DA comments on 18-year sentence for Pueblo man convicted in girlfriend’s killing

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- After pleading guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping charges, 37-year old Nathan Turner was sentenced to serve 18 years in the Department of Corrections by a Pueblo Judge on Monday in connection with the death of his 33-year old girlfriend, Nicole Stephenson.

According to Pueblo County's District Attorney Jeff Chostner, Turner pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge, for which he was sentenced to 12 years, and kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to six years.  The two convictions will run consecutively, totaling 18 years in prison.

On Jan. 27, 2020, Pueblo Police officers responded to the 2200 block of Norwich Avenue for a potentially deceased female. Officers located Nicole Stephenson bleeding and bruised throughout her body, according to court documents. Stephenson was treated for weeks at local hospitals but passed away three weeks later from her injuries.

Turner was originally charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and a number of other charges. These charges were dismissed.

Gabrielle Skubal, a family friend of Nicole Stephenson, is opposed to Monday's sentencing and spoke with NewsChannel 13 over the phone.

"This was not manslaughter, it was murder," said Skubal. "This isn't justice. The DA could've tried a lot harder."

In a plea agreement, Turner plead guilty to both manslaughter and kidnapping in connection to Stephenson's death.

Before Turner's trial, Chostner says the DA's expert medical witness could not conclusively say the blow administered by Turner was the specific cause of death, only that Turner's blow contributed to the cause of death. Due to this, Chostner said manslaughter, not murder, was the appropriate charge based on the facts of the case.

"The evidence that we thought we had initially that Mr. Turner was the sole cause of death was simply not there. What we needed was medical evidence that would say the blow administered by Mr. Turner was the cause of death [in order to pursue murder]," said Chostner. "We did not have medical evidence from our own witness that would say that."

Chostner points out to KRDO, his office was able to obtain a maximum sentence on the charges they instituted.

"I understand from a moral point of view that perhaps this defendant and perhaps other defendants who are the beneficiary of a plea don't receive perhaps morally what they should," said Chostner. "But you have to go with the facts and the circumstances of the case and how the law is applied. We prosecuted this case as aggressively as we could with the facts that we had."