Bloomington native Dustin Turner is still being held at Middle River Regional Jail in Staunton, Va. after a hearing officer this week found probable cause to believe Turner violated a parole condition, Turner’s attorney said.
Turner had been released on parole in March after three decades in prison for a wrongful murder conviction.
Last week Turner was arrested after his parole officer accused him of not informing women with whom he had an intimate relationship of his conviction and that he is a registered sex offender prior to getting into a relationship with them. At the time, Turner’s attorney, Stephen Northup, said he had complied to the requirement in two cases.
However, the condition also includes a statement at the end ---“as directed by my parole officer,” Northup said. So Turner’s parole officer directed that Turner inform the person in front of the parole officer, Northup said.
“It’s not even in writing, it's something the parole officer told him, and Dusty agrees that the parole officer told him that,” Northup said. “I mean, Dusty doesn't dispute that.”
On the first day Turner met with his parole officer, Turner told the officer he planned to enter into a significant relationship with a woman. Turner gave the officer the woman’s name and number and assumed the parole officer was going to call her. The officer didn’t. The second woman Turner was intimate with was unexpected and not considered a significant relationship, Northup said. Turner did not inform his parole officer of her.
“It was a violation of a super technical rule that applies in his case, and it was actually, I think, more of a misunderstanding than any wrongdoing on Dusty's part,” Northup said.
The case now goes to Virginia’s parole board, which will decide whether Turner violated parole, and if so, decide the consequences.
The board could send Turner back to prison but that’s highly unlikely, Northup said.
“He's been in jail for 10 days now, 11 days and I would think any reasonable board is going to return him to parole,” Northup said. “They’re not going to want to send him back to prison. He's already served 30, almost 31 years in prison.”
Indiana has admitted Turner to its parole and probation system, but Virginia still has to act.
