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Turner v. State

Evidence that defendant shot her husband in the back after telling her friend that she could not take his abuse any longer supported her conviction.

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A jury convicted Violet Janice Turner of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of her husband, Larry Jackson Turner.1 On appeal, she contends that there was insufficient evidence to support a murder conviction and the trial court improperly charged the jury. Because the evidence was sufficient and she did not object to the charges at trial, we affirm.

1. The evidence presented at trial shows that Larry Turner had often threatened to kill his wife, her children, and her grandchildren. Violet Turner left him four or five times during their year-long marriage, but always returned to him. The night before the shooting, he was drinking and fighting with her and his uncle. On the day of the shooting, he came to the kitchen door with a crutch and said he intended to beat her brains out. After he went back to bed, Violet Turner called a friend on the telephone and her husband started yelling at her. She told her friend that she could not take it anymore, put down the receiver, got a .38 revolver that was next to a chair in the room, stood in the bedroom doorway, and shot three times. The medical examiner testified that Larry Turner was lying on his back when the fatal bullet entered his abdomen and struck an artery. Testifying in her own defense, Violet Turner admitted that she shot her husband because she was tired of his threats and abuse, but did not mean to kill him. A defense expert testified that the defendant suffered from the battered person syndrome and post-traumatic stress syndrome and that she shot her husband because she believed he was going to kill her. After reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Violet Turner guilty of the crime charged.2

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