RICHMOND, Va., April 19 (UPI) -- A former Navy Seal trainee serving what amounts to a life sentence in Virginia for rape and murder has asked the state Supreme Court to find him innocent.
Lawyers for Dustin Turner, 36, asked the seven justices on the court Monday to accept a confession by Billy Joe Brown, The Virginian-Pilot reported. Brown, who was Turner's Seal "swim buddy," said after they were both convicted that he was the sole killer of Jennifer Evans, a college student from Georgia.
Prosecutors argued the two young men abducted Evans in Virginia Beach, raped her and then killed her. David Hargett, Turner's lawyer, said Evans and his client met at a Virginia Beach nightclub, that she went to his car voluntarily and that Brown, who was drunk, killed her on his own.
A trial court judge ruled that Brown's confession was credible and was upheld by an appeals panel. But the full state appeals court reversed that decision.
If the high court turns him down, Turner is almost certain to spend the rest of his life in prison because of the state's parole policies, the newspaper said.
