by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 19, 2022
If you want a deeper understanding of the Michael Barisone attempted murder case, there are two movies you should see.
One is Pacific Heights (1990), starring Michael Keaton as a tenant in an escalating dispute with his landlords that ended in violence. The other is the 1959 courtroom classic, “Anatomy of a Murder,” with Jimmy Stewart in the lead role as the lawyer for an accused murderer who said he did not remember the shooting and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Both these films will ring a bell after watching the Barisone trial on the livestream.
The three-week trial in Morristown, N.J., offered as much drama as either of the movies because it was happening in real life. Thousands of people followed it closely, and many were not shy about voicing their opinions in a continuing dialogue on Facebook.
Michael Barisone in court. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
The result is that if you asked at random who is the USA’s best-known dressage rider, it wouldn’t be a member of the Tokyo Olympics silver medal team, or Laura Graves, the only American ever to top the world rankings in the discipline. Today there is only one answer: Michael Barisone.
He was charged with attempted murder in the Aug. 7, 2019 shooting of Lauren Kanarek, his boarder, tenant and student at Hawthorne Hill in Long Valley, N.J. Barisone was trying to evict Kanarek and her boyfriend, Rob Goodwin, after his relationship with the couple soured amidst thousands of posts on social media, having his conversations recorded and fearing for his life.
Despite the jury last Thursday finding him not guilty by reason of insanity with respect to the shooting of Kanarek, and an outright not guilty decision on the prosecution’s claim that he attempted to shoot Goodwin, Barisone still isn’t out of the woods.
He has yet to be transferred from the Morris County Correctional Facility in Morristown, N.J., to the Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton, where he will undergo evaluation to determine whether he is a danger to himself or the community, needs treatment or if he can be released under certain conditions. A hearing on the findings is set for May 17, though if his transfer is delayed, that could be pushed back.
Meanwhile, his expenses are mounting. His farm in Loxahatchee, Fla., continues to operate, but without him there to teach, it isn’t running at its full potential. His legal fees are not at an end, because he is being sued by Kanarek.
To help out, his partner Lara Osborne has started a Go Fund Me page at gofundme.com/f/help-michael-barisone-rebuild-his-life. It went active this morning. She said so many people had come to her wanting to help Barisone that she decided to institute the page. The goal at the moment is to raise $300,000. While others have helped out to this point, she is footing many bills herself.
Lara Osborne. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lara, the owner of a tack shop business whose daughter, Jordan, was a working student for the trainer, explains her involvement with him this way:
“I stepped up to help a friend in need when others ran away. Over time, that friendship grew into much more. I am proud to say Michael Barisone is my best friend and my life partner.
“The past month has been sheer hell; I have watched the person that I love be torn apart, all of his mental health issues thrust out in the public for all to see, and all of his deeply private and personal fears exposed,” she stated on Facebook.
“But he survived, and the truth is starting to come out. Last Thursday, he was vindicated and now he can start the healing process and hopefully come home soon.Thank you too everyone that has been so supportive of Michael. He needs you all now more than ever.”
Michael Barisone, the alternate on the 2008 Olympic team of Debbie McDonald, Courtney King-Dye and Steffen Peters. (Photo © 2008 by Nancy Jaffer)
Those who wish to write to Barisone can do so via defense attorney Ed Bilinkas. Letters should be addressed this way: M. Barisone C/O Bilinkas Edward J., 415 State Route 10,STE #1, Randolph, N.J. 07869
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 14, 2022
After being in jail for nearly three years and charged with crimes that could have kept him behind bars for decades, Michael Barisone today was cleared of two charges by reason of insanity and ruled not guilty on three others after being tried for attempted murder.
It might seem like the end of a long, difficult journey, but it’s not quite over yet.
Michael still faces a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital in Trenton, although the day may come soon when he can get on a horse again. But first, he will return to court for another hearing on May 17.
Read the story at this link and see the photos below.
A relieved Michael Barisone after the verdict. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“We did it,” says defense attorney Ed Bilinkas and attorney Chris Deininger, who worked with him on the Barisone case. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn and Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Alex Bennett are grim-faced leaving the courtroom after doing their best for the prosecution but failing to win over the jury. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lara Osborne, Michael Barisone’s romantic interest, who said of the verdict, “I’m so relieved, and now he can start healing. That’s the most important thing.” (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
After the verdict is announced, Michael Barisone gets hands-on attention from attorneys Ed Bilinkas and Chris Deininger. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 10, 2022
Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs took the Longines FEI World Cup Show Jumping championship in Leipzig, Germany, today, with a two-horse approach. He rode Chaplin in the opening competition on Thursday, then switched to The Sinner for Saturday’s jump-off format. He was back on Chaplin, a Dutch warmblood stallion, this afternoon for the final.
