On the evening of December 6, 1982, a 33-year-old woman went down to the laundry room of her apartment building in Dallas, Texas, to take clothes out of the washing machine and put them in the dryer. A man followed her. He turned off the light, slapped her, and raped her. He then fled.
The woman called police and was taken to the hospital, where a rape kit was collected. She said the man was Black and wore a baseball cap.
Three months later, in March 1983, the woman was at her job as a collection agent for a furniture company when she saw 21-year-old Keith Turner, a truck driver for the furniture company. She called the police. Turner had been working for the company, but only recently had he been transferred to the woman’s division.
The police created a photographic lineup and included a photograph of Turner, who had a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated. The woman identified Turner as her attacker. He was arrested on April 13, 1983, and charged with rape.
In September 1983, Turner went to trial in Dallas County District Court. The woman, who was Hispanic, identified him as her attacker. She said she recognized him based on his physical appearance and the sound of his voice.
A forensic analyst testified that Turner could not be excluded from the blood markers found in the rape kit.
A Dallas police officer testified that Turner tried to hide when officers went to his mother’s house to arrest him.The prosecution contended this was evidence of his consciousness of guilt.
Turner testified and denied committing the crime. He said he had never been to the woman’s apartment complex. He told the jury that on the night of the crime, he was with a cousin and a friend miles away in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, watching Monday Night Football. He said he hid from the police because he didn’t want to get arrested for a crime he did not commit. His friend and his cousin also testified and corroborated Turner’s alibi.
On September 9, 1983, the jury convicted Turner of rape. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Turner was released on parole in 1989 and required to register as a sex offender.
In 2001, Turner was watching an interview on television of a man who had been exonerated of a rape after DNA testing had excluded him as the rapist.
He began writing letters seeking DNA testing. “Sir, I am not a rapist or a sex offender,” Turner wrote on June 28, 2001, to Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill. “I am very not guilty of this crime.”
In August 2001, he wrote to Jane Roden, the Dallas County Public Defender. “I don’t have much money, but I give whatever I got just please help please,” he wrote.
On October 29, 2001, Turner wrote to District Judge Cliff Stricklin, who had taken over the courtroom where Turner had been convicted. “I’m going to fight till (sic) my last breath, sir. I have never hurt a person in my life,” Turner declared.
After seeing Turner’s letters, Judge Stricklin spoke to Turner in person. He then appointed John Hagler, a Dallas criminal defense attorney, to handle the filing of a motion for DNA testing. The prosecution did not oppose the motion.
The evidence was submitted for DNA testing. In May 2004, the tests excluded Turner as the source of the DNA in the rape kit.
On December 22, 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned Turner and Entre Nax Karage, who had been exonerated in 2005 of murder. “I believe that a full pardon for innocence must be supported by strong evidence, such as forensic DNA tests. In both of these cases [referring to Turner and Karage], new DNA evidence proves that these men are innocent. The recommendations of the district attorney, judges, the Dallas County Sheriff, the Dallas Chief of Police and the Board of Pardons and Paroles also were very important factors in my decision.”
Turner was later awarded $81,000 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of $3,500.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-31-2026
