A Hometown Hero banner of Christopher Tur.
A Hatfield Township family has made good on their threat to sue the United States Navy and former Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Commander John Nettleton in connection with the 2015 death of Christopher Tur.
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed with the Fourth Judicial District in Duval County, Florida, with Nettleton, as well as Tur’s ex-wife, Lara Sabanosh, and Navy public affairs officer Kelly Wirfel being named as defendants, according to court filings. Additionally, a secondary suit was filed against the United States Navy through the Military Claims Act seeking unspecified damages, said attorney Francis Malofiy, who is representing the Tur Family in both cases.
In January 2020, a federal jury in Jacksonville found Nettleton guilty on charges of obstruction of justice, falsifying records, making false statements and concealing material facts, in connection with the investigation surrounding Tur’s death. Nettleton was sentenced in October 2020 to two years in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release, however the sentence fell below the recommendation of prosecutors, who said they thought 37-to-46-months would have been appropriate, court records show.
The sentence did little to assuage the Tur Family, who continue to ask why charges of involuntary manslaughter or criminal homicide were not brought against Nettleton.
“It comes down to what was learned in the indictment and what was learned at trial was that there was very poor conduct on behalf of Captain Nettleton, [his ex-wife] Lara and Kelly Wirfel, and there is no doubt that Captain Nettleton killed Christopher Tur,” said Malofiy, in an interview with North Penn Now. “[Nettleton] had blood on his hands, he had blood on his shirt, he had blood all over his house, and he took efforts to stall the search for Tur so he could clean up as much blood as possible so they couldn’t discover what happened to Christopher.”
Tur was found dead off the coast of Guantanamo Bay in January 2015. His cause of death was listed as a drowning, however, the autopsy revealed he had suffered broken ribs with associated soft tissue damage, as well as multiple lacerations to his head and face prior to his death. Nettleton was relieved of his command two weeks later due to suspicions about Nettleton having an affair with Tur’s wife, Lara. [Read our initial coverage here.]
in January 2019, a Federal Grand Jury returned an indictment against Nettleton alleging that Tur and Nettleton had engaged in a violent altercation at Nettleton’s home, after Tur had accused him of having an affair with Lara. Tur went missing a short time later, and the indictment alleged that Nettleton went to great lengths to cover up the fight and derail the search efforts that ensued. [Read the full indictment here.]
“The family is in arms and upset because they weren’t told the truth…for years,” said Malofiy. “To sit through that trial and learn what happened to their loved one, as well as the absolute failures and dereliction of duty on behalf of Nettleton and the Navy…they didn’t do what they were supposed to do. If you’re in a position of power, it comes with great responsibility. But that wasn’t shown by the Navy or Captain Nettleton.”
Despite the allegations within the indictment, Nettleton has never been charged with anything directly-related to Tur’s death. Instead, his charges stemmed from his actions during the search efforts and ongoing investigation.
“He was charged with low-hanging fruit, obstruction of justice, misstatement of facts; really weak claims,” said Malofiy. “But the fact that he was never charged with killing Christopher Tur means that he got away with it. The family can’t stand to know that.”
With the civil lawsuit filed, Malofiy said he will be pushing for a deposition with Nettleton. Malofiy noted that in the criminal case, Nettleton invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and whereas there is no penalty for doing so in a criminal case, doing so in a civil case would allow the jury to draw an adverse inference — meaning they can assume he would have incriminated himself had he testified.
“If he invokes his Fifth Amendment rights, it’s a negative inference against him,” said Malofiy. “The jury can then infer that had [Nettleton] testified, it would have been against his own interests. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles this. And if he does testify, then maybe we can get some of the answers the family has been looking for over the last six years.”
Co-Defendants Named
In addition to Nettleton, Malofiy stated that Kelly Wirfel was named as a co-defendant as she was working as a civilian public affairs officer at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay at the time of Tur’s death, and Malofiy claims that she was complicit in the alleged cover-up by knowingly spreading misinformation and lying to investigators.
Wirfel has not responded to a message from North Penn Now seeking comment. Should we receive a response, it will be added to this article.
In addition to Wirfel, Tur’s ex-wife, Lara Sabanosh, was also named as a co-defendant in the wrongful death suit. Malofiy claims that Sabanosh also lied to investigators and directly conspired with Nettleton to cover up what occurred on the night of Tur’s death.
Sabanosh is set to release an upcoming book through Morgan James Publishing titled, “Caged: A True Story of Abuse, Betrayal and GTMO,” which is supposed to present her side of the story. However, Maloify told North Penn Now that he intends to sue the publisher as well.
“We want to make sure that she doesn’t receive a dime for her efforts to profit off of Christopher Tur’s death,” Malofiy said. “We’re not going to allow someone that was involved in her husband’s death to profit from it.”
North Penn Now could not secure accurate contact information for Sabanosh. However, a message left with her publisher on Monday afternoon has gone unreturned.
See also:
Hatfield Township Family To Pursue Civil Action Against Former Guantanamo Bay Base Commander
Former Navy Capt. Gets 2 Years In Prison For Obstructing Investigation Into Death Of Local Marine
Petition Launched Seeking Further Penalty For Navy Captain Involved In Death Of Local Marine
Jury Finds Navy Captain Guilty Of Lying About Death Of Local Marine At Guantanamo Bay
Family Seeks Justice In Death Of Local Marine At Guantanamo Bay
