Nicole Poole Franklin was sentenced to 304 months after hate-crime attacks on two Iowa children.
Nicole Poole Franklin is an Iowa woman who pleaded guilty after intentionally using her vehicle to strike two children in December 2019. Prosecutors said she targeted them because of their perceived race or national origin. She received a 304-month federal sentence, 25 years and four months, which was ordered to run concurrently with her state sentence for two counts of attempted murder.
What You'll Discover:
Who Is Nicole Poole Franklin?
Nicole Poole Franklin was a Des Moines, Iowa, resident who became nationally known after two attacks on children on December 9, 2019. The case eventually became both a state criminal prosecution and a federal hate-crime case.
What makes the case especially significant is that prosecutors did not characterize the incidents simply as traffic collisions or ordinary acts of violence. Federal authorities said Poole Franklin deliberately drove over curbs and struck the children because of what she believed about their racial or ethnic backgrounds.
The federal case was prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 249, part of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The law can apply when someone willfully causes bodily injury, or attempts to do so with a dangerous weapon, because of a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin.
The federal court sentenced Poole Franklin to 304 months in prison for two hate-crime offenses.
What Happened on December 9, 2019?
The events unfolded in two separate incidents in the Des Moines area.
According to the U.S. , Poole Franklin was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Creston Avenue in Des Moines when she encountered a child walking on the sidewalk with another minor family member. She believed the child was of Middle Eastern or African descent, drove over the curb and struck him before leaving the scene.
The child suffered cuts, bruising and swelling.
About 30 minutes later, Poole Franklin encountered a second child near Indian Hills Junior High School in Clive, Iowa. Federal prosecutors said she believed the girl was Mexican and again drove over the curb, striking her before leaving. The girl suffered more serious injuries, including a concussion, bruises and cuts.
The sequence matters because it established that prosecutors were dealing with two separate deliberate attacks, rather than one accidental incident.
The second victim was 14 years old, while the first was 12. Contemporary reporting identified the victims as a Latina girl and a Black boy.
Why Was Nicole Poole Franklin Charged With Hate Crimes?
The central issue was motive.
A hate crime is not simply a crime committed by someone who expresses hateful views. In a federal prosecution under § 249, prosecutors must establish the statutory elements, including that the relevant violent conduct was motivated by a protected characteristic covered by the statute.
In Poole Franklin’s case, federal prosecutors relied on her statements and the circumstances surrounding the attacks. According to the Justice Department, she admitted that she intentionally drove into the children after making assumptions about their racial or national origins.
That distinction is important.
A person’s offensive statement, by itself, is not automatically a federal hate crime. Here, prosecutors alleged, and Poole Franklin ultimately pleaded guilty to, violent conduct motivated by the children’s perceived race or national origin.
The federal case centered on intentional violence motivated by perceived race and national origin, not merely offensive speech.
What Were Nicole Poole Franklin’s Charges?
There were two separate layers to the prosecution.
| Case | Charges | Outcome |
| Iowa state case | Two counts of attempted murder | Concurrent 25-year sentences |
| Federal case | Two hate-crime offenses | 304 months, or 25 years and 4 months |
| Federal supervision | Supervised release | Five years after imprisonment |
In April 2021, Poole Franklin pleaded guilty in federal court to two hate-crime charges. She also pleaded guilty in state court to two counts of attempted murder.
The state court imposed concurrent 25-year sentences on May 28, 2021. The federal court later imposed 304 months, 25 years and four months, and ordered that sentence to run concurrently with the state sentence.
That is why different articles sometimes describe the punishment as either 25 years or 25 years and four months. They are referring to different sentences or rounding the federal term.
Why Was the Federal Sentence 304 Months?
The number can look surprisingly precise until the federal sentencing process is considered.
Federal sentencing involves statutory limits, sentencing guidelines and the facts of the individual case. The defense sentencing memorandum reported that the advisory guideline calculation produced a range of 360 months to life, while the plea agreement contemplated a recommendation of no more than 324 months. The judge ultimately imposed 304 months.
The federal hate-crime statute itself allows particularly severe punishment when an offense includes an attempt to kill. Under § 249(a)(1), an offense involving an attempt to kill can carry imprisonment for any term of years or life.
The federal sentence also included five years of supervised release and a $200 special assessment for the Crime Victims’ Fund.
One practical detail is easy to miss: federal offenders sentenced after November 1, 1987, generally are not eligible for federal parole. The Bureau of Prisons explains that the federal system does not operate with parole in the traditional sense.
Did Mental Illness Play a Role in the Case?
Yes, but it did not erase the criminal charges or prevent the conviction.
Poole Franklin’s defense sentencing memorandum described a long history of serious mental-health problems, including diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. The memorandum also described substance-use problems, previous psychiatric hospitalizations and periods of severe psychiatric symptoms.
The defense argued that her mental condition had deteriorated significantly around the time of the attacks and that methamphetamine use and other major personal stressors had worsened the situation.
There was also an important procedural consequence. According to the defense filing, Poole Franklin was initially found incompetent to stand trial after her arrest and was sent to an Iowa mental-health facility for treatment. Her competency was later restored, allowing the criminal proceedings to continue.
