Ohio man sentenced to life without parole for 31 years in fatal March 2021 shooting spree
A man who killed someone he considered a brother and inspiration will spend at least 31 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
A jury found Dwight Turner Jr., 35, of Columbus, guilty in April of murder, felonious assault and discharging a weapon into a home. The jury in the case also acquitted him of separate counts of felonious assault and murder after deliberating for about five hours over two days.
Judge Carl Aveni ordered Turner to serve a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 31 years in the shooting at a Southeast Side home and the death of Ronald "Hot Rod" Jones, 34, on the Hilltop less than an hour later.
Around 10 p.m. March 3, 2021, Turner went to a home on the 3200 block of Payday Lane, where the parents of an ex-girlfriend lived. A doorbell camera captured video shown at Turner's trial of him knocking on the door while asking for the woman.
The video showed that, after no one answered the door, Turner took several steps backward and fired several shots into the home, damaging several windows. Neither of the two people inside were hurt, according to testimony at trial.
Turner left but dropped his wallet in the process.
About 45 minutes later, Columbus police got a call about a man shot on the 100 block of Oakley Avenue in the Hilltop neighborhood.
Officers found Jones on the front porch of the home with gunshot wounds. He died from his injuries.
Sheryl Gillespie, Jones' mother, said Thursday that her son had known Turner for 19 years and had hung out with him the night before the shooting.
"To think that my son walked out on that porch that night to talk to a friend, and now he’s not here," she said. "You can't trust anybody anymore."
While the case against him was pending, Turner wrote a letter apologizing to the family who lived in the home he shot into before killing Jones. That letter was introduced at trial as evidence against Jones.
On Thursday, the man who received that letter said he and his wife continue to feel a shattered sense of security in their home more than three years later.
"Home is supposed to be the place you find the most solitude. All of that was shattered for my wife and I," he said, calling Turner's actions a "reign of terror."
Turner's attorney, Mark Collins, said Turner went off his medications the night of the shooting and may have been experiencing some type of psychosis.
Collins said Jones' family had been open to resolving the case with a plea deal before trial, calling their offer generous and evidence of their strength and courage. Turner turned down the deal and moved forward with the trial.
Turner also spoke, saying he had looked up to Jones and considered him a brother. He apologized to Jones' family and said he wished he could take the entire night back.
"He wasn’t supposed to lose his life that night, and a part of me lost my life that night, too," Turner said.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man given 31 years to life in prison for fatal March 2021 shootings
