Horse trainer Michael Barisone has rejected a plea bargain that would have limited the time he will otherwise have to spend in prison if convicted on attempted murder and weapon possession charges.
That decision by the defendant, who was the alternate for the 2008 Olympic dressage team, was made public in a court hearing today. It means he will go on trial later this month in Morristown, N.J., where he is being held in the Morris County Correctional facility in lieu of bail.
He is accused of shooting his student, Lauren Kanarek, in the chest at point-blank range, as a feud between the two and her boyfriend, Rob Goodwin, reached a boiling point on Aug. 7, 2019.
Barisone wanted them to leave the house where they had been living on his Long Valley N.J., farm. He repeatedly called local police, asking for help in evicting the couple due to what were called threats of physical harm and property destruction in a civil lawsuit filed on his behalf against the Long Valley department last year. The suit ultimately was thrown out.
Michael Barisone
Barisone’s criminal attorney, Edward Bilinkas, told Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor during an online hearing that there were “issues between Mr. Barisone and Miss Kanarek and some other people who, basically they had gone on, I would argue, a rampage to try to destroy him and threaten him. ”
Bilinkas added Barisone had called the police in connection with the situation numerous times.
“There are all sorts of factors indicating Mr. Barisone was in fear of his life and that this woman and the people surrounding her were dangerous and made threats upon his life.”
Barisone, 57, has been incarcerated since he was released from the hospital after his arrest. He had been treated for various injuries following a fight in which Goodwin’s arm was broken after the shooting that left Kanarek in critical condition.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn was on hand during the proceedings, in which Barisone participated from the jail.
The judge told Barisone, “Needless to say, you are facing a very severe state prison sentence if you are convicted of any of these offenses.” He then asked “Do you understand that?” to which Barisone replied, “Yes, sir.”
The plea offer involved dropping one count of attempted murder and one of the weapons charges. On the attempted murder count, the state would recommend a sentence of 10 years, with no possibility of parole for 8 and a half years and a few days. It also called for a sentence of 10 years on the weapons count, but it would run concurrently.
The judge warned Barisone that if he goes to trial and is found guilty of all charges, he faces the possibility of 20 years imprisonment on each of the two attempted murder counts for a total maximum of 40 years, plus an additional 10 years on each of the two weapons charges for an additional maximum of 20 years.
The judge asked Barisone if it was his decision to reject the plea offer, to which Barisone again replied in the affirmative. Then the judge asked, “Do you understand that means there will be no further plea negotiations and you would have to go to trial on these counts? And you understand therefore that if you are convicted at the trial, you would likely receive a much more severe sentence than the current plea offer?”
Barisone again concurred.
The judge questioned Bilinkas about his plan to mount an insanity and self-defense case on Barisone’s behalf.
“They’re alternative defenses?” said the judge.
Bilinkas replied, “I would label them as consistent with each other. ”
The judge questioned him about this, saying, “How can a person who’s insane raise a self-defense case? Isn’t it a reasonable belief that deadly force is necessary to protect yourself?”
Bilinkas cited a state Supreme Court case that mandates those defenses be tried at the same time.
“The state’s expert is saying that everything Mr. Barisone said happened to him by Lauren Kanarek did in fact happen and would cause a reasonable type person to be in some type of fear. Our experts are saying that attack upon him caused him to have a mental breakdown and that mental breakdown, he believed, he was delusional, he was in fear for his life at the moment he fired his weapon,” Bilinkas.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 21, with the trial to follow. It is estimated it will take four weeks, with dozens of witnesses, including psychiatric experts, expected to be called.