The Strange Case of Francisco Duran

Everyone always hears about the successful presidential assassins, like Oswalt, and Booth, and to a lesser extent, Leon Czolgosz, and you sometimes hear about John Hinckley Jr, for the sake that he actually hit Reagan, and managed to wound him. However, the unsuccessful ones tend to have strange stories surrounding the details.

The story of Francisco Duran is quite strange aswell. Born 1968, details surrounding the man's early life are a bit sketchy. Hard to nail down. Apparently, the man may, or may not have been somewhat of a right-wing nationalist, which is bizaare, as he seems to have hispanic background. Nothing against hispanics, it's just that the right wing has a history of disenfranchising the ethnic population. So, this fellow, apparently gets it into his head that he's going to try to shoot Clinton. Only he doesn't quite think it through. The few concrete details are that Francisco had an SKS rifle, that he shot at a group of men in business suits outside of the White House, believing one of them to be Clinton apparently, and that when questioned, he claimed he was trying to save the world by shooting a "strange alien mist, that was connected by umbilical cord to the Colorado mountains". Almost certainly lunacy, but the strange fact remains that he didn't hit anyone. It's quite possible that he was a lousy shot, but his story seems very intriguing. Like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft story. Very bizaare. If anyone has any more information on the man, it'd be appreciated.

Here is his Prison Pen Pal page...I'm sure he'll tell you anything you want...

I did confirm it is the Francisco Duran in your OP.

www.writeaprisoner.com...


Excerpt from his pen pal profile...

Tired of the games?

I’m a lonely man locked away for trying a very bad thing. I’m looking for a lonely gal to share ideas and friendship. Get to know and be there for her. A man locked away where she can come for conversation, passion and friendship.

I have dark desires in my heart. I want to send out letters filled with chained passion and shared fantasies. Shower you with words as I stroke your soul and caress the animal that makes us human.

Why lie and be another fake guy? I can be nice when needed but desire to find a woman who is also tired of games; who wants her spirit held and her heart bitten. Enough is…enough. What do you want and are you lonely enough to say, “I want what he is offering!”?

His Crime on record...

All information is provided by the member submitting the profile; information is verified by WriteAPrisoner.com when that option is available to us using each state's online search option. It is our policy that members disclose the crime for which they are incarcerated. This is a condition of membership. However, the crime we place is generic and rarely includes all offenses. Its purpose is to give the viewer an idea of the main offense. For full disclosure, viewers are encouraged to visit to the Department of Corrections website using the link provided on each inmate's profile. There viewers can see the inmate's record in its entirety. Not all Departments of Correction have this information online, but more are becoming available all of the time, and we will add these as they become available. Inmates may be convicted of other charges not listed here from prior offenses. We list the current reason for incarceration only. Also, viewers can attempt to search the inmate's full name on Google for details about his or her case. This will often show court cases, media coverage, petitions, etc. Viewers should search with and without the inmate's DOC number

Incarcerated for: Attempted Murder of President
Search for more information: Federal Bureau of Prisons*
You will need inmate's name and number to conduct a search: Francisco Duran #19588-016

I don't make it a habit to write to prisoners. Lord knows my father would know that. Still, it's a very peculiar chapter in history that occurred. Peaks the curiosity, the desire to know the truth about it.

reply to post by Grifter42


Whether Francisco Duran was really insane or not, we don't know, although he most probably was not telling the truth when he tried to claim he was merely trying to save with world from aliens with killing Clinton. What we do know however was his insanity plea was looked at in length and then rejected. Expanding on this though I had a quick look around and I found this which some may find interesting:

The two-week trial was a battle of specialists who gave far different opinions on Duran's mental state. Mental health specialists for the defense insisted that Duran, a hotel upholsterer from suburban Colorado Springs, is a paranoid schizophrenic who had no intention of shooting at the president.

Defense psychiatrists and psychologists said Duran was trying to destroy a "mist" that was connected by an umbilical cord to an alien being he encountered in the Colorado mountains. Duran, they said, believed it was his duty to destroy the mist, which was controlling the White House, to save the government and the world.

Public defenders A.J. Kramer and Leigh A. Kenny, who would not comment on the verdict, argued that Duran never meant to hurt anyone. They argued that he did not hear two Indiana school boys say they thought they saw someone on the White House lawn who looked like Clinton.

But doctors hired by prosecutors said that Duran was faking mental illness and that he was antisocial and narcisstic. Johnson said in her closing argument that Duran simply wanted to be famous. He told his wife and friends to cash in on his fame by appearing on tabloid television shows and by selling business cards on which he had written violent, threatening messages.

The prosecution called more than 60 witnesses to show that Duran had talked often of anarchy and that he hated government in general and Clinton in particular.

According to testimony, Duran bought an SKS semiautomatic rifle in Colorado on Sept. 13. That was the day Clinton signed into law the most recent crime bill, which bans the sale of military-style weapons such as the SKS.

Duran left Colorado on Sept. 30. When he arrived in the Washington area on Oct. 10, he moved from hotel to hotel, staying for a few days at the Washington Hilton, the site of John W. Hinckley Jr.'s attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

(Source)

Some more interesting articles can be found here:

Man Charged with Clinton Assassination Attempt, Friday, November 18, 1994.

Tourist Tells How Shooter Was Tackled, Thursday, March 23, 1995.

reply to post by Destinyone


Wow,destinyone,that was a pretty quick response.
Do you frequent these penpal sites??



Just asking.

Originally posted by kdog1982
reply to post by Destinyone

 

Wow,destinyone,that was a pretty quick response.
Do you frequent these penpal sites??

Just asking.

Nope...google is my friend...plus I'm well versed in internet research

My favorite would be assasin is Squeaky Fromme - Charlie Manson Family member who took a pot shot at Ford in '75. Thats what you get for covering up the JFK assasination & pardoning a crook.

Peace

en.wikipedia.org...

www.youtube.com...

You know who's another puzzling would be "assassin"? Raymond Lee Harvey, an alleged drifter who opened fire on Jimmy Carter at a mall with a pistol full of blanks in 1979. Seems to me like it was a message, that message being "Next time we won't use blanks." Lotta shady things went on in regards to the last year of Carter's administration, with the distinct goal of getting him out of office. The whole Iran hostage crisis being prolonged by Reagan's people behind the scenes. I wouldn't put the whole deal with Raymond Lee Harvey out of thought in regards to that. George H.W. Bush was and is a savage bastard, fond of dirty tricks. The man was the head of the CIA for godsake, and you don't get to being the head of the CIA without being a shifty, untrustworthy bastard. As Reagan's vice president, I would believe he might have been pulling some strings in regards to that. Just reeks of some bizaare operation.