Richard Turner II
SALINE CO.—The man who murdered four-year-old Jessika James in June of 2009 is going to prison for a long time…but, many feel, not long enough.
Having the best efforts of Morgan Scroggins, one of the preeminent defense attorneys in downstate Illinois, Richard Turner II (Ricky Turner) was able to negotiate sentences in exchange for guilty pleas today, February 15, many years after the commission of the crime of not only the shaking death of little Jessika, but the sexual assault of very young victims. And in all, Turner will spend less than two decades behind bars for the crimes.
Here’s information from the press release from the Saline County State’s Attorney’s office, received this afternoon:
Turner, 34, of Eldorado, entered guilty pleas today in Saline County Circuit Court in two cases pending since 2010.
Turner’s jury trial on two counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (10CF206, dating back almost two years) was set to begin today at 9. However, it was delayed, with jurors waiting in the courtroom, while Scroggins and the state (represented by Mike Henshaw and assistant prosecutor Eva Walker) were in plea negotiations. Turner eventually entered a plea to one count of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a 7-year-old family member that occurred between September 2000 and Sept. 2002. He was sentenced to 22 years DOC on that, and must serve 85 percent of it and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life upon release.
At 1 p.m. today, he pled guilty to Second Degree murder in the death of Jessika James in Eldorado.
Jessika Rena James, circa 2009
Turner received a 20-year sentence to be served concurrent with the Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault sentence.
Henshaw and Walker handled the murder case; Walker, who has turned out to be a remarkable sex offense prosecutor, handled that aspect of Turner’s charges. ISP Special Agent Gwen Basinger was the lead investigator in both cases and she did an admirable job as well.
Regular readers will remember that the medical examiner’s report showed that Jessika died of severe head injuries from having been violently shaken. Turner was living with Jessika’s mother Brandi James at the time, in Eldorado. There was no indication that she herself was sexually assaulted; however, it seems Turner had a proclivity for very young girls, and now, he’s going to face true punishment for his crimes. While many in Jessika’s family circle may be disappointed that Turner’s sex crime garnered him a longer sentence than the murder (at 85 percent, he’s looking at 18.7 years), the sex offense will keep him in prison for a little while longer than the murder would (at day-for-day good time, he’d have been out in 10 minus the nearly two years he’s been locked up already)…such is sentencing in the state of Illinois.
Your comments are appreciated…do you think Turner needed to be locked up longer? Do you think the community will be in a bad way in less than 20 years when he gets out? Do you think the team of Henshaw/Walker did everything they could?…or do you think the whole thing should have gone to jury, and let a jury convict and sentence this merciless killer?