Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #72 - Bowen Turner Release Day: How a Prosecutor Helped The Thrice Accused Rapist Avoid Accountability

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Thrice accused rapist Bowen Turner is getting out of prison on Halloween, and in this episode, journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell warn the women of South Carolina while explaining who is responsible for the systemic failure that led to Turner’s swift release.  Did Assistant Solicitor Kevin Hope fail when he agreed to the plea sentence for Turner’s resisting arrest charge? Did Bowen change? How is Bowen Turner getting out of prison?  This wildly important episode focuses on the Bowen Turner case, highlighting a series of alleged failures within the South Carolina justice system that allowed a man accused of multiple rapes to be released from prison AGAIN. We also explore similar instances of alleged bias in the justice system, specifically towards men from privileged backgrounds, and compare Turner’s treatment to other, often less privileged, individuals involved in confrontations with law enforcement. We also critique the use of the Youthful Offender Act (YOA) in Turner’s case, questioning its applicability given the seriousness of the charges and the apparent lack of rehabilitation effort on Turner’s part…. The team also sheds light on the most recent news on Myrtle Beach pastor JP Miller and Solid Rock church in their rebranding efforts after Mica Francis' death.  Episode Resources 'Brock Turner released from jail' - CNN 'What happened to US low-cost carrier AirTran Airways?' - Simple Flying  Youthful Offenders Act Code of Law Dash Cam: Thrice Accused Rapist Bowen Turner Arrested AGAIN After DUI Crash True Sunlight 67 Episode GoFundMe for Christa Bauer Gilley Women's Healthcare in Texas Hilton Head Man Sentenced to 10 Years For Stealing Purse Man Sentenced in Lexington County For Burglary Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Join Luna Shark Premium today at Lunashark.Supercast.com. Premium Members also get access to searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. What We're Buying... Hungry Root - https://hungryroot.com/mandy to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.. Hungry Root is the easiest way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. Task Rabbit - Use promo code "mandy" at https://www.taskrabbit.com/ for 15% off your task. Task Rabbit connects you with skilled Taskers to help with cleaning, moving, furniture assembly, home repairs, and more. Peloton - onepeloton.com Find your push. Find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.com. Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn And a special thank you to our other amazing sponsors: Microdose.com, PELOTON, and VUORI. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email [e-mail] and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Your group photos are likely missing someone important. You! With AdMe on the new Google Pixel 9 Pro, never rely on a stranger again. Add yourself to any group photo through the magic of AI. Get yours with TELUS at TELUS.com slash Pixel 9 Pro. in one year. I hope this is the last episode where we expose those who helped this man get freedom.

I hope that he is a changed man who will not hurt another person. But I urge everyone to stay vigilant. My name is Mandy Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders Podcast. True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production written

with journalist Liz Farrell. Hello and Happy Halloween! Today I want to talk about something far scarier than witches who, by the way, were mostly women and some men who were just outcast by society. But today I want to talk about our skewed justice system in South Carolina that is allowing thrice accused rapist Bowen Turner to be released from prison as we speak on this Halloween. The Bowen Turner case will be our primary focus today because his release, in our opinion, is a matter of public safety and somehow we have managed to find more disturbing information on this never-ending case

that shows us once again it is worse than we thought it was and there are more names to blame for this. Before we start real quick I want to let you all know that we are still digging into every angle we can find in the Christa Gilley case, and once again, we are asking for any sources close to the case to contact info at lunasharkmedia.com. In the last episode, we told you about the 10 systemic failures that led us to this point where we feel like we have to warn the public about a man who has not been held accountable, who is being released from prison for the second time in a year. I told you all last episode there were probably more failures that we didn't count,

but those were the big ones. And I want to say this, we pride ourselves at True Sunlight on being factual and transparent and I want to admit that I, myself, made an error in my list last week. On number 7, I said that the system failed when they did not charge Bowen with threatening an officer during the 2022 incident. Which, by the way, happened just weeks after Bowen Turner was given a sweetheart deal of a lifetime by getting sentenced to probation for the alleged violent rapes he was charged with in 2019. Turns out Bowen was charged with that offense and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for that charge. A quick search through South Carolina counties on the public index for that same charge shows a wide variety of sentences from a couple days to a whole year behind bars.

Meaning this charge is highly subjective and up to the judge. And the judge is going to take the prosecutor's lead. Remember that in a minute when we talk about the hearing that went down in September. It's confusing because the 10 months wasn't necessarily serving time for just that 2022 incident where he threatened an officer. It was because he was given a special deal that his state senator attorney Brad Huddo

got him called a useful offender's act sentence. And there are lines that are even murkier when it comes to typical sentences, max sentences, et cetera, et cetera. Seriously, we have asked a handful of attorneys about why away sentences, and it has always been difficult to get a clear answer. That is a part of the problem.

The justice system is always going to have gray areas, but some things should be black and white, like minimum and maximum sentences for charges. And that isn't always the case. This confusion makes it far more difficult for people like us to develop a baseline of what is normal and what isn't in the justice system. That said, Bowen still got off easy with that charge. And I say that based

on my experience of being a reporter in South Carolina for eight years now. The fact is that twice now, Bowen has aggressively interacted with police while being arrested. Twice. And I just want to remind y'all that for so many people, many of them persons of color, displaying slightly aggressive and defiant behavior with police officers is often deadly at worst and life-changing at best. Might I remind y'all of just a few cases in South Carolina alone in the past decade? In 2015 in North Charleston, a black man named Walter Scott was shot five times by police officer Michael Slager

after he fled from a routine traffic stop. Also in 2015, a North Charleston, South Carolina man who also happened to be black was charged with littering, assault and battery and resisting arrest. And he was jailed for 32 days for get this. He threw litter at an officer's unmarked police car. According to the lawsuit that the man filed after his charges were dropped, this man didn't have a record yet. He spent 32 days in jail

after this merely hostile encounter with a police officer. According to his lawsuit, the 32 days he spent in jail derailed his entire life. He was forced to drop out of his college classes. He was also tased and injured in the incident for literally littering. Oh, and oftentimes during these incidents,

it takes a video going viral to prove that the police lied about the incident before anything is done about it. That was the case with Walter Scott. Another case to tell you all about real quickly, just so you can see a little bit more of why I'm a bitter Betty when it comes to how wildly different these police encounters can be compared to what happened with Bowen. I'm not saying this because I think that Bowen should have been hurt in either of these encounters.

I'm saying that he should be incredibly grateful that he wasn't. And I'm saying that his behavior has repeatedly shown us that light sentences only encourage Bowen's bad behavior. So another incident, in 2021, a Rock Hill man and his brother, Travis Price, who was also black, were stopped by police at a gas station and video showed Travis obeying the police officers

during the stop when suddenly he was tackled and choked by a police officer and he was charged with assault. Rockhill police even went to the extent of issuing a press release about their false narrative of the situation, saying that Travis refused to comply with orders by bumping the police officer several times. Multiple videos captured the situation and showed that Travis did nothing wrong. Yet again, it took public outcry, protest, and pressure from social media before the police department dropped the charges.

