FOND DU LAC – Lisa Ann French was 9 years old on Halloween night in 1973 when Gerald Turner abducted and killed her while she was trick-or-treating in Fond du Lac.
Turner, now 77, is still seeking release from state custody, which was first scheduled for February 2018. As of a May 21 update, a jury trial for commitment proceedings is now scheduled to begin Jan. 19, 2027.
In 1975, Turner was convicted of second-degree murder, abnormal sexual perversion, and taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 16.
Turner served time for murder, but has been in and out of prison since
While Turner was sentenced to 38-1/2 years in prison, he was released on parole in 1992, then sent back just more than a year later based on a court decision changing the calculation of “good behavior” for inmates.
Court proceedings continued for more than four years to determine whether Turner could be deemed a “sexually violent person” under state law Chapter 980, which would subject him to indefinite confinement and treatment.
In 1998, a jury found him not a sexually violent person, and he was released to a halfway house in Madison. Then, his parole was revoked in 2003, sending him back to prison for 15 more years after hundreds of pornographic images were found on a computer in his bedroom.
Ahead of Turner’s Feb. 1, 2018, mandatory release date, the Wisconsin Department of Justice filed a petition with the court again evoking Chapter 980.
Turner has been confined at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, which is operated by the Department of Health Services.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Gerald Turner still seeks release in Lisa Ann French 1973 murder case
Reporting by Daphne Lemke, Fond du Lac Reporter / Fond du Lac Reporter
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