Harrie Smolders of the Netherlands finished second on Monaco, while Jens Fredricson of Sweden came third with Markan Cosmoplit. Jens is the younger brother of Swedish superstar Peter Fredricson, who was on his country’s Olympic gold medal team last year.
The highest-placed American was McLain Ward on Contagious, winner of the second leg. One fence down in today’s first round, a two fences down in the second round with a time penalty put him seventh overall.
“It’s really disappointing of course. I thought Contagious jumped great and unfortunately, he stumbled or lost his footing in the combination and fell through B and after that when you’re focused on winning, not much else matters,” said McLain.
“It’s a sport of variables and he took a funny step and jumped too low, which isn’t a normal mistake for him, but you know that’s a part of the sport and it’s unfortunate when it happens in that moment.”
“Both of my horses are fantastic,” said Martin, who stands third in the overall global rankings this month.
Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Show Jumping Final winner Martin Fuchs takes his victory gallop on Chaplin in Leipzig, Germany (FEI photo)
“Chaplin is such an unbelievable fighter. I’m just so happy to have a horse like that.”
He added, “I must say, I thought I would be second again, with Harrie and McLain coming after me. I’m very delighted with this win,”
He followed in the hoofprints left by Tinka’s Boy and his uncle, Marcus Fuchs, the 2001 winner. Tinkas Boy died earlier this year at age 33.
Hunter Holloway was the next-best from the USA on Pepita con Spita, finishing 16th.
The dressage title not unexpectedly belongs to Olympic champion Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl of Germany with Dalera BB, scoring 90.836. It didn’t quite match her score from the Tokyo Games, but who would quibble with any mark over 90 percent?
Jessica is pregnant (will her baby’s name be inscribed on the trophy as well?) and she will not be able to ride for her country in the world championships this summer as a result.
In second place, Catherine DuFour on Vamos Amigos was quite a bit further back, with 86.164 percent. That’s not a score to be sneezed at either, however, especially since it was a personal best for the Danish rider.
The world’s most decorated dressage rider, Isabell Werth of Germany, finished on the podium in third with Weiheigold OLD. She had been shooting for her fourth Cup title, but a mark of 85.921 kept her from that ambition. Her mare was retired in a ceremony immediately after the competition.
The highest-placed U.S. dressage rider was Ashley Holzer, in her first championship representing the country since she became a citizen. She formerly rode for Canada. Her score of 75.532 on Havanna 145 put her ninth.
The other American contender, Anna Buffini, wound up 12th of 17 starters in her international championship debut. Her total on FRH Davinia La Douce was 74.011 percent,
This was the first Cup final since 2019. Both 2020 in Las Vegas and 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden, were cancelled due to Covid.
In 2023, the Cup comes back to the U.S. for the first time since 2017 and it’s in the same city, Omaha, Neb. It will include jumping, dressage and in a new twist for an American final, the championship in vaulting as well.
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 8, 2022
Self-defense cannot be asserted in the Michael Barisone attempted murder trial, Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor ruled today.
The judge made that decision as he met this morning with defense and prosecution lawyers at the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, N.J., to discuss the charge to the jury that will be given on Monday, when the panel goes into deliberations following summations from the attorneys. The charge involves instructions to jurors about the applicable law and what they may or may not consider as they deliberate the fate of the dressage trainer.
Michael Barisone spectating at the 2008 U.S. national dressage championships in California. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Barisone is charged with shooting his student, Lauren Kanarek, twice in the chest and with possession of a gun for unlawful purposes. Psychologists testified that Barisone, who did not appear on the witness stand during the nine days of testimony in the trial, told them he does not remember the incident.
Barisone had been at odds with Kanarek and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, and was moving to get them evicted from his Hawthorne Hill farm in the Long Valley section of Washington Township,N.J.
His attorney, Edward Bilinkas, had put forward a strategy that combined insanity and self-defense. But Taylor didn’t think there was sufficient evidence in the record for self-defense.
Bilinkas had mentioned several times that Barisone received a beating, which he contends could have happened before the shooting, but wasn’t allowed to ask Kanarek about that when she was on the witness stand.
The judge asked what the evidence was that the beating occurred prior to the shooting and that Barisone utilized a gun during or afterwards to protect himself. Bilinkas said the only evidence of the timeline of the shooting comes from Kanarek and Goodwin.