It's stories like these that I have written about so many times over the years that have stuck with me. And it's those people I'm thinking about when I'm screaming that the system is not fair. These types of stories are everywhere but South Carolina is what I know best. The scales of justice tend to tilt in the wrong ways in our state. Too light for those who deserve harsh punishment and too harsh for those who do not deserve it. Last week, a listener commented on my Instagram post about Bowen saying that she doesn't believe that the 10 egregious moves by the state

made on Bowen's behalf were systemic failures. She said the way she sees it, it's the system working exactly as it's designed, tilting in the favor of a good old boy with connections. Every gear of the system that has turned in the past five years has shifted in Bowen Turner's favor somehow. Is that because he is a good old boy

from a white privileged family? Or is it because his most serious charges were rape and the system just doesn't care about that? Or is the system just doesn't care about that? Or is the system just simply broken because it wasn't meant to protect women in the first place? Hold on to that thought for a minute. Before we get into Bowen, there are a few quick things we need to talk about. First, like Mandy said, we are continuing our look into the death of Krista Bauer Gilley, which happened earlier this month in Houston Heights, Texas.

One of our biggest questions right now is where is Lee Gilley, her husband, the guy accused of killing her and her unborn child? Lee is charged with capital murder and he's out on bond and under arrest, but doesn't seem to have a house to go to. Because the court ordered him not to go within 200 feet of the house he shared with Krista or his children's daycare even. Where is he? Seems like a guy with a 10pm to 6am curfew should have an address on file with his state so they can, I don't know, check and see if he's where he's supposed to be. And that address should be easily accessible by

the public. The public should be able to know that Lee Gilley, who is accused of killing his own wife and child, is supposed to be during that curfew. It's literally a matter of public safety. Beth Brayden is trying to track down that info and we will keep you updated. We also want to clear up something that a lot of you have smartly asked us about over the past week. And that question is, why does Lee Gillie face only one count of capital murder when Christa was nine weeks pregnant at the time of her death? That should be two counts, right? As you all know, abortion is illegal at any stage of pregnancy in Texas.

A woman cannot choose to end her pregnancy even that early on. So why would a man accused of killing a pregnant woman, especially one who wanted to be pregnant, not have a charge that accounts for that? Especially when a woman in Texas and even her doctors can face charges in the death of a fetus. The answer is actually contained in the charge itself. Like we said, Lee Gilley was charged with capital murder and not just murder, murder. This is a charge that includes a much more severe sentencing guideline. There's a choice

of two things. If Lee is found guilty in this case, on this charge, he will be sentenced to life, unless the state decides to try it as a death penalty case. And Lee's charge isn't just capital murder. There's a parenthetical to it. His charge is capital murder, parentheses, multi-murder. Capital murder is a charge given to those suspected of killing two or more people in a single act. It's also a charge that you might see in a case

where someone in law enforcement or a firefighter is the victim of homicide, where a child under 10 years old was the victim, where a murder occurs while the defendant was committing another felony, where the killing was done by a hitman or where a prisoner or inmate kills a fellow prisoner or someone who works in the prison or jail. Anyway, that is why we're not seeing a separate charge for the death of Christa's unborn child. It's part of the very serious and appropriate charge against Lee Gillie. So again, thank you to everyone who has been reaching out to us over the past week. If anyone, lawyers, friends, family members want to talk to us off the record about important

context in this case, please feel free to reach out to us through email, like Mandy said, info at lunasharkmedia.com. Now let's talk about the Micah Francis case and some developments that we've learned about this past week. So did anyone listen to our Cup of Justice episode with Eric Bland two weeks ago when we talked about the Diddy case? You might remember us talking about Diddy's rebranding. Every time there was trouble, Diddy would change his stage name from Sean Puffy Combs to Puff Daddy to P Diddy to now it's just Diddy would change his stage name from Sean Puffy Combs to Puff Daddy to P Diddy to now it's just Diddy and whatever versions in between I might have missed. Let's call that the bad past rebrand, an attempt to shed the past and pretend like it didn't happen.

Remember the Brock Turner case in California? Brock was caught sexually assaulting Chanel Miller who was not conscious at the time and two graduate students had to pull Brock off of her and yet he basically got away with it. So what is the solution there? Well, rebrand. Brock goes by his middle name now. Have you ever heard of ValueJet? 30 years ago, one of its planes crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing everyone on board, more than 100 people. The solution to getting people to continue buying ValueJet tickets? Rebrand. They changed their name to AirTran. Now remember J.P. Miller's church? Solid Rock at Market Common. The one that was, in

a way, and in our opinion, a rebrand of the church his father could no longer lead because he was arrested in 2006 for soliciting men in a Myrtle Beach bathhouse. J.P. started Solid Rock that same year that his dad was arrested. Then came the scandal of 2015 when JP's affair with Micah, who was his congregant, and 15 years younger than him and someone he had known since she was 15, became public. And JP, according to court filings from his ex-wife, allegedly admitted to having inappropriate sexual interactions with teenage girls at the church. The church membership plummeted after that affair was made public, but then GP built it back up and he married Micah in late 2017 and they continued to build up the church

membership. But then Micah's body was found and the whole world became introduced to the fidgety, squirrely, erratically emotional Myrtle Beach pastor who let his congregation know of his wife's death in the most unsettling of ways. So unsettling that JP was thrust into the spotlight because church members, who had witnessed JP's increasingly bizarre references to Micah and her mental health and his mental health and their marriage over the years, were worried that there might have been more to this story with Micah's death, which as you all know, they were right. There was a lot more to the story, including accusations that JP abused Micah through coercive control

and according to Micah's legal team, even occasional physical abuse for their entire relationship. JP of course strongly denies that he abused Micah in any way and he has never been charged with abusing her. That said, his life and his relationship with Micah have been on full display since Micah's death in April and there's a lot not to like there. Needless to say, Micah's death in April, and there's a lot not to like there. Needless to say, Micah's death had a negative impact on Solid Rock and its membership. Not only does it appear that their regular Sunday attendance has dropped dramatically, there's been a steady stream of protesters outside the church to remind the JP loyalists that though Micah's death was determined to be a suicide and JP was cleared of any involvement by law

enforcement, there's still a huge problem here because the months leading up to Mika's death were horrible for her, according to police records. Again, JP denies this and pretty much paints himself out to be a perfect husband who was simply trying to help his sick wife. But there's a stack of evidence that destroys that narrative, including those police reports in which Micah accused him of stalking and harassing her. So, the good pastor had a dilemma. How can he be the pastor he wants to be without a sizable congregation? The name Solid Rock was now synonymous with Micah's death and what her life

looked like leading up to it. JP could have opted to not be a pastor anymore. He could have taken stock on his life and realized that maybe this isn't the right field for him given the accusations against him. He could have taken stock of his own family history, including his father's criminal record and the accusations that were once made against him by male church members who said he made sexual advances on them. JP could have considered that maybe, just maybe, people don't want to hear from him anymore on matters of morality.

