STANTON : Man Sentenced for Wife’s Death

A 60-year-old Stanton man who claimed he was knocked unconscious by an intruder and awoke to find his wife slain on the floor of their mobile home was sentenced Friday to spend 16 years to life in prison for her death.

Jack M. Turner appeared unfazed as Santa Ana Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald ordered him to spend what could be the rest of his life behind bars for the Aug. 23, 1988, stabbing and beating death of his 53-year-old wife, Ann.

Turner was previously convicted of the slaying but the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned the jury verdict in 1991 because it was discovered that jurors improperly gathered additional evidence during their deliberations.

Before reading Turner his appellate rights, Fitzgerald noted that Turner has “heard them all before.”

Turner told police that he had gone to a store on the night of the slaying. When he returned, he said, he was knocked out by an attacker as he entered his trailer. He told authorities that he awoke to find his wife’s bloodied and battered body lying on the dining room floor.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested Turner after they discovered no sign of forced entry and discrepancies in Turner’s statements about the night of the slaying.