It took a jury only 44 minutes to find the step father of a murdered Eastern Michigan University student not guilty of a child pornography charge.
James Turnquist has been making headlines ever since police named him as a person of interest in the murder of his step-daughter Julia Niswender.
Turnquist maintains his innocence in that case. Niswender was found dead in her off-campus apartment back in 2012.
Last year, the 47-year-old voluntarily gave detectives his laptop in order to help them with the murder investigation.
After detectives searched the laptop, they found what they believed were images of child pornography, but no one could establish whether the young women in the images were under the age of 18.
Turnquist’s attorney Paul Stablein, says the images were found in “temporary internet files” which could have been downloaded without anyone realizing it, similar to a “popup” ad.
Experts testified that several people besides Turnquist had access to the computer.
After just one day of trail and 44 minutes of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty.
This case already ended in a mistrial last month, after the defense was not provided a key search warrant. As for the murder investigation, it is ongoing.
Both Julia Niswender’s mother and twin sister believe Turnquist had nothing to do with the murder.
