THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300515
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 92 lines
The commonwealth rested its case against former SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner Thursday afternoon after presenting two days of testimony that Turner aggressively pursued Georgia college student Jennifer L. Evans before helping to dispose of her body in a Newport News park on June 19, 1995.
Prosecutors also showed that Turner told a series of lies to several police officers during the week between Evans' disappearance and the discovery of her body.
Once Turner began to crack and admitted that he knew what had happened to Evans, he put all the blame for the 21-year-old's death on his co-defendant in the case, Billy Joe Brown.
Detective John T. Orr of the Virginia Beach Police Department testified Thursday that Turner's denials became ``weaker and weaker'' during an interview session at FBI headquarters in Richmond on June 27, 1995. Finally, Orr told the court, Turner agreed to lead police to Evans' body, but only after denying any responsibility for her death.
``He stated several times that he was not the one who killed Jennifer,'' Orr said.
Turner told Orr that Brown, in an extremely drunken state, climbed into Turner's parked car in the lot of The Bayou nightclub on June 19, 1995, and almost immediately reached into the front seat, where Turner was sitting with Evans.
For no apparent reason, Turner told Orr, Brown suddenly put a fatal choke hold on the vacationing Emory University student.
Turner said he could do nothing to stop the murder.
`` `It happened so fast,' '' Orr testified that Turner told him during the interview.
`` `I don't know why the hell (Brown) killed her.' ''
Turner then admitted to Orr that he drove Evans' body to Newport News City Park, where he and Brown threw it into a wooded ravine.
Brown, who along with Turner was a trainee assigned to SEAL Team Four, was convicted in June of first-degree murder, abduction and attempted rape. He was sentenced to 72 years in prison and fined $63,000.
Prosecutors believe that a desire on the men's part for three-way sex was the motive for Evans' death and that she was strangled by one or both of the men when she resisted.
During Brown's trial, prosecutors said that Brown and Turner took an unconscious Evans to a Virginia Beach back street and attempted to have sex with her.
She died, they said, when Turner strangled her as Brown held her down.
The prosecution has not made that argument in Turner's trial.
In both trials, SEALS from Little Creek-based commando teams have testified that Brown and Turner had a history of pursuing and talking about three-way sexual encounters.
On Thursday, Todd P. Ehrlich, 23, said Turner and Brown did so in California, where they were undergoing rigorous underwater demolition training at a base near San Diego, and they did so in Virginia, where Turner and Brown were in the last phases of SEAL training in the spring of 1995.
Ehrlich said he, Brown and Turner were at the Coronado training facility in California during the same period in 1994. On two occasions, Ehrlich said, he witnessed discussions involving Turner and Brown where group sex, or ``tag-team sex,'' was discussed. Ehrlich, a member of SEAL Team Eight, said all three men were eventually transferred to Fort A.P. Hill near Richmond.
In June 1995, one week before Evans disappeared, Ehrlich was at a nightclub in Fredericksburg with Turner and Brown.
Ehrlich testified that he witnessed Turner and Brown attempting to pick up two women for ``tag-team sex'' at the Fredericksburg bar.
He said Turner was talking to the women and telling Brown about his progress. Ehrlich was close enough to overhear the conversation, he said.
Eventually, Ehrlich said, the women left the bar without Turner and Brown.
On Wednesday, SEAL Team Four member Julio C. Fitzgibbons testified that Turner told him on the night Evans disappeared that he and Brown were trying to arrange a ``threesome'' with Evans.
Kirsten Bishop, an ex-girlfriend of Brown's who was at The Bayou on June 19, 1995, testified Thursday that Turner was trying to pick up Evans.
She had several discussions with Brown and Turner that night, she said.
Brown was extremely drunk, but Turner seemed to be very interested in Evans, she said.
``I gathered that he was planning on taking Jennifer Evans home,'' Bishop testified.
The defense is expected to begin its case this morning.
Defense attorneys said Turner would testify. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
THE TURNER TRIAL
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
CHARLIE MEADS
The Virginian-Pilot
Kirsten Bishop, an ex-girlfriend of Billy Joe Brown, testified that
the night Jennifer Evans disappeared, Brown was very drunk but
Dustin A. Turner appeared very interested in taking her home.
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL TESTIMONY by CNB