PURVIS – The last defendants in the 2015 slayings of two Hattiesburg police officers were sentenced to prison Monday in Purvis.
Circuit Judge Prentiss Harrell gave Abram “Pete” Franklin, 32, of Hattiesburg five years to serve on charges of hindering prosecution and possession of a stolen firearm. Curtis Banks, 29, of Hattiesburg got 10 additional years to serve for possession of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm after he completes a sentence he’s serving in Forrest County for accessory after the fact.
The charges stem from the murder of Hattiesburg Police Department officers Benjamin Deen and Liqouri Tate, who were killed during a traffic stop on May 9, 2015. The shooter, Marvin Banks, died in jail of an apparent heart attack in 2015, but seven other people have been sentenced in the case.
Curtis Banks was the shooter’s half-brother, and he hid in the attic of Franklin’s apartment after the murders. When Curtis Banks was apprehended at Franklin’s apartment, he was found with a large amount of drugs and multiple guns, which led to his Lamar County charges, according to prosecutors.
“We can only hope these convictions provide some level of peace to the families of these heroes, to their brothers and sisters in blue and to our community that has mourned this incredible loss,” 15th Judicial District Attorney Hal Kittrell said.
Franklin was sentenced to five years for hindering prosecution and five years for possession of a stolen firearm. The two sentences are the maximum for the charges and are to run concurrently.
Banks also pleaded guilty in the case to possession of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm. Banks was sentenced to 30 years with 20 suspended and 10 to serve with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
“We commend the work done by all agencies involved in the extensive investigation of all of these crimes that stemmed from the murder of officers Deen and Tate,” Kittrell said. “In our cases in Lamar County, the work of the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Hattiesburg Police Department led specifically to the apprehension of Franklin and Banks.”
