Murderer’s competency during trial at issue in appeal of 2011 Fort Bend verdict
Albert James Turner was convicted in 2011 of murder in the deaths of his mother-in-law and wife. The jury sentenced him to death — a choice made only every few years in Fort Bend County.
The case returned last week to the same courtroom with the same judge, the 268th District Court with Judge Brady Elliott, to take on an issue Turner’s defense argued should have been addressed in the first place.
The question before the jury was not whether he committed the crimes. Rather, the issue at hand was whether evidence showed Turner had not been mentally fit for his trial.
It was “a case that’s not normally one we take up,” the judge told the jurors. Judge Elliott had denied a request for a competency trial six years ago. A state appellate court had now granted it retrospectively, allowing a chance at a totally new trial.
Stakes were high. Turner’s appellate defense attorney, Amy Martin, believed Turner was delusional. Turner felt convinced his attorneys had conspired against him, Martin said. And this illness might have affected his decision to testify originally, a fateful choice that perhaps influenced the jury to sentence him to death, rather than life in prison.
Competency refers to one’s ability rationally to understand court proceedings. It is a different question altogether from whether someone was insane at the time of the crime.
Evaluating a defendant for competency before a trial begins is fairly standard. Doing so retrospectively is not.
Several mental health professionals evaluated Turner before his trial, court records show. One saw Turner in May 2010, and the other in June. Both found him competent.
Still, the question of his mental faculties didn’t stop there. “Time dragged on,” said Patrick McCann, his attorney at the time. “He got worse.”
On April 15, 2011, defense attorneys filed a request for a trial on Turner’s competency. The judge denied it, but the defense persisted, and on May 6 of that year, the judge ordered one more evaluation. It concluded his functioning had not significantly changed.
The case went to trial. Turner testified. The jury sentenced him. An appeal followed, and the higher court decided he deserved the competency trial after all — leading to last week’s proceedings.
Testimony continued to May 18, when the 12-person jury heard closing arguments.
Prosecutor Fred Felcman painted the case as woefully lacking in the expected indicators, such as family speaking of his illness or physicians having treated him.
“This is not what you thought it was going to be, was it?” Felcman said.
Martin argued that even though Turner wasn’t curled up in a corner or foaming at the mouth, he still had a mental illness.
“He didn’t have a disagreement with his attorneys,” she said. “He had a break with reality.”
Turner refused to be in the courtroom. The jurors made a decision in two hours. Among those who waited to hear it was Darren Frank, whose sister and mother were the people Turner killed.
Frank had cared for his sister’s four children since the murders. He said he felt a little surprised to see Turner’s case return to Fort Bend and had prepared for whatever the outcome would be. His main priority, he said, was supporting the children.
Cases like these didn’t come around every day. Martin said she knew of only one other, from 2012 in Harris County.
The judge read the verdict: Turner had been competent. His appeal will continue.