At the time,
police procedure was clear and devastatingly inadequate. Officers weren't allowed
(14:47):
to arrest a man in a domestic dispute unless they
personally witnessed a physical assault. Francie knew that she thanked
the officers for coming anyway. They offered to drive her
to a friend's house, a relative place, but Francine had
nowhere to go, nowhere safe, nowhere that Mickey couldn't find
her when they left, So did any sense of protection
(15:11):
The err inside, the home remained heavy. The children were hungry,
but they were too scared to speak. Francine quietly prepared
the TV dinners. She sat down with the kids, trying
to offer them some sense of normalcy. She later recalled,
I remember the salt on the food, stinging my split
lip where he'd hit me. But there was no peace
(15:32):
in that house, not even for a meal. Mickie returned
to the kitchen. He opened another beer. His voice rose again.
He pointed on the table, sending dishes flank. The children screamed,
so he sent them upstairs. Then he turned back to
France scene. He dumped the dinners on to the floor
and demanded that she cleaned it up. As she knelt
(15:53):
on to do just that, he walked off. When he
came back, he saw that the mess was gone and
dumped the entire garbage can back onto the floor. Francie recollected,
I was crying. I got down and was picking it
up again. Then he got some food and smeared it
on my back. He smeared it in Francine's hair and
(16:14):
then leaned in close and snarled. If you think things
were bad before, they're going to be worse now.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Smashing food in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage, rubbing
it into my hair, hitting me. I remember how I
felt sitting there, and it was just I don't know
if I can describe it to you, but it was
the most a lone feeling in the whole world. And
I could hear the kids crying and alarn, Mommy, are
(16:42):
you all right?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
He hit her again. Francie backed into the corner of
the kitchen, curled into herself with her arms covering her
head as the blows rained down upstairs. Her children could
hear it. They cried all out, asking if she was okay. Eventually,
Mickey lost interest. He wandered to the bedroom with his
beer and told Francene to bring him something to eat.
(17:06):
She did. After he finished eating, he called her back again.
He then raped her. When he was done, he passed out,
and Franciine left the bedroom quietly. She gathered her children
in the living room and turned on the television. Nobody
was hungry anymore, Nobody spoke. They just sat there in silence,
(17:28):
and in that moment, Franccene felt it the absolute depth
of her powerlessness. She would later say, during that time,
I was thinking about all the things that had happened
to me, my whole life, all the things he had
done to me, all the times he had hurt me,
how he had hurt the kids. Francie knew that she
had to leave. She thought about packing up the children,
(17:50):
putting them in the car, and disappearing, just vanishing from
the life that had consumed her for over a decade.
But Francie Hughes didn't get into the horror, at least
not yet. Instead, she walked into the garage, and what
she did next would change her life and the conversation
of ron domestic violence in America forever. Sometime later, on
(18:23):
the same night of March ninth, Francine Hughes appeared at
the guard hut outside Ingham County Sheriff's Department. Her children
were in the vehicle with her. Silent and exhausted, she
pulled up and said to the guard on judy, I
killed somebody. The Sheriff's department also housed the county jail
and Sergeant Edward, and I happened to be on judy
(18:44):
that night he was called out. When he arrived at
the window, he found Franccene trembling, her face pale and
her hand shaking. He leaned in. What's wrong, he asked.
Franccene began to cry. Before she could answer, her daughter, Christie,
stepped forward and said firmly, he's been beating my mother
(19:06):
for years. And I looked at her how, he asked.
Christie didn't flinch her husband. Then Francine threw sobs, said
the word she never imagined herself, saying he was sleeping,
and I set the bedroom on fire. Sergeant and I
immediately phoned dispatch and sent fire crews racing towards one
(19:29):
O seven nine Grove Avenue. Francine turned off. The ignition
in her hand was a screw cap. She handed it
to the officer. Its stank of Gasolene. I threw it
around the bed, she explained softly. She and the children
were scorted inside. She collapsed into a chair and whispered,
(19:49):
oh God, he must be burning. About half an hour earlier,
back at the home on Grove Avenue, Francene had been
sitting quietly thinking Gie us asleep upstairs, passed out cold
in a drunken haze. The children were safe, at least
(20:10):
for the moment. Francine, however, was unraveling. She was tired,
tired of the bruises, tired of the fair, tired of
the never ending cycle of violence and apologies and threats.
She later said, I decided the only thing to do
was get in the car and drive off to a
different state. I was going to drive west, just go.
(20:33):
I decided there wasn't going to be anything to come
back to. I decided to burn everything. She had made
up her mind. Franccene turned to her son James, and
asked for the combination to the lock in the garage.