He noted that previous threats from Kanarek and Goodwin, as well as Goodwin making a gesture with his finger like a gun the day before the shooting, underlined intimidating statements the victim made regarding Barisone on social media.
The judge stated that even if the jury doesn’t believe everything Kanarek or Goodwin said about the incident, the panel “would be engaging in this court’s view in sheer speculation to determine the beating happened before the gun was withdrawn and that Mr. Barisone withdrew the gun as a result of the beating and used it in self-defense.”
Judge Stephen Taylor delivered his thoughts to attorneys on Friday in Morristown. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
He added, “Without the testimony of Mr. Barisone about the incident, there’s simply no evidence in the record and it’s not sufficient for the jury to make that (self-defense) determination simply from the cross-examination by Mr. Bilinkas.”
In other discussions, the judge said he will tell jurors the way they should consider several key comments attributed to Barisone after the incident and quoted by police officers and an emergency medical technician.
The statements, mentioned several times in the trial, were “Is this real? I have to wake up” and a paraphrase of “They destroyed my life over the last six months. I had a good life, they took it all away” and that he was sorry. If they determine the statements weren’t made, they must be disregarded; if they find the statements credible, they need to give them the appropriate weight, the judge said.
A verdict of insanity would cover all four counts against Barisone, including possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn said if the jury simply found Barisone not guilty, it would then consider a lesser included offense of attempted aggravated assault.
Bilinkas said he didn’t think a lesser included offense is appropriate.
But in the judge’s view, even if the jury does not believe Barisone was legally insane at the time of the commission of the offense, that does not mean they can’t consider his mental state in determining whether he acted purposefully or knowingly in committing the crime.
If the jury finds the threshold for legal insanity is not met, it could decide Barisone did have diminished capacity because of the stressors, as well as the circumstances of his depressive state, according to the judge.
Diminished capacity “may prevent him from purposely or knowingly or having a conscious object to commit the murder of Lauren Kanarek and Robert Goodwin (who was not wounded), such that they would consider a lesser charge of recklessly trying to cause serious bodily injury,” commented the judge.
Bilinkas said he didn’t think a lesser included offense is appropriate and doesn’t want the jury to consider it.
“The only thing I’m asking for is the attempted murder charge,” he said.
The judge noted the jury could reject insanity, but still find that the defendant, because of mental health issues, could not form the conscious object to kill someone. That would be the diminished capacity.
“It would reduce the crime. It’s not justification, it doesn’t remove all legal responsibility like insanity does, but it reduces the charge from a higher level, which has a specific state of mind…the intent to kill,” said Taylor. . “Diminished capacity reduces the crime to a lesser crime.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 7, 2022
Michael Barisone had “interpersonal problems” and “a longstanding conflict” with student Lauren Kanarek and her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, in Florida during the winters of 2018 and 2019, according to Dr. Louis Schlesinger, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who was a rebuttal witness for the prosecution today in the dressage trainer’s attempted murder trial.
Psychologist Louis Schlesinger makes a point during Barisone’s trial. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Since the combo of Kanarek and her partner wasn’t a match made in heaven for Barisone, why did he let them come back to his Hawthorne Hill Farm in Washington Township, N.J., for the fateful summer of 2019, when Kanarek was shot?
“He said he needed money,” explained Schlesinger, noting that it cost Barisone $36,000 a month to run his business. The 2008 U.S. Olympic dressage team alternate told Schlesinger everyone in the horse business has to deal with difficult clients, so he lived with it. Kanarek was paying $5,000 monthly board for two horses, although she had several other mounts, one of which she bought from Barisone for $30,00 or $40,000; the amount stated has varied.
At the same time, Goodwin was doing some construction and tileing in the farmhouse on the property where they lived and elsewhere on the farm, but he wanted to be paid for his work. Barisone had been trying to get the couple to leave his farm, and was moving ahead with eviction procedures.
This was the final afternoon of testimony in the trial that has lasted nine days in Morristown, N.J., with attorneys set to sum up and the jury getting the case next Monday. We finally got some answers to questions that have arisen as Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor presided, but were left open-ended due to objections that were sustained or otherwise not permitted. You can’t appreciate the intricacies of the rules of evidence until you see how many “sidebars” are called, where the lawyers move to the bench to discuss various issues in low voices with the judge.
Michael Barisone confers with his attorney, Edward Bilinkas. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Schlesinger, who has worked for government agencies including the FBI and the Morris County Prosecutor’s office, with which he is presently involved in another case, was called by the prosecution to comment on the testimony of the expert witnesses for the defense.
