Staff photos / Ed Runyan Franklin Herns, left, is handcuffed moments after learning that a jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of raping a woman he knew June 27, 2021, at his home on Sunshine Avenue on the East Side of Youngstown. He could get about 15 years in prison when he is sentenced later. At right is deputy Bill Horn.

YOUNGSTOWN — It was anybody’s guess what the jury would decide late Thursday when they announced they had reached a verdict in the Franklin Herns rape trial.

Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court read the verdict of guilty on one of two counts of rape, which could put him in prison for a decade or more.

The jury deliberated a long time — about 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon then nearly an entire day Thursday.

The trial included testimony from the victim, who explained that she and Herns had known each other since junior high school on Youngstown’s East Side but did not start seeing each other until about four years ago, then stopped seeing each other, then started communicating by Facebook Messenger in May of 2021. The messages were printed out and discussed during the trial.

The victim, 29, the same age as Herns, walked an assistant prosecutor through lots of messages she and Herns sent each other, translating what she was trying to tell Herns with phrases, emojis and abbreviations. And she read the things Herns said to her, which were more direct: He wanted to resume the sexual relationship they had four years ago.

She meanwhile, appeared to be telling Herns she was no longer the girl she was four years ago and would not be having sex with him unless he was interested in a long-term relationship.

But on June 27, 2021, he went to her Youngstown home uninvited. She didn’t leave with him the first time, but did leave the second time, saying she had never feared him, thought he just wanted to talk and that he understood that sex was not going to happen.

Herns later took the stand also, saying the woman was on board with having sex with him the entire time, including when they were at his house on Sunshine Avenue on the East Side that afternoon. He even testified that the messages she wrote to him were a clear indication that she wanted to have sex, saying “She was speaking sexually, but it was basically having two conversations at once.”

He said a person not of his generation probably would not understand the meaning of the words and symbols she used.

Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews told jurors in opening statements in the trial that began Monday that the trial was going to be about Herns not accepting that “No means no,” and Herns would not accept no for an answer.

Defense attorney Nick Cerni told the jury the trial would be about the woman having sex with Herns and then experiencing “regret” and “having to explain” to the father of her children when she returned home why she was gone so long.

Herns was indicted on two counts of the exact same offense for multiple rapes committed at the same time, but the jury found him guilty of just one. The maximum sentence for the offense is about 16 years and the minimum sentence is about three years. No sentencing date was announced.

RARE COMBO

After the jury returned its verdict, Andrews and fellow assistant prosecutor Rob Andrews finally discussed a secret they kept from the jury throughout the week: They are father and daughter.

Before the trial started, defense attorney Tom Zena asked the assistant prosecutors not to mention their family ties for fear that it might give them a leg-up with the jury. Rob Andrews said he thought the jury might wonder about their last names but agreed not to bring it up. It did not come up throughout the trial.

Caitlyn Andrews has been an assistant prosecutor for three years. Her father is a veteran prosecutor who is often paired with younger assistant prosecutors.

But this was the first time the two had worked together on a trial, mostly, Caitlyn said, because her cases typically deal with sex offenses and violence against women, and her father’s cases generally do not.

“I’ve always wanted to try a case with him,” Caitlyn said. “We’ve had other cases that have not gotten to trial yet.”

Rob said he has tried to avoid trying cases with his daughter to allow her to learn from others.

“I coached her in sports growing up, and I helped her in law school, but I just wanted her to learn from other people, so I’ve tried to avoid this,” he said.

But he added, “I always hoped it would happen at some point.” He said he hoped it would happen when she is experienced enough not to learn his “bad habits,” he said.

“It was an honor. It was very interesting,” he said.

“I thought it was a great experience,” Caitlyn said. “I hope we get to do one again. It’s actually interesting because this is the first time I’ve ever seen him in trial. I’ve watched him question a witness or something. But seeing him do closing arguments, I think that was when I was like ‘Wow, that’s my dad.'”

She added, “It was definitely a good experience,” to which Rob said, “I’m very proud of my little girl.”

She said her father has been the “go-to person whenever I have questions,” so in a way she has become comfortable with him as a co-worker, “but I do think doing the trial is different experience. I was a very proud daughter.”

Caitlyn agreed that she and her father made a good team in this case because she is about the same age as the victim and Herns and “That’s why I kind of handled the part where the messages came in (to the trial). It was easier for me to handle that because he still has a flip phone,” she said, laughing.

Jerry Ingram, one of the best known and longest serving criminal defense attorneys in Mahoning County, said it’s been probably 40 years since closely related assistant prosecutors tried a case together.