Inside the garage, Mickey kept cans of gasoline. Francine retrieved
one and returned to the home. She told the children
(20:53):
to put on their coats and weigh in the car.
It was cold. They didn't ask questions. They were used
to strange tense nights. Francie walked back inside. She climbed
the stairs to the bedroom, the same bedroom where Mickey
had assaulted her just stars earlier. He didn't stir. Francie
opened the gas can and began to pour. She slotted
(21:16):
it around the bed, letting the fumes rise and spread.
Then she struck a match. She never looked back. She
ran down the stairs, climbed into the car, and told
the children they were going for a drive. As they
pulled away, one of the children asked what the smell was.
Francie only responded, I lit a match. Then she drove
(21:38):
past the homes on Grove Avenue, past the sleeping city.
She didn't stop until she reached the Sheriff's department. Sirens
tore through the quiet, lancing night as fire cruise and
police officers raced towards the home on Groove Avenue. Even
before they reached the home, the flames were visible dancing
above the rooftops, licking the sky, illuminating the neighborhood. By
(22:03):
the time the fire was finally extinguished, nearly half of
the two story which framed home had been reduced to
charge wreckage. Amidst the destruction, firefighters found a body just
outside the bedroom door. It was Mickey Hughes. Captain Clarence
Wheeler of the fire department stated it looks as though
the death was apparently caused by the fire, but were
(22:26):
not too sure if anything happened to him prior to
the fire. Mickey's remains were transported to the County Morgue
for an autopsy. Doctor Lawrence Simpson, the medical examiner determined
the cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning, brought on by
extreme heat and smoke inhalation. Mickey's blood showed a seventy
(22:46):
two percent carbon monoxide saturation level, more than enough to
be fatal. It also found that Mickey had been heavily
intoxicated at the time of his death. Back at the
Ingham County Sheriff's Department, France was still reeling from what
she had done. She sat with the detectives and, through
quiet sobs, began to unravel the years of terror, violence
(23:08):
and control. Her children confirmed everything Christit told detectives. He
hit my mum a lot of times. Francine was arrested
and charged with first degree murder and murder by orson.
Judge Bell ordered her to be held without bond. Even
as he spoke, he made his own conflict clear when
(23:28):
he stated, were I not a judge, my initial reaction
would be one of compassion. I do not believe missus
Hughes will leave the area under the law. However, my
hands are tied. The judge wasn't alone and feeling torn.
As words spread throughout the community, something unexpected happened. People
started to rally behind Franccene. A Lancing area group formed
(23:52):
the Francine Hughes Defense Committee, and they began advocating for her,
calling for understanding, not punishment. The public statement the committee
declared wife assault has been treated much like rape, the
victim and not the assailant, is put on the defense.
Activist Carrie Shandel called Francine a symbol of battered women everywhere.
(24:14):
Jan Harper from the National Lawyer's Guild added the community
failed Francene, just like it fails countless other victims of
domestic violence. She had no way out. The committee called
on the state to reconsider its definition of self defense,
especially for women who live in constant fear in their
own homes. They demanded the charges be dropped or at
(24:36):
very least Francine be granted bond. The prosecutor of Peter
Hooke wasn't swayed. He'd stood firm and stated, if they're
suggesting all charges be drop, I guess they're saying committing
murder should be sanctioned by the state. He insisted that
he never would have filed the first degree murder charge
if he felt that it was too harsh. The case
(25:00):
continued its path through the courts, and on the thirteenth
of August nineteen seventy seven, Francine Hughes was ruled competent
to stant trial. The trial of Francie Hughes was originally
scheduled to begin on the fifteenth of October nineteen seventy seven,
but just before proceedings could get under way, Judge Michael
Harrison made a surprising announcement he was stepping down. Harrison
(25:24):
said he feared he couldn't be impartial in the case,
and so the trial was delayed. It was fished back
to the twenty fourth of October. Then, just days before
the trial began, one of the two charges against Francine
was dropped. While she was still facing first degree murder.
The felony murder charge was tossed out. By the twenty fifth,
(25:45):
the jury had been seated twelve women and two men,
and Francine Hughes was finally ready to fight for her freedom.
The courtroom slowly began to phil. Many of the observers
were women who had come to show their support for Francine.
(26:06):
The Michigan chapter of the National Organization for Women sent
a representative from each of its twenty six branches. The
Francine Hughes defense committee even organized corporals to help women
get to the courthouse. The prosecution was led by Martin Pallis.
In his opening statements, Pallas made a shocking claim. He
(26:26):
said that Francine had been in an intimate relationship with
another mam and that this alleged affair was the motive
behind the fire. He didn't explain the supposed connection between
this relationship and Mickey's death, only referencing a series of
letters that Francine had written from jail. He told the
jury this man was the one she wanted to be
(26:47):
with more than anyone in the world. But Francine's defense attorney,
Aaron grayd Annas approached the podium with a much different story.
He said Francine didn't deny starting the fire. He told
the jury, Francine Hughes is not going to deny that
in her memory of that particular event, as well as
she can remember, she was the one to set the fire.
(27:10):
But he said that she was a battered woman, a
woman who feared for her life and the lives of
her children. He stated, I'm going to ask you to
put yourself in the place of Francine Hughes. James Hughes
threatened to kill Francine Hughes on numerous occasions, and you'll
find out that she believed it, believed it with oliver heart.
(27:31):
Testony began with the two debuties who had responded to
the Hughes home just ours before the fire. Deputy Stephen
Schlatter described Mickey as being heavily intoxicated, swearing at Francine
and making threats. He stated, he told her it was
all over for her because she called me. He made
numerous threats that he would kill her, and he made
(27:53):
threats to me. Deputy Dean Maam then added, he stated
that once we left, he was going to get even
with her. But then the prosecution brought forward a surprising witness,
Mickey's mother, Flossie Hughes. She had lived next door to
the couple. Flossi claimed she had never seen her son
(28:13):
lay a finger on Francine. She said, never did I
see any of my sons strike any of their wives.
But under cross examination, defense attorney Greydnas revealed that Flossie
had previously filed the police complaint saying that her son
had struck her and Francine. The courtroom then grew tense
(28:34):
as Flossie snapped back, my son never beat on me,
how dare you? She also denied ever calling the police
to intervene of Francine and Mickey's home. Sheriff Barry Kingsley
testified that Flossie had in fact told officers that her
son was very erratic violent, even he said, she stated
(28:56):
that her son, James Hughes, was very erratic and had
been causing trouble had assaulted her. She advised me that
she had been struck by her son several times in
the face. Eventually, Flossie did admit that Francine often came
to her home for help, frequently hiding there even before
the couple were married. She hid in my house so
(29:16):
many times. I didn't know if they were playing games
or what, she admitted. But some of the most powerful
testimony came from Francine and Mickey's two oldest children, Christie
and James Junior, now living with their grandmother and Jackson.
Both children described a household that was ruled by fear.
They said that Mickie had beaten their mother too many
(29:38):
times to count. Christie was asked if she ever missed
her father. She gave a simple answer no. She recalled
seeing him punch her mother for the first time when
she was just seven years old. Both children described how
Mickie had once pulled a knife on fran Scene and
how they often hit out in their grandmother's basement when
(29:59):
things became too violent. Christie said that Flossie, despite her denials,
had seen the abuse. On the day of the fire,
both children remembered their father's rage. They described him hitting
Franccene again and again. Christie said, I couldn't see, but
I could hear her scream. I could see him swinging
at her, and Mom was crouched down in a corner.
(30:22):
They described how Francine had rushed them into the car
and drove them to the sheriff's department. Christie remembered her
mother shaking and crying uncontrollably. She testified she was saying,
oh my God, and she was shaking real bad. She
kept looking out the back window. For the first time
in the trial, Franccene broke down as her children testified.
(30:45):
Neighbors and friends also testified about what they had seen.
Connie fell pouch a friend and neighbors said I would
ask him where Francine was and he would say she's
home mending herself from the night before. She testified the
Mickey forbade Franccene from having friends or guests. He once
told her she didn't need friends. Another neighbor, Alice Quenby,
(31:08):
said that Mickey was very mean when he drank, which
was often. She'd seen him beating Francene through the living
room window. Even Mickey's treatment of his own parents came up.
Donna Johnson recall see him beat Francene in his mother's
front yard while neighbors tried to intervene. Several police officers
also testified, each one recounting the many times they had
(31:31):
been called to the Hughes home in response to the
domestic violence. During the second week of the trial, the
man that Francine had allegedly been having an affair with
was finally named, twenty six year old George Walcup. By
the time the trial had begun, George was dead. Just
three weeks earlier, he had shot and killed himself. It
(31:51):
was later revealed that he had been facing a charge
of first degree rape in an unrelated case. After Francine's arrest,
she and George had exchanged letters which prosecutors claimed showed
that they were romantically involved. According to Elizabeth Kover, a
friend of Francine's, the relationship had ended after Francine discovered
that George was married. He had initially claimed to be single,
(32:15):
and the two had only gone on one date before
Francine broke it off. Francine's defense attorney dismissed the claims
of an affair, steering if this was supposed to be
the blockbuster evidence the prosecution talked about, had fizzled somewhere.
