Military Wife Stuffed in Drain Pipe by ‘Killer’ Husband: Police

She was just so loved and she was just. like the most precious little thing. So. strong and beautiful and going. somewhere. >> It was only a few years ago when things. seemed to be moving in the right. direction for a newly married young. couple. He was a US Army soldier in. Anchorage. She was a National Guard. combat medic who moved from Utah to. Alaska to be with him. But this all. shattered when Sariah Barney was. reported missing and then found dead. and the evidence against her own husband. could now put him behind bars for years.

Zaryas Hildebrand is going to trial for. her murder. Law and Crime is in Alaska. for the proceedings and today as a jury. is selected, we are taking a closer look. at this tragic case. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. I can't believe it. Father's Day is. right around the corner. Where did the. year go? Where did the time go? Now, if. you're still looking for a gift, meet. the Chef IQ Sense Smart meat. thermometer. This is the secret to.

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salmon. Seriously, this Father's Day, it. is time to raise the stakes, no pun. intended, and cook with confidence. Use. code sidebar for 40% off sitewide at. chefiq.com. Right now in Anchorage, Alaska, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court. personnel, they are preparing for a. highly anticipated trial. Zaryas. Hildebran is accused of killing his new. wife, Sariah Barney, and dumping her. body near a storm drain. According to. investigators, he then took part in this.

desperate search for the 21-year-old. National Guard medic, allegedly. pretending to be distraught, even though. he was the only one who knew what had. really happened to her. That's the. allegation. And to be clear, he is. innocent until proven guilty. Okay? He. will have an opportunity to present his. defense. And I want to get into this, but I got to take you back in time. September 2021, Zaryas Hildebrand joined. the army according to the Anchorage. Daily News. And he arrived in Alaska in. April of 2022. The US Army told the. Daily News that he was a cannon crew.

member assigned to the second infantry. brigade combat team of the 11th airborne. division. That he was based at Joint. Base Elondorf Richardson. During that. same period, Sariah Sariah Barney was in. Utah where the Daily News reports she. served in the National Guard as a field. artillery firefinder radar operator. When she moved to Alaska in 2023, she. was assigned to the Alaska Army National. Guard's headquarters and headquarters. company. She also worked at a local.

restaurant called Bread and Brew. Now, Hilda Bran and Sariah reportedly met. during basic training in 2022. They. married that December, but it was less. than a year later when Sarah would be. found dead and Hildebrand was charged. with her murder. Now, the investigation. centers on this weekend in August of. 2023. So, the couple reportedly went to. Dave and Busters with friends to. celebrate Hildebrand's 21st birthday on.

Saturday, August 5th. They're believed. to have gone to a bar afterward and then. returned to their apartment around 2:00. a.m. Sunday, August 6, around 10:00 a.m. was reportedly the last time that Sariah. was seen alive. But Hildebrand wouldn't. report her missing until Monday, August. 7th. And information about where Sariah. was and when on that Sunday, it has. changed multiple times. We're going to. get into that in just a second. But. these huge search parties were formed to. try to find Sariah. Missing person. posters flooded social media. Now,

Hildebrand himself shared a flyer. writing, "Updated information on my. missing wife." And then in all caps, "Please share and repost." Sariah's. mother, Meredith, immediately flew to. Alaska when she learned that her. daughter was missing, joined the. desperate searches, which included a dog. park at University Lake, where Sariah. liked to spend some time. Meredith told. the Anchorage Daily News, quote, "Zaryius walked around for hours with me. searching for my daughter, knowing that. she was dead. He lied to me multiple.

times and tried to play it off like he. was a concerned husband." The Thursday. after Sariah was reported missing, police found her body inside of a storm. drain along a trail near her apartment. complex. She appeared to have a gunshot. wound to her left temple. This is. according to a criminal complaint. Keep. that in mind with what we're about to. get into. So, Hildebrand was arrested. He was taken to the Anchorage Jail on. charges of first and seconddegree murder. as well as tampering with evidence. And. remember, I mentioned that the timeline. for Sunday, August 6, is a little bit.

