Legal Crisis for Chris Nanos: Pima County Sheriff Hit With £1m Lawsuit Amid Nancy Guthrie Probe

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, the law enforcement official leading the Nancy Guthrie investigation in Arizona, is facing a $1.35 million federal lawsuit after a jail inmate alleged that deputies exposed him to Covid-19 inside Pima County Jail. Christopher Michael Marx filed the case in the US District Court for the District of Arizona on March 5, naming Nanos and his department as defendants.

For context, the lawsuit has arrived while Nanos and his office are already under pressure over the still unresolved disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today presenter Savannah Guthrie. Newsweek and other outlets reported that Nanos has been criticised over how the inquiry has been handled, while a separate New York Post report quoted Sgt. Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, as saying the case had become an 'ego case' for the sheriff.

Inquiry Draws Fresh Scrutiny

Marx's complaint, as described by Newsweek and the New York Post, centres on a deputy who was allegedly assigned to work both a quarantined jail unit and Marx's own unit. Marx said one inmate in the other unit had Covid-19 and claimed the deputy moved back and forth between the two areas, including at mealtimes, without properly sanitising himself.

In the filing, Marx wrote that 'this deputy was going back and forth working both units' and that his own unit was locked down because the same deputy was covering both. He also alleged that the officer did not 'wipe down his body' before moving between units, leaving him repeatedly in danger.

That allegation matters because Marx is not merely complaining about poor procedure. He is accusing the sheriff's office of exposing inmates to a serious health risk inside a closed facility, where choices made by staff can have immediate consequences. In his filing, he said the conduct 'put my life in jeopardy' and added, 'I could have died.'

Fallout Reaches the Jail

The legal claim goes further than the underlying Covid allegation. According to the reports, Marx argues that Nanos and the department violated Article Two of the Arizona Constitution, described as the state's Declaration of Rights, through what he characterises as a threat to his safety and cruel and unusual punishment.

He is asking for an apology from the sheriff, for an order requiring deputies to disinfect themselves properly when moving between quarantined units, and for $1,350,000 in damages. Newsweek reported that Marx said he wanted the money donated towards housing for formerly homeless people, with six months rent free and, in his words, 'no strings attached.'

That makes the suit unusual in tone as well as in timing. The monetary demand is substantial, but the filing, at least as reported, also reads as an argument about basic jail management and responsibility from the top down.

The claims remain allegations from a court complaint, and nothing in the reporting suggests they have yet been tested in court.

Marx was reported by Newsweek to have been found guilty of shoplifting in late 2024, a detail included in the coverage of the case but not one that answers the substance of his complaint. The more awkward issue for Nanos is that the sheriff is now dealing with a separate legal challenge while still facing questions over one of Arizona's most closely watched missing-person investigations.​

Newsweek said on Monday morning that it had contacted both the sheriff's office and the lawyer listed in connection with the case for comment. The New York Post similarly reported that the Pima County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

That leaves the sheriff confronting two problems at once. One is the public scrutiny over Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. The other is a federal lawsuit from inside his own jail, based on the blunt claim that those responsible for inmate safety failed to take obvious precautions when Covid entered the building.