Defense attorney suggests motive for ex-husband

Sue Doyle

COSTA MESA -- The attorney for May Kwan Turek, on trial for the 1994

murder of a 30-year-old Costa Mesa woman, pointed a finger at the

defendant’s ex-husband Thursday, implying that he, too, had a motive in

the slaying.

Turek’s lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said Timothy Turek could have shot

Roxanne Michelle Martin in a botched attempt to kill his ex-wife’s lover.

Keller also argued that her client had no knowledge of firearms, but that

her ex-husband, a Hermosa Beach police detective, had expertise and

access to guns.

“The only person in the house who knew all about guns was you,” Keller

said to Timothy Turek, who was on the witness stand Thursday in the Santa

Ana Superior Court room.

The trial of the love triangle murder case began Wednesday, six years

after Martin was shot and killed. Prosecutors have accused Turek, 42, of

killing Martin in a jealous rage because she believed the victim was a

rival for the affection of her then-lover, Anthony Kubis Jr.

Martin was shot once in the back of the head and four times in the chest

before she bled to death at Kubis’ Costa Mesa home on Victoria Street.

Kubis was out of town at the time of the shooting, according to police

reports.

Authorities arrested Turek four years after Martin’s death. Until then,

the murder remained unsolved. But in 1998, DNA technology helped police

link Turek to the murder, determining that two blood smears found in the

defendant’s car belonged to Martin.

During cross-examination, Keller asked Timothy Turek about a conversation

he had with Costa Mesa police, who in the course of the murder

investigation suggested that the finger of guilt could ultimately point

to him, a jilted husband.

The Tureks, who were married at the time of the shooting, began divorce

procedures three weeks after the murder.

“If they do, they’re pointing it in the wrong direction,” Timothy Turek

said.

Keller brought up details of the Tureks’ stormy relationship and also

questioned Timothy Turek about his medical history.

Timothy Turek said he was diagnosed with severe depression in 1988. The

condition forced him to take a medical leave of absence from the police

force between June 1991 and July 1994.

Because he was taking medication for his depression, Keller argued that

Timothy Turek might not remember the details of conversations and

incidents that took place in 1994.