THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609070183
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 103 lines
THE SENTENCE: The jury said Dustin A. Turner - convicted in the June 1995 death of Jennifer L. Evans - should get 45 years in prison for first-degree murder and 37 years for abduction with intent to defile. Turner got a recommended sentence 10 years longer than the one given to a friend who also was convicted in Evans' death.
A jury on Friday recommended that former Navy SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner serve 82 years in prison for the June 19, 1995, strangulation death of Georgia college student Jennifer L. Evans.
After about two hours of deliberation, the jury recommended a sentence of 45 years for first-degree murder and 37 years for abduction with intent to defile. Turner, 21, was convicted of both charges Thursday after an eight-day trial that began on Aug. 26.
Circuit Judge John K. Moore will decide Nov. 6 whether to accept the jury's recommendation.
Moore also will decide whether Turner will be allowed to serve the two sentences concurrently (at the same time). If so, under Virginia's no-parole law, Turner would be eligible for parole in 38 years, when he is 59.
If Turner is sentenced to consecutive terms, he would have to serve at least 69.7 years. The law requires that a defendant serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.
``What difference does it make?'' his attorney, Richard G. Brydges, said. ``We are talking about a lifetime.''
Turner's recommended sentence is 10 years longer than the one given on June 6 to Billy Joe Brown, 24, who also was convicted in Evans' death.
Brown, also a former Navy SEAL trainee, received a sentence of 72 years in prison and a fine of $63,000. Brown was convicted of attempted rape as well as the murder and abduction charges.
Evans, 21, a pre-med student at Emory University, was vacationing in Virginia Beach more than 14 months ago when she disappeared in the early morning hours of June 19 from The Bayou, a Virginia Beach nightclub on 19th Street.
A massive search for Evans lasted until June 27, 1995, when her body was found in a wooded ravine in Newport News City Park.
Turner and Brown, both members of Little-Creek based SEAL Team Four, lied about their roles in Evans' disappearance and death for the eight days that she was missing. On June 27, they confessed to disposing of her body, but blamed each other for strangling her. Turner led police to Evans' body.
Brydges had counted on Turner's cooperation with police and his client's wholesome, All-American appearance to score points with the jury. He had no explanation on Friday for what went wrong.
``Go figure,'' Brydges said as he walked out of Virginia Beach Circuit Court.
Prosecutors believe that Turner and Brown, swim buddies who had survived the toughest part of SEAL training together, had an abnormal relationship that included a penchant for picking up women and engaging them in group sex. Numerous people, several of them SEALs, testified in both trials that Turner and Brown were obsessed with what they referred to as ``tag-team sex.''
Evans, prosecutors said, was the last of these women targeted by the two SEAL trainees. Turner met her at The Bayou on June 18 and lured her to his car in the nightclub parking lot. After Brown joined the couple, prosecutors said, the two men took Evans to another location, where she was killed after resisting their sexual advances.
In sentencing arguments to the jury on Friday, prosecutor Al Alberi did not request a life sentence. He instead asked for a sentence longer than the minimum, which is 20 years each for the two charges.
Alberi described Turner as arrogant and self-centered, a man who ``wanted to be a member of SEAL Team Four for all the wrong reasons.''
SEAL team membership, Alberi said, brought Turner, who was married, a social status that he used to help him pick up women in nightspots where he caroused.
It allowed Turner, Alberi said, to get away with a disrespectful attitude toward women that culminated in Evans' abduction and murder.
``Jennifer was subjected to the things she was subjected to because she was a woman,'' Alberi said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Dustin A. Turner
Graphic with photos
The Turner trial
Defendant
Dustin A. Turner
The victim
Jennifer L. Evans
Convicted
Billy Joe Brown
The crime
Turner is on trial in the abduction and death of Evans, a pre-med
student from Atlanta who died in June 1995 while vacationing in
Virginia Beach. Brown was convicted in June of first-degree murder,
attempted rape and abduction and sentenced to 72 years in prison.
Both men were Navy SEAL trainees at the time of the crime.
What happened Friday
The jury that convicted Turner recommended that he serve 45 years
in prison for first-degree murder and 37 years for abduction with
intent to defile. Under Virginia's no-parole policy, he could serve
as much as 69.7 years in prison if Judge John K. Moore upholds the
jury's sentence. The forman sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6.
- The Virginian Pilot by CNB