Murder solicitation like 'weird movie'

They met while studying psychology at California State University, Sacramento and the 36-year-old Marysville resident arraigned Thursday for allegedly soliciting murder went on to do well in that world, his estranged wife says.

"It's just like the painter whose house needs painting. He's really good at his job but he doesn't tend to his own house," the 34-year-old woman said of Jonathan Scott Franklin.

Franklin's success in psychology — he worked as a case manager at a mental health facility in Yuba City — didn't last, she said.

Two years ago he lost his job.

"I know why he told me he lost the work," she recounted. "He said it was just politics."

"He said he was the convenient scapegoat just to make everybody happy," the woman said.

Franklin deteriorated after his employment ended, she said.

His wife, who had filed for divorce in January after 10 years of marriage, spoke about months that were like walking on eggshells.

"He doesn't like losing control," she said.

"He just hates me," she added, "because I'm not in his control."

Marysville police said Wednesday they received information July 23 about a murder-for-hire scheme and that an undercover officer "was introduced into the homicide-for-hire scheme."

Franklin allegedly solicited the undercover officer to commit at least one murder, later paid the officer an undisclosed amount of money and gave him information about the intended victim, police said.

The would-be victim's identity is being withheld for safety reasons, according to police. When law enforcement officials told her Sunday of Franklin's alleged try to hire a hit man her first reaction was laughter, she recounted.

"I said, 'I'm sorry, it sounds like something out of a weird movie,'" the woman told officers.

But this was no film, her fears were real and Franklin's arrest - which happened on her 34th birthday — represents the end of a disturbing saga, she suggested.

"It's a relief to not be watching over your shoulder," she said.

No specific event triggered Franklin's alleged effort to hire a hit man, she believes.

"It's his personality," added the woman, who praised police for the protection they've provided her.

"They made me feel very, very safe," she said.

In the Marysville neighborhood where Franklin lived, a block from the Yuba County Courthouse, neighbors spoke about him as a nice guy who seemed to have a hard time because of the divorce.

"He was always smiling except when he was talking about his wife," Ellie Palmer, 55, said. "He talked a lot about jealousy."

"He was trying really hard to deal with it," Palmer added.

Joseph Palmer, 49, said Franklin "was always really good with his kids."

Brandon Hurd, 20, a student at Yuba College, had once been at a barbecue with Franklin and was along C Street in Marysville when law enforcement came to Franklin's home at about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

"I'm really surprised," Hurd said of the arrest. "Everybody is."

Hurd first thought Franklin might have been involved in some financial-related wrongdoing and later learned about the alleged murder solicitation.

"This guy was super normal," Hurd said. "I'll bet he just had a temporary loss of reason."

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com .