This is Bowen Turner of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Remember his face. He was accused of raping 3 different girls between 2018-2019.
Recently, he crashed his truck while intoxicated and verbally assaulted the officer who arrested him.
🧵Let's talk about the number of times the system has let this man get away.
First, let’s talk about the victims (that we know of).
Chloe Bess and Dallas Stoller both told a similar story of being violently raped in the woods while they were at a party.
They were both bullied horrifically in Orangeburg after they reported Bowen.
Sadly, Dallas took her own life in 2021.
Chloe moved out of the state.
The third victim remains anonymous.
Charges were filed in Dallas and Chloe’s cases. Bowen got out on house arrest.
Years passed and Bowen was caught violating the terms of his bond conditions 60+ times.
Most people would've been thrown in jail.
But not Bowen.
Bowen’s family paid for a defense attorney who happens to be a state senator named @BradHutto (who is up for re-election this year!)
Senator Hutto managed to turn the hearing for the Turner's bond violations into a PLEA DEAL HEARING for the rape cases.
He got judge Markley Dennis and prosecutor David Miller to agree to a sweetheart deal for Bowen where he was able to plea down to JUST ONE COUNT of assault and HE WAS GIVEN PROBATION under the Youthful Offenders Act.
How did Hutto do that?
Well, in SC defense attorneys can also be state lawmakers.
And that's a big problem because lawmakers decide who gets to become judges.
Unfair right?
The Bowen Turner case is a perfect example of this.
The prosecutor in Turner’s case is currently trying to become a judge and he needs Hutto’s voting power behind him.
In a surprise to literally no one, it didn’t take long after Bowen screwed up the sweetheart deal he was given.
He violated his parole in less than a month and was back in jail for public disorderly conduct and he reportedly threatened to bite a deputy during his arrest.
He was sentenced to 1 + year in prison for violating the youthful offenders act (YOA) and released in November 2023 — on the anniversary of Dallas Stoller's death.
Meanwhile, prosecutor Bill Weeks’ office STILL had not prosecuted Dallas’ rape case. They claimed to her family they couldn’t win because the victim was dead and refused to try no matter how many people begged them.
Weeks could have tried Dallas’ case without her. Instead he blamed her death for his miscarriage of justice in this case.
He is running for solicitor again this year, btw.
facebook.com/WeeksforSolici…
In March 2024, Bowen Turner was in a single DUI crash. He verbally abused the female officer who arrested him for DUI, calling her a bitch and other words in between temper tantrums about how he’s a “white boy” so he shouldn’t go to jail.
It was truly chilling to see this man WHO SO MANY PEOPLE DEFENDED behave like HE HAD LEARNED NOTHING ALL THIS TIME.
Now, 3 weeks after that incident something really weird happened. Bowen was able to plead guilty to his DUI.... which.... I have never seen a DUI get resolved that quickly.
Magistrate Judge Adonikam J. Hudson gave Turner credit for 17 days time served....and that was it for his sentence, according to court docs.
Odd, right?!
No. This is a pattern we see over and over and over again, especially in SC but I'm sure its everywhere.
People who happen to men who happen to be privileged who happen to have connections to money and power get PASS over PASS.
And the system ENCOURAGES them to keep pushing the line and MORE INNOCENT PEOPLE GET HURT.
We have 140+ episodes of cases where this happens on over and over again.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tru…
Bowen Turner is in prison for now on his YOA offense. He still faces charges for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
We are trying to figure out how much time he could possibly get — and more importantly WHO is still trying to protect him.
Stay tuned to this week’s True Sunlight podcast and check out this week’s @cupofjustice
Also thank god for queen @sarahafordesq fighting for the victims in this case.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cup…
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