muddled. The reason I say that is. because here's what Hildebrand allegedly. told police. According to the complaint. that's filed with the court. Hildebrand. claims that when he and Sariah woke up. that Sunday, she needed to go to work. She had a job at a nearby sandwich shop. But according to him, they were both. hung over. Didn't feel well enough to. drive. So, according to him, Sariah. decided to walk to work at, again, Bread. and Brew. It's about a mile away from. the apartment. According to the. complaint, quote, Zarya said that Sariah. forgot to take her phone when she left. the house, but did take her purse and.

wallet. Zarya said that he discovered. that Sariah was missing later in the day. when he went to pick Sariah up at 1900. hours and found out that Sarah never. made it to work. Zarya said that he had. been searching for Sarah ever since. Zarya said that he had been to every. friend's house, called Zaras's parents, contacted all the hospitals in jail. Zarya said that he was driving all. around the neighborhood when he decided. to contact police 36 hours after seeing.

her leave home. Now, according to the. court documents, an officer apparently. drove the route that Sariah would have. taken between the apartment complex and. the restaurant, the one that she. reportedly walked. That area was also. reportedly searched by 60 to 70. volunteers, but they couldn't find her. Now, meanwhile, officers spoke with her. co-workers at Bread and Brew, where. she'd been working for about two months. They said Sariah never showed up on. Sunday, August 6th. In fact, here's what. the complaint says. Quote, "Employees. said they got a text from Sariah's phone.

number on Sunday at 10:45 hours, 45. minutes after she was reported leaving. the house by Zaryas, saying that she was. calling off work. An employee texted. back that Sariah needs to call Craig, the owner, to tell him about the. absence. Someone texted from Sariah's. phone that they didn't have Craig's. phone number. She said she provided the. texter with Craig's phone number. Craig. said he was never contacted. Both the. employee and Craig said that they know. Sariah has Craig's phone number on the.

phone because she had to call him the. last two times she called off work. I. talked to Sariah's mom who currently has. Sariah's phone. She said that Craig's. number is stored in Sariah's contact. list as CEO of Bread and Brew and is not. stored as Craig. That is very. interesting information because points. to allegedly someone other than Sariah. sending these messages. Someone who. didn't know the protocol for calling out. of work and didn't know that Craig's.

number is already stored in the. contacts, just not under his name. So, the complaint also says that police. discovered that someone had called 911. at around 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, saying. they heard a gunshot that sounded very. close by. When officers responded that. night, they found nothing suspicious, closed the call, but investigators later. noted per the complaint that the. caller's window was across a small. courtyard from Hildebrand's apartment. Tuesday, the day after he reported.

Sariah missing, Hilde reportedly spoke. with police at the apartment and said. she left at around 10 a.m. to walk to. work wearing her work attire. But when. officers spoke with one of Sariah's. friends, the friend claimed that Sariah. had never intended to go to work on. Sunday and had already told her she was. going to call out. Now, the argument. could be maybe she changed her mind, but. again, suspicious. In the criminal. complaint, an investigator wrote, "I. asked Zaryus about the text from Sarah's. phone to work at 10:45 after she had. already left the house and the fact that.

the phone was still in the house." He. denied sending the text and couldn't. explain how that happened. Now, that's. just the beginning when it comes to the. suspicious evidence, the suspicious. behavior, the alleged changing stories, the evidence that investigators. collected because they will say it. points to foul play. I'm going to get. into that and I want to be very clear. again as we get into this that Zaryus. Hildebran, the defendant here, is. innocent until proven guilty. Okay, so I.

want to go through all this. I'm not. going to do it alone. Let me bring on. criminal defense attorney Eric Fattis. back to Sidebar. Eric, thank you so much. for taking the time. Now, before we even. dive into more of the allegations, more. of the criminal complaint, more of the. alleged evidence, I want to play. something for you. So, this is Sariah's. mother, Meredith. spoke with my. colleague Anginette Levy about searching. for her daughter alongside Hildebrand. before she learned what she claims is. the truth. Here's what she said. >> Zarius called me Monday night from her.

cell phone and told me that he had just. placed a missing person's report with. the police. He was trying to like lead. us, me and my sister, different places. um because we kind of broke away from. the groups that the army had. But other. than that, like it was very like here's. her phone, here's her computer. So it. was like a real mixed bag where like my. initial gut instinct was this is not. okay. I thought that from the second I. got the phone call.

