Defendant found guilty in Aug. 24, 2022 drug distribution case in Dale City

Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth reports that on Oct. 13, 2023, the Honorable Robert P. Coleman, Circuit Court Judge of Prince William County. found Jalil Michael Turner guilty of one count of Robbery Causing a Death, one count of Attempted Aggravated Murder During a Robbery, one count of Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, and one count of Distribution of a Schedule I or II Controlled Substance, following his guilty pleas to the charges.

The Defendant will be sentenced on January 25, 2024.  ­­­

­The violent crimes charges arose from an officer involved shooting in the Dale City area on September 1, 2022. The drug distribution charge occurred on August 24, 2022, at the same location.

Detectives from the Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park Task Force and members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been working to eradicate the trafficking of fentanyl and firearms in our jurisdiction. This work included making controlled purchases of narcotics from various subjects. On August 24, 2022, one such controlled purchase was conducted with Jalil Turner for 500 fentanyl pills. Just over a week later, on September 1, 2022, another controlled purchase was arranged with Jalil Turner.  Mr. Turner arrived at the designated location, in a car driven by Shane Dareon Pollard and accompanied by Jaiden Malik Carter.  However, rather than selling narcotics to the detective, Turner, Carter, and Pollard robbed the undercover detective at gunpoint. As the three individuals attempted to escape, they encountered other members of law enforcement and Turner shot at detectives and the rescue team multiple times. The police returned fire resulting in the death of Mr. Carter and the wounding of Mr. Pollard. 

The prosecution of this case involved extensive cooperation between both federal and local law enforcement agencies.  Because of the nature of the case, it was investigated by the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), an independent group of investigators from jurisdictions outside of Prince William County. This case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Garrett Jagtiani and Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Kristina Robinson. 

Ashworth said, “Tackling the trafficking of drugs, especially fentanyl, in Prince William County is an important and dangerous task – this case is an example of how quickly things can go badly and while we regret the loss of any life, we are glad that no innocent bystanders or members of our law enforcement teams were injured or killed.”

The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney would like to commend the work of the CIRT team, specifically John Wallace from the Town of Herndon Police Department, Trey Leightley and Sgt. Shawn Sutherland from the City of Fairfax Police Department, members of the crime scene/forensic divisions of both the Alexandria Police Department and Arlington County Police Department, the heroic members of the narcotics task force, both local and federal, as well as Sara Vutiprichar from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Victim Witness Program.  The Office would also like to thank the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Laboratory including Jeffrey Lamb, the Prince William County Office of the Sheriff including Deputy Hannah Baker, the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue including medic Robert Ardaiolo, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) laboratory including Sean Tokay and Marely Martinez Perez, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aerial surveillance team, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS) including Joshua Kruger, and the Department of the Chief Medical Examiner including Dr. Gene Maya.

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Amy Ashworth is the elected Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. She was elected in November 2019. The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office can be reached from 8:30 a.m, to 5 p.m. every workday by phone at 703-792-6050 or email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).