Franklin exec admits beating wife

Johnson faced up to a decade in prison had he been tried and convicted on all the original charges of domestic violence, battery, false imprisonment and preventing his 46-year-old wife from calling police.

Johnson's decision came after many unsuccessful attempts by his defense attorney to broker a plea bargain to a lesser misdemeanor charge. But the District Attorney's Office refused and eventually Johnson relented.

Johnson's relationship with his wife of seven years was riddled with arguments and his drinking, according to court records filed by Melodie Johnson. She took out an emergency restraining order Sept. 28 but Johnson violated it that day by returning to their Hillsborough home. The couple was arguing when he slammed his wife's face against a stove so hard he cracked both a ceramic burner and bones around her right eye. He was arrested after nurses at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center contacted police.

He had previously attacked his wife six months before in front of the couple's three young sons.

He remained free on a $150,000 bond since his arrest that night. Attempts to hold a preliminary hearing on the evidence were delayed multiple times.

Johnson told Judge Mark Forcum that he was making the plea to spare his wife and children from having to participate in such a hearing, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Johnson, who at the time was the second-highest ranking executive at Franklin-Templeton Investments, is barred from having contact with his family or visiting the couple's Hillsborough home where the attack took place.

Since his arrest, Johnson took a leave of absence from his position as second in command at Franklin Resources. He also enrolled in alcohol rehabilitation programs that his defense attorneys hope will influence Forcum's sentencing decision, Wagstaffe said.

The victim has been