Jared Turner sentenced to 24 years for two attempted murders

A Linton man, charged with the attempted murder of two different men in two separate incidents in 2018, one in Linton and one inside the Greene County Jail, has been convicted in both cases and sentenced to serve 24 years in prison.

Jared Turner

Jared Tyler Turner, 24 at the time of the incidents, now 26, Linton, appeared before Judge Dena Martin in Greene Superior Court last Tuesday, October 20.

Turner was represented by Defense Attorney Ross Graham Thomas of Indianapolis.

Greene County Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh represented the State.

Several stories have been posted on GreeneStreets about these cases. To find previous stories with more information and details, click on the tag labeled ‘Jared Turner’ below this story.

In October of 2018, Turner was accused of the attempted murder of Todd Bennett after Bennett was shot, very seriously injured and transported to a hospital in Indianapolis.

After Turner was arrested and incarcerated in the Greene County Jail, Turner was accused of trying to kill his cellmate by an attempt to break his neck. The victim, Tyler Sperling, was injured and transported to a hospital but his neck was not broken.

Both victims survived.

In both cases, Turner was charged with attempted murder and numerous other criminal counts.

In mid-September of this year, a negotiated plea agreement was filed and accepted by the court.

During the sentencing hearing last week, in the case involving the shooting of Todd Bennett, Turner changed his plea to guilty of aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony, and the other counts were dismissed.

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Martin considered two aggravating factors. One was that the harm, injury, loss or damage suffered by the victim was significant and that Bennett almost died. The other factor was that Turner committed an additional offense after he was in jail on this offense.

Mitigating factors included the fact that Turner accepted responsibility for his actions and pled guilty, that he had no prior criminal record, that he suffers from mental illness but unfortunately abused drugs to help deal with his illness, that he has a family support system, that he said he was remorseful, and that the court received numerous letters written by friends and associates describing a caring and giving younger Turner.

In this case, Turner was sentenced to 13 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC). He was given credit for 749 days already served and was to be given good time credit for all days when he was eligible for good time credit.

In the case involving the attack on Tyler Sperling, Turner changed his plea to guilty of aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony, and the other counts were dismissed.

Aggravating and mitigating factors in the second case were basically the same as in the first case.

In this case, Turner was sentenced to 11 years in the DOC. He did not receive credit for days already served – they applied to the sentence in the first case.

In both cases, no time was suspended.

Judge Martin specified that the two sentences will run consecutively – Turner will serve the sentence of 13 years before he starts serving the 11 years in the second case.

According to Indiana law, if Turner is eligible for good time credit, he must still serve 75 percent of his sentence.

Turner is now in the custody of the Indiana Department of Corrections, at the Wabash Valley facility, where they estimate his earliest projected release date on the first sentence is July 1, 2028, when he’ll start serving the second sentence. His earliest projected release date on the second sentence is September 30, 2036.

Several stories have been posted on GreeneStreets about these cases. To find previous stories with more information and details, click on the tag labeled ‘Jared Turner’ below this story.