Man accused of killing 7 family members during home invasion stands trial in Indianapolis

Trial starts in slaying of 7 at Indianapolis home

INDIANAPOLIS — Investigators found no physical evidence linking a 31-year-old man to the 2006 slayings of seven family members in their home, but statements the man made before the attack and his actions afterward prove he fired the fatal gunshots, a prosecutor said Monday.

Desmond Turner told others he planned to “hit a lick,” — slang for commit a robbery — before the June 1, 2006, attack that left four adults and three children dead in their home, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said during his opening statements in Turner’s murder trial.

Police found bullet-riddled bodies scattered throughout the home. The children had been shot execution-style as they lay in their bed.

“There was still the smell of gunpowder in the room,” remembered police officer Joshua Barker, one of several witnesses who testified Monday.

Turner, who sat silently in leg shackles throughout the proceedings, is charged with seven counts of murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Turner waiving his right to a jury trial.

Defense attorney Lorinda Youngcourt said the only real evidence the state has are the “gut-wrenching photographs” Brizzi showed early Monday of the victims lying in pools of blood. She said she would show the slayings were the result of a neighborhood feud that had nothing to do with Turner.

“The state of Indiana is prosecuting the wrong man,” Youngcourt said.

One of the state’s first witnesses was 35-year-old Samantha Lawrence, who described her nephew phoning her in hysterics the night of the slayings because he was convinced he knew the triggerman and his own family might be targeted. Lawrence said she drove to her nephew’s home near the house where the family was killed and took him to talk to investigators.

But Judge Robert Altice didn’t let Lawrence to testify whether her nephew thought the killer was Turner because it was hearsay and there was no evidence he had witnessed the crime.

In opening arguments, Brizzi outlined how witnesses led police to Turner, whose clothes were found soaking in a tub at a girlfriend’s house the next day, and how Turner “compelled” friends to drive him to Kentucky after seeing his picture on television. Police found an unused bullet similar to those used in the killings at the girlfriend’s house, though the murder weapon — an assault rifle — has not been found, Brizzi said.

Turner left the state because “he was scared,” and no blood was found on her client’s clothes, Youngcourt said. Turner surrendered to authorities after his friends drove him back to Indianapolis after he fell asleep, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Turner and another man invaded the home because they believed it contained a safe full of money and drugs. The other man, 33-year-old James Stewart, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and his trial is set for Nov. 30.

But Youngcourt said the theory doesn’t add up, because hundreds of dollars and women’s jewelry were left behind.

Those killed were 56-year-old Alberto Covarrubias, his wife, 46-year-old Emma Valdez, her two adult children, their two young children and a grandchild.