A former Lamoille County deputy sheriff who was accused of improperly questioning a murder suspect while transporting him to trial has been indicted on three felony charges.
Christopher Turner, 43, of Johnson, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lamoille County Superior criminal court in Hyde Park to two counts of obstruction of justice and a single charge of false swearing.
It appears from the three-count indictment that only one of the charges relates to the trial of Seth Brunell, who was accused of killing Hinesburg resident Fern Feather. The other charges against Turner appear to involve alleged conduct months earlier. A grand jury returned the indictment in April and it was made public this week.
News of the charges was first reported online Wednesday by freelance journalist Michael Donoghue.
Attorney Leonard Milligan III, representing Turner, said in an emailed statement Thursday that the case was in its early stages and there was still a lot to learn about the allegations.
“But what I do know is that we intend to vigorously defend the allegations in the courtroom,” Milligan said in the statement, adding that his client maintains his innocence. Milligan asked the public to afford Turner “the time and grace needed to make his fight where it should be made — in the courtroom.”
Turner was released Wednesday on conditions, including that he keep the court informed of his address.
The indictment comes more than a year after a trial for Brunell got underway in April 2025. That trial eventually ended in a plea deal after allegations arose that Turner asked Brunell questions related to the case while taking him from jail to the courthouse.
The actions led Brunell’s attorney to call for a mistrial, arguing that her client’s rights were violated. The prosecution then cut a plea deal with Brunell, who had been facing a charge of second-degree murder in the 2022 stabbing death of Feather, a transgender woman, in Morristown. Feather’s killing led to an outpouring of grief and condemnation across Vermont.
Under the plea deal, Brunell pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter with no additional prison time and was released on probation. Brunell had been jailed since his arrest shortly after the killing in 2022.
Turner has since been fired from the sheriff’s department, according to Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux.
Grand jury indictments in Vermont are rare, typically reserved for high-profile or complicated cases. The proceedings are held in secret.
Lamoille County State’s Attorney Aliena Gerhard said Thursday that due to grand jury rules there was little she could say about the matter. She added, “Generally speaking, I choose to do grand juries on certain cases where I believe that direct community involvement is really important.”
The indictment in Turner’s case contains only one-paragraph descriptions of the allegations related to each of the charges, providing limited information.
One of the obstruction of justice charges does allege that Turner “corruptly endeavored to obstruct or impede the due administration of justice” in Brunell’s trial.
However, it’s not clear from the descriptions of two of the charges how, or whether, they relate to the Brunell case. Both of those charges date back to 2024, well before the Brunell trial, with one of them alleging that Turner provided a false statement under oath. The indictment does not specifically detail what statement was false.
Typically, in state cases brought in Vermont, a multipage police affidavit describing an incident is filed in support of a charge, and a judge determines whether there is probable cause to formally charge a person. That does not happen in a grand jury indictment.
The next hearing in Turner’s case is set for Aug. 3.
