A hearing for a man convicted of killing a woman in 1992 was cut short Monday in Leflore County Circuit Court due to a no-show by the defense attorney.
Judge Richard Smith was scheduled to hear the defense’s motion to change David Blue’s life-without-parole sentence to life with parole, due to the fact that Blue was a 17-year-old juvenile when he committed the crime for which he was convicted — sexual assault, robbery and the murder of Mary Turntine, also of Greenwood.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2012 requires that all sentences of life without parole for those convicted of crimes they committed while they were juveniles be retroactively reviewed by judges. Those judges are required to consider the defendant’s youth, mitigating factors and the nature of the crime before a sentence of imprisonment with no hope of parole is handed down or upheld.
Blue, a Greenwood man, has spent nearly 20 years at the state penitentiary in Parchman after being convicted of capital murder, sexual assault and robbery against Mary Turntine.
In 1993, he was sentenced to the death penalty on the capital murder conviction, but that sentence was overturned in 2003 due to another Supreme Court ruling that found execution of individuals with mental retardation to be unconstitutional.
A court-appointed psychologist had previously found Blue’s IQ to fall within the parameters of mental retardation and also characterized him as someone with a conduct disorder whose chance of recovery from either of those deficits was not favorable.
His death sentence was changed to life without parole.
Now, lawyers have moved that the existing sentence be changed to life with parole because of the Supreme Court ruling regarding juvenile offenders.
Turntine’s daughter, Felicia Johnson, traveled from Texas to attend Monday’s hearing.
Smith told the court that defense attorney Adam J. Spicer of Jackson had called earlier in the day to request a continuance and that “through the courthouse grapevine,” he had heard that the Attorney General’s office called to say that Spicer, of the Jackson law firm Butler Snow, was hospitalized.
Rather than simply cancel the hearing, Smith asked to hear from Johnson, given that she had gone to a great deal of expense and trouble to be in court.
Smith told Johnson that a re-sentencing decision for Blue might be strictly a matter of law, and if that was the case, nothing anyone said would weigh into his decision. But if it were not strictly a matter of law, he asked, what would Johnson want Blue’s sentence to be?
“Life without parole,” Johnson said. “He should stay in prison.”
Johnson was 11 years old when her mother was killed, and Blue admitted to the crime, saying he attacked her in an alley, beat her with a baseball bat, sexually assaulted her and robbed her.
The crime occurred on June 6, 1992. Blue told police officers that he and two other men were drinking at a place called Claudine’s at the corner of Howard and Gibbs and then followed Turntine into an alley nearby between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.
Turntine’s body was found between two Jackson Street houses.
Smith told the court he would rule on the defense’s motion for a lesser sentence after carefully reading the motion and considering the prosecution’s response, filed by Assistant District Attorney Tim Jones.
Assistant DA Trish Rodgers said the response was complicated and technical in its argument that Blue’s life without parole sentence be upheld.
Smith thanked Johnson for coming to the hearing and said she would be notified if he should find the need for a hearing after considering the motion.
He is expected to rule on the motion in the near future.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
