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Turner defense rests case: Closing arguments to begin after defendant ends two days of testimony
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Kirk Turner has conceded that he killed his wife with his pocketknife, but he says he acted in self-defense after she stabbed him with a spear.
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Published: August 19, 2009
MOCKSVILLE - After more than two weeks of testimony, prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin closing arguments today in the case of Dr. Kirk Alan Turner, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Jennifer.
The defense rested its case yesterday, just hours after Kirk Turner spoke publicly for the first time about the events surrounding the death of his estranged wife on Sept. 12, 2007.
Turner, a dentist with a practice in Clemmons, said that things had been tense but not confrontational when he met his wife that night at the shop building on their property at 627 Jack Booe Road, just north of Mocksville.
Turner said he had asked his wife if he could get some water from a sink in the shop building.
When he turned from the sink, he said, she had pointed a "horizontal silver thing" at his legs, referring to the spear that left two stab wounds in his left thigh near his groin and a wound on his left arm.
Turner said that his wife made a reference to his "pretty parts" -- which Turner described as a derogatory term she used for a birth defect on his genitalia.
Jennifer Turner died after she was slashed across the throat.
The defendant said he concedes that he killed his wife with his pocketknife, but he said he acted out of fear for his life.
Prosecutors have argued that Turner killed his wife in a fit of rage because of his pending divorce and an alienation-of-affection lawsuit that his wife had filed against his girlfriend.
On questioning by Assistant District Attorney Greg Brown, Turner told the jury that he could not remember several key facts surrounding the attack, including at which point he pulled out his knife, and how far he was from his wife when he was stabbed.
He said he recalled looking at his wife and seeing that her eyes were open. The next thing he remembered, he said, was seeing a bright light with bugs flitting by.
Brown asked Turner if it was true 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 as a pretext for killing his wife.
"That is not correct," Turner responded.
Turner testified that he always had his pocketknife on him. He said that the spear had been in the shop building for years, and he testified that he had planned to buy a second spear to use as a fireplace decoration but never got around to it.
He said he had two documents with him that night -- a court order to sell the farm property, and an affidavit from his wife's previous husband stating that her love of horses had caused a rift between them.
Turner said he brought the documents with him to help encourage her to reach a settlement in their divorce, but he did not recall taking them out of his pocket or showing them to her the night she was killed.
He also said he had planned to bring another document but never did.
The document was to refute his wife's allegations in divorce papers that he had given her herpes. The document showed that he did not have herpes, he testified.
He answered most questions yesterday in a matter-of-fact manner but got emotional when recalling a private memorial service that he held for Jennifer at a Greensboro church because he had been hospitalized at the time of her original service.
He sobbed as he explained why he held the service.
"I never felt like I was able to mourn her death," he said.
When Turner got off the stand, he looked exhausted, dragging his feet and exhaling audibly as he returned to the defense table.
Turner's testimony, which lasted for two days, had been highly anticipated. Spectators, family and friends on both sides crowded into Davie Superior Court.
On one side of the courtroom sat Kirk Turner's girlfriend, Tondja Woods Colvin; one of his two brothers; his father; and his son, Gilbert Richard Turner. His daughter, Wendy Turner, sat on the other side of the courtroom, behind prosecutors, with Jennifer Turner's brother, Rick Wittwer.
The last witness called by defense attorneys was Dave Cloutier, an expert in the use of force. He testified that Kirk Turner was responding to an attack when he slit his wife's throat. And he also testified that it wasn't unusual for Kirk Turner not to have remembered many of the details because of the attack.
When questioned by Brown, Cloutier said that the defendant's actions were not excessive.
After defense attorneys rested, prosecutors called a rebuttal witness, Kelly Johnson, a paralegal for Sally Smith, Jennifer Turner's divorce attorney. She testified about an incident on Nov. 7, 2006, in which defense attorneys say that Jennifer Turner pushed another paralegal, who was pregnant at the time, during an appraisal of marital property.
Jennifer Turner never pushed the woman, Johnson testified, saying that Jennifer Turner had touched the paralegal on the arm after the woman had asked Jennifer Turner to leave when things got contentious.
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. today. The jury is expected to begin deliberating either today or Thursday.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.
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