Melvin Turner
Murderer
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- USA
- Location
- Torrance, Los Angeles County, California, USA
- Date of birth
- 1958
- Age at first offence
- 21
- Characteristics
- robbery, drugs
- Victim profile
- George S. Hill Jr. and Joella Champion
- Method of murder
- Shooting
- Date(s) of murder
- July 11, 1979
- Years active
- 1979
- Date of arrest
- 3 weeks after
- Status
-
Sentenced to death
Sentenced to death on August 20, 1980; resentenced June 10, 1988
Background
Melvin Turner was a parolee who got a job at the airport.
The offence
Turner and Teague Hamilton Scott attacked Hill and Champion after they exited their car and entered the hangar where Champion’s single-engine plane was stored. Turner and Scott robbed the victims at gunpoint, bound and gagged them, forced them to sit against the hangar wall, and shot them point-blank in their heads.
Investigation
Turner tried to use Hill’s credit card the next day. When Turner was arrested three weeks later, Champion’s gold chain hung from his rear-view mirror.
Trial
A judge sentenced Turner to death in 1980. The state Supreme Court overturned Turner’s death sentence in 1986, stating that a prosecutor had failed to justify the removal of minorities from the jury.
Turner was retried and again sentenced to the death penalty.
Teague Hamilton Scott was sentenced to life in prison. Melvin Turner was on Death Row.
Sentencing
Turner was sentenced to death on August 20, 1980. Turner was resentenced on June 10, 1988.
Outcome
The state Supreme Court overturned Turner’s death sentence in 1986 due to the prosecutor’s failure to justify the removal of minorities from the jury, and Turner was retried and resentenced to death in 1988.
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