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Desmond Turner sentenced to life for Hamilton Ave. killings

By Steve Jefferson - Wthr.com

October 22, 2009

Indianapolis - Desmond Turner, the man accused of killing seven family members inside a home on the near east side in June 2006, received a life sentence without parole Friday morning. 

Turner's family cried in the courtroom when Superior Court Judge Robert Altice handed down the sentence.

Turner's attorney says his client plans to appeal.

"Our client is innocent," said Brent Westerfield, Turner's attorney. "He did not commit these crimes. He did not kill the people at 560 North Hamilton."

"I'm sure there will be an appeal," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. "In fact, when the judge formally sentences him, he'll go through his appelate rights. But I gotta tell you, and you guys sat in the courtroom the entire trial, this was a very clean trial."

One of the relatives of the victims was pleased with the sentence.

"This is great news," said Maria Flores. "We were able to sleep better last night. A lot of weight off of our shoulders. And now we can be more happy."

Altice said Thursday after finding Turner guilty that the state proved its case against the murder suspect.  Altice convicted Turner, 31, on 23 counts stemming from the June 1, 2006, deaths of Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; the couple's young sons, Alberto, 11, and David, 8; and Valdez's adult son and daughter, Magno Albarran and Flora Albarran and Flora's son Luis, 5.

Brizzi said he did not have the evidence needed to meet the high standard of proof required for a capital conviction. The prosecutors' case was built on witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence. They lacked a murder weapon or any physical evidence tying Turner directly to the scene.

Prosecutors argued Turner went the Hamilton Avenue home in June 2006 to rob the family of seven and ended up killing them when one of them confronted him with a gun.

Turner opted for a bench trial in exchange for prosecutors dropping the death penalty, something the victims family went back and forth on.

"Even though he's found guilty, me personally, I'll pray for him," said Maria Flores, a relative of the victims. "He chose to do what he did, but I'm not like him."

Emotions ran high for all of the families involved. Flores showed sympathy for Turner's mother.

"I feel bad for his mom. I know she lost a son too," said Flores.

"We all think that Desmond Turner deserves to die for what he did," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. "There's no question about that. We said it three and a half years ago. We'll say it again today. But I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that if we were going for the death penalty in this case we would not get it."

Maria Flores added, "We don't agree with the death penalty because we don't have the right to take a life. And we're not like him. Most definitely....Killing him won't bring our family back, okay? It just won't. It won't ease the pain."

Turner's codefendant James Stewart goes on trial in December.

• Emma Valdez, 46

• Alberto Covarrubias, 56, Valdez's husband

• Flora Alderran, 22, Valdez's daughter

• Magno Aldarran, 29, Flora Alderran's husband

• Luis Aldarran, 5, Flora Alderran's son

• David Covarrubias, 8

• Alberto Covarrubias, 11

Wikipedia.org

Assault rifles turned on family during robbery

Friday, June 2, 2006

Indianapolis police are searching for Desmond Turner, who is a suspect in the killing of seven people.

A family of seven shot to death in Indianapolis home

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (CNN) -- Police were hunting suspects Friday in the slayings of seven extended family members, including three children, gunned down with assault rifles in a crime authorities called Indianapolis' worst in decades.

Authorities have identified one suspect, 28-year-old Desmond Turner, and said they believe there is at least one more.

"He'd gone there to rob the home and decided while he was there to execute everybody at the same time, unfortunately," Sgt. Matthew Mount, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press.

Witnesses told police they saw as many as three or four men running from the back of the home, AP reported.

Police appealed to anyone who might have known the victims or the suspect to contact them.

"This incident has shocked our police department and shocked our city," said Indianapolis Police Chief Michael Spears. "We do not have these kinds of crimes." (Watch details of a crime that may be the worst-ever in Indianapolis -- 1:18)

"We haven't seen anything like this in Indianapolis in recent memory," Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell told AP. "The I.P.D. [Indianapolis Police Department] folks are saying you have to go back 20, 30 years to find anything like this."

The victims, found by officers responding to a call of shots fired about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, included four adults and three children, all Hispanic.

Police identified the adult victims as Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; Flora Albarran, 22, Valdez's daughter; and Magno Albarran, 29, Flora's husband. The children were identified as Luis Albarran, 5, Flora Albarran's son; Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 8.

The children were found shot to death in the same bed, Deputy Police Chief Tim Foley said. He said police do not know if the children were sleeping there or hiding.

"It was a home invasion ... everyone in the residence was dead," Foley said, displaying pictures of some of the victims.

