NATHANIEL TURNER - 7 yo (2009) - Worcester MA

A Massachusetts dad accused of
viciously beating his 7-year-old son on Father's Day choked the boy,
hit him with a belt and sat on him — all while his fiancee watched,
according to newly released court documents.


Leslie Schuler, 36, also shoved Nathaniel Turner into a wall and struck him in
the stomach in the June 21 attack that led to the boy's death a few
days later, the documents say.
Schuler, of Worcester, is charged with murder and several accounts of battery. He is being held without bail.
The records allege that much of the abuse took place while Schuler's
fiancee, Tiffany Hyman, looked on but made no attempt to stop it.
Nathaniel had moved from Alabama to live with his father, investigators say.
The documents were released Thursday at the request of The Telegram &
Gazette newspaper, following a six-week impoundment requested by the
prosecution.

Nathaniel Turner, 7, loved God and the members of the church he attended every Sunday.

He also loved sweets. Nathaniel would arrive at Eufaula’s Grace
Independent Baptist Church each Sunday and immediately go to Pastor
Steve Montgomery’s office.

“One (person) asked, ‘Was he coming to you with a theological
question?’ No. He was looking for candy,” Montgomery fondly recalled
Saturday at a memorial service held for Nathaniel. The child died in
late June after he was allegedly beaten to death by his father.

Nathaniel’s father, Leslie G. Schuler, 36, has been charged with
assault to murder and several counts of assault and battery. He is
currently being held without bail in Massachusetts.

Nathaniel lived in Eufaula with his grandmother, but was spending the summer with his father in Worcester, Mass.

Approximately 30 individuals attended Saturday’s memorial service.
They spent an hour sharing humorous and heart-touching stories about
Nathaniel.

Nathaniel’s grandmother, Christine Turner, said he was a sweet child
who loved to help around the house. He also had an imagination that was
larger than Lake Eufaula.

“He had this thing about dinosaur bones in the back yard,” she
remembered. “But he was a very, very smart boy. Give him a book on
anything, and he could recite it back without looking at it again.”

She said she was thankful to have Nathaniel in her life for the seven years he was alive.

“I’m going to miss him, but I’m going to carry him in my heart,
because that is where he’s at,” she said. “When God wants his child, to
be where he wants, we have to accept it. We can’t question it.”

Ms. Turner handed out buttons before the service to every person in
attendance. The button included a picture of Nathaniel with his
trademark smile and dimples and two basketball ribbons.

Pattie Norton, a neighbor of the Turners, said that Nathaniel loved to play with her son, Gabe.

“The minute he saw my car, he took off,” she recalled. “A lot of
times he would beat me to the house. The first thing he wanted to know
was if he could play with Gabe.”

Nathaniel often accompanied Gabe to Wednesday night services at
Calvary Baptist where they would take part in Royal Ambassadors, a
religious program designed for boys. Norton was one of several
individuals who said Saturday that Nathaniel had a deep spiritual faith.

“The last time I took Nathaniel to church, I asked him if he knew Jesus as savior. He said, “Yes ma’am’.”

Pastor Montgomery read a letter from a church member who recalled
Nathaniel as a child who wanted to help others. Nathaniel had wanted to
attend church camp this summer, but was not able because he went north
to spend the summer with his father. But Nathaniel was still eager to
help church members sell magnets door-to-door to raise money for the
youth attending camp.

“In his last few days in Eufaula, that’s what he was doing – helping others,” Montgomery said.

“Nathaniel was influenced by a lot of folks. But think of how he’s influenced us.”

