13th 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
The state rested their case at the beginning of the day!
Today’s Witnesses:
Witness #30 – Defence Witness #1 Nicholas Kassotis – Defendant
Direct Exam
- He testifies he was a prosecutor in the military and was a legal adviser in the military. He says he handled mainly sexual assault cases and drug cases.
- He testifies he had an LLN focusing on cyber security and compliance.
- He testifies that he ceased being the reserve in the fall of 2019. He says he left the naval reserves in fall of 2019 and says that he did it because Mindi was having health issues.
- He testifies September 26th 2009 was when he married Heather Bassett and says that he heard that she told someone publicly that they were not going to last. Says that they had a disagreements and says that with medication they could have children.
- He testifies that he saw a fb message to Heather about a facebook message. Says that she told him that she was seeing someone by the name of Anthony Thomas.
- He testifies to meeting Mindi on 18th September 2015 from OK cupid and began talking about marriage in a month of knowing eachother and had married a year later.
- He testifies that Heather had filed a complaint against him and they agreed to pay the 1.5million judgement and says the payment was made on his behalf.
- He testifies that in early mid to 2017, Mindi had noticed errors going through their accounts and Mindi was taking care of the account.
- He says that in late 2017 regarding vandalism at his house after a brief reprief. He didnt report to local law enforcement but the fbi due to nature of the letters he received.
- He says he received press attention on the washington post about possible war crimes in Afghanistan.
- He says that Mindi told him that an FBI agent had came to the house looking for him. His name was Jim McIntyre.
- He says he thought he was lucky to get Jim McIntyre based on how he presented himself.
- He says that based on the Washington Post article popularity thats why Jim had came. He say that he helped him find a job at Apis. He says he wasnt asked to look at any coding.
- He says Jim had told him he can make the 1.5 million payment to Heather.
- He says that he was getting paid by Apis via stock options, he says he setup a trust for them and says that there were assurances of the security of the money.
- He says that Jim had advised him that he would receive the money if Heather was involved in any crime against him but if she wasnt involved, then he would have to pay. Turns out she wasnt involved so Jim had wired him the money and he thought the amount was paid.
- He says that he was working at Apis for 12-15 hours a day whilst he was at Charlottesville that Jim had setup for him. He was assaulted in the home and Jim told him that his father was responsible for the assault saying its financially motivated due to windfall he was due to receive.
- He says that he was assaulted from behind that night in Charlottesville. Says he told Jim McIntyre and he had setup a hospital visit for him.
- He testifies that Jim McIntyre had access to his funds and he said that he didnt believe FBI funds were being used for him. He says that rentals were made for him to move to all of these places.
- He says he had moved 15-20 times in that 6 month periods. He says that he had plastic bins that was delivered to him. He had his vehicle Chiratto. Says he was told their lives were in danger.
- He says that he had no idea how Jim had access to the credit card. He says that he gave Jim access to everything so did Mindi. He had a spare key to the home and alarm code.
- He says that Jim had mirrored the signal app to his work computer.
- He says that Matthew and Mindi’s parents had an argument in 2020 and he wanted to leave the area. He felt they had a good relationship but didnt know of the argument or asked.
- He testifies that they had moved to Charleston in 2020. He says that Mindi was not doing any work and Mindi had launched a podcast and stopped on season 1 due to the moving.
- He says that they were in Charleston for only a week as Mindi was sick and had health issues around February 2020. He says that Jim McIntyre had taken her to hospital.
- He says that Jim had told him he had signed them up for Medicaid in 2020. He says he moved to Buford for 8 months.
- He says that in April 2020, that Cameron had messaged him saying that she was not going to continue paying him and this is when he learnt that Jim was not a FBI agent when he confronted about spending money via his cards.
- He says that he stayed with Frank the 4th for 16 months and he was evicted from Frank the 4th home. He says he was evicted in June 2022 and says he didnt have access to his accounts. He says that this was the safest place to have stayed and had security.
