Former Navy commander jailed for lying in Guantanamo Bay drowning case

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A former US Navy commander was jailed for two years for lying about a drunken fight with a Guantanamo Bay base worker who later turned up dead.

Retired Navy Captain John Nettleton was sentenced more than five years after the death of Christopher Tur, whose body was found floating in the bay.

Nettleton was not charged over Tur’s death but was convicted earlier this year on six counts of obstruction of justice and lying to officials.

The veteran combat helicopter pilot had commanded the base, which is separate from the detention facility where terrorism suspects are held, since 2012.

He was removed from command after Mr Tur, 42, was found dead off the southeastern coast of Cuba in 2015.

Nettleton’s trial heard that he and Mr Tur, a civilian who moved to the base in 2011, had got into a fight inside the officer’s home after a night of drinking at the base’s officer’s club.

Mr Tur, who worked at the base’s main shopping complex, had accused Nettleton at the club of having an affair with his wife and later confronted him at the home.

In court papers Nettleton’s daughter confirmed she saw the fight and that Mr Tur had left the home, but he was not seen alive again.

Nettleton later lied to his superior officer about the affair but federal prosecutors in Jacksonville, Florida, said that it had happened, and Mr Tur’s wife confirmed it during her testimony.

The trial heard that an autopsy found Mr Tur died from drowning but had suffered fractured ribs before he entered the water and had a cut head.

Authorities say that Mr Tur’s blood was found at Nettleton’s home at the base and on a paper towel in the garden.

A friend of Mr Tur’s reported getting a call from him in which he said he was at Nettleton’s home and had “just knocked the skipper out.”

Prosecutors said that after Mr Tur disappeared Nettleton failed to tell searchers that he was last seen at his home and mislead them that he was last seen at the club.

Mr Tur’s family had wanted a much more severe sentence and federal prosecutors had asked a judge for up to 46 months in prison.

Nettleton’s lawyers argued that he could not be found guilty of any of the charges merely for violating provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice or for violating any Navy regulations.