From Errors to Trials

Richard Turner, the District Clerk for the County Criminal Division of the Miller County District Court, has not always been on this side of the law

By Kelsey Rankin

Richard Turner, a recovering alcoholic and addict, always felt different. He grew up in a rural East Texas community where he felt like the only example of diversity. He recalls the first time that he took a drink. His sister’s boyfriend offered to pick up alcohol for both of them for a party. The three bottles purchased for the two of them were quickly inhaled by only Richard. He also drank several beers that night, and he found himself fitting in with the “redneck country boys” for the first time. He says, “When I drank, I didn’t care … I felt like I was funnier. I felt like I fit in.” As an openly gay teenager from a small rural community, alcohol allowed Richard to feel like he was “part of” rather than “less than.” Later on in life, he says he “chased that feeling.” The pursuit of fitting in leads to more drinking. Drinking not only allowed Richard to feel more comfortable, but he also ignored those who didn’t like him when he was under the influence.  

Richard and his partner Terry privately support a number of causes in the Texarkana area. This shot was taken before Hospice of Texarkana’s annual Jeans and Bling event.

Through his teens and early adult years, the drinking escalated. Richard describes himself as a high school student who just didn’t care and did what was needed to get by, but school was never a focus. He found his place in theater, and was ultimately offered a full-ride scholarship for his acting abilities. Richard made the decision to stay local, and he still says he “should have” taken the scholarship. Richard’s “Papa” (Billy Ray Turner), who only had an elementary school education, pushed the idea of education onto Richard throughout his life. Richard says, “I have to mess it up a lot in order to learn and get something right.” 

For Richard, family means the people you choose versus genetics. This past July, he met up with some of his closest friends for a birthday party at Luna Llena Mexican Grill.

As an 18-year-old nursing major at TC, he continued to fail academically and “that’s when [he] discovered bars.” He remembers, “My goal was oblivion, my goal was blackout, my goal was really to forget me. And that’s how I drank.” With this mind-set, school did not go well. He overdosed in his vehicle on campus, where the police had to break a window to get him out and to the hospital. He soon dropped out of college, and then through a dentist was prescribed pain medicine. Already in alcohol addiction, the addiction to pills quickly followed. 

In November of 2010, Richard was managing a local hotel, and one day, he just didn’t show up for work. He said he “just didn’t have what [he] needed to function,” so he would just not go to work. Without the pills, he quickly went into a detox and could not work. The owners of the hotel called and told him to come immediately to turn in his keys. He was “in the midst of crisis: mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.” The owners wrote his last check and asked him to just not come back. 

Losing his job and his “toxic relationship” at the same time led to stealing in order to survive. He starts “catching charges … a total of three misdemeanor theft charges.” He recognized that he had problems, and he went to his mother to detox him in order to heal. He then willingly went to treatment for the first time and was there for a total of three days believing that he must not have a problem, since he had already gone through the horrible process of detox. Immediately after leaving the treatment facility, he returned to the bars. He made his way back to the pills within just a few months. Within the next year, he was “homeless, jobless, and everyone had given up” on him. 

Richard returned to treatment, and the cycle repeated once again. He landed another hotel job, returned to theft and drinking, and was promptly fired again which, again, resulted in homelessness. He remembers that he wanted  nothing to do with the recovery community. Richard didn’t believe that it would work, and he “struggled with the God concept.” He believed that if “God didn’t hate me, He wouldn’t have made me all these things that I hate about me.” 

Sharing the journey of sobriety, Will Carter and Richard regularly celebrate one another’s milestones by having Virgin Marys at Hopkins Icehouse.

On August 10, 2015, Richard went to his first meeting and cried through the entire thing. After leaving the meeting, he bought one more bottle and “slammed it.” On August 11, he returned to his second meeting and was quickly assigned a sponsor. In the beginning, although Richard could not believe it would actually work, his sponsor asked him one question, “Do you believe that I believe?” And Richard found that he could believe that much and started working on his sobriety. 

Through difficulties such as losing his precious Papa, the support system in the recovery community was there for Richard. He remembers one of the men driving him to the funeral, and he asked if Richard had ever noticed all the many shades of green in the trees as they drove. Richard didn’t know what he meant, and the man continued, “The same God that made all those different shades is the same God that made you.” Tearfully, Richard recalls the impact this one statement had on him. 

In sobriety, Richard has had many successes. He worked at Twisted Fork as a server which he loved, speaking very fondly of his time there and his work family. Through his friend Will Carter, he was able to interview and get hired at local law firm, Mercy Carter. He learned through on-the-job experience, but realized that he needed more education to continue. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Criminal Justice. This time around with the encouragement of his partner Terry Roberts, he achieved academic success for the first time. 

After receiving his degrees in Criminal  Justice, Richard reached out to Judge Wren Autrey (left) for guidance since the Turners and the Autreys go back decades. Knowing the trials Richard had encountered and his story of overcoming life’s hurdles, Wren had no issue tapping Judge Tommy Potter (right) on the shoulder for a position that he had open in the District Court’s Criminal Division. Tommy jokingly claims, “Judge Autrey made me hire him.”

Life was going well for Richard, when in February of 2021, he went into the ER for excruciating pain from what he believed to be kidney stones. After tests, he had kidney stones and appendicitis and needed emergency surgery. Alone in the ICU due to COVID-19 protocols at the time, his surgeon came in. All Richard remembers is the word “cancer.” He called his sister, Whitney, who is a nurse and was working in the hospital. He is so thankful that Whitney was there for him that day. “You got me sober, for this?” is the question that haunted Richard when he was diagnosed with goblet cell carcinoid tumor of the appendix, a very rare form of cancer. 

During July 2021, Richard finished chemotherapy and throws the deuces to cancer. He has been cancer-free for more than a year now.

Luckily, Richard had befriended Lauren Booker, wife of Dr. James Booker, through his CASA advocacy. He called Lauren who immediately gave the information to her husband, and Dr. Booker called Richard and said, “It would be an honor to be your surgeon, Richard.” Dr. Booker also helped Richard apply and get financial assistance for the expensive treatment. Richard’s gratitude for this act of kindness from the Bookers is evident, believing that he had the best care possible right here in Texarkana. After receiving surgery and chemotherapy, Richard is thankful to be cancer-free. 

Through the errors of his past, and the trials of cancer, Richard and Terry are grateful to be able to give back through their work in the court system as well as locally in Texarkana. Richard believes in the recovery community and continues to rely on their support while providing his support to others. Richard is visibly thankful for the generosity and blessings afforded to him by the people in his life, and he lives daily to pay that forward.