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After 8 Years, Reginald Potts to Stand Trial for Nailah Franklin Murder

By Erica Demarest | October 26, 2015 6:25am
 Reginald Potts (l.) is charged with murdering Nailah Franklin (r.).
Reginald Potts (l.) is charged with murdering Nailah Franklin (r.).
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Cook County Sheriff's Office; Facebook

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — It's been more than eight years since Nailah Franklin was found dead in southeast suburban Calumet City, her body naked and starting to decompose.

The West Loop pharmaceutical rep had been reported missing on Sept. 17, 2007, CBS Chicago reported. Though friends and family launched a high-profile search — complete with rallies, fliers and televised pleas — Franklin wasn't found dumped in the woods until nine days later.

Reginald Potts, a man she briefly dated, was charged with murder in December 2007 and held without bail.

Now, after years of delays, Potts is finally expected to stand trial this week.

Since Potts was first charged, the 38-year-old has hired and fired several attorneys — and even tried to represent himself on more than one occasion. According to a Tribune investigation, Potts has racked up more than 200 infractions inside the Cook County Jail as he awaits trial.

Court records show Potts also has been hit with additional felony charges of damaging government property, obstructing justice and attacking multiple peace officers.

While most murder cases go to trial within two years, state officials told the Tribune, the combined disciplinary issues and changes in his legal representation have created repeated delays in Potts' case.

When Potts petitioned to represent himself in 2008, he told Cook County Judge Thomas Gainer Jr. he hoped for a speedy trial.

"I'm not guilty of this," Potts reportedly said during the October 2008 interaction. "I don't want to sit in jail for two more years."

"I think you are making a horrible, horrible mistake that could end up costing you your life," Gainer told Potts, according to the Tribune, which covered the hearing. "Do you understand that?"

Potts reportedly told the judge he had no legal experience, but could access the Cook County Jail law library once a week.

Though Potts was granted permission to represent himself, he later changed his mind. He has been represented by a public defender since October 2014, court records show.

Jury selection for Potts' trial is expected to begin Monday.

For Franklin's relatives, the trial can't come quickly enough.

“It’s been very hard, day to day," sister Ashley Chappell Rice told CBS Chicago last year. "It’s like she was snatched right from out of our lives."

Franklin's father died three years ago, without ever having seen justice.

"I really think he died of a broken heart," sister Lehia Franklin Acox said in a Tribune interview last year. "Nailah was the apple of his eye. He couldn't wrap his head around why she even knew somebody who could do something like this."

According to prosecutors, Potts stalked and threatened Franklin before he killed her in 2007. Police said they linked Potts to her disappearance through records from cellphone towers.

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