They are a psychiatrist and another psychologist, who discussed Barisone’s mental state. A psychiatrist is a physician who can prescribe medicine; a psychologist is a PhD who specializes in the study of mind and behavior or in treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral issues.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Steven Simring, yesterday said Barisone–who had been seeing a therapist on and off for 20 years–suffered from delusional disorder and also was dealing with persistent depressive disorder.
Barisone stated he couldn’t remember the incident in which he is charged with shooting Kanarek twice, resulting in her stay of nearly three weeks in Morristown Medical Center’s intensive care unit.
Simring said being hit on the head with a phone by Goodwin “is probably the most likely reason Barisone lost memory,” noting he suffered several injuries on his head, including a hematoma behind his ear. Dr. Charles Hasson, the defense team’s psychologist, mentioned Barisone had many head injuries over the years, a not-unfamiliar scenario for equestrians.
Defense psychologist Dr. Charles Hasson. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Schlesinger, however, was skeptical about Barisone’s memory loss, noting it came after the attack, when Goodwin punched the trainer and then held him down on the ground until the police came.
Defense attorney Edward Bilinkas is pursuing a joint insanity and self-defense strategy, so the psychology experts are key to judging Barisone’s mental state.
Defense attorney Edward Bilinkas. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Schlesinger discussed malingering in terms of feigning or faking an illness, motivated by criminal prosecution.
He said it is something that is “strongly suspected” if an individual is referred by an attorney when charges are pending.
The fact that Barisone remembered what happened prior to the shooting and afterward, but not the incident itself is “a red flag. Why isn’t everything blacked out?” Schlesinger wondered.
He maintained, “There’s no memory disorder that is selective just for criminal conduct. So what does he not remember? Lauren comes out (of the farmhouse) and then he has no memory for anything else until he wakes up in the hospital with a big light on him.”
When something like that happens, Schlesinger suggested, “the first thing you say is `Where the hell am I? Why am I here?’ He didn’t say that.”
Schlesinger mentioned dissociative amnesia “that can occur in a trauma, so I considered that.”
But he added, “I don’t think that is correct. I think this is malingered amnesia” noting it is “very common in criminal cases.” He observed, “There is no memory disorder that is selective just for criminal conduct.”
Although Barisone owned several guns, the weapon used in the shooting was a pink and black 9 mm Ruger belonging to Ruth Cox, who co-owned horses at the farm. She would travel up from North Carolina to visit with a gun in her car because she was concerned for her safety while traveling.
Barisone asked her for the gun after she arrived in early August and put it in his office safe because “he felt it wasn’t safe in the car with Lauren there,” Schlesinger reported.
“Does it show anything with respect to whether he know or appreciates the nature and quality of his actions,” asked Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn.
Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn and Assistant Prosecutor Alex Bennett.( Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
When Cox arrived on Aug. 2, 2019, “The gun was in a case and the ammunition was not loaded,” the psychologist said. But the gun was out of the case and loaded when Barisone drove to the farmhouse where the confrontation with Kanarek and Goodwin took place on Aug. 7, 2019.
Schlesinger commented on “Michael’s belief that Kanarek was going to kill him, Mary Haskins (his former girlfriend) and her children.”
He said, “It’s not delusional, it’s based on what was going on at the time.” He noted that Haskins felt their lives were in danger and thought Kanarek’s father, Jonathan, was going to kill her.
But Schlesinger contended that had nothing to do with the shooting. Instead, he maintained it was sparked when an investigator from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency came to the farm to speak with Mary Haskins, who, like Barisone feared the children would be taken from her.
“Who wouldn’t be upset if he incorrectly thought Lauren called Child Protection? She didn’t, but that’s what he thought,” said Schlesinger.
“My understanding is that SafeSport called DCPP.”
However, earlier in the trial, it was brought out that Kanarek had twice looked up the anonymous reporting number for DCPP.
Drs. Hasson and Schlesinger disagreed on methodology involving a series of psychological tests, which left a question mark on which accurately assessed Barisone’s mental condition.
The issue, according to the judge “is what’s in the defendant’s mind.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 6, 2022
An increasingly panicked and desperate Michael Barisone was trying to get help as his life was spinning out of control, a psychiatrist testified today in the dressage trainer’s trial on attempted murder and weapon charges.
The expert witness, Dr. Steven Simring, concluded Barisone suffered not only from delusional disorder but also was dealing with persistent depressive disorder, noting he had been seeing a therapist for years.
