COURTS

TURNER ON TRIAL FOR 2007 MURDER OF VERNELL MARSHALL

A jury viewed crime scene photos and videotape taken from inside a New London bar Monday as the trial of Kurtis Turner got underway in New London Superior Court.

Turner, 20, of New Haven, is accused of fatally shooting 23-year-old Vernell "Tanko" Marshall in the face as he stood on the sidewalk outside Ernie's Café on June 21, 2007.

Prosecutors Stephen M. Carney and John P. Gravalec-Pannone spent the morning setting the scene for the jury, with testimony from first-responders to the shooting and a nurse who treated Marshall at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital before he was pronounced dead.

Police say Marshall was involved in a "beef" with Turner's associate, Curtis "Shawn" McGill, and that Turner, McGill and Jonathan Fuller waited for him at the bar that night. Bar owner Glenna Hodges was on the witness stand for several hours Monday, narrating the videotape surveillance footage that was taken that night from several angles. The state says one recording shows Marshall falling to the ground after Turner walked out the door of the bar.

Marshall's mother and brother were in the courtroom as the trial began. His mother left after the prosecutors displayed a photograph of Marshall with blood gushing from an exit wound in the back of his head. She returned later in the day.

Turner, who has been incarcerated on a $2 million bond since he was arrested in January 2008, sat at the defense table with his attorney, Raul Davila. He had changed from his prison scrubs into a pair of slacks and a red button down shirt.

McGill, who had been charged with conspiring to murder Marshall, was acquitted by a Norwich jury in October 2008.

- Karen Florin