The Verdict and Sentencing

Best thing that's ever happened to you financially. Go. Easy. Sold my car on Carvana. Amazing offer. Really? I hit two hundred on the scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No. How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on carvana d. com Once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly inexplicably good Offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick upp these may apply I come from a small town the farm community I people think, well, you have the right to raise your child. How you want what goes on behind closed doors, stays there. That's what we were always told in my family. Whatever goes on here, you better not ever tell anyone The mystery of what really went on here in this middle class house in Antwerp, Ohio is at the heart of an unspeakable crime. A beloved father lies dead. His daughter, Mindy, a high school cheerleader, is in jail, awaiting trial for killing him in cold blood. I had said before you know out of anger, I could kill him. But not a murderer. She doesn't deserve to be there. We, myself, as a parent should have saved her. And I didn't So packing up at her Indianapolis home. We'll get up there tonight. I'll take Mindy her clothes. Mindy's mother Sirley Berei is preparing for the fight of her life. courourt starts tomorrow morning. She'll be taking the stand at her daughter's murder trial to explain what happened. She was still daddy's little angel there a father daughter relationship That had once seemed magic. She loved him to death and he loved her to death. Shirley met her future husband, mechanic Andy Bereni in high school. I just turned eighteen and Andy wasn't quite seventeen. They married just six weeks later when Shirley learned she was pregnant with another man's child. You must have felt like he was rescuing you Basically. But after fifteen years and three children, the marriage fell apart. I truly believe deep down he loved us He just didn't know how at all Dpressed and dispirited, Siry gave up custody of teenagers Steve and Scott and of six year old Mindy. He told them that I was the one that wanted to leave That I didn't love them. Did you want to go live with your dad Yeah, I did It' a good life at first. It wasn't long, Mindy says before life with the father she adored became a living hell. He would have me go in his room with him And he would have me massage him first. And things started then. Things started, what do you mean? Like having me touch him and telling me that, you know no one loves me like he does. And how old were you aboutout eight And when she rejected him, she says, He just started to hate me almost. I felt like Her father began abusing her emotionally. What's wrong with you? Why are you so goddamn stupid? You're a whor Here's a sl You're never gonna amount to anything. You make me sick Her older brothers eventually left home. Her father remarried. Mindy became a teenager and wanted her freedom. I wanted to go spend night with my girlfriends and talk to boys on the phone. I guess I wanted to do the things that every other teenager must to do. That's when she says Andy Bereni became impossibly controlling. I got a job at McDonald's And he kept a log of the ometer. He knew exactly how many miles it was to and from my job. He searched her room and more. He recorded my phone calls. He locked up the phones when he wasn't home If I was talking on the phone and he didn't like it, he rip the phone out of the wall. Grab me by the neck and choke me throw me against the wall. Now sixteen years old. It just kept getting worse and worse. Mindy found out she was pregnant She would later miscarry, but she didn't know that then. How did you think this was going to play out It would kill me On the afternoon of september twenty seventh, nineteen ninety five, Mindy came home to discover her father had searched her room again This time, he had found her ashtray. I just got really scared. He hadd just told me the night before that if he caught me smoking again, it would be the last time And then I started to think about being pregnant, what he was going to do? It just kind of built up. She broke into her father's bedroom and took his shotgun. She was going to kill herself, she says I went into the bathroom because I figured if I messed up and I didn't kill myself, I didn't want to get in trouble for making a mess on the wall. What stopped you? Every time I got ready to pull the trigger, I just all I could think of was when I was pregnant So then I just decided I couldn't But before she had a chance to put the gun back, Mindy says, herer father came home from work Right when he opened the door, he hllered, Where the hell are you? I just got really scared, really angry. I just screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn't. The next thing I remember is him turning around and looking at me I just, o my go, dad I'm sorry Mindy Pereni insists she killed her father in self defense. To convince a jury of that, she will use the risky and rarely successful battered child defense. She claimed physical, but especially emotional abuse, abuse that left her in such terror of her father that one look from him that night Sent her over the edge. She killed her father. She shot him, but she didn't murder him. Mindy's attorney Larry Dabio. What would you call this? Self defense, pure and simple. At that particular time, in her mind There was a perception of imminent danger, of fear. But a huge problem for the defense is that Mindy told no one, not one soul about the abuse until after the killing. Nobody's known about it