Man sentenced to life for murder

Dearl W. Jackson will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted in the murder of 77-year-old Zelpha Turner, who had hired him to repair the roof of her garage shortly before she was beaten and strangled.

Jackson, 49, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Boone County jury on Aug. 25. The murder occurred May 1 or May 2, 2005.

During the sentencing hearing, Kevin O’Brien, Jackson’s attorney, filed a motion for either acquittal or a new trial. He told Boone County Presiding Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton that after the trial, he was contacted by a Canadian woman who claimed to have had conversations with Turner in Internet chat rooms in which Turner said she was afraid of her granddaughter, Holli McKenzie.

During the trial, the defense’s theory was that McKenzie was the real killer and that she had framed Jackson for the murder.

After Jackson’s sentencing, members of Turner family shared hugs and tears in the hallway outside the courtroom. McKenzie said she is offended by the defense’s continuing accusation that she was responsible for her grandmother’s death.

“I wish they would let me live my life,” she said. O’Brien declined to comment after the hearing. Dan Knight, assistant prosecuting attorney for Boone County, said he was relieved at the outcome and doubted whether the chat-room conversations accusing McKenzie of assaulting and stealing from her grandmother had ever taken place.

After the trial, Turner’s son, Stan Turner, said nothing could make his mother’s death any less painful.

“There’s no justice in a crime like this,” he said after the hearing.