It’s been a hard week for Christine Taylor, the grandmother of
Nathaniel Turner, the 7-year-old who allegedly was given a fatal
beating June 21 in Worcester by his father.
Yesterday a memorial service for the child with the angelic
smile was held at Grace Independent Baptist Church in Eufaula, Ala.,
the city of 14,500 where Ms. Taylor was raising her grandson.
On Monday the reopening of Eufaula Primary School brought back
a wave of memories to Ms. Taylor, 49, an Alabama native who moved back
to that city on the banks of the Chattahoochee River two years ago,
after living in Worcester for about 41 years.
“I miss getting him ready for school,” Ms. Taylor said after
the pre-kindergarten-Grade 2, one-story school opened its doors for
another school year.
Moments after Nathaniel arrived home from school, Ms. Taylor
would pull up the driveway to the 2-1/2-acre property. About two-thirds
of the property is a vegetable garden, and last year Ms. Taylor’s
friend Joe and Nathaniel together tended to the corn and the okra and
the tomatoes.
Ms. Taylor returned to Eufaula, named for one of the tribes of
Creek Indians who lived there, for “the sunshine, the green grass and
the trees — less noise — and “beautiful blue water” because she loves
to fish, hunt deer and garden.
As she neared the house after Nathaniel got home “he’d stick
his head out the door, smiling. ‘It’s Ma, it’s Ma,’ ” and then shut the
door and run back into the house, laughing at his own joke of having
closed the door.
“I miss that. I miss that so much,” Ms. Taylor said last week in a telephone interview.
“I always take care of all my grandkids” said Ms. Taylor, who
has three children and has raised more than 10 children — she would not
estimate how many more than that. When she moved back to Eufaula two
years ago, she said, she took with her Nathaniel and Kadeja, a relative
now 12, whom she raised since she was 3 months old.
Asked why she was raising Nathaniel while his mother, Alicia
Turner, remains in Worcester, Ms. Taylor suggested asking her daughter,
Alicia. But Ms. Turner has not agreed to grant requests for interviews.
Ms. Taylor said, “Nathaniel always took Alicia as his mom. They had a great relationship, a very loving one.
“He called her every day, every five seconds. Turn your head, he’s on the phone. He wouldn’t stop calling you.”
“And he loved his father.” Once his father, Leslie G. Schuler,
established contact not long ago “Nathaniel started calling him,” Ms.
Taylor said. “All his friends have their father figures there. So I
guess that’s what pushed the edge for him to ask about his dad.”
Ms. Taylor thinks that Nathaniel may have prodded his mother to get Mr. Schuler to call him.
Initially Mr. Schuler denied that Nathaniel was his son. But
eventually he said he wanted to get to know Nathaniel, according to
probate court documents, and he brought him to Worcester a week after
the school year ended, Ms. Taylor said.
The last day of school in Eufaula was May 22, and Nathaniel
was in school that day, according to a spokeswoman for the Eufaula
schools.
Ms. Taylor said three months ago she thought Mr. Schuler, who
was friendly with all her children, “was a great guy,” and there was no
tension when he asked to bring Nathaniel to Worcester to live with him
for the summer.
“He told me, ‘I’ll have him back in time for school. I want to get to know my son.’ I said, that’s fine with me.”
Asked how she feels about Mr. Schuler now, Ms. Taylor replied,
“God taught me one thing: not to hate, and to leave everything in his
hands to handle it.”
But Ms. Taylor is more outspoken about Tiffany N. Hyman, Mr.
Schuler’s fiancée. Bail was lowered July 27 on Ms. Hyman from $50,000
to $5,000, so she is now out of jail. Mr. Schuler remains behind bars,
charged with murder stemming from the alleged Father’s Day attack on
Nathaniel.
Ms. Hyman is accused of observing repeated attacks by Mr.
Schuler on Nathaniel from the time he got to the apartment she shared
with Mr. Schuler at 13 Arline St. and did nothing about them, police
say. Those include allegedly being hit with a belt and being shoved
into a wall. Ms. Hyman also told investigators all of Nathaniel’s toys,
his television and bedding were taken away.
She is charged with being an accessory after the fact of
assault and battery on a child with substantial injury, reckless
endangerment, permitting assault and battery on a child with
substantial injury, assault and battery on a child with bodily injury
and assault and battery on a child with substantial injury.
Ms. Taylor said that she holds Ms. Hyman just as responsible
for Nathaniel’s death as Mr. Schuler. But while Mr. Schuler is in jail,
“that woman’s been out. She’s on the ground. That’s not justice.”
“There was two of them and one of them should have been adult
enough to pick up that phone and call somebody.” But she singled out
Ms. Hyman as a black, Christian woman, as having a special obligation
to bond with others and to have spoken out if something is wrong, even
if there were consequences.
“I would have took a blow for the kid,” Ms Taylor said, and Ms. Hyman should have, too.
Ms. Taylor said she spoke to Nathaniel by telephone while he
was in Worcester, although she could not pinpoint dates, and that he
went to Alicia’s home twice. She said that Nathaniel did not indicate
to either of them that there were problems. “He told me he had a bike
and a computer in his room and all that kind of stuff and he was having
fun,” Ms. Taylor said.
If Nathaniel were being untruthful with her about that, she said, “it would have been in his voice and I would have heard it.”
She said, “I said just enjoy your summer and I’ll see you when you come home.”

A Worcester man accused of beating his 7-year-old son to death is about to face a judge.

Leslie Schuler is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Worcester
Superior Court on 10 charges, including murder and assault and battery
with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors say he beat his son, Nathaniel
Turner, repeatedly, culminating in a brutal beating on June 21,
Father's Day. The boy died a few days later.

