(The following post was originally published as my column on the August 20 Turner Report Newsletter.)A motion filed by Cherokee County District Attorney Kurt Benecke citing his intention to call Joplin dentist John Joseph's lawyer to the stand when Joseph stands trial for allegedly leaving the scene of a fatal accident and contributing to a child's misconduct has generated quite a few comments on the Turner Report and the Inside Joplin Facebook page today.
Benecke's motion says that at 1:10 a.m. August 20, 2023, about an hour after he allegedly accompanied his son Rocco to the site where Rocco's vehicle struck Gary LaTurner, 60, Galena, he called attorney Phil Glades and talked to him for 11 minutes and 21 seconds.
In one motion, Benecke asked to be able to submit evidence that the call was made. The other motion, the one that caused the back and forth among Turner Report readers, asked for permission to put Glades on the stand to verify that the conversation took place.
Benecke said he would not be asking questions about what the two said to each other. That would violate attorney-client privilege.
Some of my readers say the whole thing violates attorney-client privilege, while others have no problem with it.
Glades opened the door to his proposed testimony in March when he filed a motion to dismiss that included a statement that neither John nor Rocco Joseph ever saw LaTurner's body.
If they never saw a body, then why did Joseph call Glades at 1:10 a.m.?
If Glades presents evidence from Joseph that he never saw a body, Benecke says he should be allowed to challenge that by submitting evidence of the call and by calling Glades as a witness.
Glades might have to step down as Joseph's attorney if he is added to the witness list, but I'm betting that's not going to happen. Benecke's motion seems more designed to block Joseph from claiming he never saw LaTurner.
Time will tell.
As I noted in my story, the coroner's report says LaTurner died sometime around 9 a.m.- about 10 hours after Rocco Joseph allegedly hit him and eight hours after John Joseph called Phil Glades.
If the Cherokee County District Attorney's version of the case is accurate, there was no excuse for Joseph to call Phil Glades.
He should have called 911.
Gary LaTurner died two years ago today.
7 comments:
People frequently call their lawyers at 1am to discuss a variety of things. Examples would be "hey, my son just ran over a guy, we left him there, are we in trouble?" If Glades was aware of the Rocco kid hitting someone, and took no action, he should be disbarred. He doesn't have to tell the police who hit him, just that a man was hit and laying in a ditch. Joseph is a terrible person and has educated his son to be the same.
Playing devil’s advocate, that’s a busy road. How many other vehicles passed by there without seeing the victim? If they didn’t see it, how can you say the suspect did?
I don’t have a dog in the fight, I just try and look both ways, like before you cross the road..
You would hope, that if they did see home dying there, they would of called 911 from a payphone, a burner phone, a strangers phone, something and tried to save the guys life. What I think happened, personally is that they went back to the accident, saw what they thought was a dead person, and began their quest to evade justice. I would find it highly unlikely that they saw him, and said you know what, let's let him die, and roll the dice, rather than save his life and get way lesser charges. No doubt they will both be sued once this trial is over, and regardless what happens in the trial, in the civil proceedings I think they are held liable due to the lower standards and burdens.
So far as is known (based on what has been publicly reported about the court filings) none of the other vehicles passing by had any reason to suspect they had struck Gary Laturner on the shoulder of 66 and left him injured and without medical assistance of any sort to die alone in the ditch.
I suspect John Joseph was the only potential defendant
who called a criminal defense attorney to discuss "hitting an animal on 66 near Joplin' or whatever else was said betweeen the time of the accident andf the time Gary Laturner was discovered dead.
All this nonsense about other people not seeing Mr Laturner injured and dying in the ditch when they had no reason to look look for anyone in the ditch is just nonsense 'but whatabout diversion.'
"I don’t have a dog in the fight, I just try and look both ways, like before you cross the road..""
So what.
You might just as well blame Gary Laturner for not calling 911 from the ditch.
Lots of people know a criminal defense attorney they can call anytime day or night whenever their son hits an animal and does't plan on reporting it to the police.
"hey, my son just ran over a uh animal, or a guy, or a whatever, we left him there, are we in trouble?"
Or perhaps:
'Should we call ther police or just act like nothing happened and make them find us if they can?'
'If we don't call the police and they don't find my son for 12 hours will it be too late for a breathalyzer or blood draw?"
Gary Laturner was a human being , I don't care what the man did with his life or what he didn't do with his life. He had a family that loved him and that's what matters. And to leave him there to die was morally and illegal wrong in everyway. They knew he was there hurt or dead or dying and just didn't give 2 shits. They would not of gone back to the scene for no reason. I hope they all get what is coming to them.i pray Kansas locks them up for a long time
7:51 You are exactly correct, 100%
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