The VALDEZ-COVARRUBIAS Children - Indianapolis IN

A man charged in one of the worst
mass slayings in Indianapolis history was convicted Thursday of killing
seven members of one family, including three children, in a bloody
rampage prosecutors said stemmed from a quest for drugs and cash that
didn't exist.Marion
Superior Court Judge Robert Altice convicted Desmond Turner, 31, on 23
counts stemming from the June 1, 2006, deaths of Emma Valdez, 46; her
husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; the couple's young sons, Alberto, 11,
and David, 8; and Valdez's adult son and daughter, Magno Albarran and
Flora Albarran and Flora's son Luis, 5.Turner, who waived his
right to a jury trial in exchange for prosecutors dropping their
request for the death penalty, faces up to life without parole. The
sentencing phase of the trial starts Friday.

Marion County Prosecutor
Carl Brizzi said he did not have the evidence needed to meet the high
standard of proof required for a capital conviction. Prosecutors' case
was built on witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence. They
lacked a murder weapon or any physical evidence tying Turner directly
to the scene.Maria
Flores of Indianapolis, Emma Valdez's sister, said after the verdict
that the death penalty wouldn't have made a difference."Killing him won't bring our family back," she said.Defense
attorney Brent Westerfeld had hoped to capitalize on the prosecution's
lack of physical evidence. During his closing arguments, he put up
diagrams of a shirt and pants that police found soaking in the bathtub
of a friend of Turner's the day after the slayings. The clothing
contained DNA evidence from Turner but not the victims, he noted.Altice,
however, said Turner's actions after the slayings, including washing
his clothes and fleeing to Kentucky, weighed heavily in his ruling."Mr. Turner was indeed the main shooter," he said.Brizzi
said the case was solved "old-school," without DNA evidence, and that
there was no physical evidence linking Turner to the crime scene
because he and co-defendant James Stewart had been careful. Stewart has
pleaded not guilty to murder charges and his trial is set for Nov. 30.Westerfeld
also tried to discredit the prosecution's main witness, Brandon
Griffith, who had testified that he had seen Turner force his way into
Valdez's home with an assault rifle minutes before the slayings."I don't believe we begin to understand Brandon Griffith's ability to lie," Westerfeld told Altice.During
closing arguments, the prosecution put about eight items on an evidence
table. Westerfeld started his summation by putting two large boxes
containing evidence introduced during the trial, including the clothes
Turner wore the night of the slayings.He pushed both boxes down the table, crowding out the few items the prosecution had used."They didn't bring the mountain of evidence ... because the mountain of evidence moves to the defense side," he said.Prosecutors
Jennifer Haley and Janna Skelton vividly described how many bullets
struck each victim, noting that in some cases the shots blew off parts
of the victims' skulls. Several relatives of the family were in tears.In
his final summation, Brizzi, who faces disciplinary action over
previous comments on the case, called Turner a "monster" and said, "The
crimes he committed are unimaginable."