By now you have probably heard about the Turpin family and the horrors that David and Louise Turpin put their 13 children through. Well, justice will soon be served because a judge in the Riverside County Superior Court announced Thursday that the couple must stand trial.
They are set to be arraigned August 3 after prosecutors disclosed all the horrific evidence implicating the Turpin couple.
“There’s a plethora of evidence," Judge Bernard Schwartz said in regards to the siblings.
One of the daughter's 911 call was played at the opening of the preliminary hearing and in the call she said,
“I live in a family of 15 people and my parents are abusive. They abuse us and my two little sisters are chained up.”
Investigators in the courtroom testified that the children were caged or chained up for days or even months at a time and were repeatedly punched, choked, slapped, and thrown across rooms for things David and Louise deemed punishable like "getting water on their wrist while washing their hands" or "watching a Justin Bieber video."
The abuse left the children frail and unkempt and some of the younger daughters experienced sexual abuse from David.
According to the Desert Sun, both parents are charged with 12 counts of torture and false imprisonment, nine counts of child abuse and seven counts of cruelty to a dependent adult. David Turpin also faces one count of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old, and his wife is charged with assault resulting in great bodily injury.
If convicted, each parent faces life in prison. They each remain in custody in lieu of $12 million bail after pleading not guilty to all charges.
Kris Ankarlo with KFI News was in the courtroom Wednesday at the preliminary hearing and will be on live at 4pm with more updates from today's hearing.
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