He could have changed careers is what I'm saying, but no. Because rebrand! According to records from the South Carolina Secretary of State's office, JP Miller has registered a new church. It's called Living Water Church at Market Common. Which fine. You do you JP. But can we talk about the name for a second?

Water? Really? Water? Because here's the thing. We totally get that living water is a biblical reference, but not only was Micah's body found in water, the body of Chris Skinner was also found in water in fall 2021. Chris Skinner was the quadriplegic husband of Susie Skinner, who was a member of the church who JP's ex-wife accused him of having a long-time affair with while he was married to Micah. Also, worth noting,

according to sources, Micah was also aware of this and it was in part what drove her to initially file for divorce from JP. In the words of Alison Williams, JP's first wife, in a court document from earlier this year, quote, it is chilling to know that the spouses of both Susie and JP are now dead from tragic events. But living water it is. It's yet another bizarre decision by JP Miller. So what happened to Solid Rock, right? Unclear. The name of the church has apparently been removed from the building and JP updated his articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State's office to change the address of Solid Rock from the home he shared with Micah to the church's actual physical address, according to paperwork on Living Water. If the church dissolves, it will go to an entity called St. Delight

Pentecostal Church. This is apparently the church where Charles Randall is the pastor and it's in Little River. Charles Randall is who JP seems to turn to in his times of trouble. The big question we have here though, really the only question at this point is why is it so important to JP to have a church? Is it a true calling? Maybe. Maybe JP doesn't know what else to do when his life has only been this, but the one thing we can say is a church by another name with the same pastor is the same church in our opinion. Remember, according to Micah and JP's first wife, JP was the church and the church was JP. What's that they say? Wherever you go, there you are. So we have a lot more to talk about, including about Mozel's new owner

and Meteor reports that he allegedly found evidence that Prieu's Alec is, quote, innocent. The owner reached out to Lunashark to say that the reports were not accurate, but we're still waiting to hear back from him on what parts those were. Tune into Cup of Justice next week because I am sure we will be talking about it. And we'll be right back. Delicious, plain ol' ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goltenders? No. But chicken tenders? Yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Your group photos are likely missing someone important. You.

With AdMe on the new Google Pixel 9 Pro, never rely on a stranger again. Add yourself to any group photo through the magic of AI. Get yours with TELUS at TELUS.com slash Pixel 9 Pro. So now, we have got to talk about Bowen's 10-minute hearing in September on his only outstanding charge from the DUI incident in March that sent him back to prison for the second time in two years for, get this, violating his parole that he got by hiring a state senator

attorney to defend his 2018 and 2019 rape charges. The hearing was held on September 25th and even though it was fairly routine there were moments that were concerning given everything we know about Bowen Turner at this point and his ability to get another easy break for himself. We told you all last week that we foy it for this transcript and oh my gosh, it was another annoying bungle. At first, the official answering the South Carolina court reporter emails told us that the transcript did not exist.

And then, they told us that Bowen didn't show up at all for the hearing. And then, like magic, they found the transcript and sent it to us. It's important that we talk about this hearing because it is the reason why the Stoller family and the Best family will be bracing themselves today. This hearing is what cleared the way for Bowen to be released on Halloween. We wanted you to know exactly how the system let him off easy again. So Judge David P. Karaker, which I misspelled and mispronounced last time, so let's make sure y'all know it.

It's C-A-R-A-K-E-R. Carraker is a newly elected judge, typically in Horry and Georgetown counties. He presided over Bowen-Turner's hearing in Florence County in September. At the hearing, Assistant Solicitor Kevin Hope told Judge Carraker that he and Bowen, through his attorney Aaron Bailey, had negotiated a sentence, quote, "'Concurrent to what he is currently serving with SEDC.'" And we have to laugh at the word negotiate, because here it seems more like Bowen's attorney told the state what they were willing to do,

and the state was like, huh, good enough. Let's get this case off our plate, which fine, we know that's how it goes sometimes. Everyone is trying to move things along as efficiently as possible, but the only reason we are talking about Bowen Turner in the first place is that he thought that he could buy his way out of being accused of rape three times and he wasn't wrong about that. Anyway, this sentencing was for his resisting arrest charge from his DUI in March of this year. That's the one related from this ride from hell to the jail

with State Patrol Officer, Sierra Calamaris. Ma'am, I am a white boy, okay? Can I please speak to you? Ma'am, you can stop five minutes before the jail. Can I please speak to you? Ma'am, it is important that I speak to you. Ma'am, I cannot go there, okay? I feel unsafe. Can I please speak to you? Ma'am, I will tell you whatever you want to know. You want to... Ma'am, I cannot go there, ma'am. Ma'am, I will tell you whatever you want to know. Ma'am, I cannot go there, ma'am.

Ma'am, I cannot go here. Ma'am, I can't go here, ma'am. Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am. Ma'am, I feel unsafe, ma'am. Ma'am, I can't go here, ma'am. And that, unfortunately, was one of the tamest parts of the ride. And for what it's worth, Bowen sat up front with Officer Calamaris because her patrol car lacked a cage to protect her from the rusties being in the backseat.

Which we still take issue with. By the way, Bowen also called Officer Calamaris a homophobic slur more than once during that ride and he called her a bitch. He also called her ma'am 216 times. 216 times! Just over and over as he tried to wrestle his way out of the handcuffs and he threw a tantrum in the front seat about wanting her to drive him to his grandma's house instead of jail. Now after we aired the full video and audio of Bowen's ride to jail, we had so many comments from people talking about how well Officer Calamaris handled herself during that

ride, but also how she deserved all the spa days in the world for having to deal with something like that. Which is why our ears perked up when the prosecutor at Bowen's hearing said he had discussed this plea deal, the one that wouldn't result in more prison time for Bowen, with Officer Calamaris, who happened to be out of the country and couldn't be there to tell the judge what Bowen did that day. She couldn't be there, the prosecutor said, quote, but she would go along with the negotiation, which is interesting because what are the odds that Bowen's hearing would be scheduled at a time when this particular officer was abroad? Sorry, have to ask. Let's not forget we're in this mess with Bowen all because the judge who approved the sweetheart plea deal in Chloe

Bess' rape case in 2022 was one who had not been assigned to that courthouse in over a decade. Suddenly, that judge was there and prosecutor David Miller and Bowen's attorney, State Senator Brad Hutto, were using their good ol' boy magic wands to turn the bond revocation hearing into a plea deal that allowed Bowen to moonwalk his way out of the situation without even having to register as a sex offender, unless he messed up, which he did, almost right away. Anyway, at the beginning of the hearing, prosecutor Hope told the court about how long Bowen has been in prison. I want to have David read this part of the transcript because it's a perfect example of how confusing

the justice system is for everybody. Mr. Hope, I understand that as of today's date, he's served, he's actually been in custody for over 200 days. It may be calculated differently by SCDC, but to us, it's all the same. Had he gotten a year sentence, this would effectively be a time-served sentence. The court, how many days did he do before he went to SCDC? Ms. Bailey. 88.

