Wake mother, son charged with trying to kill father

Steven Donald Franklin, 23, and Tammy Franklin, 45, both of 6825 Greywalls Lane, north of Raleigh, were charged Monday with felony conspiracy. Steven Franklin also was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, while Tammy Franklin also was charged with accessory after the fact of a felony.

Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Steven Franklin attacked his father, Donald Webster Franklin, with a 4-inch paring knife in the Greywalls Lane home on Oct. 31, and Tammy Franklin later helped her son hide from authorities in her parents' Haywood County home.

Court records show that Donald Franklin was pushed down some stairs before the attack and suffered cuts on one hand.

Prosecutors said there was evidence Tammy Franklin may have planned the murder attempt. According to arrest warrants, the conspiracy began in May.

But Tammy Franklin told a judge that she was the victim in the case.

"I'm a physically abused woman," she said.

Savannah Franklin, 19, said her mother and brother didn't do anything wrong and that her father concocted the stabbing story because he and her mother are separating.

"They didn’t do it. I know they didn’t do it," Savannah Franklin said. "My dad is just taking out anger."

Donald Franklin was abusive toward the family for years, she said, adding that she filed for a restraining order against him on Monday.

Meanwhile, Donald Franklin obtained restraining orders Monday against his wife and son, who is a student at East Carolina University. He claimed that Tammy Franklin threatened to kill him in recent days unless he dropped the assault charge against their son.

Steven Franklin was being held in the Wake County jail under a $1 million bond, and Tammy Franklin was being held under a $1.25 million bond.

"I never thought that I would ever see my brother or my mom in jail because they haven’t even done anything. They never would have done anything," Savannah Franklin said.