A Killer Defense

0:00Music

0:15Every time I'm like on the way to a barn or on my way to see a horse, I want to call my mom. It's really nice to be able to be around horses that she really loved. I don't get to share that with her anymore. It's torture.

0:43Jennifer was the best friend that anybody could ever have had. Yeah, she was my best friend.

0:52I didn't realize that there was trouble in the marriage. I saw a woman who dearly loved her husband. She trusted Kirk. It takes two to keep a marriage. And he was not willing.

1:13He announced that he was leaving. My mother even went so far as to tell me that he didn't love her anymore. She was devastated. She was very confused. She didn't know whether to be sad, angry. She loved him until that night.

1:38We could spend all kinds of time speculating about why Jennifer did what she did, what set her off. There's a reason it's called a snap. She went over into this corner and got the spear, which was over here. She thrust the spear at him, going all the way through. Then she pulled the spear out and plunged it in again. She launched a vicious and potentially deadly attack on him. He finally went inside his pocket to get his knife to defend himself. It's a complete fairy tale. I think he cornered her and he slit her throat.

2:27You don't deny that you killed Jennifer D. I don't deny it. If Kurt Turner had not had his pocket knife with him, Kurt Turner would be dead. Did you cause your wife's death to protect your own life? Yes. That is textbook self-defense. It was just one big lie.

3:00All rise. September 12, 2007 was reckoning day for the defendant. A pending divorce, unresolved property settlement, huge support payments was on his mind. Nearly two years after Jennifer Turner was killed, Greg Brown, a North Carolina prosecutor, lays out the case against her husband, Dr. Kirk Turner. The physical evidence will speak loud and clear that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder. She stabbed me with a spear. She just kept stabbing me. But defense attorney Brad Bannon says the last thing on Dr. Turner's mind that night was murder. The most primal human impulse that we have is that of self-preservation, and that is what this case is about.

3:58Bannon says Kirk Turner stabbed his wife with a knife only after she attacked him with a seven-foot spear. This is where she stabbed Kirk in the arm. This is where she stabbed him twice in his leg.

4:19There's no way that could have been my mother. I can't imagine her with a spear in her hands. Wendy Turner is Kirk and Jennifer's daughter. My mother was, to me, just the epitome of a gentle soul. There was no way that Jennifer would attack Kirk. She never would have done that. Friends Linda Ernst and Susan Doran believe they knew the real Jennifer Turner. Could Jennifer be a violent person? Could there have been a part of her that you didn't know? I never saw that side. I can't believe that it ever existed or ever would have. This is one of Jennifer's horses. She handled her horses very well.

5:05She took care of them incredibly well. She absolutely adored them. Anne Gould rode with Jennifer nearly every day. How many horses did Jennifer own? At the time of her death, she owned nine horses. It was her dream to start a breeding farm, but it was her husband who put that dream into reality and encouraged her to make this a business, a money-making business. That would be another money-making business since Kirk was already a very successful dentist with an annual salary of$650 ,000. Anytime you ask a patient what they thought of Kirk Turner as a dentist, they all thought he was a great man.

5:46Jennifer's friend Tara Whitaker worked at Kirk's dental practice always treated us very well always took us out to lunches he was very generous man towards all of us and he talked about his wife how much he loved her and about the children about vacations they would all be taking together Kirk and Jennifer seemed like a terrific match she loved it yes absolutely and that's why everyone, especially Jennifer, was shocked when Kirk announced he was leaving her after 23 years of marriage. Did you talk to your father when you learned they were having marital problems? He insisted on coming to my school and telling me to my face that they were going to be separated, and I asked him that night if he was cheating on my mother, and he said he was not.

6:35But that That was a bald-faced lie. My mom had video evidence of him cheating on her. Where'd she get that? A private investigator. She'd hired someone. She had. Jennifer was shocked to see that Kirk was frequently at the home of another woman, a woman who once was the family's personal banker, Tonya Colvin. I would have been so angry. I mean, I think most women would be angry to find out that your husband is seeing your personal banker. Yeah, I think I would have been very angry, and she was just hurt over it. Did she ever say anything to you, I'm going to get that SOB? No, no. I think she was just trying to figure out how to survive and where to go next.

7:27A lot of money was on the line. A 10 ,000 square foot house, a 35-acre horse farm, and Kirk's collection of vintage Corvettes. Jennifer stayed in the house after Kirk moved out, and a court ordered him to pay her more than$30 ,000 a month. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. I'd like to get that a month. It was a lot of money, but Ann says Jennifer needed it to operate the horse breeding business that she and Kirk owned together. She was clearing pastures on her own. She was putting in fences. It was a 12-hour-a-day job. She was running a business.

8:11And then there was the human cost. Kirk's actions splintered the family. Their son Richie left his mother's home and he and Kirk eventually moved in together. People wonder how could you support your dad when there was another woman in his life. He had so hurt your mother emotionally. He was still my dad. My mom was still my mom. It was still family to me. Wendy, away at college, sided with her mother and cut Kirk out of her life. I stopped talking to him because he was cheating on my mom. Kirk retaliated. He canceled all of my credit cards and stopped paying my tuition. I think he thought that I would talk to him if he would give me money.

