Second Teen Found Guilty of Aggravated Sex Assault

By BRIAN ROGERS

On a day when the defendant and his victim wept in court, jurors also shed tears Friday before finding Keith Turner guilty for his role in an attack in which a plastic pipe was kicked deep into an unconscious teenager's rectum.

Turner, 17, wiped tears from his face with a handkerchief upon hearing that he had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault for the near-fatal April 22 attack.

He will have to wait until next week, however, to find out whether jurors opt for some degree of mercy or the life sentence that prosecutors and his victim's family want.

Turner's 18-year-old friend, David Tuck, was sentenced to life last month and fined $10,000 after being convicted of the same charge. A witness said Turner held the 1 1/2 -inch-diameter pipe in place, and Tuck kicked it into the Hispanic victim's rectum while shouting "white power!"

Turner and Tuck also beat, kicked, cut and burned the victim before assaulting him with the pipe and dousing him with bleach, according to testimony from a teenage witness whose home in Spring was the site of the attack.

The jury took only one hour and 20 minutes Friday to convict Turner. Though he faces a maximum of life in prison, the possible sentence also ranges down to probation.

The jurors heard brief testimony in the trial's penalty phase and deliberated for 1 1/2 hours before state District Judge Michael McSpadden allowed them to break for the weekend.

Witnesses in the penalty phase included Janis Turner, the defendant's mother. She described him as a loving son with a good heart who fell in with a bad crowd.

"He's not a bad kid," she said, sobbing. "He's making bad choices."


Victim's mother weeps
The victim's mother, identified only as Mrs. Galvan, also wept as she described the ordeals her son, who wears a colostomy bag, experiences on a daily basis.

"It's hard," she said. "It's very embarrassing for him."

Prosecutor Denise Nassar held back tears as she told the jury that the torture the victim endured isn't the kind of offense that happens every day.

"Imagine (the victim) in that backyard ?- naked, bloody, beaten," Nassar said. "What kind of mercy did this defendant show him?"

She asked the jury to recommend a life sentence.

Several police officers from local agencies testified about Turner's criminal record, which includes four misdemeanors such as car burglary and theft, but no violent crimes.

Carlos Leon, who represents the victim in a lawsuit, said the teen and his family were pleased with the verdict and want a life sentence for Turner.

The victim, 17, testified in both trials that he has had about 30 surgeries and has more to go. He declined to comment Friday after the conviction.


Request for leniency
In the penalty phase, defense attorney John Denninger asked jurors to consider letting Turner salvage at least part of his life.

"Do we just want to throw Keith Turner away?" Denninger asked.

Turner was arrested days after the attack, which took place at the home of a friend, Gus Sons, 16.

Sons has testified that he, Turner, Tuck and the victim had spent hours before the attack bingeing on vodka, marijuana, cocaine and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax.

He said the victim was attacked because the others suspected he had stolen some of the drugs and because Sons' sister, Danielle, who was 12 then, said the victim had tried to kiss her.

After Tuck knocked the victim unconscious, Sons said, the teenager was dragged outside and the assault ensued.

Sons and his sister testified that they didn't intervene because they feared retribution.