MILTON, Fla. (Court TV) — A petty officer in the U.S. Navy faces a potential life sentence if she is convicted of murdering her husband while he was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
Bree Kristen Kuhn is charged with the homicide of Collin James Turner. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Chief Petty Officer Bree Kristen Kuhn, 37, is charged with the first-degree premeditated murder of her husband, Collin James Turner. Kuhn admitted to shooting and killing Turner on Sept. 8, 2021, but told officers that she was acting in self-defense.
Investigators said there were three calls to 911 from the couple’s Gulf Breeze home on Sept. 8 over six hours in the afternoon. Kuhn placed the first call and Turner placed the second two calls, all reporting the couple was arguing about their three children.
In the last call, Turner told the dispatcher that Kuhn had locked him in the garage. Police said there was an audible gunshot, followed by Turner saying, “She just shot me.” After three more gunshots, the line was silent. When officers arrived, Turner was dead from four gunshot wounds.
Kuhn told the first officers who arrived at the scene, “I shot him. … I just shot my husband.” While she readily admitted to firing the shots, she told detectives that Turner had wanted to take the kids and leave, and she was blocking him from entering the home. She said that Turner had kicked her foot, prompting her to open fire.
“Based on the circumstances and the physical evidence, that would indicate this was a conscious decision to kill,” State Attorney Mark Alderman said about the decision to charge Kuhn with first-degree murder.
On June 8, 2024, Kuhn’s attorney filed a notice of intent to rely on a battered spouse syndrome defense. Her attorney also filed a motion on Sept. 11, 2024, asking the judge to bar the prosecution or any of its witnesses from using the word “victim” to describe Turner.
