Housewives Star's Son Sex Crimes Case Takes MAJOR Turn

There is a major new development in the. KJ Beerman alleged sex crimes case. because a judge has now granted the. 15-year-old bond, but with some very. serious restrictions. We have the. ruling. We're going to break it all down. for you right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. So, major new development in the KJ. Verman case that we've been covering. here on Sidebar. A judge has now made. her decision on bond. And after. everything we heard in that courtroom.

last week, including information about. Beerman's private history that had never. been made public before, we now know. whether the judge was willing to let the. 15-year-old out of detention while this. case plays out, while it goes towards. trial. The answer is yes. Yes. But it is. a little bit more complicated than that. because there's a series of restrictions. that will heavily affect parts of his. life if he gets out. And that includes. where he lives, who he can interact. with, where he can go, how he gets to.

school, what he does online. So, there's. a lot to unpack here, but remember what. we're talking about. KJ Beerman is 15. years old. He's facing seven felony. charges stemming from an alleged. incident involving a 15-year-old. classmate back on April 23rd at a. Lifetime Fitness. She claims he forced. himself on her, performed sexual acts. that she didn't consent to, but at some. point she was able to get away. Now, Beerman was arrested August 17th. He's. been at the Metro Regional Youth. Detention Center in Atlanta ever since. And then on Friday, September 11th, he.

appeared in court for that bond hearing. that I mentioned before. And Long Crime. was inside that courtroom. And this was. a shocker. This was a bombshell because. prosecutors revealed something about. Beerman that we had never heard before. >> As to the defendant's juvenile history, he is under under supervision with. juvenile court for one count of sexual. battery against a child under 16 felony. The defendant was placed on a sentence. for that.

October 29th of 2025 is when that order. was filed in. He is still under. supervision until 2027. Um I did speak. with them and they stated that depending. on what happened with this hearing as to. whether that supervision will continue. >> and that was just part of it. Prosecutors went on to describe what. they said investigators had found on. Beerman's phone, including alleged. videos they claimed showed him. purportedly sexually assaulting an. underage family member. Even though this.

was disputed by his attorney, Jason. Sheffield. But there was another major. moment on Friday. This is when the. alleged victim in this case from KJ's. current case spoke to the judge asking. for Beerman not to be released. I have. already received threats from. individuals saying that if he is. released, he will come after me. DMs, messages to my friends and family and. post threatening me because of me coming.

forward. No matter what these threats. came directly from, I cannot I cannot. just No matter who these threats came. from directly, I cannot just ignore them. or assume that nothing will happen. I am not only scared for my own life. anymore. I am scared for my family too. Members of my family have received. emails and phone calls because of this. situation. >> So prosecutors, they asked the judge to.

take these concerns into account. arguing that if KJ Beerman was released, there should be at least strict. conditions on his release. Now, his. attorney, Jason Sheffield, who I just. mentioned, pointed to KJ Beerman's ties. to the community, his apparent lack of. flight risk. He also brought up. something very key in this case that's. noted in the police report that the. alleged victim went to get a rape kit. test done, but investigators apparently. found no traces of male DNA, which I.

talked about before will be potentially. problematic in the prosecution of this. case. But then the judge ended up. issuing a ruling and now that order is. here. So KJ Beerman was granted a. $200,000 bond, but that's really just. the beginning. So, the judge attached. this long list of conditions to that. bond. And that is where things get. really specific and what I want to talk. about. So, I want to get into this. I. want to break it down with somebody who. knows about this, who knows about this. area of law. I want to bring on Georgia. criminal defense attorney Meg Strickler.

Meg, good to see you. Thanks for coming. back here on Sidebar um to talk about. this. So, let let's first start with the. big headline here, the $200,000 bond. So, $50,000 for count one, aggravated. child molestation. Uh, count two, aggravated sexual battery. Count three, aggravated sodomy. And counts five and. six. 20K on count seven. Uh, counts five. and six and seven are being sexual. battery against a child under the age of. 16. H, how does it work? Like, talk to.

us about that. Why is it structured that. way? Well, each charge must have a bond. amount attached to it or you don't get. out of jail. So, each charge has to have. one. And the more severe charges, the. aggravated sodomy and such, they're the. ones that are going to have the $50,000. bond, $20,000 bond, then false. imprisonment is a slightly lesser. charge. Um, remember in context, and. that's why it's only$10,000. So, it's. very normal to have a bond amount for. each charge. It's a requirement. Is that.

amount $200,000 in total make sense to. you in general? >> It does in general. I mean, obviously. every single case is different. Um, but. you wouldn't get below 10,000 for. aggravated sodomy or aggravated child. molestation ever. You just don't. So, getting 10,000 for that charge, which we. didn't get here, uh, is considered a. massive win. But it's normally 20,000 to. start with, and it can be 50,000 and. just depends on context. And I'm going. to get into the conditions in a minute,

but generally when you look at this, because there was an issue with the. prosecutors and you heard from the. alleged victim in this case talking. about him allegedly being a danger to. society, you know, issues of flight. risk, things of that, were you surprised. that Bond was granted at all? All right, real quick. For all you business owners. out there, or if you manage your. business, you don't need me to tell you. that running a business is tough enough. My question is, why make things harder. for yourself doing all these things. manually or relying on dozens of apps. that don't talk to each other, right? That's where our sponsor, ODO, comes in. Because ODOU is an all-in-one business.

