A 52-year-old VP of a Medical Center faces 95 years in prison for fatally stabbing a doctor's husband. He insists he was trapped by a man intent on harming him and forced to defend himself. But the Prosecution argues CCTV proves he's the aggressor and should be found guilty of 1st Degree Murder. Is he a killer knifeman or is he an innocent defender?
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LearningTranscript
00:00this is summer security we are receiving a burglar alarm for windsor road yes i'm running
00:26my way back there it's the same guy that said abusive to the staff
00:33this is 9-1-1 by who
00:43prosecutors say briel attacked during what started as a verbal confrontation that quickly turned
00:48physical this surveillance feed is not a good book this business separation rolled into something
01:04sinister
01:04aggression room towards me i'm backing up i'm now pulling my neck this man was intent on beating
01:20roland to a pulp who had no choice but to defend himself they got a piece of this wrong i was the
01:27victim and attacked oh my god is this really happening
01:41my name is roland briel i was charged with first degree murder
01:46before that life was very good with the three small children it was very happy
01:52i was vice president in my wife's clinic her business was advanced medical rehab a company
02:01she started with a partner who was a chiropractor the partnership was being dissolved over a dispute
02:11the intensity of their financial problems were starting to bubble to the surface
02:15and day in and day out it was that way until the incident of uh of may 31st
02:23i was going to send faxes into the insurance companies for billing
02:26and i relied on all the employees to leave um so i have access to the building peacefully
02:35but i hear the alarm going off
02:39so you know i can't turn it off so i look for a way oh maybe i can disconnect the power
02:45and then all of a sudden one of the partners in the business dr kathy zeke and her husband joe
02:53pentagrass entered the building and made a beeline down the hallway
02:59you know it was very strange and ominous the way he was coming at me i said joe are you coming in
03:03there to check on me or what are you doing no hardly any words and he just started striking
03:08and i'm like holy crap they just crossed the line this is now not just a business dispute
03:18this is a violent scenario i had my pocket knife i i took it out of my pocket i opened it up
03:25and i pushed him back he was charging still slammed me against the wall
03:30and before you knew it in that grappling i was on the bottom and he was over the top of me
03:39and i struck him three times and that i kicked out from on him enough to get on my feet and escape
03:46finally
03:59i just got attacked by a joe pentagrass he is stabbed i did protect myself okay so you are outside
04:06the building i'm at my house they broke my phone and smashed it so i couldn't make a call
04:11so after the police responded to my home address they invited me to come down to the police department
04:20at the very end they just came in with a charge we're going to charge you with first degree murder
04:27my attacker's now dead
04:41i'm on top of a steel bunk bed and i'm looking up at the ceiling thinking about my family this can't
04:50be happening and uh so there there were tears i i i was in a in a very fearful crying moment like
05:00what do i do now
05:11i am stephen comey i am a licensed illinois attorney who's been practicing law for 47 years
05:25so when roland came to me he was facing a minimum sentence of 20 to 60 because the weapon involved in
05:31the homicide was a knife roland had stabbed to death joseph pendergast at a medical practice
05:39part owned by his wife the business was founded in 2002 and by 2015 they were in a partnership dispute
05:56so may 31st roland is billing his wife's patients and the insurance companies one of the employees
06:10turns on the burglar alarm and exits the practice the alarm company calls kathy z who was the doctor on duty
06:19that day we're receiving a burglar alarm for windsor road yes i'm on my way back there it's the same guy
06:27that's been abusive to the staff he already told them he's going to rip that security system apart
06:33oh my goodness okay i will dispatch the police and how long will it take you to get there
06:37i'm three minutes down the road kathy brings her husband joseph pendergast with her who then confronts
06:45roland smacks him around tries to beat him up and roland ends up defending himself when i was attacked
06:54i was hit so hard he was a bigger man i just had to get out of there and the only source of getting
07:01out of there was to first stop him from his attack i usually wore tools but in this case i had a pocket
07:07knife illinois is a state where you do not have to retreat when attacked the question is is the force
07:15you're using reasonable under the circumstances and did you believe the other person was going to kill you
07:35i was a business partner for a medical clinic
07:38and it was a successful business we do chiropractic and physical therapy
07:46there were times you know like with any business there will be ups and downs
