Turner calls for renegotiation

Following a jury trial last month in which a Waterloo man was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, the defendant's attorney, Travis W. Turner, has requested a retrial.

In a motion filed last week in Monroe County District Court, attorney TJ Matthes of the St. Louis law firm Rosenblum, Schwartz, Fry & Johnson listed more than a dozen alleged “errors” that they said prevented what they said was a “fair and impartial trial.”

Many of the errors concerned Alfunzo Delk and the fact that the court did not allow the use of his testimony or his extrajudicial statements during the trial because he was unavailable as a witness.

Another point in the motion alleges that the court improperly admitted “evidence of the sexual history” of the female victim, suggesting that allowing the state to introduce evidence that the victim was a virgin before the incident is a violation of the Rape Shield Act.

In his motion, Matthes also raised concerns about the manner in which witness Sergeant Eric Zaber, formerly of the Waterloo Police Department, read a statement to the jury, the admission of forensic scientist Jennifer Mulrean's testimony and the defence's refusal to question RN Kayleigh Oberndorfer on whether the injuries she observed on the victim were consistent with consensual sexual intercourse.

Among other counts, Matthes alleges one count of juror misconduct. One of the jurors was observed drinking alcoholic beverages during the trial's lunch break and discussing the case with a bartender at Randy's Double R Bar, across the street from the courthouse. The juror went on to ask if anyone at the bar knew who Turner was, violating court instructions and revealing outside information.

A hearing on the post-trial motions is scheduled for August 29. Monroe County District Court Judge Chris Hitzemann is presiding over the case.

Turner was found guilty in the case on July 12 after a week-long jury trial in which several witnesses testified, including investigating police officers, the victim's boyfriend at the time and the 22-year-old victim herself.

As previously reported, Monroe County Prosecutor Ryan Webb described the events surrounding the attack in his opening statement.

On the night of January 28, 2022, Turner had invited several friends and co-workers to a party at his house, with the victim's then-boyfriend being one of those co-workers.

Both the boyfriend and the victim were present at the party throughout the evening, however, the boyfriend left the party around 11pm to go home and take medication while the victim stayed.

The victim had originally planned to either drive home sober or get a ride from another woman at the party, but she ended up drinking throughout the night as more and more partygoers left the party.

Eventually, the victim was left alone with Turner, who dragged her into his bedroom and sexually assaulted her. According to the prosecutor, he also pulled her hair and grabbed her so hard that he left bruises.

The victim's boyfriend returned to Turner's house later that morning, having not heard from the victim, and found the two in Turner's bed.

When questioning the witnesses and in his closing arguments, Matthes pointed out several obvious inconsistencies, such as whether the victim got out of bed to go to the toilet after a night of drinking following the incident and then returned to bed.

Another inconsistency that Matthes pointed out was that she was found wearing tight jeans.

In his closing argument, Matthes claimed that the victim had “lied and tried to manipulate the situation” over the past few years.

The jury ultimately decided against Turner, however, and Webb urged that they focus on the facts and evidence of the case – particularly the victim's bruises, which were captured in photographs and which witnesses also said were not present the night before the attack.