The court. 88 days. This seems small, but it's actually a huge and recurring problem with our justice system. No one ever seems to be on the same page in South Carolina about how much time a person has served in prison or will serve in prison or even what the sentence is.

Remember the whole issue with Corey Fleming in his state sentence? The media couldn't get it right because the court in the AG's office couldn't even get it straight. Why is SEDC calculating days in a way that is apparently wildly different from how the rest of us count days. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and I'm tired of our justice system making things that should be simple complicated. I shouldn't have to call a lawyer to figure out what SCDC math is and why it's different. More importantly, victims should know how long a person who committed a crime against

them will be behind bars. But no, we get sentencing sheets that are handwritten, with scratchouts and shorthand on it, and then gets put in the public index completely and inconsistently because instead of there being one way to articulate a sentence, it is left up to an individual who inputs it into writing however they seemingly want to. Which means we and the public and oftentimes the victims are left guessing. By the way, the judge who signed off on this deal, Judge Carraker, he knows firsthand about how messy the sentence processing is.

According to a report from Fox 8 and Myrtle Beach on September 8th, a man convicted of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, first degree assault and battery, and second degree burglary was mistakenly released from jail because of an error made by Judge Carracre himself. The man had been sentenced to three years in jail, suspended to two years in jail, and five years probation. Gee, how could that ever get messed up? It's three, but actually two, and then five? But the five starts after or before the two or the three.

Does three even mean three or 85% of three? Because oh yes, there's more math. And what about time served? I'm telling you, this is normal. This is how they operate. It is like the men who created these systems were allergic to being straightforward and consistent. Because straightforward and consistent means the good old boys would have no way of talking

themselves out of whatever they get into. Anyway, that guy's sentence got written down wrong on the sentencing sheet. Again, shocker. And everyone, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the clerk of court, and most importantly, the judge, signed off on this guy getting two years suspended and then three years probation. Meaning, have a nice day. The guy got released.

Luckily, they discovered the error and he was booked back into jail the next day. Like I said, this isn't just a Bowen-Turner problem, but it is a problem that contributes to a system that the Bowens of the world can take advantage of if they can afford the right attorney. Okay, back to the hearing. So the judge explained to Turner how he had the right to a jury trial, and the judge asked

Turner if he understood what he was pleading to. He said yes. And then, right after the judge was like, you get that, you have pled guilty that you're giving up your rights that I told you about, right? Bowen's attorney asked for a brief bench conference, which was off the record. So who knows what was said there. But we do know that right after that, when they went back on the record, Bowen's attorney clarified on the record

about something that was apparently discussed off the record. Remember what David read earlier about Bowen having spent 88 days in jail? That was referring to how long Bowen remained in jail after his DUI arrest earlier this year, and before he was taken to SEDC for breaking the terms of his bond again. Turns out Bowen only spent 18 days in Florence County Jail.

Not 88. Not at all 200. 18. I mean yeah, it is great that his attorney was honest about it and maybe it would have been caught no matter what, but it's kind of a big deal when the court is trying to decide whether the time he has spent in jail before having to go back in prison was enough for what he did when officers were trying to arrest him last March. Judge Karriker then asked Bowen Turner if he was satisfied with his attorney's

services. He said yes. Then here is where this hearing took a sharp turn, right off the rails of justice. Prosecutor Hope was asked to explain the facts of the case. Here is David reading what he said. Mr. Hope, thank you, your honor. This incident occurred on March 9th of 2024. It stemmed from a DUI arrest that was the result of a single-unit collision on Papermill Road

shortly after 4 p.m. that afternoon. Mr. Turner had been transported to a hospital after being the driver involved in the collision, and a trooper with the highway patrol made contact with him at the hospital. And based on what she saw, heard, and smelled from him, she advised him that he was under arrest for DUI. Mr. Turner disagreed, and he was told that he would not be free to leave. Mr. Turner advised he would not be going to jail that day. It was a bit of a stalemate during that hospital room.

Security with the hospital was advised that they may have some difficulty with Mr. Turner. He was, for a time, verbally abusive, so they were prepared to take him into custody with force if necessary. Mr. Turner attempted to exit the room through a locked door. He was unable to do that, and multiple, with security, including the trooper, had to use force to get his hands behind his back when they told him he was under arrest. He was no longer going to be treated by the hospital. He was leaving with law enforcement and did not do so willingly. That's the basis for the charge.

Oh, so Mr. Turner advised he would not be going to jail that day, did he? Bit of a stalemate, you say? The prosecutor made it sound like Bowen was a diplomat from the colonies sent to 18th century England to have a chat with King George. Language matters. Mr. Turner advised? It's more like Mr. Turner threw a fit at the hospital and had to be restrained because he's a big guy and he could have hurt someone from trying to leave the room and escape arrest. And can we talk about that last sentence of the prosecutor's rundown there? That's the basis for the charge? I mean, okay, sure, the resisting arrest part took place in the

hospital but surely it was worth mentioning Bowen's behavior in the police car, no? Surely it's relevant and important for the judge to understand that this wasn't Bowen being like, my fellow countrymen, I have considered your generous offer of driving me to jail and do regret to inform you that I will be unable to attend my incarceration. Please do give my best to the office. Uh, no, no. Here's what actually happened. So, the police got a report of an overturned vehicle around 440 on March 9th, which was a Saturday. Bowen had been towing a four-wheeler and had gotten himself into a crash by himself. A witness said he saw Bowen swerving and then the truck flipping over multiple times. Bowen was taken to the hospital by ambulance and police noted

that they saw multiple beer cans and many bottles of fireball at the site of the crash, as well as in Bowen's truck. They saw evidence that Bowen wasn't wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash because the seatbelt was flush against the column, a sign of not having been engaged during the crash. So at the hospital, Officer Calamaris asked Bowen if he was in a crash, and he told her, no. The nurse knocked him out though, so that was good. When the officer asked Bowen why he said he wasn't in a crash, he was like, I don't know why I said that. He refused to give his name to the officer and said he wanted a lawyer, even though he wasn't even under arrest at that point. Finally, he did give his name. He told her his name was Bo Turner, and he gave his date of birth and said he didn't

remember what happened. The officer could smell the booze coming off of him and he was slurring when he talked to her, so she asked him to do a field sobriety test. As part of the test, she told him to say the alphabet, but only the letters E through T. Bowen instead gave her the whole alphabet, A to Z. So, Officer Calamaris asked him to do it again. Give me the letters E through T. And Bowen was like, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, all the way to Z again. And then he failed the counting test. So Officer Calamaris placed him under arrest and read him as Miranda writes. Here's David with what she wrote about that.