But competency to stand trial and legal insanity are not the same thing.
Competency generally concerns whether a defendant can understand the proceedings and meaningfully participate in their defense. The defense sentencing memorandum specifically argued that Poole Franklin was not legally insane when she committed the offenses, even while describing severe mental-health impairment.
That distinction helps explain why mental illness appeared prominently in sentencing discussions without eliminating criminal responsibility.
Where Is Nicole Poole Franklin Now?
The most reliable public record establishes that Poole Franklin was sentenced to 304 months in federal prison in August 2021, with the federal sentence running concurrently with her state sentence.
Public reporting since then does not provide a reliable basis for claiming a specific current prison facility or exact release date. Those details can change because of sentence calculations, custody transfers, credits and other administrative factors.
So claims online that confidently identify her current location or an exact release date should be treated cautiously unless they are supported by an authoritative Bureau of Prisons or court record.
Was There a Third Victim?
This is one area where readers should be particularly careful.
The federal Justice Department’s case description identifies two child victims and two federal hate-crime counts. The federal sentencing record likewise concerns two offenses involving two children.
Some later secondary sources have described the incident inconsistently, including claims involving a third child. Those claims should not be treated as established facts without supporting primary documentation.
For this case, the safest formulation is simple: the federal prosecution involved two children and two hate-crime offenses.
What Does the Case Tell Us About Federal Hate-Crime Law?
The Poole Franklin case illustrates why federal hate-crime law focuses on both the underlying violence and the motivation behind it.
Under § 249, the federal government can prosecute certain violent conduct motivated by characteristics such as race, color, religion or national origin. The statute distinguishes these offenses from ordinary crimes because the discriminatory motivation is part of the prohibited conduct.
It also shows why evidence of intent can become crucial. Statements made by a defendant, the selection of victims, surrounding circumstances and other evidence can help establish what motivated an act.
At the same time, a hate-crime prosecution does not mean that every crime involving racial language automatically becomes a federal case. The statutory requirements still have to be satisfied.
How the State and Federal Cases Fit Together
It is easy to assume that receiving a state sentence and then a federal sentence means a defendant simply receives both sentences one after another.
That did not happen here.
The Iowa case involved two attempted-murder convictions. The federal case involved two hate-crime convictions arising from the same underlying conduct. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, meaning they overlap rather than being stacked consecutively.
| Question | Answer |
| Did she plead guilty? | Yes |
| State charges? | Two counts of attempted murder |
| Federal charges? | Two hate-crime offenses |
| State sentence | Concurrent 25-year terms |
| Federal sentence | 304 months |
| Federal sentence in years | 25 years, 4 months |
| Federal sentence consecutive to state term? | No |
| Supervised release | Five years |
This distinction explains why headlines can appear inconsistent while actually describing the same overall case.
What Happened to the Victims?
Both children survived the attacks, but survival does not mean the consequences were minor.
The first child suffered cuts, bruising and swelling. The second suffered a concussion along with bruising and cuts, according to federal prosecutors.
The case also produced testimony about the psychological impact on the victims and their families. At sentencing, the father of the 14-year-old victim described how the attack affected his sense of safety and freedom in the United States.
That human dimension is important because court cases can become reduced to charges and sentence lengths. Here, the underlying event involved two children simply walking near their schools when they were deliberately targeted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Nicole Poole Franklin?
Nicole Poole Franklin is an Iowa woman who pleaded guilty to two federal hate-crime offenses and two state attempted-murder charges arising from attacks on two children in December 2019.
How long was Nicole Poole Franklin sentenced to prison?
She received a federal sentence of 304 months, or 25 years and four months, in August 2021. The sentence runs concurrently with her 25-year state sentence.
Why did Nicole Poole Franklin attack the children?
Federal prosecutors said she targeted the children because of their perceived race and national origin. She admitted to the conduct when pleading guilty to the federal charges.
Did mental illness affect the case?
Her defense presented extensive evidence of serious mental-health and substance-use problems and argued that these factors affected her condition at the time. However, she ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced for the offenses.
Is Nicole Poole Franklin still in prison?
The established public record shows that she received a 304-month federal prison sentence in 2021. An exact current facility or release date should not be stated without a current authoritative custody record.
Key Takeaways
- Nicole Poole Franklin was prosecuted after intentionally striking two children with her vehicle in Iowa on December 9, 2019.
- Federal prosecutors said the attacks were motivated by the children’s perceived race or national origin.
- She pleaded guilty to two federal hate-crime charges and two state attempted-murder charges.
- Her federal sentence was 304 months, or 25 years and four months.
- The federal sentence runs concurrently with the state sentence rather than being added on top of it.
- Her defense presented substantial evidence concerning mental illness, substance use and difficult life circumstances, but those issues did not prevent conviction.
- The federal case is an important example of how motive can transform violent conduct into a federal hate-crime prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 249.
Additional Resources
- Justice Department resource: Explains the federal hate-crime statute behind the prosecution, including its protected characteristics and legal requirements.