until now. She didn't tell anyone. She never told anybody. I was scared. I didn't trust anyone Why didn't we see something wrong even there compared to what she used to be? In hindsight, Shirley clearly remembers her daughter's cries for help. She'd called me. she said, Mom, you're not listening to me I mean Clear, you're not listening to me. I can't take this And I said, OK, Mindy, we'll get help. But nothing, Mindy told her mother she came close to the abuse she now describes. She would say he yells at me all the time. He won't let me do anything, that kind of thing. But other than that, no. Looking back, Shirley says she should have understood what really was going on. I should have known Because she says she experienced exactly the same kind of abuse at the hands of her ex husband. He used intimidation, threats. and violence to control you Did he physically beat you? He didn't beat me. He would choke me, slam me against the wall. You can get beat and the pain goes away. It takes you years and years to get over somebody making you feel Like you don't want to live She left her three children with him because she says she had no choice. I was afraid of him. She never dreamed Mindy would become his next target. I never believed that he would do it to her too because she was his little princess There's no excuse for me leaving her there. Can you ever stop blaming yourself Maybe when she's home, maybe She was just as afraid as I was. so She understands my fear and I understand hers. An earlier trial ended in a mistrial. So this time, Shirley will have her last chance to fight for her daughter's life in court. I really believe in two to three weeks, Mindy will be home Where's she bel It's a heart wrenching tale, but is any of it true? He was a great father. He wasn't a child abuser. Andy's family tells a totally different story. You see she was just lying all the time running away Of an out of control teenager who cut down her father in cold blood Let's be honest, traditional banks have a habit of hitting you with overdraft and monthly fees. and those costs can really add up when you're just trying to manage your own money. But Chime is changing the way people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee free banking built for you, not the one percent. Chime has thousands of fee free ATMs Because you shouldn't pay to access your own money. and ChimMe members can benefit from up to one thousandven hundred and fifty dollars in annual rewards completely fee free. 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But his second wife, Jonie, still cherishes every memory with every glimpse of the river behind their house. We had a pontoon The weekends we go on the pontoon When Men did'd go, he'd pull her on a tube and she'd go tubing in the river They married in nineteen ninety two. Joni helped raise Mindy from the time she was eight. She was a sweet little girl. I loved her as my own. And Joni says that as the only other person actually in the house watching it all unfold, only she knows the true relationship between Mindy and Andy Bary He was a great father. He was not a child abuse. That is the issue here. Right. abbsolutely.. D A true statement. She says Andy was nothing like the monster Mindy and her mother described. Andy was a strict parent, but he wasn not an abusive parent. Lady you ask almost ninety nine percent of the people that knew Andy and I I would bet you anything that you would not find one man that says anything against Andy. Andy's parents, Bill and Ruby, live just two doors away. Looks like rain coming in, don't it? And would frequently drop by the house. And here Now this is Mindy. What do you think of when you see this picture today? Sadness It just remind me of what Mindy was and what Mindy is. The sweet little girl that Mindy used to be was replaced overnight, they say, by a teenager they hardly knew. You have to realize what kind of a girl you're working with. She's not an ordinary teenager, no way. Mindy's grandparents and her aunt, Linda Cos Describe a sixteen year old headed for disaster. You see, she was just lying all the time. Do drugs, running out of the house, running away. stealing his car and a father desperately trying to save her. He was protecting her from the consequences of her own actions. That's the reason Jonie says for the strict rules Andy imposed on his daughter. She says she locked up the phones Yes, he did do that. She was calling friends in Indianapolis and making arrangements to run away. Check the odometer on the car. And yes, he did that after she had skkipped work one day, go through her room looking for things He would look for cigarettes. he didn't like her smoking. In the months leading up to the killing, Jonie kept a diary chronicling Mindy's misbehavior.Quite a bit in there. The many times that she snuck out of the house and just the lying on where she was going and who she was going. G aheadules,. It was to the point where you didn't believe a word that she even said. I was completely out of control. I became afraid of her. She was the way she talked to her dad. She was so mean to him It was just tearing his heart apart Yet in all those years, Joni says she only saw Andy lose his temper once. She called him a very bad name, which he flew hot and he grabbed her by the throat. But that was the only time that he ever touched her. And as far as emotional abuse In terms of calling her names, belittling her, telling her she was worth nothing. That was not true As for any sexual abuse. Did she tell you any of that? No, and I do not believe it Johny, your testimony in