All the victims appeared to have been shot with assault rifles, he said, and shell casings were found at the scene.

The home was not a "trouble spot," Foley said. Police had only been called there once in recent history, on an alarm check. He said police do not think the killings were gang-related.

Neighbors said the area had declined in recent years and that drug crimes and muggings had become common, according to an AP report.

A police news release gave this account of the night's events, according to AP:

Flora Albarran had been running errands with a friend before stopping at the house to pick up her son, Luis, about 10 p.m. The boy had spent the evening with his grandmother, Emma Valdez, and other relatives.

When Albarran walked into the home, her friend, who was waiting in the car, saw a light come on and heard Albarran shout: "Don't do that! My child!"

She yelled to her friend not to come in the house. That's when the friend heard gunshots inside and Albarran screaming.

A man holding a long gun stepped on the porch, and the shootings continued inside, the friend told police.

Earlier, police spokesman Sgt. Steve Staletovich said officers on the scene "found a young woman crying that her mother had been shot."

The gunman or gunmen are thought to have entered the home from the front and left the same way, Foley said. Police do not believe they were injured.

The victims were from Mexico but were believed to have been in the United States for at least 10 years, Mount said.

"I didn't know that they were even arguing with anybody," Dodson said. "They go to work every day. They're good people. I just -- I don't see it."

Turner, of Indianapolis, has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for firearm and drug offenses, as well as resisting law enforcement, Mount said. He served about two years in prison for a 1997 conviction and two more for a 2001 conviction.

Authorities believe Turner is still in the area. "We're hoping he's probably lying low right now," Foley said.

Asked if police consider Turner armed and dangerous, Foley said, "Anyone who has killed seven human beings, I consider dangerous."

Turner is believed to have grown up in the same neighborhood where the killings took place, according to CNN affiliate WXIN.

Police described him as about 5 feet 9 inches tall, about 150 pounds, with hazel eyes, a beard with long sideburns and gold teeth.

Spears described Turner as "a very desperate person," and said, "Someone knows where this man is, and we want to know."

Police thwarted in search for suspect in family's slaying

Saturday, June 3, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (CNN) -- Indianapolis police came up empty Friday night after surrounding a house where they suspected the primary suspect in the slayings of seven people was holed up, a police spokesman said.

SWAT teams cleared the house without finding anyone, police said.

Police have captured one man who they believe was an accomplice to 28-year-old Desmond Turner, the suspect thought to be inside the home Friday on Indianapolis' east side, said Sgt. Matthew Mount.

The home is about 2 miles from the site of Thursday's killings.

Police continued hunting for suspects in the slayings of seven extended family members, including three children, gunned down with assault rifles. Authorities are calling it Indianapolis' worst crime in decades.

"He'd gone there to rob the home and decided while he was there to execute everybody at the same time, unfortunately," Mount told The Associated Press.

Witnesses told police they saw as many as three or four men running from the back of the home, AP reported.

Police appealed to anyone who might have known the victims or the suspect to contact them.

"This incident has shocked our police department and shocked our city," said Indianapolis Police Chief Michael Spears. "We do not have these kinds of crimes."

"We haven't seen anything like this in Indianapolis in recent memory," Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell told AP. "The (Indianapolis Police Department) folks are saying you have to go back 20, 30 years to find anything like this."

The victims, found by officers responding to a call of shots fired about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, included four adults and three children, all Hispanic.

Police identified the adult victims as Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; Flora Albarran, 22, Valdez's daughter; and Magno Albarran, 29, Flora's husband. The children were identified as Luis Albarran, 5, Flora Albarran's son; Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 8 or 9.

The children were found shot to death in the same bed, Deputy Police Chief Tim Foley said. He said police do not know if the children were sleeping there or hiding.

"It was a home invasion," Foley said, displaying pictures of some of the victims. "Everyone in the residence was dead."

All the victims appeared to have been shot with assault rifles, he said, and shell casings were found at the scene.

The home was not a "trouble spot," Foley said. Police had been called there only once in recent history, on an alarm check. He said police do not think the killings were gang-related.

Neighbors said the area had declined in recent years and that drug crimes and muggings had become common, according to an AP report.

A police news release gave this account of the night's events, according to AP:

·  Flora Albarran had been running errands with a friend before stopping at the house to pick up her son, Luis, about 10 p.m. The boy had spent the evening with his grandmother, Emma Valdez, and other relatives.

