A 30-year-old man convicted of murdering Vernell "Tanko" Marshall outside of the former Ernie's Cafe in New London in 2007 will get his 60-year sentence reduced by half as the result of an appeals court decision.

Kurtis Turner will be sentenced June 27 to up to 30 years in prison.

His family members were in Superior Court on Friday as he admitted for the first time that he is guilty of murdering Marshall.

He had pleaded not guilty and taken his case to trial in 2009. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Turner lost a direct appeal of his conviction, then sought relief through a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which is a civil proceeding that is sometimes referred to as an appeal of last resort. The case was tried before Judge Samuel Sferrazza in 2016 and the conviction was upheld. Turner's attorneys were able to take the case to the Appellate Court, arguing that Sferrazza had not applied the correct legal standard in his decision.

The Appellate Court ordered a new trial for Turner after determining he was deprived of his rights at his trial when the prosecution "failed to correct" a witness's false testimony that she did not expect consideration from the state in exchange for testifying against Turner. The woman, Alice Phillips, had an informal agreement with the state that the prosecutor in her own criminal charges pending in a lower court would be notified that she had cooperated. Phillips testified that Turner made a statement prior to the shooting that someone was going to die within 48 hours.

Prosecutor Stephen M. Carney said in court Friday that Turner should get a benefit of the appeals court decision that the state had done something wrong, though Carney noted he doesn't agree that it has. Carney said the state did not consider Turner the mastermind of the events that led to Marshall's death, and that during pretrial negotiations, Turner had been offered plea deals involving sentences that were substantially less than the 60 years Turner received at trial.

Carney said Turner, who was 19 when the crime occurred, seems like a different person now. While some of Marshall's family members are not happy with the new sentence, Carney said he thinks it's fair and appropriate.

At the June 27 sentencing, defense attorneys Damon Kirschbaum and Vishal K. Garg will have the right to argue to Judge Hillary B. Strackbein to impose less than the agreed-on sentence of 30 years.

The key piece of evidence at Turner's trial was a videotape the New London police seized from Ernie's Cafe, a Bank Street bar, following the shooting. The video showed Turner and his accomplices walking in and out of the bar several times. The last time Turner walked out, he was seen taking something from his waistband before Marshall fell to the ground.

Ernie's has since closed.

k.florin@theday.com