Preslin Turner’s lawyer called his client’s actions a textbook case of self-defense.
“This is what self-defense looks like in the real world,” Aaron Sontz told a jury Tuesday. “It’s not scripted. It’s not pretty. Usually, it’s a tragedy for everyone involved.”
But for prosecutors, what Turner did the night of March 7, 2025, in his own home was not self-defense. It was first-degree murder.
Nothing, Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray told the jury, proved that more than Turner, having already shot the victim once, walking up to him after the fact and pulling the trigger again.
“The defendant walked over to Therreus Lindsey as he lay on the floor dying and shot him again,” Kiray said.
He called it an execution.
It is now up to the jurors to decide whether Turner should be found guilty.
Turner, 37, is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and related charges stemming from that night at his house in Homewood.
His trial began last week before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Simquita R. Bridges. The jury is expected to begin deliberating Tuesday afternoon.
‘This is not a whodunit’
Police were called to the home on Mt. Vernon Street around 11:30 p.m. for a reported shooting. Both Turner and the victims’ mother, who also lived in the house, called 911.
When officers arrived, they found Darius Lindsey, 27, collapsed on the street in front of the house with a bullet wound to his back.
He survived.
Officers found his identical twin brother, Therreus Lindsey, inside with two bullet wounds.
He died.
Turner was immediately taken into custody and charged.
During testimony at trial, both sides agreed to some basic facts in the case.
Turner had been upstairs in his third-floor bedroom sleeping that evening, when he woke up, went downstairs and confronted the twins’ mother about money potentially having been stolen from his room.
That argument quickly devolved into a physical fight with the twins, who almost immediately got the better of Turner and put him in a choke hold.
Sontz told the jury that his client, who feared for his life as he was being choked on the floor, shot both men to defend himself.
“This is not a whodunit,” Sontz said. “We all know what happened in the house. The question is why? What was in Mr. Turner’s mind?”
Shot in the back
It is the prosecution’s burden, the defense attorney continued, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his client did not act in self-defense.
“Is there anything that convinces you there was so much time between when he got out of the choke hold and pulled the trigger, that his actions were unreasonable?” Sontz asked.
The prosecution said there should be.
“At the point the defendant shot Therreus and Darius Lindsey, he was not in fear for his life,” Kiray argued in his closing. “That fight, ladies and gentlemen, was over and done with when the trigger was pulled.”
Not to mention, the prosecutor continued, that both victims were shot in the back.
“Self-defense does not happen from behind against a person walking away from you,” Kiray said.
Reasonable fear?
During his closing arguments, Kiray told the jurors they have three potential verdicts to consider on the homicide count: first-degree murder, which requires premeditation; third-degree murder, which requires malice — a wanton and willful disregard for human life; or voluntary manslaughter.
To find manslaughter, Kiray said the jury must believe that Turner genuinely, but unreasonably, believed he needed to use deadly force to defend himself.
“You have to make an assessment whether his fear is reasonable,” the prosecutor continued.
Kiray told the jurors it was not, and instead they should find Turner guilty of first-degree murder.
“Premeditation can form in an instant,” the prosecutor said. “Nothing demonstrates that more in this case than that execution shot to the incapacitated victim.”
“This is not a self-defense case.”
‘Y’all jumped me’
Earlier in the day, Turner’s father testified as the last witness called in the case.
Walter Matthews II, 66, told the jury he was on the second floor of the house when the fight started and then moved toward the steps to intervene. However, because of health issues, it took him time to get to the first floor.
Matthews said he saw one of the twins with a choke hold on Turner and tried to get the man off of him.
Then, Turner was able to free himself.
“He was still staggering a little bit and shaking his head — like trying to clear his head,” Matthews said.
Then, Turner said to the Lindsey brothers, “‘Y’all jumped me,’ and that’s when he pulled out his gun.”