Remember, this is the part that was characterized by the prosecutor as Mr. Turner disagreed. When I told him he was under arrest, he responded with, you cannot arrest me and I'm not going to jail. I asked a nurse if she could get security to come back to the room because of the statement made by Mr. Turner.

He took off his neck collar and began trying to leave while screaming, using profane language while suspected to be under the influence and being disorderly. Again, the prosecutor's further rendition of this was, quote, Mr. Turner advised he was not going to jail that day, end quote. Here is David from Moore with that police report. I did not attempt to handcuff Mr. Turner at this time due to

the possibility of injury he had not been cleared from yet. He stated he had to urinate and I closed the curtain to give him privacy. When I opened the curtain a few moments later Mr. Turner was attempting to unlock a door to leave the hospital room he was in. So Bowen pretended he had to use the bathroom so he could try and escape from the room. Was that the bit of stalemate part? Or was it this? Here is David again with what happened

after Bowen was cleared medically, according to the report. I told Mr. Turner he was under arrest a second time and advised him to turn around and put his hands behind his back and he refused to. I asked him a second time and he said no. Myself and a McCloud security officer grabbed Mr. Turner by his arms and instructed him to bring his hands to the small of his back in which he continued to tighten up and resist. He was then overpowered and placed into handcuffs by me and the officer.

Again, here is how this was characterized by the prosecutor to the judge. Quote, security with the hospital was advised that they may have some difficulty with Mr. Turner. He was, for a time, verbally abusive, so they were prepared to take him into custody with force if necessary. Prepared to take him into custody with force? If necessary? Um, sir, it appeared to be necessary, and they did do that. Here is David again with what the prosecutor, the guy working for the people, claimed went down during the bit

of a stalemate. Mr. Hope, we then carried Mr. Turner to my patrol car to transport him to the Florence County Detention Center. While en route to the detention center, he called me slurs and continuously stated he was being arrested for no reason, as well as assumed I had a personal vendetta against him. Classic, good old boy. It is not that he got caught breaking the law, it's that this woman law enforcement officer must want to hurt him. We're both so curious about whether Bowen would have said this same thing to a male officer. Would he say, you're doing this to get back at me or hurt me? That

feels like a very specific manipulation based on this idea of a woman scorned, which fits with some of the things Bowen said during the ride about what he perceived to be Officer Calamaris perceived sexuality. And why does sexuality matter at all? Why would it factor into this at all? Because Bowen clearly viewed her as not a law enforcement officer with authority, but as a female who exists to serve him. And when she doesn't, it is because she is vicious

and has a vendetta. Also, quote, bit of a stalemate, does that part include carrying this 200 pound man out of the hospital? Is that the bit of part or is that the stalemate? Here is David again with what officer Calamares own words of what happened in her report. Due to his behavior at the hospital and random bursts of anger while in my patrol car, I requested deputies meet me at the jail to

de-escalate the situation as quickly as possible. Wait. The report from the person who was there says that he was so unruly that she had to call for backup at the jail. Where was that part in the prosecutor's rendition? Here is David again reading from the report. When I arrived, he was taken into the breathalyzer analysis room at the county jail where Mr. Turner continued

uttering profanity, as well as sizing up the other officers, vocalizing if he wasn't in handcuffs, things would be different. Again, I quote, bit of a stalemate. Bit of a stalemate. Bit of a stalemate. And here Bowen is making threats to police officers. Here is David reading from the report, again from the person who was actually there.

I attempted to loosen Mr. Turner's handcuffs after many complaints and immediately pulled his hand back and stated he hasn't been arrested so he doesn't have to give it back. The detention officer assisted me with grabbing his hand back and placing the handcuff back on his wrists. Mr. Turner was told to remain seated and had to be placed back in the chair numerous times when instructed. Like a child. Officer Calamaris then administered a breathalyzer test to Bowen and he imitated blowing into the machine, according to the report. So she tried to get him to do it again and finally had to mark him down as refusing it.

Then, and this is maybe the most telling part of all of this, she took Bowen into booking and Bowen had to be placed in a safety restraint chair for his safety and the safety of others according to the report. So let's do some math here. Bowen resisted arrest at the hospital. Bowen resisted arrest in the police vehicle. Backup had to be called to get Bowen into the jail safely because he was resisting arrest there too. Then he resisted arrest inside the jail and wouldn't give his hand back after Officer Calamaris loosened the handcuff at his request. Then he was obstinate at the breathalyzer station. Then he had to be put into some sort of, I don't know, Hannibal Lecter chair so he

couldn't hurt anyone. And the prosecutor told the judge almost none of that. Instead what we got could have been the very simplistic plot of a puppet show for kids. It's time for you to go to jail, Mr. Turner. Well, I declined to do that. Oh no, now we must charge you. Now why would the prosecutor have downplayed all of this? Simple. He had struck a deal with Bowen's attorney for time served. He wanted the judge to use the 18 days Bowen was waiting to be transferred to prison for his probation violations to count here. Anyway, let's go back to the scene at the hospital. Hmm. I feel like I've heard about something like this before. Privileged son of the good old boys crashes the thing he was driving because he was drunk

and he was driving too fast for conditions and it's yet another thing he's done that's left a trail of destruction. It's yet another thing he's done to put other people at risk and then he's at the hospital. Yes, I see it very clearly. And an arrest is imminent, but he doesn't want to go, so he acts like a fool. Oh right, that's Paul Murdock. Paul even got tied to his bed. At some point, after making sexual comments to a member of the hospital staff, Paul was

released and he evaded arrest because his daddy and granddaddy were there to intimidate the staff and law enforcement. And actually, Bowen's case further highlights just how messed up it was that Paul escaped arrest that night, really. Another similarity with Paul. Bowen's March 20, 24 crash wasn't his first. According to his driving record, he had two prior reportable accidents, one in March 2018 and one in May 2018, just a few months later. Weird, right? And we'll be right back. This podcast is brought to you by Humber River Health Foundation. From the discovery of insulin in 1921 to the promise of universal health care in 1966,

Canadians have always made health care our mission. Now we face our biggest challenge yet, a cure for health care. Reduced wait times, safer patients, advancements in technology, the end of hallway medicine. We're finding it all here at Humber River Health. Help us innovate to keep healthcare alive. Donate at healthcarelives.ca. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time.