>> So Eric, I mean that could be framed. multiple ways, right? It can be framed. differently by each side. On one hand, you could say if he killed her, that's a. really twisted detail trying to cover. his tracks, make it look like he had. nothing to do. On the other hand, if he. had nothing to do with this, if he's. innocent, he was maybe just trying to do. what he could to find his missing wife. First thing I have a question of is. would she be able to testify to that if. she's called uh to the stand? I. >> think absolutely, Jesse, that that is. likely an admission by a party opponent.

So, if she is called by the prosecution, she can talk about any statements that. the defendant made to her that are. relevant. And certainly statements that. could be construed as trying to throw. someone off the trail, including the. alleged victim's mother, would be highly. relevant. >> This whole situation um that I mentioned. before going to work, right, her walking. to work that they were allegedly hung. over, so she walks to work a mile away. and then the text, the text from the. phone. The argument is that it seemingly.

wouldn't be from her because, you know, this is somebody who doesn't know the. protocol, doesn't know Craig is stored. in her phone. How we're going to get. through the rest of the evidence. Talk. to me about those parts. How in. allegedly crimin incriminating is that? >> Jesse, I think the texts are really. problematic for Hilderbrand. Look, he. tells police that she left her phone at. home when she went to work. And then 45. minutes after he says she left, there is. a text message from her phone. Gosh, I. wonder who could have possibly sent.

that. And then the content of the. message uh indicates that the the author. is not the alleged victim because the. alleged victim had the boss's number. saved in her phone just under a. different name. Uh but but a person. who's trying to impersonate that alleged. victim wouldn't know that. So would. probably ask about that, which this. texter did. >> And he didn't have a really, according. to the criminal complaint, didn't have a. really good explanation for why the text. was sent, which is not great, uh either. Um let me go to this. So, you go to the. criminal complaint. It states, quote, "Zarius initially says that he stayed.

home all day on Sunday and quote. vegetates." Again, this is according to. law enforcement. He later changed his. story and said that he went out and ran. some errands. Zaryas told detectives. that he didn't really worry about his. wife until 2200 hours. That is when he. went out and drove around the. neighborhood looking for her. Zarya said. he waited until Monday evening to make. the missing person report because he. thought he might find his wife and find. it was a misunderstanding. Eric, we've. seen this be an important factor in a.

lot of cases. When does the partner when. does the significant other call law. enforcement? And it can either be. immediately, it could be hours after, it. could be a few days after. That is. sometimes used by prosecutors. How do. you think it factors in here? How does a. defense attorney explain that away? >> You know, from the defense perspective, Jesse, um there are a lot of reasons why. a person might delay to some degree.

before getting authorities involved in. some sort of situation. You know, um I. don't have much information about the. nature of their relationship, how it had. been going over the past months. You. know, had they had troubles, had they. had disputes? um uh you know was. something else going on at the home that. that might have been unsavory but but. not related to the alleged victim's. disappearance. Those are all reasons. that could give a person pause in terms. of, hey, should I call the cops and. they're going to be here within the next. 30 minutes or, you know, should I.

continue my own sort of measures to try. and find this person where I think they. might be? And so, I think there are some. potential explanations, but also uh kind. of a shady look. >> Going back to the complaint, let's. continue. Quote, "While in the house, Zaryas gave APD permission to look. around and make sure Sariah wasn't home. Detective Elvie noticed that the only. bed in the house didn't have a sheet on. it and was only covered in a mattress. pad. Elby also noticed that a set of. brand new, still in the package sheets.

were on the kitchen table. Zarya said. that those sheets were purchased by his. wife a week ago. He said that there was. a sheet on the bed. He lifted the. mattress pad slightly and showed us a. fitted sheet on under the pad. We asked. Zaryus if we could look under the sheets. and lift the mattress to see if his wife. was under there. He said we couldn't. search under the bed because there were. quote embarrassing items underneath. He. finally told us it was stuff used for. sex. We asked him if he would move those. items while we looked away. And again,

he said we couldn't look under the bed. Eric looked suspicious. >> Uh, another shady look. You know, Jesse, who puts a fitted sheet under a mattress. pad? That part doesn't really make. sense. it looks like stuff has has sort. of been tampered with and and that. someone was planning on doing something. with respect to that bet. Now, one thing. to keep in mind though is that uh. Hildebrand's statement that you can't. search under the bed. I'm not sure the. juryy's going to hear about that. Typically, you cannot hold an invocation.

