Richmond Times-Dispatch

Ex-SEAL trainee to reargue case before full Va. Court of Appeals

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A former Navy SEAL trainee whose murder conviction was tossed out last year will reargue his case Tuesday, this time before the full Virginia Court of Appeals.

In August, a divided, threejudge panel of the same court granted a "writ of actual innocence" to Dustin Allen Turner, convicted of the 1995 murder of college student Jennifer Lynn Evans in Virginia Beach,

Days later, however, the Virginia attorney general's office appealed to the full, 11-judge court, leading to Tuesday's 9 a.m. hearing.

Turner was cleared under a 2004 law that allows the Court of Appeals to grant a writ of actual innocence in cases involving nonbiological evidence. A similar law was enacted in 2001, for cases involving the DNA testing of biological evidence.

Before then, innocent people wrongly convicted could turn only to the governor -- not state courts -- for help if more than 21 days had passed since the signing of a sentencing order.

Turner's mother, Linda Summitt of Indiana, said Friday that she will be visiting legislators at the Virginia General Assembly tomorrow along with members of AdvoCare Inc., a criminal justice reform group. Keith DeBlasio, the executive director, said they will be talking to lawmakers about current bills that seek to clarify, expand or limit the actual innocence laws.

Turner, who turns 35 next month, was a 20-year-old Navy SEAL trainee on June 19, 1995, when Evans, an Emory University student visiting Virginia Beach, was slain.

Evans left a nightclub with Turner and fellow SEAL trainee Billy Joe Brown. She was strangled in a car driven by Turner, and her body was dumped off Interstate 64 in Newport News. Turner was sentenced to 82 years, Brown to 72 years.

But in 2002, Brown changed his story and said he alone killed Evans and a Virginia Beach Circuit Court judge has since told the appeals court he found Brown's new account credible.

The Virginia attorney general's office argued last year that, among other things, Brown has changed his story too often to be believed now and that the judge's finding that Brown's new account is credible was based on a flawed understanding of the trial record.

Depending on what the full appeals court rules this time around, the losing side then can appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen @ timesdispatch. com