07:51and i started to have conflict with my business partner
07:53our employees reactions was sort of mixed some feel sad some feel annoyed or frustrated
08:11that's when most of the trouble in the clinic started with the employees getting segregated especially
08:19uh myself and my husband there was a little bit of tension at first they argued with the point that
08:26i was there but there was really nothing they could do about it they would set the alarm and leave and
08:31set me up to where the police would come and you know and check on an intruder this is what was happening
08:36several times we were thinking that we were doing the right thing to separate the business it was a
08:45decision that rolled into something sinister
08:54when we found out that joe passed away we knew at that moment all our lives our family's lives will be changed
09:15the question in every homicide case is what is the justification for lethal force
09:34the police version of this event was that roland had come in there and started a commotion and
09:38murdered mr pendergast the first thing you're looking for are the things that are going to be obvious to a lay jury
09:58he still has the clothes on that he had when the fight started and so consequently there's blood on the
10:04clothing and joe beat him pretty bad because i could see the spots on his face where he got hit
10:14so who's aggression out of nowhere they come in my camera goes from the door to them and he's charging i mean
10:24he means business and i see it coming and with a swipe of the phone phone goes flying aggressive move
10:32towards me i'm backing up i'm now pulling my knife he grapples me and he's on top of me i don't know
10:41what i i was just you know he was punching a punch in her because he is full of adrenaline after the fight
10:50he's talking in partial sentences so you don't know how many times no no no it was just it was like
10:56a poke i thought maybe he would just back up but he kept coming i hit him again the prosecution will
11:02seize bits and pieces to support their case that this was an intentional murder i have no idea which
11:10way this case is going to go and how it's going to play out there was more swinging and punching and
11:14i shot when he got close to me i poked him in comes joe his wife quickly behind him they came in in an
11:29attack mode this is the interview of roland breault at the loves park police station he wasn't happy
11:37yeah so you really have gotten the advantage of being on top i know i hit him a couple of times
11:54at the night so you know and my head is now facing the door i ran and i got into my car and i'm you
12:01know along and i'm in my car she comes after my car smashing onto my car attacking my car as i'm
12:08backing out he's clearly frightened as he's trying to run down the corridor to get back to his car
12:15i take away from looking at this to the state of mind was get the hell out of there before i
12:19get the kicked out of me and you said there was video inside yeah there's a security camera inside
12:25a review of the uh roland's interview at the police station yielded the fact that there were
12:30dvrs or digital recording devices attached to the ceiling and also camera footage from the cell phone
12:38i thought the dvr was the hand grenade it would blow up the state's case
13:00the call
13:05hello my girlfriend is moeta in the truck by who by roland
13:11okay you need to apply pressure where is he said right in the heart
13:16brian can we take a look at the statement of kathy z this statement is the foundation of the prosecution case
13:24she did not believe roland was allowed to be there after hours which is not true in light
13:34of the fact marianne breault was a co-owner of the business then she goes on to say that she
13:40and joe drove to the office together they enter the premises joe swatted the phone out of roland's
13:46hand i saw roland take an aggressive stance and he said so that's the way you wanted to go
13:53and then the two of them went towards each other and started fighting here she suggests that roland
14:00adopted an aggressive stance and said you know bring it on until you see the video of the event
14:07you have no idea if her version of the event is any way accurate i needed to obtain further discovery
14:14to find out what else would corroborate roland's statement
14:17i came to understand that there was a funeral for joe there was some 600 or so people and of course
14:33with that charge hanging against me there was an anger in the community and i sensed
14:39all of that and it played out on the internet we live on a street that's pretty isolated
14:46i felt the the best way to protect my family if violence came to our house was to purchase
14:54a shotgun
14:56i went to a firearm dealer when i was filling out the application
15:09this is a question in there about indictment
15:14i don't even know if i'm indicted and so i'm filling out the application and i signed it but
15:23i left that box unchecked
15:25so the simple act of making a false statement on the form applying for a weapon in the united
15:34states is a federal crime
15:36after speaking to my attorney and having better advice i decided to abandon the shotgun purchase
