COLUMBUS — For the first time since a shooting that took the lives of his wife and daughter and nearly his, Gregory Dawson sat across a courtroom from the man he says he saw with his own eyes that morning.
Tyler Allen Turney, then 23, changed his plea from "not guilty" to "guilty" Thursday in Stillwater County District Court to two counts of deliberate homicide and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide, admitting he shot and killed his estranged girlfriend, 20-year-old Nila Dawson, and her mother, Justine Dawson, and shot Greg Dawson and family friend Matthew Osgood.
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“I was just glad, like I said, to see him plead guilty, because he is,” Dawson said outside the courtroom. “I mean, I saw him with my own two eyes.”
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Present with his defense attorneys Joe Zavatsky and Sarah Kottke, Turney admitted in court that he purposely or knowingly caused the deaths of Nila Dawson and Justine Dawson by shooting them and admitted shooting Greg Dawson and Osgood. He also acknowledged there were no justified reasons or defenses for his actions.
The charges carry the possibility of life imprisonment. With the weapons enhancements and four counts, Judge Matthew Wald told Turney he could potentially face four life sentences or hundreds of years in prison, depending on whether sentences are imposed concurrently or consecutively. Sentencing is expected in October or November.
But for Dawson, Thursday was about more than a guilty plea, but the first time he had seen Turney since the morning his life changed forever.
Dawson said he was at his home along Stillwater River Road between Absarokee and Nye when he woke to gunfire in the early morning hours, around 3:30 a.m.
“The first thing I heard was a pop, a gunshot,” Dawson said.
He got up to investigate when he heard another shot.
“And that’s when he shot my daughter,” Dawson said.
Moments later, Justine came running out of the house.
“He just spun around and popped her,” Dawson said.
As Dawson tried to call 911, he was shot. He said he felt the first bullet hit his back and watched his legs begin to swell as blood ran down his jeans. A second shot struck him in the back.
One bullet went through both of his lungs. The other hit his liver.
“I remember it (all) till I fell on the floor,” Dawson said.
His next memory came days later at St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings.
“I think it was seven days before I woke up,” he said. “But I did wake up. And I was here to see justice get done today.”
Dawson said doctors told his brother he had about a 5% chance of surviving. He spent 83 days in hospitals, including time in Billings and rehabilitation in Salt Lake City.
The shooting left him with significant physical challenges. He said his arm was once curled tightly against his body when he arrived in Salt Lake City, and therapists worked with him to regain strength and movement.
“They got me lifting some weight again and getting my upper body strong,” Dawson said.
Now, the work continues. At 65, Dawson said he is learning to drive again using hand controls. He recently completed a driving test and expects to finish additional practice before getting his license back.
He is living with his brother for now but plans to return to his home soon.
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Dawson now uses a mobility wheelchair, but he does not see that as his future.
“They told me I’d never walk again,” he said, laughing. “I already got that one leg working. That’s just pure determination.”
For Dawson, getting out of the wheelchair is the biggest goal, hoping to get back to the things he enjoyed before the shooting, including hunting.
“Even if I’m with them braces or whatever I got to do, I’m not ready to be in a chair," he said. "I’m not one to sit around all day, and this is killing me.”
Recovery has also meant learning how to move forward without his wife and only child. Nila was 20 and had graduated from Absarokee High School. She was a student at Rocky Mountain College and was in her final semester, working toward becoming a physician assistant.
Justine was a nurse who worked at St. Vincent Healthcare for years, eventually serving as a charge nurse in the ICU. Dawson said she later moved to the Absarokee Clinic so she could be closer to Nila while their daughter attended school.
“My wife was great,” Dawson said. “We worked hard ever since we’ve been here.”
Dawson said the loss is something he carries with him every day.
“I ain’t never getting my daughter and my wife back,” he said. "It really, really hurts me about my daughter. She was only 20. She was a good kid. She didn’t deserve this."
Dawson said the guilty plea gave him some relief, but it cannot change what happened. He wants Turney to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.
“What he did is just heinous,” Dawson said. “I mean, how do you take a young, pretty girl like my daughter and shoot her right in her face?”
Through it all, Greg continues to share stories of his wife and daughter, stories of his past, and stories of the challenges he is facing ahead — all with determination and a will to live.
“I miss them every night,” Dawson said.
A sentencing date has not yet been announced.
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