Prosecutors say ex-deputy feigned attack after killing his son-in-law
Retired Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Carlton Nebergall pretended to be in harm’s way moments after he intentionally gunned down his son-in-law last year, prosecutors said Wednesday.
But Neberall, 63, claims he fired in self-defense outside his home when he killed Jacob Lodge, 36. Neberall is charged with first-degree murder.
“You’ll hear this from the different neighbors that Mr. Nebergall’s saying, ‘Help, help, I’m being attacked,’ after he had already shot and killed Mr. Lodge,” Assistant State Attorney Lauren Godden said in her opening statement to the jury.
Nebergall’s career in law enforcement will not be shared with the panel — to avoid potential bias — under an order by Circuit Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen.
On the night of Feb. 19, 2018, Lodge pulled up in his SUV to exchange children’s clothes with his wife Katrina, who, with their young sons, had been staying at her father’s house in The Acreage.
Nebergall then stormed out of his house and cursed at Lodge to get off the property, the prosecutor said. Nebergall first fired a “warning shot” toward the sky, and moments later pulled the trigger again, hitting Lodge in the forehead.
“This is not a case of selfdefense, but of offense,” said Godden. “Mr. Lodge was an unarmed man in the middle of the roadway … when the defendant Carlton Nebergall initiated and decided to fatally kill him.”
But defense attorney Michael Salnick contended that Nebergall was scared he was about to be killed by a violent man with a gun.
“Carlton Nebergall believed at that moment Jacob Lodge was armed and was going to hurt him,” Salnick said. “And in that moment he fired a shot to defend himself. He fired to protect his own life and unfortunately it was a shot that killed Jacob Lodge.”
Nebergall will testify in his trial, and he will explain to the jury why he came to fear the man who was then legally separated from his daughter, Katrina, Salnick said.
Nebergall’s lawyer said Lodge had a lengthy criminal record, including charges of kidnapping and robbery, and had been ordered by a court to steer clear of Nebergall and his property.
“Mr. Lodge had a dark, violent side to him that at times caused him to act like an animal,” Salnick said, adding that Nebergall did a criminal background check on Lodge when he was dating his daughter.
Salnick highlighted several prior incidents that caused Nebergall to be wary:
Lodge was accused of burglary and battery for breaking into a home and hitting the owners with a baseball bat.
Lodge was arrested for “strong armed robbery” and aggravated battery over the theft of a wallet.
Lodge was once accused of attacking and robbing a woman as she slept in her car. He “threatened to kill her if she looked at him,” Salnick said, adding that Lodge also threatened to
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Lodge once grabbed his wife’s girlfriend by the throat, threatened to kill her, and punched her in the head.
“Mr. Nebergall knew that Mr. Lodge had even attacked his own mother,” Salnick said, adding that Lodge had bragged about having mixed martial arts training and buying a gun.
“As a father and as a grandfather, Carl was genuinely afraid for himself, his daughter and his grandchildren when things escalated” before the shooting, Salnick said.
Still, Nebergall had tried to help out his son-in-law at times, having once saved his life during a “medical emergency,” letting him live in the home, helping him buy a car, the defense told the jury.
But in 2017, Lodge pleaded guilty to two counts of pawning Nebergall’s rings and tools as his own the previous year. He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to have no contact with his father-in-law.
Godden, the prosecutor, said that’s why Lodge didn’t park in the driveway on the night of the shooting, and had been having a cordial conversation with his wife.
Godden said Nebergall came outside screaming at Lodge, “who, the evidence will show, did not pose a threat to Mr. Nebergall.”