15:53once the form hit the judge in the court they used it against me to revoke my bail
15:59i was arrested in the courtroom
16:06seeing roland in handcuffs and being put back in jail you know i feel so lost what's going
16:14to happen in the future and how i'm going to tackle everything with the trial and the family
16:21and my work it's just so overwhelming i couldn't describe
16:28the problem with the bond revocation was that it opened the door to the prosecution
16:38to blacken roland's character when he's on the witness stand
16:42i did not realize that it would impact my life so negatively for such a simple mistake
16:49and that error turned out to be costly
17:04hi justin
17:06hi
17:07can you uh print out the pathology report on joseph pendergast
17:12we really need to show the jury the location of those wounds because it's going to be critical
17:29for a self-defense argument
17:31so uh brian let's put the stab wound uh a approximately right here
17:38okay and then stab wound b it would gone through the ribcage
17:44either one of those could be fatal according to the pathologist
17:50now on the back stab wound c
17:56this wound here is like a slicing wound across the back which would corroborate
18:04roland's claim roland's version of events that he was going over the shoulder
18:11right here
18:12okay brian let's compare it with uh our experts analysis of the autopsy of joseph pendergast
18:20this report shows no stab wounds on his hands his arms which means i think he's using them
18:30to beat up roland
18:32so
18:34when you have someone that is attacking you with a knife and they're stabbing you
18:37it is natural that people will raise their arms raise their hands and try to stop the attack
18:42those are what we refer to as defensive wounds
18:45very very significant for our pathologist to explain that this man was not at all interested in defending himself
18:53you still have two stab wounds to the heart
18:57now there's two different ways to look at that
19:00one it was an accident that happened in the heat of the fight
19:05or two that it was intentional
19:08so that's still a tricky subject
19:11we're going to have to convince the jury that these were defensive wounds made solely to escape
19:16i needed to get my hands on the defendant's telephone and also the dvr
19:30and that was critical because it comes from the cameras on the ceiling
19:33which makes it irrefutable as to what really happened that day
19:37the security building video was password protected
19:52sometimes you'd go to a hearing and the state's attorney would say
19:56well we made a phone call and they said they can't do it
20:00two and a half months went by between the last hearing and then this hearing
20:04well we tried this it didn't work we'll try this other thing
20:07it became obvious to me that the state was dragging its feet
20:12and i was becoming increasingly agitated
20:16i couldn't get the evidence i needed to build a self-defense case
20:19they get the fbi agent on the phone with the court
20:32and the laboratory tells the judge no problem
20:35we'll get it to you in you know about eight weeks
20:38ten months later it hadn't been accomplished
20:42year after year would go by struggling to get the video
20:45the system was starting to take hold and run me over like a freight train
21:00we're so lost and each day that we wake up
21:05you know we just have to figure out how can we make it through the day
21:12the worst thing about jail is to not physically
21:19and emotionally absorb my children
21:23you know i missed all the contact you know the breakfast
21:27you know going to bed reading bedtime stories
21:30i always read them bedtime stories
21:32i love my family
21:34since i remember being a little boy i always wanted to be married
21:37i always wanted to be married and raise children
21:39i remember it
21:40and um
21:44that hurt
21:50that was the worst part
21:54you know the government ended up removing me
21:58for the one thing that i missed the most
22:05at that point i started making a big stink about what was going on
22:20because this had taken way too long
22:23roland is lucky he came to downtown chicago
22:26to get a lawyer who would actually go after the most critical evidence in the case
22:29there's no different than a safe
22:31there's got to be a combination
22:33it's just a question of who's going to open it and how
22:35so my tech guy calls me up and says you can't get into this stuff because it's locked
22:52and i said well what should we do
22:54he said well there's some guys who work for the cia who have the ability to crack anything open
22:58i had no idea what it would yield
23:12it could be the elimination of the self-defense or it could be a perfect self-defense
23:18it was the biggest gamble i took in the case
23:21okay so this is the surveillance tape
23:32we were able to get the feeds from each individual surveillance camera throughout the premises
23:39looks like they changed yes they put on a new lock
23:46the surveillance camera picks up joe and kathy entering
23:50he goes right through the door and he's on his way to roland
23:54it's right beside
23:57joe are you coming here to check on me or something
24:01what are you doing?
