SALINE COUNTY—“That wicked man!” as 35-year-old Ricky Turner, II, was described by assistant state’s attorney Eva Walker during closing arguments Friday, March 22, now faces natural life behind bars in the Illinois Department of Corrections after being found guilty in the 2009 First Degree Murder of 4-year-old Jessika James.
“I believe justice was done in this case,” said State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw after the jury returned the guilty verdict. “But no matter how you look at it we still have a dead 4-year-old little girl. Nothing is going to change that.”
Witnesses told of torture
Turner was painted out by prosecution witnesses during testimony as being vicious, controlling and manipulative.
What the judge in the case (Walden Morris) wouldn’t allow in was that he was also a drug dealer who kept the mother of the child supplied in all the dope she could handle.
The happy little girl, who came to live with her mother about a month before her death (Jessika had spent most of her short life with her great-grandmother, who had died in the weeks prior to Jessika’s death) was said to have undergone nothing short of torture at the hands of Turner for the few weeks she was alive and in his presence.
One witness said he saw Turner snatch the toddler off the couch in the living room by the hair on the top of her head after she had urinated on herself.
The witness said that while yelling, Turner then held her by the hair on her head, ripped off her clothes, put her on the floor and dragged her into the bathroom.
One of the more gripping parts of the story was that the witness said he looked into the little girl’s face and saw terror and even tears, but she did not make a sound as she was dragged into the bathroom by Turner, who then locked the door and spent 45 minutes in there with the child.
Turner was said to have spent an unusual amount of time in the locked bathroom of the house with the child.
On June 29, 2009, after the mother, Brandi James, had put her daughter to bed, Turner had sent her to the store to get him a soda and then called her ordering her home because something had happened to Jessika.
He said he found the tot lying on her bedroom floor having a seizure.
When the mother arrived and took one look at her daughter she called 911.
Witnesses said Turner never went into the hospital or asked about the toddler’s condition.
He did ask the EMT how long he thought it would be before he could go home.
Jessika was transferred to St. Louis Children’s Hospital where she later died of her injuries.
A world-renowned expert in forensics, Dr. Mary Case, said the only time she had ever seen such severe injuries, if accidental, was in a car crash at more than 60 mph or a fall from at least a two-story building.
She said such a severe injury would have caused immediate unconsciousness and that whoever delivered the injuries to the child would have known it would have caused serious injury or death.
Just stories about a scary monster
The defense, lead by Granite City attorney Morgan Scroggins, spent most of its time trying to discredit the prosecution witnesses in part because medical care providers did not all write down, or notice, or describe the exact same things in the exact same way as they wrote their reports on their efforts to save the little girl’s life.
Scroggins alluded that Jessika may have been suffering from some undiagnosed medical condition which caused seizures.
Scroggins paraded a number of witnesses to the stand to testify about what a good and caring father Turner was.
Information about how he was accused of molesting one of his own family members was not allowed.
Information about numerous pending sex offenses against underage victims, including one whose age was in the single digits when Turner was in his 20s, was not allowed.
What was allowed was that the would-be father of the year was, in addition to being a drug dealer, convicted of Arson twice, Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Felon once and had one conviction for Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine.
Despite all of the could-be diagnosis and parade of witnesses saying they had never seen Turner raise his voice much less his hand to anyone, Scroggins could not explain, if his client didn’t do it, how a 4-year-old goes to bed with no injuries whatsoever and then is found by Turner with injuries so severe they are only seen in traffic accidents that happen at high rates of speed or from a two-story fall.
Scroggins told jurors they had heard stories about a “scary monster” and that that was all it was… stories.
“This is a story about a sad little girl who didn’t have much of a chance in life,” Scroggins said.
But Henshaw reminded the jurors of the medical expert testimony and how the story Turner told just didn’t match with factual medical evidence.
“You would have to disbelieve everybody else except Ricky,” Henshaw said during closing arguments.
He reminded jurors again that Jessika was put to bed not suffering from any such serious injuries or unconsciousness prior to her mother going to the store.
And by the time Brandi James returned, in her own words, “I could tell she was already gone.”
Juror refuses to deliberate?
The jury was given the case at approximately 2:23 p.m. on Friday, March 22 and was out a little under eight hours, but there was trouble reported within the jury room during deliberations.
“We had this one juror who said not guilty right off the bat and refused to deliberate,” said another of the jurors who spoke with Disclosure on condition of anonymity because of the volatile nature of Turner supporters.
Several other jurors said that juror Heather Hyatt, 24, of Eldorado, refused within the first five minutes of deliberations to even discuss the case.
