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Turner testified that he stabbed wife after she came at him with spear
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Kirk Turner breaks down when asked about holding a memorial for his wife, during his murder trial testimony at the Davie Superior Court in Mocksville, N.C.
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Published: August 18, 2009
Updated: 08/18/2009 02:26 pm
MOCKSVILLE
Kirk Turner told a Davie County jury this morning that he remembers making a slashing motion with his right arm after his wife came at him with a spear, but remembers little else about the attack that killed her.
Turner, a Clemmons dentist, is on trial for first-degree murder in his wife, Jennifer Turner's, death. Today was his second day of testimony, but it was the first time he talked directly about the events surrounding the attack.
Turner said things had been tense but non-confrontational when he met with his wife on Sept. 12, 2007 at a shed on their property on Jack Booe Road just north of Mocksville.
Turner said he has asked his wife if he could get some water from a sink in the shed. When he turned from the sink, she had placed a "horizontal silver thing" at his legs, referring to the spear that left a series of wounds on Kirk Turner's leg and arm.
Turner said his wife made a reference to his "pretty parts" — which Turner described as a derogatory term she used for his genitalia — and that he responded to the attack by making a horizontal waving motion a few times about neck high with his arm.
Jennifer Turner died after being slashed across the throat.
Turner said he accepts that he killed his wife using his pocketknife. He testified that he acted in self-defense and feared for his life.
Prosecutors have argued that Turner killed his wife in a fit of rage, piqued by his pending divorce and an alienation-of-affection lawsuit filed by his wife against Turner's girlfriend.
On questioning by prosecutor Greg Brown, Turner told the jury he could not remember several key facts surrounding the attack, including when he pulled out his knife, and how far away from him his wife was when he was stabbed.
He said he remembered looking at his wife and seeing her eyes were open. The next thing he remembered was seeing a bright light with bugs flickering by it.
Brown asked Turner if it the truth was that Jennifer never attacked him with a spear. After asking him to repeat the question, Turner replied, "I believe she did."
Brown then asked him if he stabbed himself to give him an excuse for butchering his wife.
"That is not correct," Turner said.
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