24:03i'm in
24:05what's going on joe?
24:07what's going on joe?
24:09what's going on?
24:11this surveillance feed is not a good look
24:32it makes roland look like the aggressor
24:35number one
24:36number one
24:38you've got an open door
24:39right behind roland
24:41why didn't he just escape?
24:45even though the law says he doesn't have to
24:47the jury is going to want to know
24:50secondly
24:51is roland pulling out a knife
24:54what's going on?
24:55and joe did not
24:57have a weapon
24:58other than
25:00his fists
25:01we see roland pulling out a knife
25:05almost charging joe
25:07and both of them go off screen
25:09the video as a whole
25:12is
25:14is not great
25:16for a claim of self-defense
25:18what's going on?
25:22the scene where everything went off camera
25:29was a shock to me
25:31i told the detectives what they will see
25:34they will see joe's attack
25:35they will see joe's attack
25:36and they will see him throwing me to the ground
25:38and on top of me
25:39i told them that's what they received
25:40they didn't
25:48when we're talking about a violent confrontation
25:51we're looking to see who started it
25:54and how did it happen
25:56and that's true of every self-defense case
26:05the problem with the surveillance camera
26:10is there are moments when roland goes off screen
26:13but we don't see what happens
26:15all we see is roland come back and pull out a knife
26:19that presents a problem
26:21but what we have here
26:23is a clip from roland's cell phone
26:26that was extracted by the expert
26:28all right so this is the door
26:35that's right beside
26:39joe are you coming here to check on me or something?
26:42what are you doing?
26:43anyway
26:44um in
26:48visually you can immediately identify a hostile man
26:51charging down the hall
26:53it's joe pendergast
26:54he's all wound up
26:57he's got anger on his face
26:59he's cocking his arm to hit roland
27:01this allows me to prove to the court
27:06that roland was acting in self-defense
27:09because he was not the aggressor
27:12he didn't throw the first punch
27:13he did not use fighting words
27:15it's a breakthrough that i've been hoping for
27:18for a long time
27:20the cell phone video definitely helps roland's case
27:23but the problem is
27:25we still don't have to fight
27:27in my opinion
27:28it's still not enough
27:30because it doesn't speak to the reasonableness of roland's actions
27:34and the surveillance video doesn't show that either
27:38in fact
27:39the surveillance video leaves one with the impression
27:42that roland charges joe
27:44when i looked at his eyes
27:47i knew instantly that this was for keeps
27:51so i shoved him back
27:53and i held my pocket knife
27:55just to back him off
27:56you could clearly see
27:58that i was fearful
28:00and that i was running for the door
28:02you have to be very aggressive discovering your client's case
28:17going everywhere you gotta go
28:19to get what you need to cooperate your client
28:21you should never start a trial without seeing the scene of the event
28:24this is amr the medical practice where the homicide took place
28:41his car was parked right over there
28:44so we know is that he was able to run out
28:47and run back to his car
28:49where it was parked
28:50and get in
28:51and that's when kathy comes running out according to him
28:54and throws the phone at the car
28:56what we're looking at here is the building plan for the amr clinic
29:07and according to roland he started right here by the sink
29:11so that's where roland was standing when he was attacked
29:15joe is attacking and coming forward
29:18roland draws his knife he says
29:20and then tries to get out
29:23by running down this corridor
29:25and out the back door to where his car is
29:28now this hallway is about 50 or 60 feet
29:31but it's only about 4 feet wide
29:34he's absolutely backed into a corner
29:36this is a very narrow hallway
29:38considering the fact that there are deadbolt locks
29:41on the other back door
29:43and on the front door
29:45the only way out without hitting a deadbolt
29:47is to go through a panic door
29:49roland has the ability now to mount a defense
29:53showing that he was cornered
29:56in a small space with no way out
29:59in other words
30:00he had to go through joe and kathy
30:02in order to exit the building
