Driver Accused of Fatal Crash Wants to Withdraw Guilty Plea
The driver who pleaded guilty to causing a high-speed crash that killed five people on Valentine’s Day 2018 in Long Island has not only refused to leave his prison cell for sentencing Tuesday but asked the judge to withdraw his guilty plea.
Judge Fernando Camacho rejected the motion and told Jamel Turner’s lawyer, Scott Gross, that if Turner does not come to court Tuesday afternoon, he will be sentenced to life in prison.
Turner’s plea deal calls for a 27-year prison term for the reputed gang member who killed five people in Ridge while driving high on Feb. 14, 2018.
Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini called Turner a “despicable individual” and said he doesn’t care if he is sentenced to life or 27 years in prison.
Gross refused to comment on the latest development.
The 25-year-old, of Bellport, pleaded guilty in March to five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, one count of driving while ability impaired by drugs and one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree.
Prosecutors say Turner was driving a stolen Chevrolet Camaro east at 154 mph on Route 25 in Ridge around 11:20 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2018 when he crashed into a Mazda that was going the same direction.
The impact forced the Mazda into another eastbound car. Turner also hit an oil truck that was traveling west, prosecutors said.
All of the Mazda passengers — Jacquelyn McCoy, 55, her daughter Mary Alice Booker, 36, her son Anthony McCoy, 33, and his girlfriend Tameka Foster, 42 — were pronounced dead at the scene, according to prosecutors.
Turner’s passenger Lonidell Skinner, 19, died after he was ejected from the Camaro. Turner’s dog also died in the crash.
Video from the scene showed firefighters hosing down the smoking, charred wreckage of a car as police investigated on a road littered with auto parts and debris.
Prosecutors say Turner was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash and had crack cocaine on him.
Photo Credit: News 4 NY
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