Last Updated on: 22nd March 2022, 11:30 am
Who is Billy Ray Turner? Biography, Wiki
On Monday, Billy Ray Turner is a Tennessee man. A jury found him guilty of the murder of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a field in his hometown of Memphis nearly 12 years ago.
The Associated Press (h/t ESPN) reported that Turner was sentenced to life in prison for murder and would face the other charges. Wright, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, was killed in July 2010 and found in a field days after he disappeared with bullets lodged in his body.
Billy Ray Turner’s Age
His age isn’t cleared yet.
Murder of Lorenz Wright
Prosecutors say Wright’s ex-wife Sherra Wright recruited Turner and her cousin Jimmie Martin to help in the assassination of Lorenzen Wright.
Turner, who was arrested in 2017 for Wright’s murder, was already serving a 16-year sentence on another firearms charge. Sherra Wright was sentenced to 30 years in prison when she pleaded guilty to abetting the murder in 2019.
Although neither Turner nor Sherra Wright testified at the trial, Martin, who is serving a prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, did and received immunity from punishment in the case. He said his cousin helped him pay for his legal fees.
What Was The Trial?
She also testified that her cousin lured her husband to the property by telling him that she planned to meet someone who would give her money. According to Martin, she and Turner gave chase to Wright and shot him.
Defense attorney John Keith Perry called Martin’s testimony “crazy” and “contrived.”
The jury heard a terrifying distress call from Lorenzen Wright, which caught the pop-pop-pop sound of multiple gunshots.
Martin also said that Turner and Wright disposed of evidence from the shooting and went with Turner to dispose of the gun by dumping it in a northern Mississippi lake. Martin said he told detectives where the gun was in 2012. FBI divers later found it.
Perry said that Martin’s “crazy and made-up” story was not believable in the closing arguments. Perry said that Martin, not Turner, was in Memphis the night Lorenzen Wright was shot.
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman defended Martin’s testimony, saying that Martin’s immunity agreement required him to tell the truth and that the testimonies to investigators and prosecutors were consistent.
