O.C. man gets 17 years for threats to kill ex-wife, judge
Tami Abdollah in Orange County
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/oc-man-sentenced-to-17-years-for-threatening-to-kill-exwife-attorney-police-officers.html
August 27, 2009
A 45-year-old Orange County man was sentenced Thursday to a maximum 17 years in prison for possessing homemade explosive devices with the intent to kill his former wife, her divorce attorney, the family court judge and Huntington Beach Police Department officers.
Ronald Gary Turner of Costa Mesa was on probation in a separate domestic violence case against his ex-wife that resulted in three restraining orders when he stalked her and her divorce attorney, and threatened to kill the woman by shooting her in the face, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Israel Claustro.
Turner also threatened to shoot the judge presiding over the divorce case, and threatened to commit suicide by creating a standoff with police and using the situation to detonate remote pipe bombs with timers.
Turner was found guilty of 15 felony counts, including stalking, possession of a destructive device with intent to injure, possession of a homemade deadly weapon and possession of a loaded firearm in public.
Defense attorney Omar Abukurah filed a notice of appeal in court. He could not be reached for comment.
The couple, married for 14 years, divorced in 2007, Claustro said. Turner’s estranged wife kicked him out of the house and eventually gained custody of their sons, 11 and 13. Turner’s child support payments also “went up, and his visitation rights were taken from him,” Claustro said.
On April 4, 2008, Turner was placed on probation after pleading guilty to four misdemeanor violations of a domestic violence restraining order. On July 1, 2008, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department received information from Huntington Beach and Newport Beach police that Turner may be in possession of bombs and weapons and had made potential threats to his estranged wife, her divorce attorney, a Huntington Beach police detective and the presiding judge.
The next day he did not appear at the court-ordered batterer’s treatment program and a bench warrant was issued. Later that day, authorities pulled Turner’s car over in a traffic stop on the Garden Grove Freeway and recovered handcuffs, pepper spray, throwing knives and a stolen 9-millimeter firearm with its serial numbers removed.
During a subsequent search of his Costa Mesa home, they found three homemade bombs with two timers, two homemade guns, bomb-making materials, tactical equipment, a bulletproof vest and listening devices.
Expert witnesses from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad testified in the two-week jury trial that the homemade devices were “the most sophisticated destructive devices ever found in California,” Claustro said.
Turner, who worked as a cable network installer, “did a lot of homework and research,” Claustro said.
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