Judge finds accused triggerman guilty of killing 7 family members at Indianapolis home in 2006

Accused triggerman guilty of slaying 7 in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS — A man charged in one of the worst mass slayings in Indianapolis history was convicted Thursday of killing seven members of one family, including three children, in a bloody rampage prosecutors said stemmed from a quest for drugs and cash that didn’t exist.

Marion Superior Court Judge Robert Altice convicted Desmond Turner, 31, on 23 counts stemming from the June 1, 2006, deaths of Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; the couple’s young sons, Alberto, 11, and David, 8; and Valdez’s adult son and daughter, Magno Albarran and Flora Albarran and Flora’s son Luis, 5.

Turner, who waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for prosecutors dropping their request for the death penalty, faces up to life without parole. The sentencing phase of the trial starts Friday.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said he did not have the evidence needed to meet the high standard of proof required for a capital conviction. Prosecutors’ case was built on witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence. They lacked a murder weapon or any physical evidence tying Turner directly to the scene.

Maria Flores of Indianapolis, Emma Valdez’s sister, said after the verdict that the death penalty wouldn’t have made a difference.

“Killing him won’t bring our family back,” she said.

Defense attorney Brent Westerfeld had hoped to capitalize on the prosecution’s lack of physical evidence. During his closing arguments, he put up diagrams of a shirt and pants that police found soaking in the bathtub of a friend of Turner’s the day after the slayings. The clothing contained DNA evidence from Turner but not the victims, he noted.

Altice, however, said Turner’s actions after the slayings, including washing his clothes and fleeing to Kentucky, weighed heavily in his ruling.

“Mr. Turner was indeed the main shooter,” he said.

Brizzi said the case was solved “old-school,” without DNA evidence, and that there was no physical evidence linking Turner to the crime scene because he and co-defendant James Stewart had been careful. Stewart has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and his trial is set for Nov. 30.

Westerfeld also tried to discredit the prosecution’s main witness, Brandon Griffith, who had testified that he had seen Turner force his way into Valdez’s home with an assault rifle minutes before the slayings.

“I don’t believe we begin to understand Brandon Griffith’s ability to lie,” Westerfeld told Altice.

During closing arguments, the prosecution put about eight items on an evidence table. Westerfeld started his summation by putting two large boxes containing evidence introduced during the trial, including the clothes Turner wore the night of the slayings.

He pushed both boxes down the table, crowding out the few items the prosecution had used.

“They didn’t bring the mountain of evidence … because the mountain of evidence moves to the defense side,” he said.

Prosecutors Jennifer Haley and Janna Skelton vividly described how many bullets struck each victim, noting that in some cases the shots blew off parts of the victims’ skulls. Several relatives of the family were in tears.

In his final summation, Brizzi, who faces disciplinary action over previous comments on the case, called Turner a “monster” and said, “The crimes he committed are unimaginable.”