Dressage trainer Michael Barisone’s state of mind in the days before the shooting of Lauren Kanarek was a focal point as his attempted murder trial entered its fourth day in Morristown, N.J.
His former student and tenant, who was shot twice in the chest on Aug. 7, 2019, said under cross-examination by defense attorney Edward Bilinkas that she never threatened Barisone or his girlfriend, Mary Haskins Gray. But when Bilinkas asked about characterizing her social media posts on the subject of Barisone, she conceded, “they could be perceived as threatening.”
Lauren Kanarek on the witness stand.
Was her intention to scare Barisone, Bilinkas questioned.
“Maybe at a point,” replied Kanarek, who also conceded she had written a text saying “Michael is scared,” and indicated to Bilinkas that Barisone was afraid of her father, a retired attorney.
Kanarek and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, lived rent-free at a farmhouse on Barisone’s Hawthorne Hill farm in Long Valley, N.J. They paid $2,500 in board per month for each of two horses, while Goodwin did carpenter work on the house and barn to cover the fees for other horses Lauren owned.
Things went sour between the couples during the summer, and the whole farm became embroiled in the toxic atmosphere.
Michael Barisone in happier days at his Hawthorne Hill Farm. (Photo © 2009 by Nancy Jaffer)
Goodwin said Barisone told the staff not to communicate with him and Kanarek. That boiled over when an employee didn’t respond to Kanarek’s concern about a dryer in the stable that wouldn’t turn off, which she saw as a fire hazard.
Kanarek and Goodwin sent a 1 and 1/2-page letter citing “a dangerous and illegal situation” to the Washington Township housing inspector (Long Valley is part of Washington Township) detailing what they saw as code violations.
The result? Township officials descended on the farm Aug. 6 and put up notices telling everyone to vacate the premises. There was a $5,000/day fine if everyone didn’t leave.
Robert Goodwin.
Barisone, sitting at the defense table, had his head in his hands when that topic came up. Bilinkas is pursuing an insanity/self-defense strategy in his defense of the 2008 U.S. Olympic dressage team alternate.
In his opening remarks on Monday, Bilinkas contended that Kanarek, her father and Goodwin devised a plan to destroy Barisone and drive him crazy.
The shooting took place after a caseworker from the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency visited Gray, who had two children. Why did the caseworker come? What allegations were made?
“Was part of your plan to destroy Michael Barisone to contact…DCPP?” asked Bilinkas
Kanarek said no, and added she had never contacted the agency.
But her phone yielded recorded searches for that agency’s number on two dates in July. On July 31, she “did not recall” searching for the agency’s anonymous hotline, adding “but it’s possible.” Then she said she did remember. Lack of recollection came up often in her testimony, until she was shown documentation.
At the same time, she mentioned that Barisone’s assistant trainer, Justin Hardin, earlier that year had “stolen” her phone at a restaurant. Citing his technological expertise, she said he had broken into her phone and it was possible he “may have been able to do things to my phone that I did not.”
On Aug. 7, Barisone asked the caseworker and Gray, who were meeting in his office, to leave. He had kept a pink and black 9 mm gun, the weapon used in the shooting, in the office safe. Moments later, he drove to the farmhouse where Kanarek was living and the incident unfolded.
Michael Barisone in the courtroom.
Goodwin, 42, took the stand later in the day. Like Kanarek, who had a history with heroin, Goodwin admitted to using drugs “anything I could do to get out of my anxiety” under direct examination by Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn.
When Bilinkas asked Goodwin whether he had used crack, the judge did not permit him to answer the question. Kanarek said earlier in the trial that she has been sober for several years but Goodwin admitted to some relapses while living in Long Valley, though he said he never took drugs while at the farm.
Goodwin said as August 2019 began, Barisone was “making life difficult at the farm for us to want to stay.” Barisone was trying to evict the couple.
Prior to that week, Goodwin said he had hoped “to salvage the relationship. Ultimately, we would (have) kind of liked to work something out.”