30:04when we were set for trial
30:20i had been in jail for almost a total of eight years
30:25i thought about if i was not exonerated of first degree
30:30the feeling of spending the rest of my life in prison
30:34it would have destroyed me and my family
30:38uh... how long can any family hold out
30:53an eight year old murder case is now underway
30:55here at the winnebago county justice center
30:58sixty year old roland brieltz is accused of fatally stabbing
31:01fifty nine year old joseph pendergrass in twenty sixteen
31:07eight years of disappointment
31:09of heartbreak
31:11of fear for my family
31:14a courthouse is just a big gambling casino
31:20the bet is do you have control of your life
31:22or does the court have control of your life
31:24walking into the courtroom
31:36and knowing that my life is on the line
31:38was a frightening experience
31:40it was difficult to see my husband looking helpless
31:45everybody looks at you
31:47i can tell that their reactions
31:49they already judge roland to be guilty
31:52in any criminal case
31:55it's the burden of the state
31:57to prove their case
31:59beyond a reasonable doubt
32:00they are the ones that have to go first
32:02they have to put forward evidence
32:05the prosecutor painted a picture of
32:07an intentional
32:09uh... angry vicious
32:12uh... murdering person
32:15citizens have a bias
32:17in believing that the police only charge people who are guilty
32:21and you have to get around that bias
32:24in this case
32:26it was like being in a prize fight
32:28we had to beat them up in our opening statement
32:31so that the jury realized
32:33roland was acting in self-defense
32:35and it was not an intentional murder
32:36real lawyer said his client does not deny using the knife to end the fight
32:41and only did so because he was being overpowered by a much stronger pendergrass
32:48we were able to show the jury two critical pieces of evidence in the opening statement
32:52the model of the place where the fight took place
32:55and the second thing was the actual video of the fight
32:58so the jurors could identify with roland as being cornered by a man who is twice his size
33:03in this case
33:22the one witness that
33:24the witness that we were most concerned about
33:26is obviously kathy zeke
33:28she was the only other witness that was on scene at the event
33:31kathy's testimony could be make or break for roland's case
33:35he was gasping for air and i grabbed that towel and i just put pressure on his chest
33:47and he said to me i think i'm dying
33:51cross-examination of her is extremely delicate
33:55if you cause her to cry unnecessarily
33:59you're going to create a very sympathetic picture for the jury of her
34:04the way to overcome that was to establish her hostility towards roland
34:10the fact that she went running out the door and threw at roland's phone
34:14and smashed it into the car
34:17that she was no passive personality
34:22when kathy walked away from the witness stand
34:25we were still mid-trial
34:27we had a long way to go before the case was over
34:31to see my family devastated by the expressions that the prosecutor was revealing
34:38about their father, their husband, their friend
34:42in those moments i'm embarrassed
34:44i truly am embarrassed for my friends and family that i put them through this
34:48it was crucial to show the jury that joe was the aggressor
35:03and one way to do that are through the injuries to joe himself and the use of a forensic pathologist
35:18we were establishing that joe was using his hands to attempt to injure roland and maybe kill him
35:31there are no defensive wounds on joe defending against the knife
35:37the absence of that allowed dr bloom to tell the jury his opinion
35:42my opinion was that uh
35:44the defendant was on his back on the floor
35:47and the uh
35:49the seat
35:50mr pentagrass was on top of him
35:53given that roland's answer to the state is self-defense
36:04we knew for certain that roland was going to have to testify
36:08the risk in putting the defendant on the record is they can sink their entire case
36:14any time you put a defendant on the witness stand
36:26you are putting somebody who is capable of going through thin ice at any moment
36:31we needed to establish for the jury the seconds that were off camera