Dr. Steven Simring holds up a report given to him by Michael Barisone, part of his stack of papers that includes police reports and Facebook postings. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Barisone, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Dressage Team alternate, is charged with shooting his student, Lauren Kanarek, who was a tenant in his farmhouse with her boyfriend, Robert Goodwin. He was trying to get them to leave his Hawthorne Hill farm in Washington Township, N.J.’s Long Valley section, and obsessed over Kanarek’s social media postings. He believed she was destroying his life and planned to kill him.
That fear changed him from “a remarkable guy” and “a fantastic horseman,” as Olympic eventer Boyd Martin put it, to a deeply troubled shadow of himself,.
Martin took the stand before Judge Stephen Taylor in Superior Court, Morristown, N.J., to testify about how Barisone was viewed in the equestrian community.
“He was one of those people you are drawn to, larger than life,” said Martin. He recalled how Barisone was so dedicated he would leave New Jersey before dawn to get to Martin’s Windurra Farm in Pennsylvania, arriving before the eventer was even out of bed in order to get ready to train him.
As happened yesterday when fellow eventer Phillip Dutton testified, the subject of a barn fire at a stable Martin was renting in 2011 came up. Six horses died in the blaze, caused by a faulty hay steamer.
Defense attorney Chris Deininger asked Martin, if had he been at the barn that night and noticed the machine was faulty, “would you have done something to address it?”
Boyd Martin is sworn in as a witness in the Barisone trial. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Martin was not allowed to answer after the prosecution objected. The question related to Robert Goodwin’s agitation about a dryer that wouldn’t turn off in Barisone’s stable in 2019. Outside court, several people mentioned they had wondered why Goodwin just didn’t unplug the dryer if he was upset about it.
Most of the morning was taken up with testimony by Simring. Under questioning by lead defense attorney Edward Bilinkas, the doctor noted, “Mr. Barisone was trying everything within his power to stop the relationship between him, Kanarek and Goodwin. He wanted them off his property. They didn’t want to leave. They claim they had a right to be there.
“Mr. Barisone said he was scared to death of Lauren Kanarek.”
The trainer “became increasingly desperate, because he saw himself in a situation in which he was being physically threated by Lauren Kanarek and Robert Goodwin. He felt trapped. He felt there was no way out. He was afraid he’d be killed and wanted to defend himself.”
He noted that Barisone also was upset about having his conversations recorded after he found things he had said privately being quoted on Facebook. He hired a company to sweep his property to find the bugs.
The psychiatrist sat behind an eight-inch-high stack of papers, which included 19,000 of Kanarek’s Facebook posts that had intimidated Barisone, as well as various police reports and other items relating to the case, including a 91-page report assembled by his patient.
Simring spoke with therapist Ann Picardo, whom Barisone had seen for 20 years when she treated him for depression and anxiety.
Michael Barisone talks with Patrick DeFranciso in court. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I learned from her he came from a family which was emotionally and physically abusive. One of the maternal grandparents suffered from depression,” said Simring, noting he believed that person had required shock treatment.
“Depression runs in families,” said Simring, noting Picardo described Barisone as “very troubled” and “thought he was at considerable risk for suicide,” even before the incident. He told the therapist that he “had lost everything.”
Simring commented that as Barisone’s disturbance grew, “everyone noticed he was no longer the same person.”
While Barisone remembered what had led up to the shooting and what happened afterward, he couldn’t remember the incident itself, Simring said.
“One of the things seemed to be that Robert Goodwin hit him on the head with a cellphone and that is probably the most likely reason he lost memory,” the psychiatrist said, commenting that Barisone suffered a hematoma behind his ear and other injuries.
Dr. Charles Hasson, a psychologist, also testified today, noting Barisone was emotionally unstable and had researched getting assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2015.
Hasson had Barisone do a battery of tests, which showed among other things he scored very high in paranoia and anxiety. He was “very prone to making idiosyncratic deductions,” combining them “in a way that doesn’t make sense.”
He noted that over the years, Barisone had eight to 12 concussions and a skull fracture. People who ride often suffer concussions when they fall off.
Noting how frightened he was of Kanarek and Goodwin, Hasson quoted Barisone as saying, “these are dangerous people” and worried about the fate of the horses at his farm and the children of his then-girlfriend, Mary Haskens Gray, if something happened to him.
The day ended with Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Chris Schellhorn doing a back-and-forth with Hasson about the validity of his testing process and mentioning that “feigned amnesia is found more frequently in individuals with legal problems.”
