NORWICH – An ex-convict and a medical examiner testified in the Franklin murder trial Tuesday, discussing alleged admissions the defendant made in prison regarding his adopt son's death, and medical examinations that lead officials to believe the victim died before the fire.

In exchange for a plea deal, an accused drug dealer, Joshua Shurock, testified Franklin admitted to him in jail that he and his wife had wanted to kill their son.

Ernest Franklin II, 36, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree arson, and tampering with physical evidence.

Prosecutors say at around midnight on March 1, 2017 Ernest Franklin and Heather Franklin worked together to kill their 16-year-old disabled son, Jeffrey Franklin, and burn the evidence at their home at 457 State Route 8 in the Town of Guilford.

According to Shurock, who Defense Attorney Veronica Gorman pointed out is a man convicted of multiple felonies who has served time in the Chenango County Correctional Facility; Ernest Franklin told him that he planned on killing his adopted son before the night of the fire.

On cross-examination, Shurock said would be facing up to life in prison without a plea deal that has him testify against Franklin, and he will instead receive two years in prison if his testimony is considered truthful. When asked by Defense Attorney Veronica Gorman if two other inmates would have heard him say that he would lie to get out of serving prison time, he said no.

"I'm not just another jail-house snitch," said Shurock in a letter to the district attorney's office and public defender's office. "I want to get two monsters off the streets forever."

Shurock said he was there to tell the truth, and asked Gorman why he would tell anyone that he was going to testify against Franklin while he was still in prison.

"No one besides the attorneys knew I was going to testify up until four days ago when I told my ex-girlfriend," said Shurock. "Why would I tell anyone I was going to testify against another inmate while I was in jail, that would be a death sentence."

He said he and Franklin were neighboring inmates in the same pod, and over time Shurock built up a relationship with him.

"I was incarcerated with him from August 2017 to May 2018," said Shurock. "We were neighbors in adjoining cells."

Shurock said throughout the time he was in prison, he became more familiar with the law, and began to filing his own legal motions – impressing Franklin.

"He knew that I was pretty good at the law, and we pretty much hit it off from there," he said. "He started asking me about the law, and over time we started developing more of a friendship."

He added that Franklin eventually made multiple admissions to him, stating that he had planning killing his adopted son Jeffrey and that he used the internet to find different ways to get away with it.

"He told me that he, 'looked up different ways to get away with murder, but didn't want his wife to know at first,'" said Shurock. "He said he, 'didn't realize that she was thinking the same thing,'"

He said Franklin told him when the two started to discuss killing their adopted son, they came up with a plan where he would do the killing, and she would leave the area so she wouldn't know more than she needed to.

"He said he, 'wanted to do it because Jeffrey was disabled, and it was taxing on him and his wife,'" said Shurock. "He said he, 'didn't realize what kind of a burden he would become over time.'"

Results from the medical examination

According to Doctor James Terzian, the victim died before the fire.

"This was a very suspicious situation that didn't add up," said Terzian. "...the boy was already dead before the fire started."

Terzian said came to believe Jeffrey had died before the fire by examining the inside of Jeffrey's lungs.

"If he had died in the fire, I would have found much larger amounts of carbon monoxide and cyanide levels in his blood and lungs," he said. "I don't think he died of natural causes."

He added that he didn't find any other abnormality in Jeffrey's body or blood.

"I believe Jeffrey died by some violent means, what exactly those injuries were I can't say because of the extent of the damage done to his body," said Terzian. "Jeffrey was already dead when the fire started, in my opinion."

On cross-examination Terzian said he couldn't determine what violent means caused the death of Jeffrey, as his skin was burned off, and his bones were shattered due to heat damage.

"All you need to do to axpixaite someone is obstruct the (blood flow from the head), which only takes about four pounds of pressure," he said. "The person would pass out and eventually die, without any signs of asphyxiation."

He added that cyanide levels found in Jeffrey's blood was likely the result of smoke absorption through his skin after he had died.