Shooting victim identified as former City Councilman John ‘Duke’ Franklin
Police have confirmed a man shot during a domestic dispute with his wife on Sunday is former Chattanooga City Councilman John P. “Duke” Franklin.
John Franklin, 58, arrived at a local hospital with a gunshot wound in his left calf around 2:30 a.m. Sunday and told police he had been shot by his wife at their home on King Arthur Road, according to court documents.
He said the couple had been drinking when his wife became upset with him over allegations of past infidelity on his part. During the fight, she picked up her pink Charter Arms .38 Special revolver and shot him in the lower leg. He said she never pointed the weapon at his chest or head.
Officers took 50-year-old Jennifer Franklin, listed as Jennifer Marbury in online court records, into custody when they arrived at the home and located the revolver on the bed in the master bedroom. She told police she did shoot the weapon earlier that night and discarded the spent shell casing in a trash can.
An investigator attempted to speak further with her, but she invoked her right to counsel. She has been charged with aggravated assault, and her next court appearance will be before Hamilton County General Sessions Judge Gary Starnes on Jan. 23.
On Monday, Jon Kinsey, a former Chattanooga mayor who held office at the same time as John Franklin, wished him a speedy recovery.
“Anytime there’s violence of that nature it’s a tragedy,” he said. “I’ll be praying for him and I just wish him the best.”
Almost a decade ago, John Franklin avoided jail time after a lengthy trial over his participation in a local cocaine ring. The charges stemmed from an incident in March 2008 when he arranged for a fraudulent loan document to be notarized that federal authorities said was used by his friend Michael Kelley to conceal $70,000 in drug money.
He was originally charged with money laundering and faced a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years, but he pleaded guilty that year only to conspiring to obstruct justice. He was sentenced to three years of supervised probation.
The former councilman resigned from his position in July 2008, two weeks after he was originally arrested, but included in documents filed in the course of the hearing was an admittance by John Franklin that he was a cocaine addict while serving on the City Council.