When Miller Lite set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller time. Learn more at MillerLite.ca. Must be legal drinking age. Okay, let's go back to this September 25th hearing. After Assistant Solicitor Hope told the court the world's most downplayed version of Bowen Turner's actions on the day of March 9th, he then told the court the world's most downplayed

version of Bowen Turner's criminal history. Here's David reading Hope's words from the transcript. Mr. Hope, his criminal history consists of, from this incident, a DUI, open container, and public disorderly conduct. And before that, assault and battery, first degree, from 2019, and a public disorderly conduct from 2022. So, remember how fired up we were in April 2022 when Bowen was allowed to plead guilty to first degree assault and battery instead of sexual

assault in the pop-up pletial hearing that was arranged with the defendant-friendly judge who happened to be in town that week. It wasn't only egregious back then, and by the way, Bowen proved us right by screwing up almost right away showing he was not worthy of that deal. It continues to be egregious today because when busy judges look at Bowen's record and hear that record presented to them, they do not get to hear the part about what that assault and battery charge used to be. And they don't get to hear the part about how this guy, basically, in our opinion, bought his way into that deal with a lawyer-legislator who held one of the metaphorical leashes that seems to be around the prosecutor's neck, the same prosecutor who desperately wanted to be a judge in South Carolina and almost got there this past year

if it weren't for the peskiness on the part of the victims and Carl Stoller, attorney Sarah Ford, and all of you listening. But on top of all this, the whitewashing of his actions and his record, the prosecutor failed to mention the one thing that actually seems to bother Bowen, that he had to register as a sex offender. And he had to register as a sex offender because he couldn't be chill and fly under the radar for a few months, nevermind a few years.

No, no, weeks after his sweetheart plea deal, Bowen was charged with public disorderly conduct as the prosecutor noted, but that wasn't it. He was also charged with minor and possession of alcohol and threatening the life of a public employee. Meaning, this resisting arrest charge wasn't the only time Bowen had a bit of a stalemate with law enforcement officers. His first stalemate was this. In May 2022, just mere weeks after the steal, a deputy encountered Bowen walking in the road and stopped him. The deputy smelled alcohol coming off of Bowen, according to the report.

So the deputy asked Bowen where he was coming from. And according to the report, Bowen kept changing his answers. He said the bar, he said the gas station, he said the woods. The deputy was then like, do you know where you are now? And Bowen was all, yeah, I'm on the riverbank. But he wasn't. He was on a road. After Bowen was arrested, according to the report, Bowen waived his Miranda rights and told the deputy that he'd had three drinks and bought them on his credit card and admitted he was not 21 years old. Here's David again with that report from 2022. Upon arrival at the detention center, the offender,

B. Turner, was advised he must wear a mask. The policy at the detention center is to wear a mask due to COVID protocols. When this deputy advised him of this, he stated, and I quote, if you try to put that mask on me, I will bite your effing finger off. Expletive paraphrased. Reports from a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation back then said that Bowen used a fake ID at a bar.

And before leaving the bar, he tried to get a female employee to give him a ride home, which she refused. That same source also said that Bowen allegedly called a female employee at the detention center a bitch. Anyway, after that bit of a stalemate situation, a few weeks after having Brad Huddo make his sexual assault charge go away,

Bowen had to go to prison for violating the terms of his probation, and he had to register as a sex offender. Did Prosecutor Hope mention any of that in this hearing? Of course not. Did Prosecutor Hope mention that Bowen's current stint behind bars was the second time that he had violated probation? Nope. Did he mention that they had to file a motion with the court twice after Bowen's May 2022 arrest to get him to pay his fines? Nope. What about the 60

ankle monitor violations? He mentioned that, right? Nope. Okay, fine. But did he at least mention that just two weeks before this hearing, the Court of Appeals heard Chloe Bess' attorneys in this case argue that constitutional rights were violated when Bowen's plea deal went down

and that that decision is still up in the air? No, he didn't mention any of that. Remember in episode 67 when we spoke to Chloe Bess? In that interview, she told us how much the plea deal in itself bothered her. Not only because she went into that hearing in 2022, thinking that it was for her accused rapist ankle monitor

violations, but because she didn't get to speak to the court in a way that was meaningful before the judge decided to let Bowen off easy. And also because the plea in itself was a lie to Chloe. And it's just like the whole just in of itself, the plea deal, you know? Like he was charged with sexual misconduct in the first degree, I believe, which is a felony. And then you get it down to assault and battery. And my mom has always kind of said this example, like, it's not like he took my purse and threw

me to the ground. You know what I'm saying? Like, exactly. And you know, that's not what happened. And so, you know, I just remember when that happened. It made me feel so invalidated and I honestly just felt so disgusting in a sense because it was just something I couldn't even wrap my head around because I don't understand how somebody could get charged with something that is just almost the complete opposite of what they did actually, you know? It just, it doesn't make sense to me.

And she's right. It doesn't make sense. Because now and forevermore, when Bowen goes before a judge to explain his criminal record, he doesn't have to say sexual assault. He doesn't have to say rape. He has to say assault. An assault conviction does not set off predator light bulbs in the way that a rape charged does. And yet again, in this September hearing,

Bowen was legally allowed to minimize what happened to Chloe for his own benefit. The judge then asked Turner if that is what happened and he said, yeah. Then he said he had 10 days to appeal any decision that was made today. Bowen said, okay. Then Bowen Turner's attorney, Aaron Bailey,

went before the court to tell Bowen's side of what happened, which I know the court wants to hear from the defendant on this. I know Bowen has the right to address the court and explain himself to the judge, but after the extreme downplaying of his behavior from the prosecutor, it felt like Bowen should have been like, nope, I'm good, nothing to add here, instead of giving the court the opportunity to suss out the real Bowen Turner. But no, no, he pressed his luck. Here is what his attorney, Aaron Bailey, said on his behalf.

From Miss Bailey, thank you, your honor. Bowen is 21 years old. He has been in the Department of Corrections at the Y.O.A. camp since March. He was arrested on this incident. Eighteen days later, his Y.O.A. parole was revoked based on the conduct of this incident. So there will not be an additional revocation happening based on this plea." And there it is. But first, Y.O.A. Camp, Youthful Offender Act Camp, is that what we're calling prison now? Was Bowen in there making macrame plan holders for his meemaw and singing songs

by a campfire? We get that this is what Turbbeville, his prison home, is referred to, but it's laughable, honestly, and it allows Bowen to further minimize the situation. Anyway, kudos to his attorney for mentioning his probation revocation, right? And violating the terms of his parole from the first time he got in trouble for his stalemating. But not really. Not even one kudo goes to her for that because what she appears to be doing here is making sure the court is aware that the deal, the deal, includes not further revoking Bowen's probation, which means that was on the table and the prosecution did not insist on it. And see, that's the thing. Whenever we pick on the attorneys or the system, we hear back

