THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608211004
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 69 lines
A Circuit Court judge said Tuesday that he will move the murder trial of former Navy SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner out of Hampton Roads if an impartial jury cannot be chosen because of the extensive publicity the case has generated.
Judge John K. Moore said he will allow attorneys about four days to attempt to choose a jury when jury selection begins Monday. Turner faces murder and abduction charges in the June 19, 1995 death of 21-year-old Jennifer L. Evans.
After that, Moore said, ``I will move the trial, and I will move it immediately.''
Moore said he has been in contact with several jurisdictions about moving the Turner trial. ``And they are more than accommodating,'' Moore said Tuesday in court.
Moore would not say where the trial would be moved if a jury cannot be chosen in Virginia Beach. But at a hearing earlier this summer, Moore mentioned Alexandria, in Northern Virginia, as a possible location.
If the trial is moved, Moore said, there can be but one explanation for its cause.
``There is not anything about this case any more unusual than any other case with one exception,'' Moore said. ``And that is media publicity.''
When Evans disappeared from The Bayou nightclub in Virginia Beach last year, an enormous missing-person campaign was undertaken by the Virginia Beach Police Department and by the friends and family of Evans.
Rewards that eventually totaled $26,000 were offered, and posters of the Emory University pre-med student were circulated throughout the region.
A week after she disappeared, Turner acknowledged his role in the girl's death and led police to Evans' body. He also told police that his SEAL Team buddy, Billy Joe Brown, strangled Evans, and then the two men tossed her body in a Newport News park.
At that point, publicity escalated into stories about the two suspects and about how two members of the Navy's elite SEAL program could have been involved in the slaying.
The publicity took an unprecedented turn when the Virginia Beach Police Department started a scholarship in memory of Evans. Thousands of fliers were circulated to raise money for the scholarship and two golf tournaments were organized. The second of these tournaments will be held Sept. 20. The first one raised $5,000 for the scholarship fund.
Brown was convicted in June in one of the most publicized trials in the city's history. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and two other offenses, sentenced to 72 years in prison and fined $63,000.
In denying a defense motion to exclude cameras from the Turner trial, Moore on Tuesday applauded the media for its coverage of court proceedings.
``The court has found the media to be very professional and unobtrusive in the course of trials,'' Moore said. ``I see no reason to disallow (cameras).''
Judge A. Bonwill Shockley excluded cameras from the Brown trial because of the sexual nature of two of the charges, attempted rape and sexual penetration.
Although Turner was initially charged with attempted rape and sexual penetration, those charges were dropped. He is now charged with murder and abuduction[sic] with intent to defile. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
ON TRIAL: Dustin A. Turner led police to the body of pre-med student
Jennifer L. Evans.
Photo
Billy Joe Brown was found guilty of first-degree murder in Jennifer
Evans' death.
KEYWORDS: MURDER RAPE TRIAL by CNB