photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Dalton Vale Turner

A Lawrence man entered a no contest plea on Wednesday in a case in which he was charged with shooting his mother and stepfather while he was drunk and high.

The man, Dalton Vale Turner, 21, was charged in Douglas County District Court with two felony counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The charges relate to an incident on Feb. 1, 2023, in the 500 block of North 900 Road, which is south of Clinton Lake in rural Douglas County, when Turner is alleged to have fired multiple rounds at a 47-year-old man, his stepfather, before the man grabbed Turner and wrestled him to the ground.

While the two were wrestling, Turner’s brother, Chandlor Saber Matney, 25, of Lawrence, grabbed the stepfather in a chokehold, and while the three men were wrestling, both the stepfather and Turner’s 45-year-old mother were shot. His mother was coming down the stairs into the basement to stop the fight and was struck in the foot. The stepfather was shot in the leg during the scuffle. Both were taken to a Topeka hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, as the Journal-World previously reported.

Matney had also been charged in the incident with one misdemeanor count of assault and one misdemeanor count of domestic battery but was granted immunity after his attorney, Robert O’Connor, of Lawrence, successfully argued that Matney acted in defense of Turner.

On Wednesday, Turner pleaded no contest to the aggravated assault charge, and the state dismissed the two battery charges. Hearings for Turner had previously been delayed after he attempted to waive his right to a preliminary hearing in June of 2023 but Judge Sally Pokorny suspected Turner was under the influence while in court and ordered a drug screen, which tested positive for cocaine, opioids and marijuana.

Pokorny said on Wednesday that the plea agreement negotiated by Turner’s attorney, Tyler Garretson, of Olathe, and the state, represented by Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal, recommended the standard sentence for Turner’s aggravated assault conviction and that it was a presumptive probation sentence since Dalton has a minimal criminal history, unless any “special rules” applied.

Kansas law requires that if a defendant is convicted of a person felony where the court finds a firearm was used, then that defendant is required to serve the sentence in prison. The Kansas Sentencing Commission refers to the rule as Special Rule 1. If the finding is made, the sentencing judge could still grant the person probation so long as the court also finds that an appropriate treatment program exists that is likely to be more effective than the presumptive prison term in reducing the risk of offender recidivism.

Pokorny then asked Leal whether the state was pursuing a factual finding whether a gun was used during the incident. Leal said that the state was not asking the court to make such a finding. Pokorny advised Turner that as a felon he would still be barred from owning a firearm for the rest of his life in accordance with federal law.

Pokorny then scheduled Turner to be sentenced on Feb. 23. Turner was convicted earlier this month in Johnson County for felony fleeing from law enforcement in connection with an incident in May of 2023. He was sentenced to five months in prison, which was suspended to one year of probation, according to court records.