Suspect Plans to Fight Charges in 10 Slayings, Lawyer Says

An attorney for suspected serial killer Chester Dewayne Turner said Thursday that his client intends to fight charges that he murdered 10 women over more than a decade.

“We plan to plead not guilty and vigorously defend the case,” said John Tyre, appointed by a judge to represent Turner.

Tyre’s comments came after a brief hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where Turner made his first appearance in the case.

Tyre said he expects DNA evidence to become a “major issue” in the case, since his client was allegedly linked to the killings through a DNA databank. The defense attorney plans to review how that databank works, how the DNA was acquired and how the tests were conducted.

Turner’s scheduled arraignment was postponed after Tyre asked for more time to review the material given to him by prosecutors. Commissioner Dennis Mulcahy ordered Turner held at the County Jail without bail. He is expected to return to court Dec. 2 to enter a plea.

Turner, serving time for an unrelated rape, has been charged on suspicion of 10 murders and the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder during rape. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lewin said he is confident in the evidence against Turner. DNA evidence is “absolutely the best weapon, the best tool we have in prosecuting these cases,” he said.

Had it not been for DNA connection, Lewin said, Turner would have been back on the streets in about four years.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives announced last week that DNA had linked Turner to 12 slayings. They believe he strangled the women, some of whom were homeless or prostitutes, between 1987 and 1998.

Most of the victims were found in a 30-block area in South Los Angeles.

A mentally disabled man, David Allen Jones, had been serving a life sentence for two of the murders. Jones was released in March. Authorities now allege Turner committed two of those slayings.

Tyre said Jones’ conviction shows “a flaw in our system” -- that innocent people can be convicted.

The Jones case may become relevant if the same detectives worked on all of the murder cases, he said.

Tyre, based in Irwindale, has been a criminal defense attorney since 1982 and has represented defendants in more than 250 jury trials. He has handled several capital cases, including the “Mall Murder” case. The trial stemmed from the slayings of five people in the San Gabriel Valley in 1991, including two women kidnapped from a local mall. Tyre’s client, Robbin Machuca, was convicted, but escaped the death penalty.

He also represented De’Ondre Staten, who was sentenced to death for killing his parents in 1990. Prosecutors said Staten wanted their life insurance benefits, but Tyre alleged gang members killed the couple.