He reminded the jury that Francine and Mickey were divorced
and that the relationship, if it had ever existed, was
(32:36):
relevant to the events of that night. Next on the
witness stand was Francine's doctor, John Deskin. He told the
jury that Francine had spoken to him about her fear
of Mickey and the physical abuse she had suffered. He
said to the jury she was anxious, she was uncomfortable
with their home situation, and she wanted to get help.
(32:58):
After that, Francie Hughes herself took to the stand, calm
and composed. She began to describe the decade of torment
she had endured. She said, fear dominated my life. Almost
every day. I never knew what to expect when I
came home from school. Francine said that the abuse began
early in their relationship. She said, the clothes I put on,
(33:22):
he would tear them off. He didn't want me to
wear my blouses tucked into my slacks. When things got
particularly violent, she would flee next door to your in
law's home, but eventually even that refuge was toned. They
didn't want to be bothered, she said. Despite numerous calls
for help and attempts to report the abuse, Francine said
(33:42):
she felt completely alone. Speaking of the authority, she said,
they wouldn't do anything. I just felt like I was
alone and no matter what I did, it wasn't any help.
Francine spoke about her brief interaction with George walk Up,
confirming that they went on one date after learning that
he was married. However, she ended it. He later wrote
(34:04):
to her in jail telling her that he was getting
a divorce. She described the short lived connection as like
a dream, not a realistic hope. Then, Francine recounted the
night of the fire. She described feeling as if something
outside of herself had taken over. She said there was
like an urgent voice whispering do it do it. Psychologist
(34:28):
doctor Arnold Beckham testified that Francine was temporarily insane at
the time of the fire. He explained that she was
helplessly trapped by fear and unable to conform her behavior
to the law. He said to the cord she was
mentally ill at the time. She was at the mercy
of her impulses. Doctor Beckham noted that Francine wasn't a
violent person by nature, she was a battered woman who
(34:51):
had been pushed past the brink. His opinion was echoed
by another expert witness, doctor Anne Sedan, who prescribed France
as acutely psychotic. She likened Francine's actions to sleep walking,
telling the court it wouldn't make sense to call that
planning any more than it would call what someone does
in sleepwalking plan Because the legal system didn't yet recognize
(35:15):
self defense in cases of prolonged domestic abuse, Francine's defense
team argued temporary insanity. The prosecution brought in their own psychiatrist,
doctor Linn Blunt. While doctor Blunt disagreed with the insanity diagnosis,
she admitted that Francine's actions were impulsive. Under cross examination,
(35:35):
she made a critical concession. She acknowledged that Francine was
defending herself. Doctor Blunt testified she was defending herself in
a sense because he had told her he would follow
her wherever she went. After that, the defense made a
move to have the first degree murder charge dropped. Defense
(35:56):
attorney Greg Danis argued that the prosecution hadn't proved in
pre medicit, pointing out that even their own psychiatrist, doctor Blunt,
had said that Francine's actions were impulsive. The judge denied
the motion, and with that the trial moved into closing arguments.
Gred Annas told the jury that Francine was a pitiful
creature who had finally defended herself after enduring thirteen years
(36:20):
of inhuman abuse. He said she wasn't a criminal, she
was a battered woman, failed by the system, who had
simply run out of options. The prosecution, on the other hand,
focused on the act itself. They said there was no
doubt that Francine had poured gasoline on Mickey's bed and
set it on fire. Whatever her reasons, they argued, the
(36:40):
law had still been broken. The jury deliberated for just
six and a half hours before they returned with a verdict.
The courtroom filled with people and then silence. Francine sat stiffly,
her children in the front row, her fate hanging in
the air. The jury found frank Seen Hughes not guilty
(37:02):
by reason of insanity. The silence broke into applause. Francine
hugged her attorney and then ran straight to her children.
After the courtroom had quiet and down, Judge Ray Hodgekiss
made a statement. He stated, all of a sudden, we
realize that we have thousands of women who have had
no recourse under the law. Where are we when these
(37:24):
people are crying for help? Defense attorney Gray Annas then
said to the courtroom, this is a president's setting decision.
