A Poplar Bluff man was sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison Tuesday afternoon after having been convicted of nearly a dozen felonies, including the kidnapping and sexual assault of his estranged wife.
Doyle William Turner appeared before Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett for sentencing after having been convicted by a Ripley County jury during a two-day trial in May.
The jury convicted the 48-year-old of the Class B felony first-degree burglary and a lesser third-degree domestic assault charge in connection with an Oct. 1, 2015, incident at his estranged wife’s home, as well as misdemeanor first-degree trespassing at his mother-in-law’s house on Oct. 25, 2015.
Turner originally had been charged with two Class B felonies of first-degree and the Class C felony of second-degree assault.
aThe jury also convicted Turner of the Class B felonies of first-degree burglary and kidnapping, four unclassified felonies of armed criminal action, the Class C felony of first-degree tampering, the unclassified felonies of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy and two Class C felonies of unlawful possession of a firearm.
“I know that you sat and listened to the testimony,” Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor said. “There really were three separate incidents all linked together.”
The first, he said, Turner’s estranged wife was terrified when she found him hiding behind a door in her home.
Proctor said the woman had come home to change clothes and go to her second job as she was trying to support herself and her children.
“He broke into the house, hid behind a door and cut her,” Proctor said.
A couple weeks “down the road,” Proctor said, Turner again was looking for his wife and broke into her mother’s house by climbing in a window.
“Fast forward to the third incident when it all comes to a head,” Proctor said. “He climbed in a window again.”
The victim, he said, had placed a dresser in front of the window as a barrier.
“The defendant in this case broke the window in, broke straight through that barrier,” Proctor said.
Everything in that “third scenario” was meant to cause “fear and panic in the victim,” said Proctor.
Turner, he said, was armed with a short-barrel, sawed-off shotgun, which he pointed at her and threatened her life.
Proctor said Turner took her out of the house, made her swim Black River and then sodomized and raped her.
After Turner raped her, Proctor said, he held the gun to her head and made her to “promise to be with him when it was over.”
Proctor said Turner left the victim to get food, which he described as a “kind gesture,” but not before he padlocked her inside a shed.
Turner, according to Proctor, had no intentions of letting his victim go.
Other than homicide, Proctor said, Turner’s crimes “ran the gamut.”
Proctor said Turner’s estranged wife went into hiding and moved to the East Coast.
The woman was so terrified, she didn’t want to give the prosecutor’s office information about her whereabouts out of fear “the defendant would end up with it,” Proctor said. “She did not want to come to sentencing. She wants to be completely away” from Turner.
Proctor said it also was important to note Turner’s criminal history, which includes convictions for robbery and stealing a firearm.
“He has a violent criminal history that needs to be taken into consideration,” Proctor said.
Due to the violent nature of the crimes and Turner’s criminal history, Proctor asked the court to sentence Turner to four 15-year prison terms for the first-degree burglary, first-degree tampering and two felonies of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Proctor also asked for 30-year prison sentences on the felonies of first-degree burglary, kidnapping and first-degree sodomy.
A 100-year sentence was requested by Proctor on each of the ACA charges, along with one-year sentences on each of the misdemeanor charges.
Proctor asked the court for those sentences to run concurrently, with the 30-year sentence on the rape charge to be served consecutively.
Turner’s attorney, Tim Fleener with the Public Defender’s Office, agreed with Proctor that his client has been to prison before.
Turner, he said, was 18 when he was committed the armed robbery and served time in prison for the crime.
While in prison, Fleener said, Turner improved himself by taking classes, including attending alternative to violence classes.
Turner, he said, also served on the residence council.
Upon his release, Fleener said, Turner was employed, married and started a family.
“I think his drug use fueled what happened,” said Fleener, who indicated his client would use “his time wisely again.”
Fleener further said he doesn’t think his client would continue to commit violence against people for the sake of committing violence.
While incarcerated, Turner has had “no drugs, and he feels better about that.”
Fleener asked the court to impose the 30-year sentence originally offered by the state so his client has a chance to be a productive citizen again.
Having reviewed the sentencing assessment report completed by Probation and Parole and heard arguments from both the state and defense, Pritchett formally sentenced Turner.
Pritchett ordered Turner serve 15 years each for first-degree burglary, first-degree tampering and ACA; 10 years for the two felonies of unlawful possession of a firearm and first-degree burglary; one year for each domestic assault and trespassing charges; 30 years for kidnapping and sodomy and 50 years on each of the three ACA charges.
Pritchett followed the state’s recommendation in ordering those sentences to run concurrently.
As for the rape, Pritchett sentenced Turner to 30 years and ordered that sentence to be served consecutively to his other sentences for a
“total of 80 years.”