JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After seven days of testimony and more than a dozen witnesses, the fate of a former Navy captain is in the hands of a jury of 12.
The 11-woman, one-man jury heard closing arguments in the case of John Nettleton, 54, the former commander of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. He is accused of obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators following the disappearance and death of Christopher Tur, 42, a civilian worker on base.
Prosecutors say the captain concealed an extramarital affair with Tur’s wife, and a bloody clash with Tur the night he disappeared after he accused Nettleton of sleeping with his wife.
Nettleton isn’t charged in Tur’s death, but he is accused of stonewalling investigators searching for Tur, whose body was found two days later, floating in the waters of Guantanamo Bay.
Nettleton testified over two days that he couldn’t remember key moments from the night in question, but insisted he was “honest and forthright.”
“I’m not lying,” he told jurors.
Prosecutor Peter Nothstein accused Nettleton of “convenient amnesia” and said he was desperate to conceal the affair from his wife and avoid a possible court-martial.
He noted adultery violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice because “It hurts good order and discipline” Nothstein said. “This is a good example of why.”
“The truth caught up with him in this court,” Nothstein told jurors. “The truth he was trying to hide from his superiors, from law enforcement and his wife.”
Nettleton’s attorney Colby Vokey countered that while his client made mistakes, he never actively blocked the investigation. He told jurors to look not at Nettleton’s failings, but his intent.
“Captain Nettleton is not guilty of every single one of these counts,” he said. He urged jurors to “send a message that the justice system needs to be fair. We don’t like manipulation, and we don’t like the hiding of evidence.”
Jurors will begin deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday.