A defendant is representing himself in court as one of the people charged with stabbing a man to death during a robbery in a property in Florida known as “The Treehouse.” The case of Franklin Tyrone Tucker, 52, caught attention in part because his childhood friend and CrossFit cofounder, Lauren Jenai, bailed him out of jail and married him.
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Deputies in Monroe County, Florida, said that Tucker and Rory “Detroit” Wilson approached the Treehouse property on Stock Island in November 2017 wearing skull masks. They walked in on a man and woman drinking and held them at knifepoint, authorities said. It escalated to Wilson slashing the woman in the neck and hand while Tucker held the man at knifepoint, documents show.
Then the robbers encountered Matthew Bonnett, who was stabbed five times and his nose broken during a fatal confrontation.
Jurors convicted Wilson in December 2022 of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon while masked. He is serving a sentence of life without parole.
A third defendant, Travis Johnson, was arrested as the getaway driver. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to robbery with a weapon while masked, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon while masked. Johnson, who testified against Wilson, has agreed to do the same against Tucker.
The suspects took in $250 from the fatal robbery, Johnson said in documents.
Discussing Tucker’s decision to represent himself, Key West Citizen reporter Ted Lund told Law&Crime Sidebar in a Tuesday broadcast that there had been a “breakdown in communication” between Tucker and his lawyers.
“There was mention of a possible deal plea for time served that Mr. Tucker just absolutely was not willing to accept,” he said, having noted that a gag order obscured matters. “And they didn’t feel in good conscience that they could represent him anymore.”
He also noted that the relationship between Tucker and Jenai is strained. The couple is estranged, Lund said.
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