of a constitutional right against. another person. And that's really non. not consenting to a search, which is an. invocation of a fourth amendment right. So the jury might not hear that he said. you can't look under that bed. >> Interesting. So is there a warrant issue. there? Is there a fourth amendment issue. there? >> Uh so I I I think um in in that moment. the police were asking him, "Hey, can we. look under the bed?" And he's like, "No." Which is an invocation of the. fourth amendment. Subsequently, my. understanding though is that law.

enforcement did get a warrant. And so. that would cure any potential issue with. respect to that search uh interaction. By the way, as we go through this, I'll. say this all the time. It's a criminal. defendant's right, their right only. whether they want to take the stand. And. we see it a lot in self-defense defense. cases more than anything. But in this. case, because he has this alleged. interaction with law enforcement so. much, do you think Zaryus Hildebrand. could take the stand and explain his. behavior? Do you think that would help.

him? >> Yikes. You know, look, he's 21 years. old. He does not appear particularly. sophisticated. You look at some of the. missteps that he made in in just the. police interactions that are rather. elementary. He would be peppered with. questions on cross-examination from the. DA about the text messages, about the. bed, about things that were found later. which are terribly problematic. A and. could he really explain all that away in. an effective manner? Um that's.

questionable. Okay, let's continue on. because another suspicious detail that. detectives uncovered was the alleged. trips that Hildebrand made to various. stores. Remember, he first claimed he. laid around all day on Sunday vegetates, then apparently changed his story to say. he ran some errands. What were those. errands? Well, according to the criminal. complaint, detectives determined that. Zaryus Hildebrand went to a Fred Meyers. grocery store three different times on. Sunday. quote, "One purchase at 1226. hours, one at 1812 hours, and one at.

2200 hours. He purchased a jar of. marinara sauce, a set of sheets, the. same brand that was on the table, a. mattress cover, some hydrogen peroxide, an empty spray bottle, and some. miscellaneous personal hygiene items.". Eric, hey, I'm just buying a bunch of. things. You could cherrypick things that. you think would be used in a crime or a. cover up. Or is this purchasing items. that you can use to cover up a crime and.

you buy other things to try to make it. look like, oh, it's just my regular. purchase like the marinara sauce? I. don't know. You tell me. >> You know, did his grocery list was it. titled supplies you would need to cover. up a crime scene? Because that's what it. sounds like he bought. Uh, and on top of. that, Jesse, you know, who goes to the. store three times in one day? I can. imagine you go once, you forget. something, you go back a little later, but to go back three times every four. hours, and then you look at the contents.

of what he bought, and you start saying. to yourself, "Oh, there's cleaning. agents, there's uh other materials that. might be used to try to conceal things, to try to evade detection." you know. that the walls seem to kind of be. closing in as we continue to go over. these facts. >> And to be clear, generally speaking, purchase history is very hard for a. defendant to argue against because. there's surveillance footage of you. going in. Sometimes there's a camera of. you, you know, purchasing the items. There's receipts. So, it can be tough. Now, on Wednesday of that week, I want. to go to this part. Wednesday of that.

week, so this is before Sariah's body. was found. We talked about it before. Detectives got a warrant to search the. residence, to search the apartment. And. what they reportedly found was gruesome. Quote, "APD crime scene team lifted the. mattress in the bedroom. They described. the mattress as being saturated by human. blood. There was so much blood on the. mattress that the blood soaked through. onto the carpet and into the wood frame. The crime scene team also used a blood.

reagent spray called Blue Star, which. makes blood normally invisible to the. naked eye visible. The reagent was. sprayed in several areas of the house to. include the bathroom floors and bathtub. After the blue star was sprayed, latent. blood could be seen all over the bathtub. and some of the floors, most likely. after cleanup attempts were made. The. complaint continues. The APD crime scene. team also recovered the two handguns. from the house. One handgun was fully.

loaded. One of the handguns was missing. one bullet out of the magazine. No shell. casing was found. in the apartment. Eric, again, looks really, really bad. Is there any room for reasonable doubt. there? I mean, any first, let's start. with this. Any way a defense attorney. could prevent any of that evidence from. coming in? Not entirely sure. And number. two, if it does come in, I mean, how do. they how do they explain it to the jury? How do they do they, you know, cross-examine the investigators about it.

