A former Franklin police officer already fired once for domestic violence-related misconduct is now jailed on charges that he used his estranged wife's Amazon smart device to listen in on her household and threaten to kill two of the people living there. Bryan K. Burton, 50, was arrested on a warrant on September 1 and remains in the Johnson County Jail awaiting a bail review hearing.
Burton worked for the Franklin Police Department for 15 years before the Franklin Police Merit Commission fired him in 2017 over an October 2016 domestic battery arrest, according to Daily Journal. He was not charged in connection with that 2016 domestic incident, but the merit board concluded his conduct was unbecoming of an officer and injurious to public peace, prompting the vote to remove him from the force. Burton appealed the termination but was unsuccessful, and he has remained living in Franklin since leaving the department.
According to the same Daily Journal report, Burton's wife obtained a protective order against him on August 6, barring him from contacting her or her household members, or from committing or threatening violent acts against them. Despite that order, the article states Burton called Johnson County dispatch on August 12 seeking to reach her, telling the dispatcher that the protective order prevented him from contacting his wife. She had already filed for divorce from him on August 17.
A Recorded Threat Through a Smart Speaker
Per the affidavit described in the Daily Journal's report, Burton's wife noticed on August 12 that her Amazon smart device was lit up, and a household member began recording the conversation coming through it. Burton allegedly used the device to listen in on his wife before asking what she was up to and saying he wanted to ask about their child, per the affidavit. The recording, per the same account, captured Burton threatening to come to the house and kill two household members before a household member ended the recording and unplugged the device.
Burton initially denied threatening his wife on August 12, but the affidavit states he later said he might have said he would just as soon kill her. He also admitted to contacting his wife by phone and through the smart device that day, and the article notes his phone number made numerous attempts to contact her. A second affidavit states Burton texted his wife despite the protective order and admitted contacting her to learn their children's sports schedule, and per the affidavit he called her 20 times that day.
The article reports that Burton allegedly continued contacting his wife and members of her separate household even after the protective order took effect. He now faces one count of intimidation and two counts of invasion of privacy, all misdemeanor charges. Under Indiana Code § 35-45-2-1, intimidation is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, according to Keffer Hirschauer LLP, and the charge can be elevated to a felony if made against a witness or with a deadly weapon. Separately, invasion of privacy for violating a protective order under Indiana Code § 35-46-1-15.1 carries the same maximum Class A misdemeanor penalties, per Cardella Law, though it can also elevate to a felony with prior related convictions.
A Long History of Discipline and Litigation
Burton's record with the Franklin Police Department stretches back well before his 2017 firing. Public records released during his termination proceedings showed local police had been called 11 times over incidents involving Burton across his 15-year career, including domestic disputes and verbal altercations with family members. He was the subject of four criminal investigations during his tenure, and while prosecutors declined to file charges in three of those cases, Burton also received reprimands and two suspensions along the way.
In 2010, Burton faced a 45-day suspension recommendation from the merit board and was named in a federal sexual harassment lawsuit after a confidential informant alleged he had provided alcohol to a minor and drank while on duty, according to WTHR. The informant also alleged Burton had offered to resolve her DUI charges in exchange for her working as an informant before harassing her. After his 2017 firing, Burton took his fight to court, appealing the merit commission's decision through the Indiana Court of Appeals, which unanimously affirmed his termination in December 2018 in Bryan Burton v. City of Franklin, finding his due process rights were not violated even without a formal internal departmental review. He had also filed a federal age-discrimination lawsuit in September 2017 against the City of Franklin and then-Police Chief Tim O'Sullivan, alleging the department was systematically replacing older officers with younger recruits while retaining younger officers who faced criminal allegations of their own.
Recusal Highlights Johnson County's Overloaded Courts
Two cases tied to Burton were filed in Johnson Superior Court 1 in late August, and Judge Brandi Foster Kirkendall has recused herself from the criminal case. Court administrator Shena Johnson is now listed as the judicial officer in online court records. Kirkendall took the Superior Court 1 bench in January 2025 after winning election in November 2024, following earlier service as court administrator starting in 2019 and as magistrate starting in 2022.
The recusal comes as Johnson County's court system grapples with an overloaded docket, relying on judges from other counties and outside attorneys to help fill gaps. Indiana Supreme Court weighted caseload data published in September ranked Johnson County trial courts as the busiest in the state, operating short by 2.45 judges relative to their total filing volume, with local civil filings up 35% and criminal filings up 12% between 2023 and 2025.
The case also lands within a broader, well-documented pattern of abusers turning ordinary smart-home technology into tools of surveillance and intimidation. Cybersecurity research from Avast and the domestic abuse charity Refuge has identified Amazon Alexa and Echo devices among the connected home technologies most frequently weaponized by abusers to eavesdrop on and harass intimate partners, with survey data showing nearly half of women were unable to identify which smart devices in their homes were vulnerable to that kind of remote abuse.
