North Carolina dentist settles suit with state for allegedly framing him of murdering his wife

North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation and local dentist Kirk Turner, DDS, settled a lawsuit where Dr. Turner claimed two SBI agents framed him for the murder of his wife, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Dr. Turner filed the lawsuit in 2011, 10 years after being acquitted of stabbing his estranged wife to death. He was charged with first degree murder Sept. 12, 2007.

Prosecutors argued Dr. Turner killed his wife Jennifer Turner due to a pending divorce and a lawsuit Ms. Turner filed against Dr. Turner's girlfriend at the time. However, Dr. Turner claimed self-defense. He said Ms. Turner stabbed him in the groin with a spear. Dr. Turner was later found not guilty by self-defense.

Dr. Turner's current lawsuit against agents Duane Deaver and Gerald Thomas was heard in the North Carolina Supreme Court. He claims both agents tampered with blood evidence in order to support the prosecutors case that Dr. Turner intentionally murdered his wife.

The lawsuit was settled for $200,000. In the settlement, both Mr. Thomas and Mr. Deaver do not admit to any liability, and in court, the two denied the allegations.

This is not the first time Mr. Deaver has been accused of misconduct. In a previous case, he was found to have given misleading testimony about blood evidence. Mr. Deaver also worked on Michael Peterson's murder case. The judge ultimately had to throw out the case after learning Mr. Deaver lied on the stand.

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