photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Dalton Vale Turner

A 22-year-old Lawrence man who shot and injured his parents last year is now facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Shawnee County.

Dalton Vale Turner was arrested Tuesday morning on a warrant during a traffic stop by Lawrence police. The warrant was out of Shawnee County, where prosecutors late last week charged Turner with involuntary manslaughter while under the influence and also with driving under the influence with a child present. Those charges relate to an incident on April 4, 2022, about which details were not immediately available.

The driving incident occurred about a year earlier than the Feb. 1, 2023, shooting incident, in which Turner, while drinking heavily and using drugs, shot and injured his mother and stepfather during a family altercation, as the Journal-World reported.

Turner pleaded no contest to aggravated assault in that case, and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office dropped two felony counts of aggravated battery as part of the deal.

The DA’s Office also declined to ask the court to make a factual finding that a gun was used in the shootings. That decision freed Turner from the requirement of a Kansas law that generally requires that a defendant convicted of a person felony where the court finds a firearm was used be required to serve prison time.

Douglas County Judge Sally Pokorny gave Turner two years in prison but suspended it to two years of probation.

Turner was also convicted in January of this year 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.