MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — None of the seven people accused in the murder of Preston Lord will face the death penalty, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
Three of the defendants were eligible for the death penalty—Dominic Turner, Taylor Sherman and Treston Billey. The other four were underage at the time of the murder and therefore ineligible for capital punishment.
Lord was assaulted at a Halloween party in Queen Creek and died of his injuries two days later. His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.
The seven suspects who have been arrested in the Lord case include Talan Renner, 17; Talyn Vigil, 17; William Owen Hines, 18; Turner, 20; Sherman, 19; Billey, 18; and Jacob Meisner, 17. All pleaded not guilty.
Text messages exchanged in the days after Lord's death reveal how police pieced together evidence against the seven suspects accused of being involved in the murder.
The 1,100-page police report was released in March by the Queen Creek Police Department.
During the months-long investigation into Lord's death, investigators conducted dozens of interviews, reviewed several videos and combed through messages off of cell phones.
One message allegedly reviewed by police apparently showed a suspect confessing to his involvement in the assault shortly after Lord was beaten.
"Got in a fight... killed a kid.. guess I don't know my own strength," Renner allegedly wrote in a message on Oct. 28, according to the police report.
Prosecutors expect the trial to happen in 2025.
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