this is so important because there were just the two of you in that house. Right The jury is going to look at this and determine that one or the other of you is lying Right And it's her. It was Jonie who walked in on a distraught Mindy that night. I walked into Mindy with a gun to her head first thing she said was I shot daddy's dad. She says her first thought was to get the gun out of Mindy's hand. I convinced her to go out in the kitchen and sit down and smoke a cigarette. Andy's body lay just a few feet away. Did you realize he was dead? There was twice I had seen him. the first time I hadd seen the pool of blood. And then the next time he hadn't moved. so Yeah I knew then She finally got Mindy into the car, unarmed, and drove to the sheriff's department, where Mindy tearfully confessed This is kind chaple . that was how it look. So I told him I was going around about some way because I was gonna come with him The next day Ruby Berei did something perhaps only a mother could do. She cleaned up her son's blood There was last I could do for him. Not to have strangers in here, but for me to do that Now the close knit family that once counted Mindy among its own will face off against her in court. Convinced that this was murder pure and simple. Do you believe that she actually sat down and planned it ahead of time?? I think she planned it. I absolutely think she knew what she was gonna do. She shows no remorse She can't be sorry and tell lies at the same time. For her to murder him and then come back and do this. Like murdering any a second time's hard Hey it's Jen Hatmaker. H's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for the Love is all about. The sacred yes. It's choosing delight, rest, and pleasure on purpose because saying yes to yourself That's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred yes with me. Follow and listen to For the Love wherever you get your podcasts Who is the abused Who is the abuser? J is the criminal was a victim. hold the corridors on two. That'. All right It's day one of Mindy Bereni's murder trial in Lima, Ohio. Y can help you. Larry Galabio, Mindy Berni's lawyer. And her lawyer is feeling the pressure She's a good kid. She should be out. She doesn't deserve to be in jail. But twenty year old Mindy faces life in prison unless a jury believes her risky defense that she was a battered child Sleep last night? Battered not just physically, but emotionally. We're just gonna tell them the facts. We're gonna tell them the truth Battered until at sixteen, she had no choice but to kill her father, Andy. If I had said, Dad, I need your help, I'm pregnant He would have killed me or you would have beaten me very badly that day. So you think you did the only thing? Yes She must realize what she has done. It's the most heinous act Andy's family and his second wife, Jonie, hope the jury will see Mindy as they now do as a calculating killer with a story concocted Get away with murder. Before the trial begins, Mindy and her main ally, her mother Shiry Meet in a private back room. The counsel for the state may make his opening statement. Ladies and gentlemen, State prosecutor Joseph Burkard. Mindy Berei is guilty of aggravated murder, and there's no legal excuse for her to walk away from this crime. Mindy's story, he says, is pure fabrication. This is a poem that Mindy wrote. and on the bottom there's a knife with a heart and there's blood dripping off the knife This is what Mindy's thoughts were. This is truly who Mindy was. She planned this murder, he insists, fromr the moment she broke into Andy's bedroom to steal the gun. This is Andy Brney's master bedroom. If indeed she intended to kill herself Burkhart wonders Why then she went to the kitchen bathroom. Rather than going to this bathroom, which is located next to the master bedroom. traveled across the house here to this small bathroom loocated off the kitchen And that's where she sat for about an hour before her father came home. That bathroom was the perfect spot. the prosecutor says for Mindy to lie in waits. Mindy is in here Andy comes through this door. Yes. doctor Mahandy has been marked the state's exhibit number In court Burkard also highlights how Mindy's claim of self defense makes no sense given how Andy Bereni died. The cause of death was a shotguns last to the left back. Mindy shot her father in the back. We have a man that's standing forty feet away. We have a teenager in the middle of the room with a shotgun There's no confrontation, no verbal exchange, no physical exchange prior to the shooting. But jurors can buy the prosecution scenario and still not convict if they accept the battered child theory. If they really believe Mindy feared for her very life The thing that's real critical is what did Mindy perceive was happening at the time that she shot her father? She says she was terrified She said that she was totally pissed She said that she was mad. She was angry. Remember this I the gver this happen Far has never come into the equation until much later When all of a sudden, o, I was a fearful of my father. Raise your right hand. After two days, the prosecution wraps up its case. withith testimony from Mindy's stepmother, Jonie, who concurs, Mindy would go toe to toe in arguments with her father The defense has a lot of work ahead. Burgker said he wanted to argue it. Hopefully we can show that Andy was the aggressor, that Andy created the confrontation. Hopefully the jury will see that The next day, I'm a nervous record now. What's wriding on this t? My daughter's life. at this time, the defense would call Shirley, Berie. My