A Kentucky family will spend this Christmas — and many more to come — inside the Department of Corrections.
The case involving the 2023 murder of 23-year-old Seth Burns was resolved, with four family members sentenced to prison and a fifth to probation. Amanda Turner, 40, the family matriarch, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison on Monday.
She joins her sons Jackie Turner (30 years in prison), who fired the fatal shot, and Xxavion Turner (three years), who instigated the incident, as well as her daughters Keavier Turner (18 months) and Lakera Hughes (five years probation) for rioting, in being convicted.
Amanda Turner pleaded guilty to facilitating murder, rioting, engaging in an unlawful transaction with a minor, and illegally allowing a minor to possess a firearm. Jackie Turner, who is now 18, was a minor when the shooting occurred.
“I feel like you and your family acted with complete disregard and malice for any human life,” the victim’s mother, Barbara Burns, said at Amanda Turner’s sentencing, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
She also had some strong words following the hearing.
“I’m not sure what kind of mother takes her children to shoot someone else’s child. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” she told reporters. “I think they all deserved at least 30 years for what they did.”
Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders told the Enquirer that the posts that sparked the conflict were “insults about children and parenting skills, or lack thereof.” The dispute was between Xxavion Turner, 21, and his ex-girlfriend, who was reportedly dating Burns at the time.
On August 25, 2023, Amanda Turner drove her two sons, who she knew were carrying guns, and two daughters to a home to fight Xxavion Turner’s ex-girlfriend and others.
Xxavion Turner sent his ex-girlfriend a picture of a Google map indicating that they were on their way and ready to fight. When they arrived, Xxavion Turner allegedly fired a shot into the air and at Burns. His younger brother had also shot Burns, which was thought to be the fatal wound.
Amanda Turner then drove her sons away from the scene to “avoid police detection,” according to the complaint. Witnesses rushed Burns to a nearby fire station, and he was airlifted to a hospital where he died.
Amanda Turner pleaded guilty in September, and Jackie Turner pleaded guilty to murder in July.
During a September hearing, she admitted driving her sons to what she described as a “girl fight,” according to the Enquirer. She also stated that she encouraged the fight in text messages.
Part of the incident was reportedly caught on a neighbor’s Ring camera, which showed the Turner family, along with Xxavion Turner’s current girlfriend, all streaming out of a vehicle and walking up to the home.
Burns’ family has stated that he had nothing to do with the confrontation.
“My son was literally an innocent victim in this,” his father, Michael Burns, told Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO. “He didn’t know this man or anyone else in the family. He happened to be in the car with his girlfriend when she received the call that they were on their way.
Kenton County Circuit Judge Kathleen Lape said the whole ordeal was senseless.
“It was dumb,” said Lape, WCPO reported. “This is absolutely dumb.”
