AUSTIN -- Michael Turner has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection to the 2014 death of his ex-girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, Colton Turner. Turner was not the child's biological father, but was helping to raise him.
As expected, Turner entered a plea of guilty Friday morning as part of a plea deal. Turner, 31, was charged with injury to a child by omission and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, one charge for each time he buried the toddler. He was sentenced to two 20 year sentences, but will serve them concurrently. Turner has already spent a year and a half in jail.
"This was 20 years, non-aggravated, so legally he's eligible for parole at the five-year mark, so it's in about three and a half years, possibly sooner," said Turner's attorney Steve Brand.
Colton's great-aunt, Diane Battles said if she has any say, Turner won't get out on parole that soon.
"You can bet that we will start writing letters and we will fight to keep him in there so that he will serve 20 years," Battles said.
"He will still be young, he can still carry on with his life, Colton can't," added Battles. "He [Colton] was just so full of life and his life was cut short because of Mike and Meagan."
"I feel like Colton is the one who paid in this case, no, justice was not served," Battles said.
The details of Colton's death have not yet been fully revealed, partly because the child's mother, Meagan Work, still has to go to trial.
Police said Turner and Work admitted to burying the toddler in September 2014 after the boy died from a seizure. Family and friends said they had not seen the child since July and the last time they saw him, he was covered is scrapes and bruises.
After Turner was sentenced, Colton's family members gave a tearful impact statement, telling Turner he will “never understand the pain he's caused.”
"Mike and Meagan, they're monsters," said Battles. "I felt like he needed to hear from us, from Colton's family, what we have to go through on a daily basis, so I was glad that he was in there and he was made to listen."
Brand told KVUE News his client was forthcoming in the investigation and was key to helping locate Colton’s body. He also added that he does not know if Tuner will have to testify in Work's trial.
Brand also said Turner does feel remorseful for his involvement in the crime.
"He has been, I'd say since day one when I met him, extremely remorseful about his actions and that factored into him pleading guilty today," said Brand.
Colton's death made national headlines and lead Texas lawmakers to change how child abuse cases are handled. They passed "Colton's Law," which gives law enforcement immediate access to the names of children and parents Child Protective Services (CPS) staff are looking for.
Police told KVUE News CPS received four reports that Colton was abused, prior to his death, but they couldn't locate Work or the child. Milam County Sheriff's Deputies stopped Work and Colton for a traffic violation a few months before his death, but the deputy did not know CPS was looking for them.
Now, when CPS is looking for a child, the information is put into the same database officers use during routine traffic stops to find warrants.
Work's trial date has been rescheduled several times. As of now, her trial is set to start March 4, 2016.