Manteca man pleads guilty, awaits sentencing in 2016 double-stabbing south of Modesto
A man who pleaded guilty last month to attempted murder charges related to a 2016 double-stabbing south of Modesto is expected to be sentenced April 15, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office announced.
Phillip Duane Turley, 58, of Manteca, pleaded guilty on March 19 to premeditated attempted murder, according to a press release.
His co-defendant, 32-year-old Alisha Nadine Gomes, of Modesto, pleaded guilty the same day to attempted murder.
Turley and Gomes brought knives with them Nov. 22, 2016, when they went to settle a dispute Turley had with a man who lived at the Country Western Mobile Home Park on South Carpenter Road.
During the confrontation, Turley stabbed the man in the stomach and shoulder area multiple times, “all the while telling the victim that he was going to die,” the DA’s office said. Turley and Gomes also stabbed a woman who was there.
Both the man and the woman suffered life-threatening injuries from the attack, according to the release.
A neighbor at the time told The Bee that Turley had been mad at the then-56-year-old park resident for telling people Turley was profiled on a TNT true crime show about cold cases.
Turley was featured as a prime suspect in the 1995 killing of Mary Anne Holmes in Arizona, who died of blunt-force trauma after she was bound and beaten while her two young children were present in her home. It does not appear that anyone has been charged in relation to Holmes’ death.
During their March 19 court appearances for the 2016 stabbing, Turley and Gomes both entered guilty pleas, each with enhancements for “using a knife during the attack and causing great bodily injury.”
Gomes was sentenced to 13 years in state prison, the DA’s office said.
Turley is expected to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. April 15, for what the DA’s office said should be a sentence of 18 years to life.
Turley was previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Arizona, which will be used to increase his sentence because it is a serious felony under California’s Three Strikes law, the DA’s office said.
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
