OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A judge has found sufficient evidence for a man to stand trial in a 2013 shooting death in Omaha.
Bernard “B.J.” Turner Jr. was bound over for trial Monday on a charge of first-degree murder in the October 2013 death of 19-year-old Julius Vaughn, a fellow gang member.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the case stalled until a witness came forward last year and told police that he had driven Turner from the shooting scene. The witness said Turner ditched the gun in a storm sewer. When detectives opened a manhole in that spot, 6½ years after the killing, they found a rusty handgun that is consistent with the type of firearm that was used to kill Vaughn.
Turner was arrested on a warrant in November and extradited from the custody of officials in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Turner had been accused of killing 22-year-old Jarrell Haynes in March 2016, but that case was dismissed when a main witness declined to testify against Turner. Another homicide case in Aurora, Colorado, against Turner also fell apart because of witness trouble.
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