David Turley, the man accused of shooting an Owensboro Police Department officer in October was back in court Thursday. His attorney, Evan Taylor, asked the court to reschedule his client’s pretrial conference.
“My initial plan was to ask for a speedy trial today, but we received the Commonwealth’s discovery last week, and we have a few things we need to take care of before we set up for trial, but we should be ready to set up for trial by the next court hearing,” Taylor said.
As for specifics Taylor would like to look into before Turley’s Feb. 6 pretrial conference, he said he’d like to know if Owensboro Police Department Officer Zach Morris was presented to the grand jury or if it was just Turley.
“I don’t think it would be fair if the grand jury was only asked to consider whether or not a crime was committed by Mr. Turley, and not by the officer,” Taylor said.
Before a recent Kentucky State Police report was presented to Taylor and his client, they were unaware as to whether the “who shot first” question would be disputed at trial. Now, however, both Taylor and the prosecution know that Morris admitted to shooting in Turley’s direction first.
“If someone shoots at you in your backyard, and you can’t shoot back, we’ve done something wrong,” Taylor said.
In the investigation conducted by Kentucky State Police detective Jonathan Whittaker, findings were brought forward regarding the Oct. 10 shooting incident.
According to Whittaker’s report, Morris was searching for a suspect believed to have been breaking into nearby vehicles. While looking for the suspect, Turley and Morris exchanged gunfire, and Morris was struck in the abdomen while Turley remained uninjured. The incident occurred in the early morning hours at 5:35 a.m.
Turley was indicted last month by the Daviess County grand jury for first-degree assault in connection with the shooting. Turley told news sources and investigators at the time of the incident that he’d feared for his life when he fired shots at Morris.
Turley’s attorney, Evan Taylor, said the findings from the KSP investigation revealed that during the interview process with Morris, the injured officer undisputedly admitted to shooting first.
According to the KSP report, Whittaker states that during an interview Morris said he was pursuing a suspect who’d fled when he heard noises coming from the direction of Turley’s backyard. Morris noticed a bicycle propped against a 6-foot privacy fence and believed the suspect he had been chasing used it to jump over the fence. Morris stood on the bicycle and looked over the fence, shining a light into the backyard where Turley lived in a camper on his son’s property.
Morris then said he saw a white, older male exit the camper. Morris used the flashlight in his left hand to illuminate his badge and stated, “OPD, show me your hands,” according to the report.
Morris said he knew Turley wasn’t the man he’d been chasing, so he didn’t feel threatened at that point. However, Morris got an “uneasy feeling” when the man kept casually walking toward him. When Turley was 20 to 25 feet away, Morris repeated his words to Turley, stating that he was an officer and telling Turley to show his hands.
From Turley’s interview with KSP Detective Adam Wright, as detailed in Whittaker’s report, Turley said he saw a flashlight shining between his son’s house and a neighbor as he was returning to his camper after taking a shower in his son’s home. After he went inside, Turley said he noticed a light shining inside his camper.
Turley told detectives he could see the person standing over the fence holding a light, and he could hear a man’s voice speaking. Turley assumed it was his neighbor looking for his dog again, and told Detective Wright that he couldn’t make out what the person was saying because his hearing “isn’t all that good.”
Turley told Wright that he continued walking forward and got within four feet of the person when he saw a muzzle flash and heard two gunshots. After this, the report states that, as he was falling down, Turley returned fire in the direction from which he’d seen the flashlight. Turley told detectives he crawled to a large tree to take cover.
In Morris’s interview, he told Whittaker that he noticed Turley was carrying a gun when Turley got closer to him. Morris said Turley looked at him, nodded his head, and began to raise his right hand at him after being told to show his hands for the second time.
After that, the KSP report states that Morris said he fired two shots in the direction of the subject. Morris said Turley fell and Morris thought he’d struck him. After running southbound down an alley to find cover, Morris fell to the ground and was struck by one of the three to four bullets that Turley had fired through the fence.
Turley told Wright that after falling and taking cover, he then ran into the house and told his son someone had shot at him. Turley told his son to call 911 and ask for help.
During his interview, Whittaker asked Morris if he’d felt that his life had been in danger when he fired the initial shots, to which Morris said, “Yes, absolutely.” According to the KSP report, Morris told Whittaker he’d had no choice but to shoot in that moment.
The interview between KSP and Morris was conducted nine days after the shooting had happened, Taylor said.
“The officer had nine days before he was interviewed. How much information was in his possession?” Taylor asked. “Nine days — that’s a lot of courtesy to give someone.”
Taylor said the grand jury did not hear the opinion of the KSP investigator and refused to take testimony from Turley and Morris.
“This [KSP investigator] is the person who heard everything, had access to all the information. The one person who’s seen all this information said no crime was committed,” Taylor said.
Because the grand jury hadn’t seen all the evidence prior to indicting Turley, Taylor believes they will have a hard time when it comes to the trial.
What’s more, Taylor said he’s yet to see any evidence that Morris was prosecuted at any point during the investigation.
“In Mr. Turley’s eyes, the officer fired twice, and there’s video on surveillance that picked it up,” Taylor said. “So, Mr. Turley fired back.”
According to the KSP report, Turley’s family and neighbors were interviewed, but none of them saw what had happened — they’d only heard it. However, on Oct. 10 KSP Sgt. Brian McKinney recovered video from cameras at Greg’s Collision Center, which is directly across from Turley’s residence.
“I [Whittaker] reviewed the video, but you could not see anything that happened this date, due to the incident occurring in the rear of 522 Hathaway Street,” the report states.
The KSP report from Whittaker states that “after speaking with Ofc. Morris, Turley and all the witnesses involved, plus after gathering all evidence, it appears this incident was an unfortunate set of circumstances for all parties involved. The officer, while in pursuit of of a fleeing suspect, encountered an armed individual, who was protecting his person and property. When the officer encountered Mr. Turley, who pointed a firearm at him, reacted like any trained law enforcement officer would do in that situation. Mr. Turley reacted like most individuals would after being shot at.”
From here on out, Taylor said it’s questionable as to how the prosecution will handle the case.
“I believe they will make an offer that’s going to test our courage,” Taylor said.
The Owensboro Times reached out to Bruce Kuegel for comment, but Kuegel declined as the case is still ongoing.
Turley is scheduled for a pretrial on Feb. 6.