36:35so the jury understood roland literally believed that he was under attack
36:41and if he didn't use the knife he'd be dead
36:44i was anxious to tell him the truth
36:46i was anxious for them to believe me
36:48if there was a danger of me taking the stand
37:04it was completely wiped out of my psychology
37:07for the opportunity to finally reveal to the world
37:11and especially my family and friends
37:13what happened that night
37:15and i was relieved to do that
37:17no matter what happened to me at that point
37:26because he had jammed it
37:27it was sort of like he you know
37:29braced it against the wall with me
37:31and he sort of met the knife he met him
37:33and he was right close to me
37:35i know on cross-examination
37:40they're gonna pick apart roland's testimony
37:44the prosecutor came at me pretty hard
37:47if i wasn't able to express the truth
37:50that this would be a defining moment
37:53of my demise of my imprisonment
37:56the prosecution were able to drag the fight out
38:02to make it seem like it went on a lot longer than it did
38:06which could affect the jury in terms of
38:09how they view whether roland's reaction to it was reasonable
38:14after roland's testimony
38:16i couldn't really read the jury
38:19and i knew this was still very much up in the air
38:22the closing statement is the most critical moment in the trial
38:37because i have to tie in every fact that supports roland's self-defense case
38:42and i have to remind the jury of who's lying
38:45proving that joe started the fight became a relatively easy task
38:49we had the video
38:51the much harder issue in the trial
38:53was proving that roland's behavior was reasonable
38:57the people have the right to defend themselves from an imminent attack which threatens them
39:09when they believe they're going to get killed, hurt, maimed, injured
39:16the defendant doesn't get to just run at joe and stab him in the chest in the back
39:21and joe has to just take it
39:23joe gets to defend himself from the defendant when he charges him
39:27that powerful closing argument of how dangerous of an individual i was
39:31i can hear my family, my daughter in particular, crying
39:35it was scary to be, you know, to have the jury confronted with that
39:40so one of the options is as a defendant you can ask the court to allow the jury to hear lesser offenses than the offense that's charged
39:53the calculated risk here is that there is somebody in that 12-man jury
39:58who wants to vote for something because we have a body on the floor
40:03and so consequently you give them an option to make a compromise
40:07in this case we ask for two
40:10aggravated battery and involuntary manslaughter
40:25we were summoned to the courtroom to hear the verdict
40:29i looked upon the jury
40:32and no one stared back
40:35i saw no emotion, no eye contact
40:38hoping and praying that roland's going to be acquitted of first-degree murder
40:42this is the moment of truth for the rest of my life
40:48this is the moment of truth for the rest of my life
40:54first-degree murder, not guilty
40:59aggravated battery, not guilty
41:02for the charge of involuntary manslaughter
41:05for the charge of involuntary manslaughter, guilty
41:15Eight years after the fatal stabbing of a local bar owner
41:17the man accused has been found not guilty of first-degree murder
41:21I knew at that moment that this eight-year ordeal was coming to a close
41:36I'm feeling like I did the job I was hired to do
41:38Roland was going to walk out of the building that day
41:42because the most serious charge was a not guilty
41:45I was ecstatic
41:48knowing that I would be able to hug my wife
41:53and kiss my children
41:55greet my mom who for eight years my staunchest supporter
42:00it was just a fantastic feeling
42:02you know, to have the sun in my face
42:06as I get to go home and be free and start over with my family
42:11I feel so happy for my family to be back together
42:23you know, I cannot ask for anything more
42:25and I thank God that my prayers were answered
42:30I'll take nothing for granted as I might have in the past
42:36knowing that it could all be taken away
42:38and now it becomes, you know, a new beginning with the family
42:41it becomes a new life
42:43a fresh new start