Ex-cop gets jail time
DJ
SCOTT DOLAN, Gazette Staff Writer February 27, 2003
NEW BEDFORD -- A fired Taunton police officer scheduled to stand trial in New
Bedford Superior Court on corruption and brutality charges stemming from a 2001
nightclub brawl reversed his plea to guilty at the last moment yesterday and
drew a 60-day jail sentence.
Bruce W. Turner, 45, waited until lawyers were preparing to select a jury for
the trial yesterday morning before indicating he would accept a plea offer
extended by Judge Robert J. Kane.
Turner had held out for a sentence with no jail time, while Bristol County
Assistant District Attorney Brian J. Dobie insisted that the 17-year police
veteran serve at least a year in state prison.
After extensive conferences with Dobie and defense attorney Bradford N.
Louison, Judge Kane offered Turner a one-year jail sentence, with 60-days to
serve in the Dukes County House of Correction on Martha’s Vineyard Island.
The remainder of the sentence under the judge’s recommendation was suspended
for a three year probation term.
"It’s time for me to get my life back in order," Turner said after changing
his plea. "It’s been a long year and a half. It’s been tough on everyone."
Turner’s attorney walked to his side in the courthouse hallway after the
hearing as Turner answered reporters’ questions.
"It’s time to put it behind him and his family, too," Louison said. "It was a
fair sentence under the circumstances."
Turner said he has been embarrassed and tried avoid the public since the case
gained publicity in late 2001.
"It’s been a year-and-a-half of headlines," Turner said. "I’ve been under a
rock."
Turner, dressed in a suit and tie, appeared mostly stoic throughout the court
proceeding. He only paused for a few seconds after the clerk-magistrate read
the first of the charges against him before saying, "guilty."
He pleaded guilty to each of the eight charges against him -- assault and
battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot), falsifying a
police report, committing a civil rights violation, two counts of witness
intimidation and two counts of uttering threats.
Judge Kane delayed execution on Turner’s sentence until March 25, when Turner
is next scheduled to appear in court to face a 48-count indictment for
unemployment insurance fraud. After being fired as a police officer, Turner
allegedly collected $16,000 in unemployment benefits from the state while
working for cash as a short-order cook in Easton.
The nightclub case stems from Oct. 7, 2001, when Turner was hired as a
uniformed detail officer by the former Jukebox, 174Broadway, Taunton, for a
charity fund-raiser to benefit the survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Turner allegedly allowed his underage sons, Seth and Ryan Turner, and their
friends into the club for free. When confronted by the charity promoter, Kyle
LeTellier, Turner claimed that his sons had paid the $10 cover charge.
The prosecutor said Turner’s sons and their friends "gang tackled" LeTellier
later in the evening as he left the club stage. Turner was nearby the fight and
at first made no attempt break it up and then kicked LeTellier while he was
pinned beneath the youths, Dobie said.
Turner later lied in his police report, saying he did not even see his sons at
the Jukebox that night, and threatened two witnesses through a third party,
saying they should "watch their backs."
LeTellier spoke in court of the physical and psychological pain he suffered
from the incident.
"I set out to do a good deed that night," LeTellier said of the charity
fund-raiser. "I hope that justice is done."
Dobie said both he and LeTellier would have liked to see Turner receiver a
stiffer sentence, but that he was pleased with the message the conviction
sends.
"We see the situation as he was a corrupt cop abusing his office," Dobie said.
"We respectfully disagree with the length of the sentence the judge imposed."
"We feel a period of incarceration is appropriate," Dobie said. "If it had gone
to trial, my (sentencing) recommendation would have been very substantial."
But Dobie said he told LeTellier to be satisfied "anytime you land a bad cop in
jail in a case like this."
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"The gravest abuse of power - and the gravest threats to personal liberty and
security - are those in which the very individuals to whom we look for the
preservation of law and order turn out to be the predators."
