Categories: News, Schenectady County

A city teen received the maximum possible sentence Tuesday — 15 years — for firing a gun into a kitchen occupied by a 14-year-old girl last year.

Jahci Turner, now 19, appeared in Schenectady County Court Tuesday morning with his attorney Mark Juda to hear Judge Matthew Sypniewski pronounce his sentence.

Sypniewski handed down the top sentence, calling Turner’s actions “absolutely unacceptable.”

A Schenectady County Court jury in July deliberated for about two hours before finding Turner guilty after trial of first-degree reckless endangerment and felony weapons counts related to the April 8, 2015 shooting.

The jury acquitted Turner of the more serious count of attempted murder, finding he recklessly endangered the girl’s life by firing into the Grant Avenue apartment, but did not intend to kill anyone. No one was hurt.

Sypniewski also rejected a defense request for youthful offender status, which would have sealed the record. Turner was 17 at the time.

Prosecutor Brian Gray argued for the stiff sentence and no youthful offender status, citing multiple aggravating factors.

Gray argued that Turner responded to a minor fist fight by returning later with a gun and firing into the house. He also planned out the crime, getting dropped off around the corner.

“This shows his inability to control himself and control his actions,” Gray said. “He escalated a minor event. This defendant chose to bring a gun.”

Gray also noted that the jury found Turner fired four separate shots, choosing to fire each time.

Juda asked for a sentence no longer than the sentence offered prior to trial — eight years. A longer sentence, he said, would punish his client for exercising his right to trial. He also noted his client maintains his innocence.

Turner did not offer a statement.

Sypniewski, however, called the proof in the case strong, noting the number of shots, the girl’s presence and that Turner fired from a public street into an occupied residence.





Prosecutors argued that Turner fired into the apartment in retaliation for a fist fight he lost earlier in the day on Grant Avenue.

After the fight, Turner and three friends drove to get a gun, returned to Grant Avenue and dropped Turner off, Gray argued at trial.

Turner went to the rear of the home and fired four .22-caliber rounds into the kitchen, one going through a kitchen window, Gray said. The other three went into the home’s siding.

The man who won the fight lived in the apartment, but was in a different part of the house at the time. Instead, a 14-year-old girl was there and had been in the window seconds before the shot came through.

Turner’s friends then picked him up a block away and they fled. Turner later returned and threw a brick through the window in response to comments the man who won the fight made on Facebook, Gray said.

Juda argued key witnesses could not be relied upon and that there was no evidence the shooter saw the teen or intended to shoot anyone.

Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122, [email protected] or @ByStevenCook on Twitter.