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thedrifter
06-26-08, 07:54 AM
Judge's ruling advances former Navy SEAL trainee's appeal

By Dionne Walker
ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:21 a.m. June 25, 2008

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A confession by a former Navy SEAL trainee convicted of killing a Georgia college student is credible, a judge ruled Wednesday, bolstering an effort to exonerate the trainee's co-defendant.

Dustin Turner and fellow trainee Billy Joe Brown were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the 1995 murder of Jennifer Evans, an Emory University student. But Brown testified last month that he had become a Christian while in prison and decided to admit that he alone committed the murder.

Circuit Judge Frederick Lowe said a state appeals court should consider whether Brown's recent confession would have changed the outcome of Turner's trial.

“This court decides that Mr. Brown's candid testimony is credible. Mr. Brown testified falsely at his own trial,” the judge said.

Outside the courthouse, Turner's relatives embraced and cried.

“We've never given up hope,” said Turner's mother, Linda Summitt.

Evans, a premedical student, was vacationing when she disappeared from a Virginia Beach bar.

Police linked the crime to Turner and Brown, SEAL “swim buddies” nearing the end of their training for the Navy's elite commando corps at nearby Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.

Both initially denied any knowledge of the slaying and later blamed each other.

Brown testified last month that he choked Evans but initially blamed Turner because he was angry that Turner had cooperated with police.

Prosecutors argued that Brown's revised testimony was not credible.

Ellie