things like, oh my God, relax, it was a misdemeanor charge. Everyone who gets hit with that charge gets off pretty easy. You want the kid to be in prison for the rest of his life? No. I mean, that's up to Bowen. But what we want, what we think should have happened is that after immediately violating the terms in May 2020, again, his rape plea deal was a month earlier, he should have had to serve the full time of his suspended sentence, all of it. But he can't do that because of the law and we'll explain that in a bit. Instead, Bowen was out by November 2023 after serving just 16 months of that five-year sentence. And then he was

back in again four months later for even more terrible behavior to law enforcement. And here we are, yet again, he's being released again before serving the full five years. But this time is different, y'all. His attorney swears he's changed. Here's David again with what attorney Aaron Bailey said. In his time there, he has taken it very seriously, taken advantage of many programs. He's completed the ATU program, the alcohol and addiction treatment program that they have there. And in my conversations with Mr. Turner,

he has an insight into the root cause of these legal problems like I have never seen before. And part of that has to do with the fact that he's 21. And we all know that the prefrontal cortex in men closes about that time. Pardon me, my hearing. Bowen had insights like she's never seen before? Oh, honey, no. No. You've never heard about the prefrontal cortex and how it closes around the age of 21? Of course you haven't because that ain't it. First of all, she says he's 21, but at

the time of this hearing hearing he was actually 22. And I know that's nitpicky of me to point that out, and that he was 21 when he did this thing. But again, let's not further infantilize him. She mentioned his age because she wanted the court to know that Bowen, as it turns out, is the actual victim here. He is a victim of his own biology and a victim of his gender. So the prefrontal cortex is at the front of our brains and basically I'm not a scientist,

it's responsible for our socio-emotional behavior. It's about impulse control and making smart decisions using reason and logic. It's also known as maturity. When we are mature, we handle ourselves in ways that do not include pretending to have to use the bathroom so we can break out of a hospital room or threatening to bite people's fingers or saying ma'am 216 times on the way to jail because we are begging for favors.

The prefrontal cortex in males does develop more slowly than it does in males, but it doesn't close at 21. It doesn't close ever. It continues to change and develop, but it's considered fully developed in a male between the ages of 25 and 30. I understand that defense attorneys have a job to do, but wildly misunderstanding science and using that misunderstanding to convince a judge That your client who has a violent history is suddenly a changed person with a different brain

I don't get that Anyway, guys, uh, it gets worse Here's david reading what aaron bailey said in the hearing From miss bailey. He has finally grown up and taken his addiction very seriously. This was an alcohol-fueled incident. Obviously, the DUI and the resisting arrest were alcohol-related. He really understands and is able to articulate the way in which his mental health challenges interact with his alcohol abuse and, in fact, he consented to a shot that they offer at the Department of Corrections so that when he is

paroled and he has made parole, he will leave at the end of October. When he is paroled, he'll receive that shot so that he will not drink. And he intends to continue to get that shot. He intends to continue the mental health treatment and stay on medicines that he is on to help treat his mental health difficulty. Great! Totally agree here. Bowen does seem to have a problem with alcohol. And there are so many defendants out there where we would be like, yes, please, get this man help because he can't get out of this cycle.

Because he can't get out of this cycle of petty theft. But this isn't petty stuff we are talking about here. Besides that, okay, okay, he gets a shot on his way out of the door of jail today. Excellent. If it is the naltrexone injection, something also used to help opioid addicts, it means that if Bowen drinks in the next month or so, he will not feel the effects of alcohol. Cool.

But what happens after that? He wasn't mandated to continue taking the shot after the first month. It's basically like taking a wheatgrass shot after the gym one time and saying, I'm healthy now, all done. It is a false sense of security for the people in the community who might be worried about his release again. If, like Bowen's lawyer is saying, he is a victim of his brain not being old enough and it is okay to extend his probation revocation sentence because of this charge because he's going to take the alcohol shot on the way out the door then his own

attorney is basically admitting that releasing him could be a problem. His brain is 22 years old. The prefrontal cortex has years to go before this magical closure that she speaks of, because that is not the right way to characterize that. So the explanation for his past crimes is something that is still an issue for him, right? And if we need to neutralize him with a taxpayer-funded shot that lasts 30 days, then is he really ready to leave prison? Obviously, Attorney Bailey thinks so. Here is David with what she said. From Ms. Bailey, Given all of this work that he has done in the Department of Corrections, you know, a lot of people go up there and just sit out and do their time.

And I have thoroughly reviewed all of his records from the Department of Corrections, and he has not had a single disciplinary issue. He has taken all of his mental health treatment, his addiction treatment. Very seriously. He has even gone so far as to seek out mental health treatment while in prison. You know, they granted that parole.

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Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. So let's talk about this and what being sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act means for Bowman. First, if solicitor David Miller had stuck with a sexual assault charge, then it appears that Bowman wouldn't have qualified for this soft landing. More than that, it's not supposed to apply to violent charges, which what is assault and battery first degree, if not an act of violence?

Bowen could have gotten a maximum of six years under the Y.O.A., but he didn't. Instead, he got five years suspended, which is essentially probation. He was given whatever is less than the bare minimum, in other words. But get this, you can sentence someone up to six years under the Y.O.A., but that person cannot spend more than four years behind bars consecutively. So I know the Y.O.A. is supposed to provide a second chance for people under the age of 25, and I totally support that, but that math does seem very messy to me. When Bowen was initially incarcerated

under the YOA in 2022, he was denied parole twice because he was not participating in enough programming, according to his records. So programming is important. Taking part in programs apparently helps you get out the door faster. It's yet another opportunity that Bowen appears to have stepped on.

But those two things go hand in hand, right? Programs equals I might get out sooner. Again, no kudos there. It's great that Bowen took part in mental health and addiction programs. Love that for him. I think it's fair to say that all of that was warranted and I really hope it helped him. But let's not make it out to be some noble act. All it says to us is that, as Karl Stoller has pointed out numerous times, Bowen has become institutionalized. He now knows how to work the system in a more specific way. He's learned from his previous stint what to

do. Here's David again reading what defense attorney Aaron Bailey said in the hearing. From Ms. Bailey, we have this very strange circumstance in this case where he has never posted bond on this resisting arrest. But when I ran the sentence by general counsel at the Department of Corrections, she indicated to me that despite the fact that he has never posted a bond on this, the Department of Corrections would only give him 18 days credit for time served because he's been doing a Y.O.A. for the bulk of this time. So, oops, right?

