Your fact-checks will appear here
The official investigation and ruling of Sam Cooke's death as a justifiable homicide
Forensic interpretation of ’s wounds since his December 11, 1964 death has remained contested: the accepted testimony that the motel manager’s shots were defensive and consistent with a justifiable ho...
of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles who shot and killed Sam Cooke on December 11, 1964; she told police she acted in self‑defense and an inquest returned a finding of justifiable homicide . Klein was...
’s version — that burst into her motel office, attacked her and she shot him in immediate self‑defense — became the official narrative and produced a coroner’s finding of justifiable homicide within d...
The Los Angeles investigation and coroner’s inquest concluded that Sam Cooke’s death was a justifiable homicide: motel manager Bertha Franklin shot Cooke in what she and investigators said was self‑de...
The core allegations against and the after ’s death centered on two competing narratives: Franklin’s claim that she shot Cooke in self‑defense after he attacked her while searching for a woman, and sk...
The Los Angeles Police Department dispatched officers to the Hacienda Motel after a reported shooting, found Sam Cooke dead, and carried out an investigation that led to a coroner’s inquest and an off...