The boy had
lived with his grandmother most of his life in Eufaula, Ala., but had
moved to Worcester around Memorial Day to stay with his father for the
summer.

Schuler's fiancee, Tiffany Hyman, has also been
charged with being an accessory after the fact and reckless
endangerment for allegedly failing to intervene in the beatings.

Father in Massachusetts arraigned in son's beating death; boy had lived in Alabama


Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 4:24 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 4:28 PM






(AP Photo/Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Dan Gould)Leslie Schuler stands during his arraignment on Wednesday Dec. 23, 2009, in Worcester, Mass., Superior Court on charges of brutally beating his son Nathaniel Turner on Father's Day. The child, who lived with his grandmother in Eufala, Ala., was visiting his father for the summer. He died a few days later.
WORCESTER, Mass. -- A Worcester man accused of inflicting a fatal beating on his 7-year-old son on Father's Day has been ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder and other charges.
Leslie Schuler was arraigned on Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court following his indictment by a grand jury a week ago.
Prosecutors allege that Schuler repeatedly beat his son, Nathaniel Turner, culminating in a brutal attack on June 21, Father's Day. The boy died a few days later.
Nathaniel had lived with his grandmother most of his life in Alabama, but had moved to Worcester around Memorial Day to stay with his father for the summer.
Schuler's fiancee, Tiffany Hyman, is awaiting trial on charges of being an accessory after the fact and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors say she failed to intervene in the beatings.
http://blog.al.com/live/2009/12/father_in_massachusetts_arraig.html

Schuler seeks change of venue
Publicity cited in case of man charged with fatally beating son
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

WORCESTER — The lawyer for a city man accused of murdering his 7-year-old son is seeking a change of venue for his client’s trial.

Alan J. Black, the lawyer appointed to defend Leslie G. Schuler on murder and assault charges stemming from the June 23, 2009, beating death of his son, Nathaniel Turner, maintains in a motion for a change of venue that Mr. Schuler can’t get a fair trial in Worcester County because of “overwhelming” and “prejudicial” pretrial publicity about the case in the media.

The only way to ensure a fair trial for Mr. Schuler would be “to move the venue to a location whereby the potential jury pool has not been affected by the pretrial publicity,” Mr. Black wrote in the motion, which was filed Dec. 17 in Worcester Superior Court.

Attached to the motion are copies of news accounts about the case that appeared in the Telegram & Gazette, The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and other media outlets.

Mr. Schuler, 38, of 13 Arline St., is alleged to have fatally beaten his son on Father’s Day 2009. He is also charged with a series of alleged assaults on the child between May 27 and June 22 of that year.

Police and prosecutors allege Mr. Schuler physically disciplined his son after the boy came to spend the summer with him and his fiancée, Tiffany N. Hyman. Nathaniel had been living with his grandmother in Alabama before coming to Worcester.

Mr. Schuler is accused of severely beating the boy and slamming his head against a wall on June 21, 2009. He and Ms. Hyman, who is also facing assault charges, took Nathaniel to the hospital the next day, badly bruised and unconscious.

Mr. Schuler is charged with murder, two counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury, assault and battery on a child causing injury, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (belt, wall, floor), two counts of assault and battery and one count of reckless endangerment of a child.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody without bail.

Ms. Hyman is awaiting trial on charges of assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury, assault and battery on a child causing injury, permitting an assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury, reckless endangerment of a child and being an accessory, after the fact, to assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury.

A trial date has not been set for either defendant.

“Due to the nature of the case and the fact that the alleged incident took place on Father’s Day, this case has generated significant public interest and widespread local news coverage in Worcester County and the surrounding area. The publicity on this case necessitates a change of venue,” Mr. Black wrote.

He went on to say that the case “has also sparked the media to discuss the highly political and controversial issue of the death penalty and the fact that lawmakers were pushing for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Massachusetts due to this incident.”

Mr. Black has also filed a motion to suppress asking that statements his client allegedly made to police be excluded from his trial. Mr. Black maintains the statements were not voluntary and were obtained in violation of Mr. Schuler’s constitutional rights.

A hearing on the motion to suppress is scheduled Jan. 31.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20110112/NEWS/101120391/1101/local

I COULDN'T READ THE WHOLE THING BECAUSE IT MAKES ME SICK. ANOTHER TRAGEDY BY PARENTS AND MOTHER. MY WORDS GO BEYOND HARSH ON THIS SITUATION. ANOTHER BOY IN THE ARMS OF THE LORD FOR PROTECTION.