- He says that he went to Laquinta hotel for five days in June 2022, says Betsy paid for this first one and the 2nd was paid also by her.
- He says that he had income to pay for the Air BnB due to his money from SONY. He says that Jim had told him to move to that property.
- He says that the funds came in to pay for the Ford Explorer due to the SONY money. He gave a description of the Air BnB properties.
- He says that Betsy and her husband had been kicked out of Frank the 4th house and moved in with them in the air bnb.
- He says that Mindi was terrified to leave the house because Jim had told her that his father was seeing her as an impediment and would kill her. He also says that Mindi was pregnant before in 2021 but lost a baby then and he believed she was pregnant again at Frank & Megans residence.
- He testifies that their communications with friends and family should be through signal.
- He testifies that he purchased the shovel to sort out the mosquito issues that they had at the house. Says that the lamp he had in the house had attracted a lot of mosquitoes.
- He says that Jim had sorted out a doctor for Mindi and Mindi had told him she was going to hospital.
- He says that Mindi had told him they were going to move to Missouri that was always the plan.
- He says that he received messages saying he had believed Mindi had died to a man telling him that Mindi had died and he tried to get a lawyer but Jim dissuaded him.
- He says that the shovel was left at the house and the Garmin Sat Nav he had had burnt up in the car that would have logged his travels.
- He says he bought the deer hunting kit due to Mindi messaging him to buy it for Matthew who was a hunter and had wanted it for a gift.
- He says that he was told by Jim McIntyre that there is no issues and he was no longer in danger.
- He says that he was heading to St. Louis where they had plan to go. He said he went to Alabama to get Mindi’s ashes. He says he paid 5k for the ashes. He didnt give him anything. And he had sought from Jim for the death certificate.
- This is an inconsistent statement as in the police interview, he said he regretted not asking for a death certificate. [My thoughts]
- He says that he cited domestic violence because he believed everything had happened with Wayne to be domestic violence.
- He says that his family had turned up at his house with his uncle who are in court saying that he told them to leave after they had tracked him down.
- He says he was having flirtatious relationship with Samantha he gives reasons for why he told Samantha that Mindi had died.
- He says they made a mistake in Delaware and not call him Stark and just gave him the license.
- He says that he got married to Samantha on April 21st 2023.
- He says that he was arrested in March 2023 and he says he didnt buy a house.
Cross Exam
- The state highlights that his phone was off during the time he went to the hunting club.
- The state highlights his messages to Samantha after learning about Mindi
- The state highlights his motives for sending messages to Samantha
- The State highlights his lack of records to show to the jury.
- The state highlights the license change and he explains why he changed his license and says it was under the advisement of Jim as they had spoken to too many people.
- The state highlights that Nick never asked law enforcement about Mindi’s baby when he was being interviewed.
- The state highlights Jim McIntyre telling him he was no longer part of the FBI and why he didn’t feel to leave for his safety.
- The state highlights the lack of records shown by Jim and why he would trust that due to his 10 year experience as a prosecutor in the navy.
- The state highlights the lack of pressing on Jim McIntyre by Nicholas when he was supposedly investigating his case.
- The state highlights why he was taking an Uber when he could have asked Jim for a ride and Nick said there were times Jim drove him around but he had a car so no longer needed an uber.
- The state highlights the birthing centre he didnt enquire about the baby and the ashes he picked up without any records.
- The state highlights the banking info regarding the fire and receiving money for a down payment but he says that they have the records to show the transfers.
Redirect Exam
- He testifies that he got the Milwaukee knife in Pennsylvania
- He says that he understood the payments went into a trust and how he opened the bank account.
- He says he didnt see his wife in hospital because he was talking to her on signal
- He testifies what changes there were when the parents visited the house.
- Doug brings up the fact he is fiction writer and how is it possible that this is not made u.
Recross Exam: Nothing Of Note
Court adjourned for the day!
Hope you are now caught up with the substance of what happened in court on Day 7.
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