9:06But I was doing what I thought was right, which was standing up for my mother. And no amount of money would have changed to that. Jennifer filed for divorce, but was also determined to go after Kirk's lover, slapping her with an unusual alienation of affection lawsuit. It was a suit against the other woman. Jennifer was suing Tanya Colvin for stealing her man. She felt like this woman had come in and not only ruined Jennifer's life, but was going to ruin her children's lives too. If Jennifer wanted to get under Kirk's skin by filing that lawsuit, it worked. I know that he really wanted the alienation of affection suit to disappear.

9:56Wendy says that Kirk kept pressuring her mother to drop the suit. When your father is upset, is he a menacing man? Very scary. Very scary. Jennifer began to take precautions. Alone in her big house, she bought mace and at night, sealed herself off in her bedroom with a baseball bat, an extra cell phone and a lock on the bedroom door. What was Jennifer afraid of? Jennifer was afraid that he was going to hurt her or kill her. Why did she think that? She was afraid of him blowing up and losing control.

10:38Two years later, Wendy Turner tells a spellbound courtroom the exact words spoken by Kirk that made Jennifer cringe with fear. She told me that he said there was more than one way to end a marriage. She thought that he was going to try and kill her.

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12:14My mother really loved horses. She spent a lot of time with them, and she felt really lucky that she was able to do that. This is Jennifer Turner. But Jennifer's passion for horses turned into an obsession, says her son, Richie. Once we moved out to the farm, horses really took over her life. She was out working with the horses all day, feeding, mucking stalls. What was happening to the love and the relationship, in your opinion? Well, I think the love was still there. But they just, there was no time spent with each other.

12:58Your Honor, we would call Kirk Turner. Facing life in prison if he's convicted of murdering his wife, Dr. Kirk Turner makes the bold and risky decision to take the stand to explain the events that led up to that fateful night. Jennifer really wanted to raise horses. Kirk is questioned by his own high-priced attorney, Joe Cheshire, who earned national attention in 2006 when he defended the wrongfully accused players in the Duke Lacrosse rape case. Why did you agree to purchase the Jack Boo property and move? Make her happy. Was that important to you? Yes. But Kirk says his desire to make Jennifer happy proved to be the undoing of their marriage.

13:44I was working and then when I came home I had to work on the barn. It was pretty consuming. We spent no time at all together. Two years after buying the horse farm, Kirk was lonely. That's when he began spending time with the other woman, the family's former personal banker, Tonya Colvin. We were friends and started talking more about our marriages and kind of commiserated about how bad our marriages were becoming. And that relationship became an adulterous relationship at some point. It did, yes. I'm ashamed to say it did. Just two weeks after he first slept with Tanya, Kirk told Jennifer he was leaving.

14:34I knew my marriage had been over a long time. I thought it best just to ask for a separation and move out of the house. Even though it was Jennifer who filed for divorce, Kirk says she offered to drop the whole matter if he agreed to stay married, on some pretty easy terms. She'd offered that I could, if I moved back home, that I could keep Tanya as a girlfriend and see her and even vacation with her. Kirk turned down Jennifer's unusual offer. But something he said to her would end up becoming a focal point of this case. Kirk, have you ever said to your wife there's more than one way to end a marriage?

15:18I have. She'd asked me if I wanted a divorce. I said no, there was more than one way to end a marriage. And what were you referring to? Separation, as my parents have done. But Wendy testified her mother took Kirk's statement as a threat on her life. She knew he carried a knife and a little gun. And did she indicate to you what type of fear that caused in her? Oh, terrible fear. She'd be very shaky and scared, and her eyes would have tears in them.

15:57Then came September 12, 2007, the last day of Jennifer's life. Family friend Greg Smithson called, telling Jennifer he needed to pick up some equipment at the ranch. Jennifer, to me, was a wonderful person. She always treated me real good. Never had any problems with her. You were so close to the two children. What did they call you? Uncle Greg. Greg asked Jennifer if he could bring Kirk along to help him load up his equipment. Surprisingly, Jennifer put her fears aside and said yes. I walked up to the house to get Jennifer and inform her that we were there. When you told her that, what was your reaction?

16:40That Kirk was there on the property. She told me she said it was fine. Jennifer actually helped Greg and Kirk move some furniture. Then they went to a shed on the property to pick up a welder. Greg says Jennifer wasn't fearful. But the conversation got personal, and Greg felt uncomfortable. I heard the word sex, and then I'm like, okay, these are things that I just don't want to hear. But you heard the word? Yeah. Sex and reconciliation. Greg headed out to his truck with the welder, leaving Kirk and Jennifer alone. Kirk says he used the private moment to change the subject to some papers he'd brought with him.