biggest fear is that I am not going to be able to get this through to the jury. Shirley testifies that during their marriage, Andy was violent and abusive to her and their two sons Our normal humiliation and verbal beating place was at the kitchen table. He would make us sit there and for hours. and I mean hours But he never turned his wrath on Mindy By age fifteen, however, she called me crying and said Please, M Please, I can't take this anymore. Did she ever tell you anything specific about any bad things that Andy was doing to her at that time? No. So Sirley left her there. She made one comment Please don't do this to me, Mob But you did. Y. After that, D Labio says Mindy fell apart. She was diagnosed as depressed, suicidal, and homicidal. She spent nine days in a hospital, but still told no one about the abuse. The fear of going back there anyway, and then having told everyone. just far outweighed the risk of telling and maybe I wouldn't have to go back. So doctors released her to the one person she was trying to escape Her father, it was like A turning point for me, I just didn't care about myself anymore. That's when the Lbbio says her drinking and drug use escalated, and she was running away. The last time I tried to run away was when social services became involved. Social services in the person of child abuse investigator, Laura Alvarado. Our agents received a call from a father who was upset and was having some problems with his daughter But when Alvarado interviewed her, she sided with Mindy. I didn't feel the child was an unuly child. I fel that the child was troubled by what was going on in the home. In your investigation, did you see signs of phhysical or emotional abuse emotional abuse. Again, Mindy pleaded for help. She said, if my mother doesn't want me and doesn't want anything to do with me, then I'm willing to go to a military school, fer foster home. But Mindy was a minor and what to do was Andy's decision A week before the killing, when Alvarado saw Mindy for the last time she just It didn't open up as much, and it was like she had just given up and she was not disclosing anymore. Thank you very much. I have no further questions. Because says Dabo, Mindy by then had given up hope. As he heads out to the jail two nights later. Big date. Corton datesmr He must make sure she doesn't lose hope again. Midy's credibility is going to be big tomorrow It mean a li The jury Caesar. Mindy will testify tomorrow have nothing to lie about. And that means stealing herself to relive the abuse that she says drove her to kill it's going be put yourself there Put yourself there. as it might be to talk about it get down to it like nothing more than to go home. To be someone, to raise children When you shot your father Yeah. so Is there a price for that I think every day I look in the mirror and didn't know that. It's a pretty tough price to pay I hope that's enough. That was our only son. Y. It's four years to the day since Andy Bereni was killed. What's been the toughest part? Just being without my husband. And ironically, today, Andy's killer, his daughter, Mindy, will finally take the stand at her murder trial What is the possible sentence here should she be convicted? She could face thirty three years to life in prison. Her testimony is crucial. It's up to Mindy to convince the jury that her father abused her for years. although she never told anyone about the abuse until after she killed him. I know what the truth is and I hope that they see the truth too hope they see through her lies Here at this time, we would call Mindy Brinie. As Mindy prepares to take the stand, her mother Sirly is worried. She has told a story so many times. Raise your right hand. At some point, you start to toughen toward that hurt.. I think sometimes they want to see that emotional breakdown Yeah, I'm word Mindy, you said you would go home from the bar. What happened then? Mindy begins by recounting the years of abuse. F se would tell me to massage the back of his knee. Then he would roll over. Then verbal. He said nothing but it got be a worthless slut, just like your mother. Then physical. That's when he picked me up by my hair started slamming my head against the door. Abuse that she says left her in fear of her life. Aere there threats threats every day jerking me around every day. I never knew what he was going to do. The jury' no excuse for about ten minutes. During a break in a private back room, our attorney worries, Mindy isn't getting her story across. I't think you have to bow when you're out there and react. okay? Don't feel like you have to sit there and narrate the story, Okay, justust tell me exactly the way it happened Oh God, Larie, I can't remember what those arguments were like. I mean, they were so kind of happened every day. I don't know how to explain it. I just explore how it happened.. I can't say, well, this is what happened this time because I can remember you would say just say say that he would just turn on and hit me. You know that noise he would makeise try to follow me a little more this time. but I'm trying Okay you picked up the gun and then you walked over to the bathroom, which is marked C on Stateatess exhibit one, cororrect? During cross examination, prosecutor Burkckard reminds the jury that on the day of the murder, Mindy went out of her way to get to the kitchen bathroom. Why didn't you go to the bathroom that was right next to the bedroom? Because I got into the shower because I figured it'd be easier to clean up. And although Mindy claims she killed her father in self defense. It' just approximately