That’s not in keeping with the oath the jurors as a group took nor the answer she gave during jury selection as an individual when asked if she could “deliberate with the other jurors” and that “if the state proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that she could vote guilty.”
It wasn’t the “not voting guilty” aspect of what she did behind those closed doors that could have earned her a contempt charge, but it was (as other jurors said) that she refused to deliberate.
One indication early in the process that something was amiss was that a mere two hours into deliberations by the rest of the jurors, a note was forwarded to judge Walden Morris saying they were “hung.”
Jude Morris sent word back to the jury room that jurors were to continue their deliberations.
Nearly three hours later the jury sent another note out saying they were “deadlocked.”
At approximately 7:40 p.m. Scroggins told the judge he believed the jury was hopelessly deadlocked and made an oral motion for judge Morris to declare a mis-trial.
Henshaw told the judge that if this had been a two-day burglary case it would be one thing.
“But this has been a two week murder trial and there have been voluminous amounts of evidence presented,” Henshaw said. “I don’t believe the jury has had ample time to consider all the evidence in the short amount of time they have been deliberating to have declared themselves deadlocked. If it were midnight I might feel different, your honor.”
Scroggins’ motion was denied and the judge again sent word back to the jury room that deliberations should continue.
At approximately 8:19 p.m. the jury again sent out a note that said they were “still deadlocked.”
This time judge Morris brought the jury back into the courtroom and they were given formal instructions, reminding them of their oaths and sending them back to the jury room for further deliberations.
Hyatt appeared upset, walking with her arms crossed over her chest and her head down.
The verdict and reaction to it
At approximately 9:26 p.m. the jury sent out another note, this one declaring they had reached a verdict.
As the jurors were walking into the courtroom Hyatt appeared to have puffy red eyes and looked to still be crying.
The verdict of Guilty of First Degree Murder and a finding that Turner “had reached the age of 18 years and his victim was under 12 years of age” was reached.
The finding on the ages was key in order for the prosecution (since the state no longer has a death penalty) to ask for a sentence of natural life in prison.
When the jury was polled, each of the 12, including Hyatt, were asked individually “was this (the guilty verdict) then and is now your verdict?”
All 12, including Hyatt, responded in the affirmative.
Moments later the jurors were released and Hyatt, hiding from the media, covered her face and ran crying through the lobby of the courthouse.
She stomped down the stairs and slammed through the doors leading outside and once there could be heard wailing across the parking lot.
Seconds later, Turner family members, friends and supporters left the courtroom and waited in the lobby for Turner to be brought out.
An elderly woman, believed to be Turner’s grandmother, ranted at Disclosure publisher Jack Howser.
“She was pressured that’s what she was!” the elderly woman yelled, referring to Hyatt. “You need to put that in your paper! This county is just crooked.” (and then getting close enough Howser could feel her breath on the side of his neck) “When are you going to write both sides of the story? Huh? When are you going to do that?”
“Leave him alone grandma!” yelled another Turner supporter. “He will just twist everything you say! You will just make it worse!”
“I am 60 years old!” screamed the elderly woman. “And I’ll say what I want!”
Confrontation in the lobby
Shortly thereafter Turner was lead by handcuffs, under heavy guard, from the courtroom.
He appeared visibly shaken at the verdict at first but managed a big smile for family members as he walked into a waiting elevator.
Turner had spent much of his time during the trial grinning at family members and coaching them to have a straight face when jurors walked past them.
At one point, Scroggins had to tell him to stop.
As he was walked back to the elevator, on his way back to a cell, his eyes appeared watery.
Shortly thereafter a rather large blonde woman began shaking her finger at and threatening the murdered toddler’s mother, Brandi James.
“There’s gonna be a day!” the blonde spat. “The time’s gonna come!”
The blonde just got worse when one of James’ family members stepped in and told her to back off.
“Naw! There’s gonna be a f*ckin day and you are gonna get yours!” she said.
And as the blonde continued to advance, shaking her finger, court security stepped in and kept the confrontation from escalating to physical blows.
Turner’s family eventually left the courthouse as Brandi James and family stayed behind for a few minutes thanking Henshaw and Walker for making sure nobody forgot her little girl.
When asked what she thought of the verdict, James little Jessika’s mother, only said through tears, “Nothing can bring back my little girl.”
Turner is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, May 16, at 10 a.m.
One source told Disclosure that Turner, by all rights, should die in the electric chair.
Since Illinois has no death penalty, the prosecution is asking for the next best thing: that he serve the rest of his life behind bars.