17:24I took two documents with me. What documents did you take? I took an order that we were going to file with the court to force the sale of the farm, and I took an affidavit from her first husband that spoke of their marriage. That affidavit claimed that Jennifer's first marriage, nearly 25 years earlier, had failed because of her obsessive love of horses. Jennifer's ex also alleged that she had been unfaithful. I just wanted to show Jennifer that I didn't want this to get ugly, and if we had to proceed in court, that it wasn't going to be nice for either one of us. I don't think that he thought that these papers would inflame Jennifer.

18:13They did inflame. Kirk says an enraged Jennifer grabbed a seven-foot-long decorative spear that was leaning against a wall and took him by surprise. Well, I remember turning around and seeing a symmetrical silver thing in my leg. Kirk says that silver thing was the tip of the spear. Defense attorney Brad Bannon. She thrust the spear at him right here. Right in the meat of the thigh. Right there, going all the way through. Then she pulled the spear out and plunged it in again, this time much closer to his groin, and it went all the way through. At 5 '11", 187 pounds, Jennifer was a strong, athletic woman.

19:00Kirk says he defended himself. We know he had his Kershaw pocket knife in his front right pocket to defend himself against the attack. The knife was just four inches long, but razor sharp. Do you remember going into your pocket and getting your knife? No. I remember going like this. Do you remember Jennifer falling? No. Do you remember standing over her? I remember looking down seeing her eyes. Greg Smithson says about two or three minutes had passed since he'd last seen Kirk and Jennifer together. Then he heard a noise. I heard Kirk holler. I was screaming. At several points in time, I heard him say that she had attacked.

19:56When I'd seen, he was bleeding. Greg ran into the shed to call 911. That's when he made a gruesome discovery.

20:10I saw Jennifer laying there. I'm so shook up. I couldn't tell if she was alive or not. The 911 operator instructed Greg to give Jennifer CPR. I went back and forth between the telephone and Jennifer multiple times. Multiple. Multiple times. I grabbed her nose, I put my hand under her neck and started blowing. But there was no saving Jennifer. Kirk had severed one of her main arteries and she bled out. Kirk was hospitalized, going into shock from blood loss and requiring a transfusion. Through it all, Kirk told anyone who would listen that Jennifer attacked him first. I would never have killed my wife unless I thought I was going to die.

21:05Was this a case of self-defense? It was not. What was it in your mind? It was a cold-blooded murder.

21:23It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. He asked if I was sitting down. I couldn't tell her. You know, I sat there and I cried. Richie Turner could barely find the words to tell his sister Wendy the unimaginable news. He said that my mom had died.

21:48And I was frantic. She said, I have to go, I have to go. that was very hard to do.

22:02Their mother was dead, and their father lay in a hospital bed in serious condition. Did you want to rush to your father's side? No. No, absolutely not. I knew that when they said that my mom had been killed, that it was him. Nobody had to tell me that. I knew that. I saw it on the news. And my first reaction was, Kirk did this. Jennifer's friend, Susan Doran. Nobody else would ever try to harm Jennifer. Nobody. So I knew immediately it was him. The long, drawn-out divorce, the fact that he had a girlfriend, the fact that he was a millionaire, the fact that this was an embarrassment to his practice, all these things are called motive.

22:54Dr. Turner, I have a number of questions that I wish to ask you. Prosecutor Greg Brown could not wait to challenge Kirk when he took the stand. Can you tell this jury at what point did you decide to kill your wife? I could not tell you that. But Brown is convinced Dr. Turner is lying. He believes Kirk made a conscious choice to kill Jennifer just moments before their fatal encounter. She had no idea what was coming.

23:25By Brown's reckoning, Dr. Turner was itching for a fight that September night when he arrived at the farm. The defendant came with a purpose to confront her. Kirk's aim was to get Jennifer to drop her embarrassing lawsuit against his girlfriend, Tonya Colvin. He was devastated because of the alienation of affection lawsuit. So Kirk sprung a surprise on Jennifer, that damaging affidavit from her ex-husband, to show that Kirk, too, could play dirty. I'd never thought of it as a threat.

24:01Alone in the shed that night, tempers flared, especially, Brown says, after Jennifer read over those documents. She crumpled them up. She may have said something offensive to him. She may have scratched his face. And at that point in time, he made a decision that he was going to kill his wife. The defendant took out his knife. I always have a pocket knife on my person. Stabbed his wife. I just remember my hand going out. And murdered her. This was not self-defense. That's correct. You do remember your wife's eyes being open when you killed her. I remember her laying on the floor and seeing her eyes and they were open.

24:44Kirk insists he had no choice but to protect himself once Jennifer began stabbing him with that seven-foot spear. Are you buying it? No, absolutely not. Prosecutor Rob Taylor. All the physical evidence at the scene did not show an attack by Jennifer Turner on her husband. Or that she even touched that spear. Were any of Jennifer's fingerprints on the spear? No fingerprint that we can say was lifted that absolutely puts that spear in her hands. With Jennifer dead at his feet, prosecutors believe Kirk needed a way out. They say he staged the scene to make it look like self-defense. Then, he did the unthinkable.