Secoriea Turner murder: Mother of 8-year-old takes stand on Day 2
Mother of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner takes stand
Turner was fatally shot while riding in her mother’s Jeep near the burned-out Wendy’s where weeks of protests had followed Rayshard Brooks’ death. Prosecutors allege Conley opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle, striking Turner in the head. She died shortly after at a hospital.
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Emotional testimony marked the second day of Julian Conley’s murder trial Thursday as the mother of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner described the night her daughter was fatally shot near a protest site in southwest Atlanta.
Secoriea Turner's mother testifies
What they're saying:
Charmaine Turner took the stand in Fulton County Superior Court, recalling Independence Day 2020, when prosecutors say Conley, then 19, fired into her Jeep as it approached a barricade near Pryor Road and University Avenue.
"We was barbecuing," Turner told jurors, before describing how her daughter sat in the back seat on her phone as they drove home. Turner said her friend Omar Ivey was behind the wheel when they encountered a group of armed men. "One had on black and had on white with a black face mask," she testified.
Ivey told jurors the men cursed at him as he tried to pass. "There’s a whole lot of guys standing now on your left-hand side with machine guns," he said. Moments later, both recalled hearing gunfire. "Pow, pow, thew, thew, thew," Turner testified. "My baby had been shot."
FULL: Secoriea Turner murder trial day two
Testimony from state witnesses continued on Thursday in the trial of Julian Jamal Conley, the man accused in the 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner.
Jurors heard the frantic 911 calls Ivey made as he sped toward the hospital with Turner in the back trying to save her daughter. "I was trying to get a pulse," she said. "I told him to drive faster. He said two tires shot, he trying, he trying."
Doctors pronounced Secoriea dead shortly after they arrived at Atlanta Medical Center.
The defense declined to cross-examine Turner, who testified softly for about 40 minutes. Prosecutors argue Conley, a suspected gang member, fired the shots. Defense attorneys say witnesses described the shooter as dressed in black, not red, which Conley was wearing that night.
Julian Conley murder trial: Day One
The backstory:
Opening statements took place Wednesday in the trial of Julian Jamal Conley, accused of firing an AR-15-style rifle that killed 8-year-old Secoriea Turner on July 4, 2020.
Prosecutors told jurors Conley, a suspected gang member, "consciously, intentionally" aimed at Turner’s family’s Jeep as it passed a barricade near the Wendy’s where protests were ongoing after the police killing of Rayshard Brooks. Jurors heard audio of the moment eight bullets struck the vehicle, including Turner’s cries that she had been shot. The state says evidence places Conley at the scene, wearing red.
Defense attorneys countered that witnesses, including Turner’s mother, described the shooter as dressed in black "like a cop" or "like a bounty hunter," not red. Atlanta Police Detective Jason Teague, the prosecution’s first witness, described the tense atmosphere in the days before the shooting, when armed groups blocked streets near the protest site.
Conley, who faces charges of malice murder, felony murder and gang-related offenses, sat in court wearing gray. Turner’s mother attended the proceedings alongside civil attorneys as her family pursues a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta.
Turner was fatally shot while riding in her mother’s Jeep near the burned-out Wendy’s where weeks of protests had followed Rayshard Brooks’ death. Prosecutors allege Conley opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle, striking Turner in the head. She died shortly after at a hospital.
Conley was indicted in 2021. His co-defendant, Jerrion McKinney, entered an Alford plea earlier this month and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
What's next:
Conley faces charges of malice murder, felony murder and gang-related offenses. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
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Earlier this month, co-defendant Jerrion McKinney entered an Alford plea — a type of guilty plea in which a defendant maintains innocence but concedes prosecutors have enough evidence for conviction. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.