Former MSU running back Turner charged with Ga. murder
Published 11:44 pm Saturday, March 8, 2008
Former Mississippi State running back Nick Turner has been charged with murder in DeKalb County, Ga.
DeKalb County police spokesman J.T. Ware told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., that Turner, 24, was charged Wednesday in the slaying of Dermonde Broadus during a drug deal that went bad.
Details of the incident were not released.
Turner was dismissed from the Mississippi State team, where he was a kick returner and running back, in February 2004 for what head coach Sylvester Croom called a failure to meet “the expectation level” he has for players.
Turner was placed on three years probation Feb. 7, 2004, for possession of counterfeit bills. He was accused of passing several counterfeit $100 bills Oct. 15, 2002, at Remington’s Hunt Club, a Starkville, Miss., nightspot.
He sat out the remainder of the 2002 season after his arrest. He came back in 2003 to establish a new single-season school record for all-purpose yards in the Nov. 22 game against Arkansas.
“Nick has not met the expectation level we have for a Mississippi State football playing student-athlete,” Croom said at the time. “I wish him the best in the future, and I will assist him in any way I can.”
Turner led MSU and ranked second in the Southeastern Conference in all-purpose yardage with 138.7 per game during his sophomore season in 2003.
He was second in the league in kickoff returns (23.5), fourth in punt returns (11.1) and seventh in rushing (696 yards, 58.0 average) as the Bulldogs finished 2-10 overall and 1-7 in their final season under Jackie Sherrill.
Turner transferred to Murray State, Ky., where he finished out his career.