South Central Reporter

Illinois Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) said in a Facebook post that she had been contacted by the family of Bridget Drobney, who asked her to intervene and attempt to prevent the clemency of one of the men convicted of her rape and murder.

In a Jan. 3 Facebook post, Bryant vowed to "fight to end the policies of a runaway prison review board." She shared another Facebook post, written by State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Vandalia), in which Plummer criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) for staffing the prisoner review board "with so many people of questionable qualifications and whose main role, it would seem to be, was to vote to release violent criminals who committed some of the most heinous crimes in our state's history."

"This is what we are dealing with in Springfield," Plummer's post continued. "A governor and his legislative allies who refuse to put criminals behind bars and who are emptying the prisons across the state. No wonder crime is through the roof. How many innocent people have died or been victimized in other ways because of their policies? And now this," he said, referring to the Jan. 10 clemency hearing of Robert Turner from prison, where he is serving life for Drobney's murder. 

"The Illinois Prison Project is trying to get him released but refuse to discuss why. They claim they are representing him because he 'wrote them a letter' and because 'he's a veteran'," Plummer wrote. "I am told he was dishonorably discharged but, regardless, what does his service have to do with why he should be released from prison after this vicious crime? And do they just represent anyone who writes them a letter? Their silence speaks volumes; they know their actions on this case are indefensible."

According to CBS Chicago, Drobney was 16 when she was murdered in 1985, and Turner was arrested and convicted of Drobney's death after the girl was abducted, raped and killed in a cornfield by three men impersonating police officers. 

For the Drobney family, the idea that Turner could be released from prison is "like putting in the knife again and twisting it," according to CBS Chicago.

On July 13, 1985, Bridget was driving alone to a family wedding when three men pretending to be police officers activated an oscillating red light and pulled her over. The men abducted, raped and killed Bridget, with Turner stabbing her in the throat, Drobney's sister said.

"It never goes away," Kathy Drobney, mother of the victim, told CBS Chicago. "It really doesn't." 

At his trial, CBS Chicago reported, Turner's sister testified that he told her Bridget was making noise, so he stabbed her. "The noise that she was making -- he said, 'She was making too much noise, so I stuck her' -- she was calling for her father," said Jamie Drobney. 

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) told the Illinois Times that releasing killers like Turner is something the state Prisoner Review Board has become accustomed to doing. 

"The real catalyst for this controversy is that they began releasing people who are the worst of the worst," said McClure, a former Sangamon County prosecutor, told the Illinois Times. "Some people on the prisoner review board were voting to release almost 50% of the people up before them. And these are people who murdered police officers," he said, adding another example of a man who attempted to rape two women and shot one, then threatened a state's attorney.

"So these are people found guilty of committing heinous crimes for which they should never get out of prison. But they also have shown demonstratively that they have not been rehabilitated," McClure added, according to the Illinois Times.