La Plata, MD – Steven Michael Turner, 30 of Indian Head, was convicted and sentenced in 2007 in Charles County Circuit Court for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Tuesday, Aug. 15, Turner and his attorney, John McKenna, tried to argue that the defendant didn’t understand what “conspiracy” meant when he was sentenced in 2007.
McKenna said that with his client not understanding what he was charged with a decade ago, the charges should be dropped. The lawyer said that if the conviction is not overturned, his client could face federal charges resulting in 36 months in a federal prison.
“If this is not on his record, this would not be a federal offense,” McKenna suggested to Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West. “I would ask you to vacate his conviction.”
Charles County Assistant States Attorney Jeremy Widder said that although Turner has appealed his conviction, it took 10-and-a-half years before the case came back to court.
“This was a guns and drugs case,” Widder said, noting that the evidence used in the 2006-07 trial was no longer around.
“The evidence in this case was destroyed in 2008,” he said. “There was no reason to keep the evidence after the case.”
Widder told West that to retry the case at this point would be practically impossible.
“The evidence gets destroyed and memories fade,” he said. “We have no guns. We have no evidence. I can’t re-prosecute this case. The defendant pleaded guilty to count two, conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 years and five years of supervised probation. He received a suspended sentence and has completed probation. There is nothing invalid about this conviction.”
“This conviction puts him in federal jeopardy,” McKenna countered.
“It’s an interesting case,” West noted. “Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, that’s as specific as it gets. It brings us to this case, and I think the defendant cannot prevail. I don’t think there’s evidence here to show that he didn’t know what conspiracy is. It’s just not there. I am going to deny Mr. Turner’s petition.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com