DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Western District of Wisconsin

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, March 2, 2016
John W. Vaudreuil
, United States Attorney
Contact: Laura Przybylinski Finn

Madison Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Gun Crime

MADISON, WIS. -- John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Dennis M. Franklin, 44, Madison, Wis., was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge James Peterson to 15 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court found that due to three prior felony convictions, Franklin was an armed career criminal, and was subject to a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years.

Franklin was arrested by Madison police officers on Thanksgiving night, November 27, 2014, fleeing from a residential burglary on the west side of Madison. At the time of his arrest, he possessed a loaded .357 magnum revolver which Franklin had stolen from a residence in Madison in October 2014.

Judge Peterson noted Franklin’s lengthy criminal history, which includes three prior burglary convictions, saying that whatever prison time Franklin had received in the past had not made him change his behavior.

Franklin’s federal prison sentence will be served concurrently to the eight-year state sentence he received for the 2014 residential burglaries.

The conviction of Franklin is the result of an investigation by the Madison Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Przybylinski Finn.

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St. Paul Field Division