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I'm in Fton right now. Uh it is a large. jurisdiction and our jail uh it's called. the Rice Street Jails. It's thoroughly. overcrowded. Even um the juvenile. facilities are overcrowded. So as a. general rule, we're going to give. somebody bond. Even sometimes people. charged with murder can get bonded but. then they get the house arrest and. that's what occurred here. He's on. severe restrictions. He has house. arrest. >> Let's talk about that. Let's talk about. that. The conditions are he has to live. at his mother's home. >> He has to attend school virtually.

>> He can't use his cell phone or social. media. Tough, you know, for a teenager. >> I can't imagine. >> Yeah. He can't have direct or indirect. contact with the alleged victim or. family or close associates. He can't. have contact with anyone 16 or younger. And then there's the monitoring because. he has to be subjected to electronic. monitoring with a 24-hour curfew except. for medical and court appearances. What. do you think about those conditions? >> Those are normal. I mean, whenever you. have um a situation like this,

especially somebody who's young like. that, the social media uh and the. internet access when sex is involved. especially is sometimes curtailed. Um, and you would be really kind of. surprised. These ankle monitors are. amazingly uh accurate. So if I walk from. here to the other side of my office, which is, you know, not that large of an. imprint, the monitor would show. And so. these ankle monitor reports that the. ankle monitor person who's who's a. private company, they can send daily. reports to the probation officer who's.

watching this and see if what this kid. is doing. I mean, it's really really. accurate. So, as why I'm going so much. detail about that is to explain that's. why the judge orders it. It's really. good in keeping track of folks. >> You know, somebody might look at this. and say, "Wait a minute. I don't. understand. He hasn't been convicted. He. He's innocent unless proven guilty. How. is this fair to impose these conditions. on him?" Now, look, on the other hand, he would probably much prefer this than. rather spending his time behind bars. But at the same time, let's say these. charges are dropped. Let's say he's.

acquitted. Is this fair? I mean, I I I I'm a criminal defense. lawyer. I've represented people. I've. char I have tried a rape case in Fton. County fairly recently, and he was on. ankle monitor for four years, not. guilty. I mean, he had four years of his life. taken away from him. It's just the. nature of the justice system. Now, that's the one side, the defense side to. argue the lawyer side. Also, however, there's these things called in Georgia. called the Ayala factors, and there's a.

factors of what a judge can give bond. to. So it's the ties to the community, danger to the community, um you know, these kinds of things. In this context, in most cases when it's aggravated child. molestation and rape, those factors are. taken into consideration and that's why. you don't always get bond or you get. these very severe restrictions because. of the severity of the charge. >> Is it what about accidental violations. of these restrictions? In other words, when he can't have contact with anyone. 16 or younger, if he's in a store and.

there's a child that comes up and goes, "Hi," or he goes to some sort of family. event. I mean, how does it work in terms. of uh potential violations of this or. how um you you know, is there have to be. a deliberate nature to it in some way? >> It's a great question and it happens all. the time. I mean, in the context here, he won't be going to McDonald's. drive-thru because he's not allowed to. As a general rule, if you're told no. direct contact with somebody, they. usually use the terminology direct. contact so that you can't initiate.

contact with a child. Indirect contact, you could, you know, that I always tell. my clients, walk around with your phone. because it shows you where you are at. all times. Uh, in addition to your. phone, excuse me, your ankle monitor. Um, so usually what occurs if one. infraction occurs, two infractions. occur, whatever, we have a mechanism. here in Georgia where it's an. administration, excuse me, administrative revocation where the the. person who's looking at you and. monitoring you will kind of say, "Look, I see these infractions. What can we do?

We have problems. We need to fix this.". And so it doesn't always get to the. judge just yet. Depends on the. infraction, though. So if it's an. indirect contact situation, that's not a. big deal. What gets to be a big deal is. if he contacts the victim's friend or if. he posts on social media. Those things. are highly problematic. >> So that's what we mean by indirect. contact with I mean that that's like an. extra proc that's like you have to you. have to really be conscious about what. you're doing at all times because you. cannot it says you can't have direct or. indirect contact with the alleged victim.

or family or close associates. >> Correct. Correct. And so it's being. extreme, which it should be. And I. always tell clients, run, run, or run. away. And if you happen to be at a. store, gas station, whatever, because. let's pretend he's going to the doctor. and he has to stop at the gas station to. get gas. He sees somebody, don't get. gas, run away. I mean, just when I say. run away, get in the car and drive away. You need to be very careful. better safe. than sorry because you just don't want. to have any questions because it's your. freedom at risk here because if you get.