I think she will be free tomorrow, and I think
she will be free from now. On the next day
Francine was released, she boasted a twenty five thousand dollars
personal bond, which meant that she didn't actually have to
(37:45):
pay anything up front, and was then ordered to meet
with a state psychiatrist within ten days. They would then
determine if she still needed any psychiatric treatment. Francine had
spent eight months behind bars, speaking to reporter, She said
she was looking forward to some real food, a real bed,
and a bath. She said, I want to take care
(38:07):
of my children and go back to school. Francine also
said that she wanted to speak out about what had
happened to her and what was happening to women like her,
and how does.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
It feel to be free? It was on my face.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
When a reporter asked if she considered herself a liberated
woman now, she responded, I don't think I've ever been liberated,
but I'd like to. The following week, Francine underwent her
psychiatric exam. She was fond to be seen. Her attorney said,
of course, she's very happy. As far as we're concerned,
(38:44):
that's the end of the story. After her release, Francine
returned to her mother's home in Jackson, Michigan, where her
children had been stink. The cameras were gone, the courtroom
was silent, and life, real life, had to go on.
(39:06):
Francin told reporters, I know there are going to be
certain things that I really want. I want to be
successful at the job. I was headed for a business career,
but the path forward wasn't daisy. Over the years, Francine
held a series of low skilled jobs, the kind of
work that didn't make the headlines, the kind that paid
(39:28):
the bills and kept her moving. She remarried a man
named Robert Wilson, who had spent more than a decade
in prison for armed robbery. Together, they relocated to Tennessee. There,
Francine enrolled in a nursing school and earned her certification
as a practical nurse. For a time, she and Robert
(39:48):
ran a small nursing agency. Later, they settled in Lton, Alabama.
Francine kept a low profile. She wasn't interested in public
appearances or interviews. She didn't want to be a symbol.
In one of the few conversations she gave years later,
she told People magazine, people still look at me like
(40:09):
they're trying to figure me out. I don't feel like
I have to explain myself to anybody, and I don't
need pity or sympathy. I'm just an ordinary person, and
that's what she was trying to be. Ordinary, a mother,
a nurse, a survivor. She never sought attention, never cashed
in on her story, never framed herself as a hero.
(40:31):
On the twenty second of March two thousand and seventeen,
Francine Hughes, known later as Francine Wilson, died at the
age of sixty nine. She had been battling complications from
pneumonia and passed away quietly. Most of her neighbors didn't
even know who she was. To them, she was just francing,
(40:52):
the kind woman down the street who once worked in nursing.
Her friend, Christy Holland, later said, she talked about it
with my mother a little bit, but it was something
she wasn't really proud of. She didn't understand she changed
things for battered women everywhere. She really deserved recognition, but
she never thought she did. Francine didn't want to be
(41:14):
remembered for what she had done. But the truth is,
Francine changed things for battered women, for the legal system,
for how society talks about domestic violence. For the very
first time, brutality of domestic abuse was laid bare in
a courtroom, not just as a side issue, but as
the heart of a murder trial. At the time, there
(41:35):
were no legal protections for battered women in Michigan, no
domestic violence shelters in Francine's hometown, no laws that recognized
long term abuse as a form of self defense, but
Francine's trial changed that. In the years that followed, there
was a surge in public awareness about domestic violence. Shelters
(41:56):
began to open across the country. Hotlines were established. Police
departments were pushed to take domestic abuse seriously, no longer
training it as a private matter. Legal minds, too, began
to rethink self defense laws. The concept of battered woman's
syndrome gained ground. It recognized that victims of long term
(42:17):
abuse may perceive danger differently and may act in ways
that don't fit the traditional mold of immediate threat. Francie
Hughes hadn't just taught for her life. She had also
exposed the failures of a system that left countless women
would nowhere to turn. In nineteen eighty four, her story
was turned into a made for TV movie called The
(42:38):
Burning Bed, starring Fire Faucet. It aired to over seventy
million people, and from any it was the first time
they had seen domestic abuse depicted so graphically on screen.
The film became a cultural touchstone. Suddenly people were saying
the words domestic violence. Suddenly people were listening. Francie Hughes,
(43:00):
Who's never wanted to be the face of a movement.
She just wanted to survive, but in surviving, Francine helped
pave the way for a world where women wouldn't have
to choose between silence. We're setting the bed on fire. Well,
(43:46):
Bestie's that is it for this episode of Morbidology's always
thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
say a big, massive thank you to my new supporter
of bomb Patreon, Lisa. The support of bomb Patroon seriously
goes such a long way and helps to defray the
costs of hosting, subscription services and freedom of information requests,
so I genuinely do appreciate all of your help. If
(44:09):
you'd like to join Morbidology up on Patreon, the link
is in the show notes. In exchange for your support,
I send out thank you card along with some cool
Patreon exclusive merch. I also upload at free and early
release episodes behind the scenes, and there are also bonus
episodes of Morbidology plus that aren't on the regular podcast aatborms.
(44:30):
Remember to check as out at morbidology dot com for
more information about this episode and to read some tricker articles.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Stay safe and
have an amazing week.
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