When Bowen was arrested in March, it was all over the news, and we covered it extensively, obviously, meaning sunlight was shining in Bowen's direction to make sure that there were not games being played. All eyes were on him and the system, which appears to have been unsettling for them. So, when he was arrested, Attorney Sarah Ford and Dallas Stallers' dad Carl went to Florence County to make sure the judge was aware that Bowen had once again broken the terms of his probation and parole. Why did they have to do that? Well, first, because DUIs are pretty rote arrests. They're common, and there's a fairly quick turnaround. You get arrested, you go in front of a judge, and unless you killed

someone, you typically get a bond. The process then begins where you either accept your fate, which could include hefty fines and a loss of driving privileges, or you fight it and your attorney tries to get the charge dropped or reduced to reckless driving. So Sarah and Carl had to get there while Bowen was still in custody before he was released on Bond. At least, that's what had to happen in our opinion. Because if Bowen were let out on Bond, the question would then become just how motivated is the Department of Corrections in going after Bowen at that point? How long would that have taken for them to get around to doing it? And there was also a question of who would be going after Bowen at that point.

Would it be the Department of Corrections? Would it be the jail where he was at that time? Would it be the prosecutor in Florence County who was handling the new arrests? Would it be David Miller, the prosecutor who originally handled the case? It was very unclear. Now I'm not sure what Bowen's attorney meant by saying there was no bond because according to our reporting from the time, the judge did give him four separate bonds totaling more than $2,500.

That's no longer reflected in the public index though. Now assuming Bowen would have been able to pay that means he would have been released. But the Department of Corrections had put out a warrant for his arrest in the meantime for the violation of parole. And that's because Sarah and Carl were working behind the scenes to make sure that happened. And there was a problem with the warrant. So Florence County Jail held Bowen until that could be figured out. And what I mean by all of this is that Bowen didn't stay in jail as punishment for his DUI and the other three charges, including the resisting arrest charge. No, he was there while he waited for the state of South Carolina

to come get their boy. In the meantime, he had a plea hearing for his DUI charge 17 days later. He pleaded guilty to that and everything except the resisting rust charge and he received 17 days of time served as his sentence. Why wasn't the resisting rust charge included back then? We don't know. But it's a safe assumption that maybe it was the bigger problem for him, right? Something that might require a more severe sentence than 17 days time served. Now again, his attorney kept referring to 18,

that he had served 18 days already and should get time served for those 18 days. But no, it was actually 17, not 88, not 200, not 210, not 18, but 17. Here's David with what Aaron Bailey said next. From Miss Bailey. So, Your Honor, I'm going to ask that you consider giving him a sentence of 18 days time served, understanding that he has been incarcerated for 210 days as of today.

And Your Honor, I would just ask that you consider the time served sentence. Okay, so reminder, those 210 days have nothing to do with this set of charges. That's for his parole violation. Beyond that, she's wrong. As of September 25th, the day of the hearing, Bowen had served 187 days in SEDC. And today, when he's released, that would have been day 217.

But also, where is she getting 18? We're not sure, but it looks like she's counting the day that it took between Bowen's plea hearing in March and when he got booked into Y.O.A. prison, AKA bad boy camp. Anyway, here is David with what the judge ruled. From the court. All right. Thank you, sir.

2024 GS-21-01794, resisting arrest. I will follow the negotiated sentence, and I will accede to the advice of your counsel. Given the fact that you served over 200 days already, and this was the root cause of the revocation, I'm going to sentence you to 18 days in the County Detention Center and give you credit for the 18 days that you have served from the defendant. Yes sir, from the court. Thank you sir. Good luck to you.

Okay, so the DUI and the accompanying charges were what caused Bowen to be returned to SEDC. Got that. He messed up again. Back to prison. Makes sense. But those days, again, 187 of them at that point, belong to another column. No. Those days get subtracted from his initial sentence of 5 years suspended. They are punishment for another horrible crime. You know how earlier I talked about cases where the justice system went hard on people who I don't think deserved it? Well, let's talk about sentences quickly. On Hilton Head in 2022, a black man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing a purse

out of a woman's car when no one was in it. This year in Lexington County, a white man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing from an attorney's storage facility when he wasn't there. In 2019, a black man in York County was sentenced to life in prison for possessing $150 worth of cocaine. It was his third felony offense in South Carolina, as the three strikes felony law. All that said, it would have been perfectly reasonable and frankly commendable if Judge Carracre added a year to Bowen's current sentence, that is, in prison, not in camp.

We have been following this case for more than two years now, and we are so tired of it playing out exactly how we thought it would. We are so tired of this case showing us again and again how the system works in the favor of the good old boys at the expense of everyone else. We are so tired of hearing attorneys telling us, well, that's just the way that it is. It is not the way that it should be. And Judge Carraker giving Bowen a one year sentence on top of the one that he is serving,

which would be the max for his charge, that would have given a lot of people a shred of hope. But instead, he chose to believe in Bowen. He chose to believe Bowen's attorney and her gross misinformation about brain development and addiction being solved with a pill. And prosecutor Kevin Hope chose to downplay what Bowen did, which made Judge Carraker's decision to believe that Bowen had already served his time even easier. And maybe Judge Carraker is right, maybe we're wrong, and Bowen is fully rehabilitated now

and he is really committed to plugging up the hole in his prefrontal cortex. We hope that that is the case. But the only tool anyone has to predict the future is looking at the past. And we've seen the past. It's not just that Bowen has stood accused of rape three times. Talk about root problems though. That is the heart of everything. It's that he has shown what little respect he has for the sweetheart deal.

He had gotten off scot-free and it didn't matter to him. He was going to do what he wanted regardless of what he stood to lose. And now he has the audacity to be appealing the ruling that required him to register as a sex offender. We will be keeping our eye on that and we'll let y'all know what the Court of Appeals decides. But what we're saying here is this, when a man is given the opportunity to serve no time and basically not be punished after being charged with rape twice, when he's told the only thing required of you is to obey the laws like everyone else,

and he turns around and disobeys the law, twice, it would seem to us that it would be in the public's best interest to have a prosecutor who makes the judge ultra aware of what is at stake here so that the judge considers the maximum sentence. What deterrent is there here? It's all a rerun at this point. We all know the ending. The deterrent is supposed to be the fear of getting sentenced to the maximum. And why would a monster be afraid of a consequence that doesn't exist. If Bowen Turner is not the guy for maximum sentence, then who is?

Once again, shame on every person who got us here, wondering who will be the next victim. If another life is lost, there will be blood on so many hands. And we will be here to expose them all. For Dallas. For Chloe. For her. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. Thank you. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky. The justice system can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. We all want a drink from the same cup of justice, and it starts with learning about our legal

system. My name is Mandi Matney, and together with journalist Liz Farrell and world-renowned attorney Eric Bland, we create the perfect trifecta of legal expertise, journalistic integrity and a fire lit to expose the truth wherever it leads. We all encounter a part of our justice systems at one point, so why not get prepared while being entertained with tales from the newsroom and the courtroom? Cup of Justice has amazing special guests like Cheryl Crow, Vinnie Politan, Emily D. Baker, and other experts to share their take on the bright side of the truth.

Lunashark Media invites you to gain knowledge, insight, and tools to hold your own or hold public agencies accountable. Search for Cup of Justice wherever you get your podcast or visit cupofjusticepod.com.