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Cousin Says He Was Horn's Middleman; Defendant, Perry Asked Him
to Help Them Communicate,
He Testifies: [FINAL Edition]
Thomas E. Turner , a cousin from Detroit, was not the first
relative of Lawrence T. 's to testify he
suspected Horn was involved in the murders of Horn's former
wife, only son and the 8-year-old boy's
overnight nurse. That merely echoed earlier testimony from
Horn's oldest daughter and others who knew
the murders cleared the way for the former Motown engineer to
inherit the boy's $1.7 million estate.
What made Turner's testimony so crucial today was his vantage
point. He testified that he found himself
being used by Horn as a go-between with James Edward Perry, who
has been convicted of carrying out
the murders.
Horn, 56, is on trial for allegedly hiring Perry, a former
Detroit man who billed himself as a "spiritual
adviser" and all-around fixer and whom Turner described as his
best friend. Turner testified that he
frequently drummed up business for Perry, handing his business
cards to passengers in the taxi he
sometimes drove and keeping fliers for Perry's "House of Wisdom"
in his home.
When Turner's cousin, Lawrence Horn, showed up in Detroit from
his Hollywood home in the spring of
1992, Turner said, he referred him to Perry after hearing him
complain of troubles establishing visitation
with his children, who lived in Silver Spring with his former
wife, Mildred.
"Give Mr. Perry a call, because he helps people," Turner said he
told his cousin.
But, Turner testified, he eventually worried about the nature of
Perry's "help."
First, Turner said, he saw newspaper clippings about the March
1993 slayings of Mildred Horn, nurse
Janice Roberts Saunders and severely retarded Trevor Horn, whose
estate was from a settlement in the
hospital accident that left him a quadriplegic.
Then, Turner testified, he began to wonder why in the months
after the slayings both Horn and Perry
worried aloud about wiretaps on their phones. He said each asked
Turner to help arrange times and
places when they could speak on lines they considered
"clean."
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"I got to thinking I was brought into something and I didn't
know exactly what," Turner testified.
"I had my . . . suspicions," he said.
As he did at Perry's trial in the fall, Turner testified under a
promise of full immunity from prosecution. But
the 52-year-old unemployed truck driver appeared more
comfortable on the stand today than he had
testifying against his friend. Turner returned Horn's smile in
the courtroom but then volunteered
misgivings he had admitted only reluctantly in the fall.
Turner's testimony was reinforced by an FBI wiretap that
captured both Horn and Perry calling Turner with
messages for the other. Jurors heard tapes and followed along on
transcripts of a flurry of such calls in
the days after agents searched Perry's home.
Perry's account of the search "kind of confirmed some thoughts
that I may have had," Turner testified. He
said it was shortly afterward that he withdrew what he called
his "service" as middleman.
"I approached Mr. Perry and told him whatever business he had
with my cousin they should conduct it
between themselves," Turner said.
On cross-examination, Horn's attorney found at least patches of
fertile ground for a defense strategy that
lays all the blame for the killings on Perry. Turner had told
prosecutors on direct examination that he and
Perry met in prison, but defense attorney Paul B. DeWolfe let
jurors know that Perry was doing time after
shooting a police officer.
Then DeWolfe, elaborating on his suggestion in his opening
statement that Perry planned and carried out
the murders without Horn's knowledge, repeatedly described Perry
as "very secretive, even with you."
Turner agreed that he was. He said he never was entirely sure
how Perry made a living.
"You didn't know that, even prior to Mr. Horn ever coming into
the picture, that he was purchasing a book
called `Hit Man'?" DeWolfe asked. "No," Turner said.
