5th August 2025
Case Background:
A Pennsylvania man named Nicholas Kassotis was arrested and charged for the killing of his wife Mindi Kassotis, he was extradited from Lancaster County to Georgia to stand trial. The prosecution and the defense presented their theory of the case in the trial and a few witnesses took the stand and we shall be going through key parts of their testimony.
Case Info
Courthouse: Liberty County, Georgia
Charges:
- Malice Murder – Guilty
- Felony Murder – Guilty
- Aggrevated Assault – Guilty
- Concealing The Death Of Another – Guilty
- Possession Of A Knife During Felony – Guilty
- Possession Of A Tool during a Crime – Guilty
- Removal Of Body Parts – Guilty
- Tampering With Evidence – Guilty
- Verdict Rendered: 14th August 2025
Judge: Charles Rose Jr.
Prosecutor: ADA Laurie Baio, ADA Billy Joe Nelson
Defense Attorneys: Douglas Weinstein
The Deceased: Mindi Kassotis
Opening Statements
Defence via Doug Weinstein gave the first opening statement after the state deferred says that his client was living in fear and so was his wife. He says that someone by the name of Jim McIntyre who likely never existed had told them their life was in danger and they had to make a run for it. He says that Nicholas had lied to his family and friends because he believed that their lives depended on it. He theorised that Nicholas was trying to protect his family and friends due to him living in fear. He says that Jim McIntyre appeared from nowhere and says he was part of the FBI and their lives was in danger. He says that Nicholas was not moving around the country because of the 1.5 million judgement against him because of a previous divorce, rather, it was because his life was in danger. He says the jury should focus on the Mindi’s death. He theorised that the state does not have any evidence that he committed this murder nor can place his client on the scene.
Prosecution via Lauren Baio gave their opening statements saying that the body of Mindi was found in a hunting club dismembered and says that the location was a great place to leave a body due to the volume of hunters on the scene. They theorised that Nicholas purchased the knife from home depot to carry out the murder and say that Nicholas admits to being at the scene. The theorised that the head was found five days later and they found also a shovel whom they say Nicholas had bought from home depot. They theorised that Nicholas had the means to carry out the murder and had lied to his parents about going to pick up his wife when she was already dead. She theorised that Nicholas had already remarried and changed his name in multiple states to avoid paying the money he owed his first wife. They also said he burnt his brand new ford explorer to hide his tracks.
Todays Witnesses
- Witness #1 David Lovett – Hunter [1:30:00]
- Witness #2 Anthony Brown – Police Officer
- Witness #3 – Philip McCallar – Hunter [2:01:00]
- Witness #4 – John Murphy – Retired K9 officer
- Witness #5 – Brett Dickerson – Special GBI Agent
Witness #1 David Lovett – Hunter
Direct Exam
- He testifies to being in a hunting clubhouse showing he was an avid hunter and he also testifies to seeing a torso when he went to recover a deer he had shot.
- He testifies that they reported the torso to the clubhouse and it was 2 miles away from where it was found. He says that he didnt touch the body. And the police had secured the scene
Cross Exam
The defence only focused on the fact that it was no secret that it was hunting season and he gave testimony that it was something everyone known
No redirect exam
Witness #2 Anthony Brown – Police Officer
Direct Exam
- He testifies to working at the scene that day. Says he saw other hunters that were standing around the ditch where the body was found. He says that the torso was found in liberty county
- He testifies that he was the one to have advised to put up a crime scene tape and maintained a log of the crime scene when he was there. He logged that they were on scene at 16:15 hours on the scene. He says the hunters that were already on the scene were George Kale, David Lovett, David Branning Casey Brann they were on scene at 16:45 hours.
- He says that based on what he was told saw a knife at the edge of berrington ferry road and they had extended the crime scene to cover that area. He says that the agent Jack Frost arrived at 17:13 hours
Cross Exam
- He testifies there were more than two vehicles on the scene and it was a dirt road.
- He testifies that they allowed vehicles to leave the scene but after that they closed it off.
No redirect exam
Witness #3 – Philip McCallar – Hunter
Direct Exam
- Says that he was a hunter since 2010 and hunts every weekend from January to October. He found the torso on 2nd December 2022
- He testifies that after they were escorted out the scene, he had found a knife. He says that the knife was behind the toad.
- He testifies to finding a leg on the scene and says it was around 2 and a half miles from where the torso was found. This was found on 3rd December 2022
No cross exam
Witness #4 – John Murphy – Retired K9 officer
Direct Exam
- He testified to being on Branson cemetry road on December 5th 2022 at 11am in search for a deceased person, they were looking for the leg and the head.
- He testified to finding the left leg of Mindi Kassotis he says that it seemed like small animal head had consumed the foot.
- He testified that it was via the dogs changing their behaviour during the search was why they found a tote that had in it what they suspected was blood.
Cross Exam
- He says that the Tote was originally found in the bushes but then it was moved away from there. He says that he didnt see this being done.
No redirect
Witness #5 – Brett Dickerson – Special GBI Agent
Direct Exam
- He testifies that he is a lead crime scene specialist. He testifies what they do when they arrive at the crime scene.
- He testifies to processing the torso and left leg. He says that another leg was recovered during the process and says the left leg was located on December 5th 2022. He says that the head was found on 7th December 2022.
- He testifies that they did their best to preserve the body and scene. He says the body had been exposed to the elements before it was found.
- He testifies to the collection of the knife from the scene, A thorn grey cloth plastic thrash bag.
- Testifies that the femurs in her legs were cut through, says that it was difficult to tell the extent of her injury due to there being a lot of blood. Says there were no clothing on her.
- Compares cutting through a deer to compare it to the body found
- This is to prove the malice murder element as the killer tried to cut through the bone showing there is a clear intent to kill [My thoughts]
- He testified that the torso had likely been defiled with animals from the woods.
- This shows possible contamination to the body due to foreign species interacting with the body. [My Thoughts]
- He testifies to what bluestar testing was and the results of that test.
- He testifies to handling the coding and packaging of the evidence.
- The tote was submitted into evidence and went through how they protected the evidence.
- This was done to combat the idea created by the defence that the investigation wasnt as thorough and they are only working with circumstantial evidence. [My Thoughts]
Court adjourned for the day and Witness #5 testimony continues on Day 2.
Hope you are now caught up with the substance of what happened in court on Day 1.
Thanks for reading xo
Sources:
Trial Footage, Available on Youtube via @TheTrialChannel_ , Youtube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-6my_qlf9vhXw9gMoqIo3Fv4xMbs1W&si=MzCUlpWmKdK6mrjn
All court filings pertaining to the trial courtesy of @Happily_Angry_Lawyer aka Jim Robichaud, Available online, PDFs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15yaqe8kwjoNnIq2dfFCD0Bi1vqP_4hb7
