‘I pray he burns in the flames of hell.’ Tarrant County defendant is sentenced to death

A man convicted of capital murder in the killing of a Tarrant County convenience store owner during a 2020 robbery was sentenced on Wednesday to the death penalty.

The jury in the 432nd District Court determined that Christopher Turner, whom the panel found guilty of shooting 62-year-old Anwar Ali dead in the bathroom of his store, should die by lethal injection.

“He killed my father!” Ali’s son, Hussein, said while addressing the defendant after Judge Ruben Gonzalez sentenced him to the death penalty. Ali apologized for raising his voice in the courtroom.

Nine sheriff’s office deputies were in the well of the courtroom as Turner responded, “I didn’t do it.”

Of Turner, Hussein Ali said, “I pray he burns in the flames of hell.”

As Assistant District Attorney Allenna Bangs ended the state’s closing argument that recounted Turner’s lifetime of criminal misbehavior and forecast a future of violence, Turner, 48, began to write on paper at the defense table and drew the attention of three deputies who positioned themselves directly beside and behind the defendant.

“She lied,” Turner said of Bangs’ argument as the jury just before 10:30 a.m. filed out of the courtroom to begin its deliberation.

Judge Gonzalez erupted.

“Get in the back!” he commanded to Turner.

The jury considered two special issues. In the first, the panel was asked whether the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that there is a probability that Turner will commit criminal acts of violence in the future. In the second question, the jury considered whether there were mitigating circumstances in the offense or Turner’s background that would warrant a life sentence.

The state described Ali’s killing as a senseless execution of a grandfather whom Turner put on his knees before firing a bullet into his neck.

Turner fled the crime scene in Ali’s Toyota minivan after stealing money from the victim’s wallet and cash register, the district attorney’s office said. He also took more than $50,000 in cash he found in a bag in the van.

Deputy U.S. Marshals found Turner in possession of the murder weapon when they arrested him in Colorado.

“He knows what he deserves,” prosecutor Charles Boulware said in his segment of the closing.

The defense attorneys argued that mitigating elements exist in Turner’s experience of sexual abuse as a child and parental neglect that they said do not excuse his criminal act but offer a reason not to kill him.

Jurors returned with their verdict about 1:30 p.m.

Before testimony in the case began, Turner attempted to contact and threaten jurors, a sheriff’s office investigation found. The names and telephone numbers of jury members were found in his jail cell, and Turner asked another inmate to tell the jurors that gang members were coming to kill them, according to the investigation’s findings.

The case was one of two Tarrant County capital murder death penalty trials being held at the same time at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth .

Jury returns guilty verdict in Jason Thornburg trial

One floor above the deliberating Turner jury and after eight days of witness testimony, another jury heard closing arguments and deliberated Wednesday afternoon in the guilt-innocence phase of the capital murder trial for accused cannibal and serial killer Jason Thornburg.

Over five days in September 2021, Thornburg cut the throats of two people and strangled another, chopped up their bodies and put them in garbage bags under his Euless motel room bed. Thornburg drove the dismembered bodies to a dumpster in Fort Worth, where he set them on fire.

Defense attorneys argued that Thornburg was insane at the time of the killings and that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors argued that Thornburg was motivated by sadism and evil in the killing of victims David Lueras, 42; Maricruz Mathis, 33; and Lauren Phillips, 34.

The jury returned about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with a guilty verdict on the charge of capital murder. The trial will enter its punishment phase on Thursday. Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty.

Psychologists who testified for the defense and the state offered differing opinions on Thornburg’s sanity. The defendant told the expert witnesses that he believed God was directing him to “sacrifice” the victims and eat their flesh.

Jurors will weigh the evidence to decide whether Thornburg should face death or life in prison without parole.

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