a violation of your bonding conditions. off you go. >> Yeah. Unless there's some sort of, you. know, explanation for it. When it comes. to things like not being allowed to use. a cell phone or social media, what kind. of oversight is there for that? How. would you know? >> Well, it's a good question. uh normally. and again I don't I didn't see it in the. bond order so I'm not going to say this. comfortably but normally when there are. restrictions like that they will put. software on the computer at your expense.

um that monitors what you do and what. you access because he's allowed to use. the internet for email and he's allowed. to use it for his schooling. So, I would. assume because I always tell my clients, pay that money for the smart uh eye uh. software. So, that again, you have. proof. You've only done school, you've. only done email, you've put the software. on your your computer to do that. Same. thing you put on your phone, you put on. your iPad, you put on all your devices, and there are software products out. there. Uh Smart Eye or something like. that is the one I always think of, but.

there are several different products. that you can pay for. And a lot of times. the judge requires it. I don't remember. seeing it in this bond order, but if I. was the defense attorney in this case, I. would say take the time to put it on. your computer. Better safe than sorry. Again, we're talking about somebody's. freedom. >> But but there is a And I'm not saying. anybody would do this. But what about. situations where you have a family. member or friend go on for you? >> I know. I know. Well, that's the cool. thing about technology though is that if. my associate who's right next door. wanted to post on my Instagram and she.

had access, that'd be problematic. because she's doing it at my office on. my service IP static IP address, you. would know it was me. >> But normally, if it's somebody else. who's like in a different part of. Georgia and logs in, you can say and. prove it rather easily by just. subpoenaing Google, Instagram, fill in. the blank. When did the post get made. and where was it made? What was the. static IP address of when it was posted? So it's provable, fixable. >> So when I look at all these conditions, how much freedom does he have? Actually,

>> I mean truthfully, none. I mean, he is. on We used to call it house surveys. We. don't tend to call it that anymore, but. I mean he is what 15 years old. Those. kids live by their phones. They're. scrolling 24/7. So that punishment is. probably the most dire for him. He's. taken out of school now. Remember when. you were in high school? I mean, it's a. very social time. And then the third. issue is that he's not allowed to see. any friends, do any social anything. This is very restrictive. But then I.

look at it from the other side. I'd. rather be that than be in a youth. detention center or jail. >> And that's a bad environment, right? I. mean, the youth detention center. >> Shudder. I shudder. Uh, they're awful. And I'm not trying to It's awful is not. even a good enough word. I mean, it's. it's. they're awful. They're scary. They're. just like jails. They really are. >> Well, look, this raises a separate. question, right? Because there's another. issue that's hanging over this case. This defense team, his attorney is.

trying to have KJ Beerman's case moved. into juvenile court. Can we determine. anything about that possible outcome. based on the bond hearing at all or no? Is it's a separate kind of issue? It'll. be the same kind of hearing in the sense. of what's discussed and there is a. statute out there actually and um what's. kind of nice is that we have the. mechanism to be able to put it back down.

into the juvenile court. We can petition. the courts and prior to indictment, we. can work with the prosecutor and say, "I. know this is an SB440 offense, but I. want to have it in juvenile. Here are. the following reasons." And that goes. very specific to the case itself. what. is this particular gentleman's. background, you know, and these kinds of. things. And what hurts him is this prior. offense where which was already pending. in juvenile court. And the biggest thing. I think that's going to hurt this case, and again, it's only what I'm seeing is.

he was under supervision when this new. offense occurred. >> I mean, that if I was a judge, I'd be. like, "No, man. He had his chance. We're. going to keep you in spirit court." It's. my humble opinion. And just because I've. spoken about this with other experts, but you're from this jurisdiction, you. know, what how big of a difference is it. between juvenile court and adult court. in terms of the proceedings, in terms of. the punishment, in terms of the trial? Just let us know as this advances how.

significant of a difference it is. >> I think your word significant is is is. probably the best word. It's. significant. A extraordinarily less. amount of prison time. Number one, I. think that's the biggest issue is that. you're facing like 25 to life for some. of these charges in the juvenile court. You can only have jurisdiction till 21. So the other thing is that he is only 15. years old. The whole point of juvenile. court is it's more touchyfey. And I mean. the juvenile courts in the Fulton County.

one is um it's a it it works, you know, and I've had these kinds of cases in. juvenile court. They take a lot of time. to really focus on treatment. We want to. put this person back into society so he. can be productive member of society. What's the point of putting in prison. for the rest of his life if there's a. way to show that we can do things to. make it so that he can live a productive. life? And I would argue and I don't know. that's been done here, but his original. case that he was in counseling, we got.

to go look at all that work. We got to. all see what he did in the original case. and then see what work he's doing now. today and then all of those things will. be at the hearing discussed and then the. judge will make a ruling. >> Very important issues at stake here, very specific issues at stake here. Um, and we've covered kind of juvenile cases. before, but there's such a high-profile. uh aspect of this and such a different. kind of aspect to this. Um, and it keeps. developing and changing every time. there's a court hearing. So, we're going. to stay on top of it. Uh, Meg Strickler, thank you so much for taking the time.

Always appreciate you. Of course. Thank. you for having me. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. Like and subscribe. and we'll see you next time.