By Shereen Siewert
The 60-year-old man convicted in March of intentionally killing a Wausau man in 2018 will spend the rest of his life in prison, after he was sentenced Friday in Marathon County Circuit Court.
The sentence for Lee Franck, formerly of Wausau, comes more than four years after the death of 77-6year-old Lyle Leith, whose body was discovered Feb. 18, 2018 in the garage of his Kickbusch Street home. The crime, first-degree intentional homicide, carries a mandatory life sentence, but Wisconsin law gives judges discretion to allow extended release after a 20-year term.
But on Friday, Circuit Judge Greg Strasser ensured Franck will never again be a free man by sentencing him to life without the possibility of extended release.
Police say Franck intentionally killed Leith one day after the two had an argument. Leith’s daughter, who was a friend of Franck‘s, found her father’s body and told police Franck had threatened her family during and after the argument. Leith’s daughter and Franck not romantically involved.
Autopsy results show Leith died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, likely caused by a tire iron or crowbar. Police say they discovered a metal pipe in a fire pit on Franck’s property that could have been the murder weapon. He was a suspect early in the investigation and was arrested initially on felony domestic abuse charges. Police relied in part on dash cam video from Franck’s vehicle that showed he purchased bleach at a store in Iron Mountain the night of the murder. The Wisconsin State Crime Lab also discovered DNA from Leith and Franck in blood on the driver door handle of Franck’s vehicle, according to court documents.
Eight months after the murder while being held on a $750,000 cash bond, Franck pleaded not guilty to the crime by reason of mental disease or defect, Wisconsin’s version of the insanity plea. If the defense had succeeded, Franck would have been committed to a psychiatric facility instead of a correctional facility, depending on the circumstances of the case. But that effort failed.
A review of court records show Franck has a number of criminal charges and convictions dating back to 2007, when he was found guilty of intimidating a victim in Marathon County Circuit Court. In that case, a felony stalking charge from 2007 was dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Franck lived in Wausau at that time.
In 2008, Franck was convicted of criminal trespassing and bail jumping. In that Marathon County case, additional charges of stalking, battery, making threats to injure, criminal damage to property, intimidating a victim and disorderly conduct were also dismissed.
In 2013, he was charged in Florence County Circuit Court with second degree recklessly endangering safety and endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal that involved Franck pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Judge Strasser also ordered Franck to pay $5,874.95 in crime victim compensation. Franck will soon be transferred from a local jail to the state prison system, where he will remain for the rest of his days.