Thursday, July 18, 2013
Father's Day killing trial delayed again

WORCESTER — The trial of a city man accused of fatally injuring his 7-year-old son on Father's Day 2009 has been postponed yet again.

Leslie G. Schuler's trial on murder and assault charges was to have begun July 25 in Worcester Superior Court, but was postponed on June 5 by Judge James R. Lemire at the request of Mr. Schuler's lawyer, Alan J. Black. Mr. Black sought the continuance because Dr. Jan E. Leestma, a neuropathologist from Chicago whom Mr. Black plans to call as an expert witness in the case, was unavailable on the July trial date.

The trial was rescheduled for Nov. 14.

On June 17, Mr. Black appeared before Judge Lemire again with another motion to continue the trial date, this time to April 17, 2014. Mr. Black said he was seeking the continuance after learning that his expert witness was not available on the Nov. 14 trial date, either.

Assistant District Attorney Courtney Sans assented to the request for a continuance, which was allowed by Judge Lemire.

The 40-year-old Mr. Schuler, formerly of 13 Arline St., is facing murder and assault charges stemming from what prosecutors said was the June 23, 2009, beating death of his son, Nathaniel Turner, after the boy had come to Worcester from Alabama to spend the summer with his father.

Mr. Schuler is alleged to have beaten the boy and slammed his head against a wall on June 21, 2009. He died two days later. Mr. Schuler is further charged with a series of assaults on the 7-year-old that allegedly began in May of that year.

An autopsy determined that the child was a victim of blunt force trauma to the head, torso and extremities and that the manner of his death was a homicide.

Mr. Schuler, who remains in custody, has pleaded not guilty.  

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130718/NEWS/307189651/1242/mobile&TEMPLATE=MOBILE

Mother of seven-year-old fatally beaten by father 'disgusted' with plea deal for Leslie Schuler

May 08, 2014 at 4:05 PM
WORCESTER -- Leslie Schuler was sentenced Thursday to a life sentence, with the possibility of parole in 15 years, for fatally beating his son during a Father's Day visit in 2009. The possibility of parole has angered the victim's family.

Family members speaking at Schuler's sentencing Thursday said they were deeply disappointed in the plea deal, which allowed Schuler to escape first-degree murder -- and life in prison without the possibility of parole -- in the 2009 death of his seven-year-old son, Nathaniel Turner.

"The Commonwealth dragged my family through four and a half years... to allow Leslie Schuler to account for his own fate," Nathaniel's mother, Alicia Turner, told the judge. "I’m disgusted with the results.”

Schuler, 41, of Worcester, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday, minutes before his trial was expected to begin.

Prosecutors said Schuler beat Nathaniel in Schuler's Worcester apartment while the boy was visiting from Alabama.

Nathaniel's family said they spent nearly five years making the journey from their home in Alabama to Worcester for court hearings, hoping Schuler would finally get what they considered justice.

Justice, Nathaniel's grandmother Christine Richardson told the court, would be life in prison without parole.

"Because Nathaniel is the one paying the price..." Richardson said. "He took his life. He took everything. So I beg you to take everything from him.”

In the end, Judge Daniel Wrenn was bound by the law to sentence Schuler to life, with the possibility of parole.

Assistant District Attorney Courtney Sans told the judge prosecutors offered the plea deal after careful consideration of the strength of their case. Much of the evidence came from Schuler's own statements to police, which were the subject of a motion to suppress, she said.

Schuler's fiancé at the time, Tiffany Hyman, was also expected to testify for the prosecution. But she has also been charged in connection with the boy's death. Hyman and Schuler were the only two people who had access to Nathaniel at the time he was injured, Sans said.

In the end, the district attorney's office's goal was to "ensure the safety of the community at large," Sans said. The plea meant Schuler would have no access to children for the rest of his life.

Schuler, wearing grey sweats with hands cuffed in front of him, sat with his head down throughout the hearing.

In an emotional hearing, family members told the judge through tears about Nathaniel, a cheerful boy who was so excited to spend the summer with his father. Schuler had no contact with Nathaniel under the summer of 2009, when he drove 1,200 miles to Alabama to pick him up.

Two months later, on Father's Day, Nathaniel was dead.

"My son wanted to meet this man, he was proud to say that he was his father,” Alicia Turner said. “I wish that he never met him… I wish he kept his distance as he did for the first seven years.”

The boy's grandmother, Richardson, was his primary caregiver. She read a poem Nathaniel wrote for Mother's Day that began, "I love the way you look at me with a smile in your eyes."

"That's the joy of my day, every day," Richardson said.

http://www.masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2014/05/mother_of_slain_boy_disgusted.html