By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-18 07:31:56 | Updated at 2024-12-18 10:21:22
3 hours ago
A Kentucky mother who drove her four children to a fatal shooting was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars on Monday.
Amanda Turner, 40, will spend the next 12-and-a-half years in prison for her role in the August 2023 shooting death of Seth Burns, 23, a judge ruled, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Prosecutors have said she drove her sons, Xxavion and Jackie, as well as her daughters, Keavier Turner and Lakera Hughes, to a home in Independence on August 25, 2023, following an online dispute between Xxavion, 21, and his ex-girlfriend.
The post that started the argument related to 'insults about children and parenting skills, or lack thereof,' Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders said.
A criminal complaint obtained by Law & Crime claimed Amanda knew her sons regularly carried firearms when she drove them to the house that night.
Along the way, Xxavion allegedly sent his ex-girlfriend a photo of a Google map showing they were en route and ready to fight.
Prosecutors also claimed Amanda was involved in text messages instigating the fight, and was caught on a neighbor's Ring doorbell camera leading her children - and Xxavion's current girlfriend - getting out of a vehicle and walking up to the home.
Burns' family has said he had nothing to do with the confrontation, but was in the vehicle with his girlfriend - Xxavion's ex - when she learned the Turners were on their way to fight.
Amanda Turner, 40, was sentenced Monday to 12 and a half years behind bars for her role in the August 2023 shooting death of Seth Burns, 23
She had pleaded guilty in September to charges of murder, riot, unlawful transaction with a minor and unlawfully providing a minor with a handgun
Seth Burns (center) was in the car when Turner's son told his girlfriend they were on their way to fight
'My son literally was an innocent victim in this,' Seth's father, Michael, previously told WCPO. 'He didn't know this man, he didn't know anybody in that family.'
But when the family arrived at the Independence home just before 6pm that night, Jackie - who was a minor at the time - fired his handgun once into the air and then again at Burns, fatally striking him in the torso.
Witnesses then rushed Burns to a nearby fire station, and he was airlifted to University Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Meanwhile, the criminal complaint said, Amanda drove her sons away from the scene to 'avoid police detection.'
Amanda and her children were all charged with wrongdoing in the aftermath.
In July, Jackie, now 18, pleaded guilty to the murder in July, and in September, Amanda pleaded guilty to charges of murder, riot, unlawful transaction with a minor and unlawfully providing a minor with a handgun, according to WCPO.
She admitted at the time to driving her sons to a 'girl fight,' and will be eligible for parole in four years.
With Monday's sentencing, Amanda joins three of her four children in jail.
Prosecutors have said that Jackie Turner, 18, fired the fatal shot, and he was sentenced to 30 years behind bars
Xxavion Turner, 21, was also sentenced Monday to three years behind bars for tampering with evidence
Keavier Turner was sentenced to 18 months and Lakera Hughes was sentenced to five years probation for rioting
Jackie was sentenced over the summer to 30 years behind bars for Seth's murder, Keavier was sentenced to 18 months and Lakera Hughes was sentenced to five years probation for rioting.
Xxavion was also sentenced Monday to three years behind bars for tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors had said he lied to officers about taking his younger brother's gun after the shooting and told his sister to delete her text message history.
They had also tried to paint him as the central figure in Burns' death, but his lawyers successfully argued he was not complicit in the murder because he did not communicate or spend time with his younger brother until they met up for the fight.
But the Burns say the family should have received harsher punishment - claiming Jackie's was the only just sentence, and that his mother and Xxavion should have received similar sentences.
'She's the one that instigated all of this, and being the mother, she just acted with complete disregard for anyone or anything,' Burns' mother, Barbara, said of Amanda.
'I don't know what kind of mother takes their kids to go shoot someone else's child. It makes no sense to me.
'I think they all deserved at least 30 years for what they did.'
