A Houma man was convicted after a three-day trial. He and the victim quarreled over the same woman. It ended in gunfire.
Donald Ross was found guilty of Second-degree Murder on February 14 after jurors deliberated for three hours and 40 minutes. Jarrod Turner died September 6, 2020, after Ross exited a borrowed Chevy Tahoe at the intersection of Goode and Commerce Street with an FNM assault rifle, firing 10 shots. One bullet struck Turner in the head, killing him. Ross later turned himself in.
“He came there looking for a gunfight,” Prosecutor Amanda Mustin said. “Like it’s 1865 and we live in the wild, wild, west.”
Jurors were shown video footage that captured the moment Ross opened fire. The video showed Turner arrive in a silver car at a park near his home and pace on Commerce Street for several minutes before Ross arrived. Ross arrived, exited the vehicle, placed the assault rifle’s stock against his shoulder, and approached the back of the Tahoe.
He moved forward past the vehicle’s tail with the rifle still readied and quickly moved back behind the Tahoe in a movement both sides characterized as a “flinch.” Defense attorney Harry Daniels said this flinch was because Turner fired at him before Ross returned fire.
There were arguments from both sides claiming self-defense, and the prosecution discussed the accuracy of a 9mm from 67 yards – the distance the two men stood at – compared to that of a high-powered rifle. Daniels said this was a distraction.
“We all know that’s baloney. He shot the gun. We all know Donald Ross was in danger,” Daniels said. He said anyone hearing a gunshot gets scared, “Our butts get a little tighter ‘cuz we afraid we might get shot.”
Ten .726 spent shell casings were found on the scene, which firearm experts identified as coming from a single gun. Turner’s body was found with a still-smoldering cigarette and a .9mm Taurus in his hand. No 9mm casings were found at the crime scene.
Mustin argued that even had Turner fired his pistol, he was justified because Ross aimed the rifle at him. The FNM assault rifle was never found.
“Even if we assume he did… he had a right to self-defense as the defendant was the aggressor,” Mustin said. “If the gun in his hand made the defendant fear his safety, he could have stayed in his truck and left.”
According to both sides, the two men were in on-again-off-again relationships with the same woman, Kendra Fitch.
According to Fitch, Turner had confronted her at Ross’s apartment the morning of the shooting. Turner took her keys, Fitch said, and went to her car, taking something from the driver-side door pocket. She said all of her car’s tires were slashed, which Turner had done in the past out of jealousy. Turner and Ross did not exchange words, she said.
Daniels read from police records of reports Fitch made against Turner for domestic violence. According to Daniels, Turner took Ross’s pistol from Fitch’s car when he departed, and Turner drove to the scene to retrieve it.
This article originally appeared on The Courier: Love triangle ends in murder, verdict delivered Valentine’s Day
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