Antoinette Frank

Antoinette Renee Frank (born April 30, 1971) is a former officer of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) who, on March 4, 1995, committed a violent armed robbery at a restaurant which resulted in the killing of two members of the Vietnamese-American family who ran the establishment, and fellow NOPD officer Ronald A. Williams II.

She was aided by her probable lover, drug dealer Rogers Lacaze.

Frank is currently incarcerated at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, the only woman on the state's death row.

Antoinette Frank applied to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) in early 1993.

According to author Chuck Hustmyre, Frank was caught lying on several sections of her employment application and failed two standard psychiatric evaluations, with psychiatrist Philip Scurria advising against her hiring.

Despite this, Frank got a second chance to apply.

The NOPD was chronically short-handed; at the time, its officers were paid less than in similarly sized cities, it was losing officers faster than they could be replaced, and the ranks had been decimated by several arrests for murder and drug activity.

She was hired on February 7, 1993, and graduated from the police academy on February 28.

Although Frank graduated near the top of her academy class, her tenure with the NOPD was mostly undistinguished.

Her fellow officers thought she was rather shy, had no idea what police work really entailed, and lacked the decisiveness to be a good officer.

At times, they thought Frank veered into irrational behavior.

As early as August 1993, Frank's superiors wanted to send her back to the academy for further training.

She frequently had to go through supervisory review.

On occasion, though, she did distinguish herself, winning "Officer of the Month" awards from the local Kiwanis Club for her work in the community.

On November 25, 1994, Frank handled an incident in which Rogers Lacaze, a known drug dealer, had been shot.

An investigator with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC) believed this was the first contact between the two, although in her statement, Frank claims that they met some eight months before the murders.

Frank had taken a statement from Lacaze after he was shot on the street, and initially got closer to him in hopes of turning his life around.

However, she was smitten by Lacaze's "bad boy" persona, and their relationship soon turned sexual.

She kept up her relationship even though she was well aware she was jeopardizing her career.

The association between Frank and Lacaze became noticeable after other police officers witnessed Lacaze driving her car, and even observed him moving her police unit at the scene of an accident she was investigating.

On one occasion, Lacaze accompanied her on a complaint call where she introduced him as a "trainee"; on other occasions, she introduced Lacaze as her nephew.

Prior to the murders, others testified that Frank and Lacaze would pull over and rob motorists while in a squad car.

Frank refused to discuss her relationship with Lacaze during the DOC investigation, except to say that she was trying to help him.

It was later revealed that the two had a sexual relationship.

When asked why she would continue the relationship, knowing that Lacaze had been involved in dealing drugs and a shooting, she responded that she would not disassociate herself from him just because of his past.

The investigator also questioned Frank about trying to buy 9mm ammunition for Lacaze at Walmart on the day before the Kim Anh murders, but stated that she was a police officer and that there was nothing wrong with her buying ammunition.

In her statement, she claimed that she and Lacaze were not dating and had never been intimate.

Frank refused to discuss anything regarding the murders - every time the investigator asked her a question, she told him to "look it up in the record" or asserted her innocence.

However, during her interview with the DOC investigator, Frank claimed to have had a male suitor but refused to go into specifics because he worked for the police department.

Two men who claimed they met Lacaze at a party on February 4, 1995, John Stevens and Anthony Wallace, testified in court.

As the two were leaving the party, a verbal altercation between Stevens and Lacaze ensued, but Wallace suggested they leave.

The two men got in a car and drove several blocks until a police vehicle pulled the car over.

In police uniform, Frank exited the squad car and told Wallace and Stevens to get out and go to the back of the car.

At that point, Wallace saw Lacaze and noticed he was holding a gun.

According to Stevens, Wallace rushed Lacaze, and the two men began fighting.

Then both Stevens and Frank also jumped into the fray, and the weapon discharged.

Stevens began running, but another man appeared and grabbed both Lacaze and Wallace.

Frank then told the man that "Lacaze was the good guy" and that Wallace was the one causing the problems.

Many potential applicants were shut out due to a requirement that all officers be residents of New Orleans – a requirement that was only changed in 2014.

NOPD officials also thought having more African-Americans like Frank on the force would ease longstanding racial tensions in the majority-black city.