‘JuVaughn’s life will never be the same,’ judge tells St. Paul rec center shooter before sentencing him to prison

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·6 min read

On Friday, JuVaughn Turner’s mother wanted pictures of the teen to speak for her family.

In the first photo, which she submitted to the court, Turner is a typical 16-year-old who liked to hang out with friends, play video games and go to St. Paul’s Jimmy Lee Recreation Center.

The second photo was of Turner in the hospital after Jan. 18, 2023, the day he was shot and critically wounded outside Jimmy Lee by employee Exavir Dwayne Binford Jr. Other photos showed the teen after his multiple surgeries and during his continuing recovery.

“A year has passed, but the fear that (Turner’s mother, Margarita Davison) has for JuVaughn has not gone away,” Andrew Marshall, an attorney representing Davison in a federal lawsuit, said Friday at Binford’s sentencing hearing. “The scars on JuVaughn’s head and face are a constant reminder of what happened.”

Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher went on to accept Binford’s guilty plea to first-degree assault and sentenced him to nearly 10½ years in prison, a term that is an upward departure from state guidelines. She ordered Binford to pay $34,000 in restitution to Davison for her son’s medical costs and care.

Binford, 27, pleaded guilty to the charge in December after reaching a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to dismiss an attempted murder charge. His attorney previously said he acted in self-defense. Binford agreed to the 125-month sentence as part of the plea deal. The presumptive prison sentence called for just over seven years.

Binford appeared Friday through Zoom after he was transferred from the Ramsey County jail to a state prison “to alleviate jail crowding,” a court filing said. The parties agreed not to transfer him back to the courthouse “in order to protect public safety,” the filing said.

Bartscher told Binford that he appeared on a large courtroom video screen that was facing Turner’s family. Bartscher asked Binford if he wanted to say something to her. He said he did not.

A scuffle, a shot fired

The shooting followed an argument among Central High School girls. Binford, who was working as a community recreation specialist, then fought with Turner, another 16-year-old boy and a girl, before firing his 9mm pistol once.

Turner, who was a sophomore at Central Senior High School, underwent emergency neurosurgery with a life-threatening injury.

Binford told police after his arrest that he felt threatened by Turner and the other boy, identified in the criminal complaint as RC. Binford claimed he had a problem with Turner ever since he transferred to the rec center in August after four years at Arlington Rec Center.

Binford had a permit to carry a firearm, and said he carried his gun at the rec center, but people didn’t know. He said he carried “because he worked the graveyard shift at the rec center when it closed” at 9 p.m., the complaint says.

Binford said no one was allowed in the rec center because of the fight between the girls. He said he clocked out for the day, then “had words” with a girl who let her brother into the building. Turner intervened.

According to Binford, he walked away to catch his bus and told JT and RC “if they wanted to do something to him he would be at the bus stop.”

RC got into his way, Binford said, so he gave the teen a “baby shove” to create space. Both teens ran up and jumped him, sending him to the ground, where he threw some punches with his jacket pulled over his head, Binford told police.

“I ain’t gonna lie — I pulled my pistol,” Binford said, according to the complaint. “I just felt like if you wouldn’t put your hands on me this wouldn’t happen.”

Police noted Binford’s lip was “busted” and he had injuries above an eyebrow.

Investigators asked Binford why he shot “when they were all just standing there, (and) Binford had no explanation and said it was just in the moment and he was sorry,” the complaint says. He also told police “he could have done something differently.”

Previous trouble

Davison filed the federal lawsuit against the city of St. Paul last month. It alleges the city did not fire Binford, despite his employment file showing the city “knew he had a history of violent conduct and threats towards minors while working at the city’s recreation centers, including physical altercations and threats that he would shoot children.”

Binford had been working since about 2018 as community recreation leader at St. Paul’s Arlington Hills Community Center. The lawsuit says that Binford in December 2019 was involved in an argument with an Arlington Hills visitor that escalated into a physical altercation and Binford punched the visitor several times. The city suspended Binford for five days and instructed him not to resort to violence to de-escalate situations, but didn’t provide additional conflict resolution training.

In August 2022, the city transferred Binford to Jimmy Lee and promoted him to community relations specialist, which meant he was essentially the rec center’s “manager” when he was on duty.

The mother of a 17-year-old warned the city about two months later that Binford threatened to shoot her daughter and some of her friends after a disagreement when he was working at the rec center. She notified the city soon after and never received a response. “Despite the city’s knowledge of Binford’s threatening behavior, no investigation or corrective action was taken by the city against Binford for his conduct,” the lawsuit says.

The city has not filed an answer to the lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $50,000. The deadline for the city to do so is March 8, according to court records.

‘I wish you weren’t here’

Turner spent four months in the hospital, where doctors had to remove part of his skull to relieve swelling in his brain. Although he was home, Turner had to wear a helmet as protection because doctors weren’t able to replace the portion of his skull until seven months later, Marshall said Friday.

Turner has had two seizures since late January, and his left hand trembles, Marshall said. Turner has been taking online classes, but “really can’t go anywhere by himself because Ms. Davison has to be able to administer his emergency medication,” Marshall said.

Before handing down the prison sentence, Bartscher said the case left her at a loss for words.

“I hope that you can find peace somehow,” she told Turner’s family. “Those may be hollow words to you. But I do want you to know that I wish you weren’t here. I wish you didn’t have to be here.”

Bartscher told Binford that he had choices that day and that he made “horrible” ones.

“I hope that for the rest of your life you understand that the decisions you made in a split second will be impacting this family for the rest of their lives,” she said. “JuVaughn’s life will never be the same.”

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