·  When Albarran walked into the home, her friend, who was waiting in the car, saw a light come on and heard Albarran shout: "Don't do that! My child!"

·  She yelled to her friend not to come in the house. That's when the friend heard gunshots inside and Albarran screaming.

·  A man holding a long gun stepped on the porch, and the shootings continued inside, the friend told police.

Earlier, police spokesman Sgt. Steve Staletovich said officers on the scene "found a young woman crying that her mother had been shot."

The gunman or gunmen are thought to have entered the home from the front and left the same way, Foley said. Police do not believe they were injured.

The victims were from Mexico but were believed to have been in the United States for at least 10 years, Mount said.

"I didn't know that they were even arguing with anybody," Dodson said. "They go to work every day. They're good people. I just -- I don't see it."

Turner, of Indianapolis, has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for firearm and drug offenses, as well as resisting law enforcement, Mount said. He served about two years in prison for a 1997 conviction and two more for a 2001 conviction.

Authorities believe Turner is still in the area. "We're hoping he's probably lying low right now," Foley said.

Asked if police consider Turner armed and dangerous, Foley said, "Anyone who has killed seven human beings, I consider dangerous."

Turner is believed to have grown up in the same neighborhood where the killings took place, police said.

Police described him as about 5-feet-9-inches tall, about 150 pounds, with hazel eyes, a beard with long sideburns and gold teeth.

Spears described Turner as "a very desperate person," and said, "Someone knows where this man is, and we want to know."

Desmond Turner, Accused of Killing 7, Turns Self In After Police Search

Indianapolis Slay Suspect Surrenders

INDIANAPOLIS, June 3, 2006

(AP) A man suspected of gunning down seven family members he believed kept large amounts of money in their home surrendered to police on Saturday, Deputy Chief Tim Foley said.

A few members of Desmond Turner's family accompanied him as he met authorities at a downtown fast-food restaurant around 7 p.m., Foley said.

“He couldn't look at anybody,” Foley said. “He had his head down. He was sullen.”

The bodies of three boys, ages 5 to 11, and four adult relatives were found dead in a house Thursday in the worst mass murder in Indianapolis in at least 25 years.

Turner, 28, grew up near the shooting and had returned last fall after being released from prison following a 3½-year term for drug and weapons charges.

Foley said investigators put pressure on people who knew Turner to ensure that they wouldn't take him in.

“He didn't turn himself in out of remorse. He turned himself in because he had no place to go,” Foley said.

More than 100 police officers searched for Turner, including unsuccessful raids at two houses, since shortly after the slayings. He now faces seven counts of murder.

On Friday, police arrested the second suspected triggerman, 30-year-old James Stewart, after a traffic stop. He was being held Saturday on a preliminary charge of murder, police said.

“Indianapolis can sleep a lot easier tonight,” Deputy Police Chief Clifford Myers.

Foley said police believe the suspects targeted the home for robbery after hearing exaggerated accounts of money and other valuables inside. Those accounts were “fiction,” Foley said.

Nearly 30 shell casings from an assault rifle were found at the home.

Foley said that although the decision of whether to pursue capital murder charges belongs to prosecutors, “If I was a betting man, I'd say there's a high likelihood this is going to be a death penalty case.”

Mourners laid flowers and handmade memorials along the fence of the modest home where the family was found slain in the working-class neighborhood.

The victims were identified as Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; their sons Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 8 or 9; Valdez's daughter, Flora Albarran, 22; Albarran's 5-year-old son, Luis; and Albarran's brother Magno Albarran, 29.

Maria Flores, whose sister was killed, stood quietly as police briefed the media about Turner's surrender.

“We are very relieved and thankful that he made the right decision,” she said. “I just hope God forgives him for what he did.”

Neighbors, friends and others whose emotions were touched by the city's worst mass murder in 25 years left flowers, ribbons, candles, dozens of stuffed animals and an angel statue along a sidewalk out front of the family's house. Cars drove by slowly while people knelt to pray. A memorial service was scheduled to be held in front of the family's home Sunday evening.

“God shall bring justice to them, celebrate the way they lived, not the way they left us,” read one note left atop seven red roses at family's modest tan house. “A good family is gone, but not forgotten. Shall they all rest in peace.”

Adults and children, many in tears, streamed through nearby Thomas D. Gregg Elementary, where David and Alberto had attended classes, to speak with grief counselors Saturday.

“The boys were very respectful of the school, good students and well-behaved,” Principal Les Durbin told The Indianapolis Star. “They were very well-respected by their classmates and their parents were very involved in their educations.”