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| Hispanic men shot in county |
Carl DeShawn Turner (right) pleads guilty in Henry County Circuit Court on Thursday as his attorney, Perry Harrold (left), talks with Judge David Williams. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Friday, March 5, 2010
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
An 18-year-old faces as much as 108 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Thursday to killing two Hispanic men and other charges in connection with a drug deal that went wrong at a Collinsville mobile home.
Carl DeShawn Turner, formerly of Blankenship Road in Martinsville, accepted an agreement with the prosecution shortly before his two-day trial was scheduled to begin Thursday morning in Henry County Circuit Court. He faced a total of 12 charges, including the felony murders of Martin Cardecas, Rafael Torres Sanchez and Gabriel Rogel Mirafuentes on June 23, 2008.
The three men were shot to death inside a mobile home at 26 Colony Trace in Collinsville. Their slayings were “Exhibit A in the phrase, ‘A drug deal gone bad,’” Henry County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Bushnell told the court.
According to Bushnell’s summary of the evidence, Turner conspired with two men and another teenager to buy cocaine from an alleged Mexican drug dealer. The deal went bad, and Turner shot the alleged drug dealer and two other Hispanic men inside the mobile home, Bushnell told the court.
Each man was shot in the head, the prosecutor said.
Bushnell’s evidence summary was based on accounts given by the three other men, who agreed to testify against Turner as part of bargains they reached with the prosecution. Their stories were corroborated by evidence gathered by police, Bushnell said.
Turner’s attorney, Perry Harrold, did not dispute Bushnell’s account in court. He noted, however, that the evidence showed that the two adults — Maurice Pritchett, then 32, and Jordan Stockton, then 31 — came up with the plan to buy cocaine.
The fourth person charged in the case is Anthony Eggleston, then 17.
As part of the agreement, Bushnell dropped the murder charge against Turner in connection with Mirafuentes’ death. Bushnell said in court that the evidence was consistent with Mirafuentes pulling a gun on Turner as Turner tried to buy cocaine from him.
Harrold said Turner feared for his life when Mirafuentes was shot.
“I think Mr. Mirafuentes tried to shoot Mr. Turner, and when he tried to do that, Mr. Turner and he struggled for the gun and in the process of the struggle for the gun, Mr. Turner was trying to protect his life,” Harrold said after the hearing. “He feared for his life. At that point, Mr. Mirafuentes was killed.”
Judge David V. Williams accepted Turner’s guilty pleas to seven charges: two counts of felony murder in the deaths of Cardecas and Sanchez; two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of those murders; and one count each of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, attempting to possess cocaine while possessing a firearm and conspiracy to possess cocaine.
In exchange, the following charges were dropped: two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sanchez and Cardecas; one count of shooting inside an occupied dwelling; one count of felony murder in the death of Mirafuentes; and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with Mirafuentes’ death.
Turner had been charged with both first-degree murder and felony murder, a lesser charge, in the deaths of Sanchez and Cardecas. First-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, requires premeditation.
Felony murder does not. According to Bushnell, felony murder is committed when a person unlawfully but not intentionally kills someone as he is committing a felony. The killing might be deliberate, as it was in the case of Sanchez and Cardecas, Bushnell said, but it was not the original intent of the killer.
In this case, Turner’s original intent was to buy cocaine, a felony, Bushnell said the evidence showed.
That is why he agreed to drop the first-degree murder charges.
Dropping the charge of shooting within an occupied dwelling was part of negotiations with the defense, Bushnell said.
As for the charge of felony murder in Mirafuentes’ death, Bushnell acknowledged that the defense might have argued that Turner shot Mirafuentes in self-defense.
He noted that Turner left cocaine worth $4,000 to $5,000 in the bedroom where Mirafuentes’ body was found. Unlike Cardecas and Sanchez, Mirafuentes was killed with a .380-caliber pistol, not the .45-caliber gun Turner was carrying, Bushnell said.
“The evidence is consistent with Mirafuentes producing a .380 in an ineffectual attempt to rob the defendant of money,” Bushnell told the court. Mirafuentes apparently was not as quick as he thought he would be, and “he paid for that with his life,” Bushnell said.
Given the nature of the evidence, Bushnell said he agreed to drop the charges related to Mirafuentes’ death.
That means no one will serve time for killing Mirafuentes, he acknowledged. However, the agreement ensures that Turner will serve time in prison, Bushnell said.
“He will serve at least 10 years, and I hope significantly more than that,” the prosecutor said.
According to Judge Williams, Turner faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 108 years behind bars. Bushnell said sentencing guidelines prepared in the case suggest a sentence of between about 18 and 30 years.
The court is not bound by those guidelines. Williams will determine a sentence after a hearing on June 9.
The courtroom was nearly full by the time Turner, dressed in an orange Henry County Jail uniform, pleaded guilty Thursday. Many of the spectators were law enforcement officers and others who would have testified in the trial. On the opposite side of the aisle, Turner’s supporters filled several rows.
Among them were his mother, Irish Turner, and his grandmother, Virginia Harding. Irish Turner said she did not think what happened Thursday was fair.
“He didn’t really have a choice” but to plead guilty, she said. “It was three people against one.”
Irish Turner said she was not suggesting that her son is completely innocent, but she does not believe he would kill someone in cold blood. She and Harding suggested that Turner was drawn into the situation by the much older Pritchett.
“It’s sad when grown people drag kids into their mess,” Harding said.
“It wasn’t fair at all,” Irish Turner said. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Harrold said after the hearing that Turner’s reasons for accepting the agreement Thursday — months after Bushnell initially offered it in November — will be made clear when Turner takes the stand at the sentencing hearing.
He declined to elaborate, other than to say he hopes the case stands as a lesson on the evils of cocaine.
“This case is about cocaine and money,” Harrold said. “I hope it serves as a lesson to people of all ages that cocaine is a source of great evil, and it leads to nothing but trouble.”
No members of the victims’ families attended Thursday’s hearing. |
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