how far away from your father are you? About this far? He was forty feet away from her. When she shot him in the back. And you used this twelve gaitge shotgun to shoot your father in the back, didn't you? Yeah I no other questions. Before she gets off the stand, Larry gets one more chance to question, Mindy. mister Burkhard showed you a number of drawings that you have. You said that that's a heart with a knife going through. Right. What did that represent? Just I felt like my heart was broken. I felt a lot of pain. was The pain of an abused child Ient on committing suicide that day. But every time I got ready to do it, I couldn't because I knew I was pregnant and I just I didn't want to kill my baby too. She spends six grueling hours on the stand Fine bab. You did find they believe you. Yes they do believe you It's going to be It's just no, no, no, it's just going to be it's just going to be how they're going to listen to all those things and how they're going to interpret all those things. You did a fine job. Okay, You did the best you could, you did alm all that you could. Okay I don't think it work. I think it work. you can tell was. If you think it went bad, I won't even tell me any other I preared for the wor. lookook, if I thought it went bad, I would say it went bad. okay? You certainly don't think it went great No theyob be doing great. But one unexpected observer was moved by her testimony. Jill Harris, a juror from Mindy's first murder trial, has driven miles to be here. I just felt that I connected with her some way and I should be there. just to show support that someone cares. The first jury's deliberations were tense of Screaming, a lot of crying, a lot of walking the floor. An anonymous call to a juror forced a mistrial. But not before the jury came to its own conclusion about Mindy. Did your jury believe her story? Most of us, ye. I believed that she did suffer from depression and Better childilde syndrome. And the first vote was leaning in her favor. Seven of us wanted acquittal. Really? Yes. counsel for the defendant me calls next witness. Concluding his case, Larry DeLavio calls psychiatrist doctor Kathleen Quinn. She was profoundly depressed. She says Mindy clearly showed signs of post traumatic stress J the hearing of his footstep or hearing him crack open a beer would make her feel scared about the next confrontation On that fateful day, her fears intensified. He had searched her room again. She was pregnant. Her father didn't know that. She had taken a gun out of his room. D did Mindy Brinney perceived that she was in danger of suffering imminent death or great bodily harm at the hands of her father the day that she shot him Yes, she did. Thank you very much, doctor. I have no further questions In rebuttal, the prosecutor calls his own expert doctor Barbara McIntyre. Did you see Mindy Brening being fearful of her father? No, I did not. This was a young woman who consistently defied her father, swore him, called him names, threatened to kill him. Her diagnosis miss Brreny did not meet the criteria to be considered as suffering from batter child syndrome But the prosecutor has saved his most damaging witnesses for last The only other people who knew what it was like to grow up in that house. All my life. I saw them experience it. We talked about it. Your Honor, we would next call Steve Beri. Mindy's brothers Steve and Scott. You solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give in this case They refuse to have their testimony taped But they say that no abuse Please They said it didn't happen But neither one of them would look me in the eye dealing with a situation like that in a close family and a close knit community, you deny abuse Ill have a real tough time forgiving them for this. Real tough time The verdict, when forty eight hours returns. This is the culmination of all the work all the time. Two weeks after Mindy Bereni's murder trial began, it's time for the jury to decide her fate. know. Okay, Let's do it. E of this. Okay. getet out thes. Okay. The question, did she cold bloodedly plan her father's murder? Mindy Bereny removed the final hurdle in the hurdle was Andy Bereny Or did she kill him in self defense? She had an honest belief that she was in imminent danger of great bodily harm that her dad was finally gonna to break. After years of abuse. You have the ability, ladies and gentlemen, to send Mindy back to her mother At this time, the jury is excused to start their deliberations. While the jury deliberates, did a wonderful job. Okay, you guys help. Mindy is returned to her cell. I think coming home . But it's a huge gamble. By choosing not to accept a plea agreement, she could be convicted of aggravated murder Mindy is being tried as an adult, so a guilty verdict could mean life. By contrast, if the jury buys her story, she could simply walk out of here. For now, all anyone can do is wait. P around The waiting. You gotta wonder what twelve people are thinking I hope they can tell who's lying and who's not lying. They had to saw Scott, Steve, all the lies Jonie's toold that she got calledu in Who knows And it's up to them, basically. It nuts that mom can't be here And that's the scary part I hang out a little bit upstairs, think some more else. Don't be going too long.' there. there After twenty four nerve wracking hours. We did have a verdict. The nine woman three man jury reaches a verdict. Hello babe With her boyfriend Dave at her side, Shirley braces herself. As does the family of Andy Barany. B. Guilty of agated murder. Mindy is found guilty of the most serious charge