Following four days of trial and a courthouse closure due to Hurricane Helene, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bree Kuhn was found guilty Friday of murdering her husband in their Gulf Breeze home and sentenced to Florida’s Department of Corrections.
Kuhn, who was stationed onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola during the incident, was convicted of the first-degree premeditated murder of her husband, Collin Turner, after locking him in their garage and shooting him four times in the back during a 911 phone call on Sept. 8, 2021.
Immediately following statements from Turner’s family, Circuit Judge James Duncan sentenced Kuhn to life in a Florida state prison without the possibility of parole, the legal mandatory minimum for her charge.
Collin Turner’s parents speak in court prior to Bree Kuhn’s sentencing
After the jury was dismissed from the courtroom following the announcement of their verdict, family of the victim and defendant were allowed time to speak to the court.
“You’re honor, this is a letter I never imagined I’d have to write,” Turner’s mother, Tere, said in court Friday. “When I think of the impact the loss of Collin has had on my life, it’s difficult to put into words.
“I’ve watched my husband suffer as he misses his son,” she added.
As Tere Turner finished, her husband and Collin’s father, Donald, also spoke to the court about the impact of having his son ripped away from their family.
“Bree has deprived the world of a loving son, father, grandson and leader,” Donald Turner said through tears. “We have been so blessed with how many people reached out to us and said how Collin had impacted them in such a positive way.
“We saw the love he gave to the world, and the world desperately needs loving leaders like Collin more than ever before,” he added. “We call this God’s light in the darkness. The darkness has not won.”
Following Turner’s parents speaking, Kuhn wished to remain silent and not make a statement. Kuhn’s family in attendance also chose not to speak.
What happened between Bree Kuhn and Collin Turner on Sept. 8, 2021?
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 phone call from Kuhn at 12:53 p.m. after she and Turner got into a heated argument regarding their three children.
Deputies went to the home, but left after finding no evidence of a physical altercation.
SRSO dispatchers then received a second call at 5 p.m., this time from Turner, but when deputies arrived and found no evidence of physical abuse, they again left the premises.
Turner placed the final 911 call that night at 6:22 p.m., which was played during the trial, telling the dispatcher that Kuhn had locked him in their garage. Turner told dispatchers that his wife “tried to break his arm when he tried to get back in the residence.”
A bang was heard during the call followed by Turner yelling, “Ow!”
“What was that?” the dispatcher asked.
“She just shot me!” Turner said. The call then picks up three additional shots followed by silence.
All three of their children were home during the shooting. In 2021, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said that two of the children were taken into custody of the Department of Children and Families. Turner’s 12-year-old stepdaughter was placed with her natural father.
Bree Kuhn’s attorneys claim Collin Turner’s abuse led to the shooting
Randy Etheridge, Kuhn’s attorney alongside James Barnes, told the jury that Kuhn alleges her husband had been abusive since his medical discharge from the Marine Corps, citing his 100% disability status due to traumatic brain injury.
“He had issues with his brain, and you’re going to hear Bree say, ‘You’re unstable. You’re a danger to the kids,'” Etheridge said. “We’re not talking about a normal person here.”
The defense claims that Kuhn suffered mental, physical and even sexual abuse at the hands of Turner that began well before the defendant was stationed at NAS Pensacola.
Hoping to rely on battered spouse syndrome, the defense planned to have Kuhn and psychologist Dr. Julie Harper testify Wednesday, but a quick change in plans led to Kuhn not wanting to testify, leading the defense to not call the doctor to the stand.
Kuhn’s older brother, Eric, did testify on her behalf, saying he heard his sister talk about Turner’s abuse and heard the shooting over the phone.
“I heard a lot of discourse − Collin screaming, things being hit, at one point he was on the phone with police,” Eric Kuhn said on the stand. “I did hear his voice raised a few times, yes, and I heard children crying.”
Eric Kuhn testified in open court he knew his sister had a gun during the argument the day of the shooting, but prosecutor Mark Alderman brought up a contradiction during cross examination.
While Eric Kuhn testified to knowing his sister had a gun to defend herself and her kids from Turner, Alderman argued the witness had never made those statements during his police interview in 2021, nor in his Zoom deposition in June 2024.
When asked about the difference in his testimonies, Eric Kuhn said he told investigators about the gun before they began recording his interview, but then he made no mention of it again as not to be “redundant.”
Eric Kuhn also testified that technology issues with Zoom arose during his 2024 deposition that caused only his testimony about the gun to be unheard, nothing else.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: NAS Pensacola Chief Petty Officer Bree Kuhn convicted of murder
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