talking about a tainted investigation, sloppy police work? is, you know, just. reading it right there, it's you can see. how it looks. >> Yeah, Jesse, a few things. You know, if. I'm defense on this, uh I'm I'm. exploring the um scientific validity of. of that agent, the spray that the law. enforcement used that they claim, you. know, makes invisible blood visible. That sounds pretty magical. Has that. been uh allowed in courts before? Has. that been admitted in Alaska court? uh.

is it scientifically reliable in terms. of what it shows? Could there be a false. positive? Could it be showing something. else? Um these are all all questions. defense has to look at to try to exclude. that. If it's not excluded, uh it still. doesn't rule out the possibility of an. accident. It doesn't rule out the. possibility of a suicide. It doesn't. rule out the possibility of. self-defense. And so, while while very. problematic, uh it doesn't make the case. a slam dunk. >> Interesting. Yeah, I've seen cases. before where it might be hard to argue.

away the cleanup, but you could say I, you know, I didn't kill this person or I. didn't murder this person. Um, you know, I panicked. I was stupid. I was. panicked, but it doesn't mean uh that I, you know, maybe it was a like a case of. self-defense or I discovered this person. dead or something like that. Not not. really entirely sure where the defense. is going to go on this, but something. interesting to think about. Now, around. this time, detectives began receiving. reports on Mr. Hilderbrand's cell phone. and discovered that in addition to these. three trips to Fred Meyers, he also.

allegedly made a trip to Lowe's. So. Lowe's employees showed detectives video. of Hildebrand allegedly buying a large. 96galon garbage can with wheels. Officers began searching for that trash. can around the apartment and eventually. found it in the back of a landscaping. truck that was parked at the complex. It. reportedly contained what appeared to be. blood. So detectives, they came up with. this theory that Sariah's body must be. nearby. This is when they send up a.

drone to give them an overhead look at. the trail. And that is when the drone. operator said he saw what appeared to be. a pillow and something quote light. colored down inside a four to 5 foot. storm drain. Quote, APD and AFD were. able to recover the human remains out of. the drain pipe. The human remains were. positively identified as Sariah. Hildebrand. It appears she has a gunshot. wound to her left temple. Eric, I think. there's one thing to talk about Lowe's, but it's also the location of the body,

right? You know, we talked so much about. the totality of the evidence in this. case, but the location of the body, if. someone else would have done this, out. of all places to deposit the body, you. know, if he's being framed, yeah, put it. near the house. But at the same time, the other way of looking at it is. someone who if if the prosecution says. he did it, not entirely sophisticated, finds this place that's near the house. I think the location of the body is very. interesting. Oh yeah, a number of items. Look, a. 96gallon.

garbage can. That's like human body. size. Like that that's that would be one. reason why you would get that. And then. like you said, when you combine it with. the totality, you look at the other. supplies he bought, you look at the. location of the body, uh it sounds like. this is proximal to where Hild Debrand. was. He probably had knowledge of it. He. probably had access to it. Um you know, who else uh would in the vicinity might. know about this? That's that's a fair. question. uh you know, are there other. construction folks that that may have.

been close by who uh who may have been. who may have had some reason to want to. harm uh uh the alleged victim here. Uh a. lot of questions remain, but but. certainly when we look at all the things. together as one, that evidence seems. rather compelling. >> Let me ask you this. Jury selection, who. do you want on the jury if you're the. prosecution? Who do you want on the jury. if you're on the defense? >> Sure. So, prosecution side, you know, um. I'm going to want uh people who have an.

understanding of marital disputes, who. have an understanding perhaps of. domestic violence. Maybe they've seen uh. something like that take place either in. their own marriage or or or in the. marriage of people they know. Uh because. I I think uh the prosecution is going to. have to establish some kind of motive. for this. Why would he have done this? Was everything going on along hunky dory. in his marriage or or were were there. problems? On the flip side, for defense, you want folks um who are open-minded, who are not going to, you know, hear.

kind of a spiel from one side and just. accept that as gospel because they're. police, because they're prosecutors. You. want folks who who are critical thinkers. who are going to say, "Hey, what are the. other plausible explanations? Are there. things that haven't been ruled out?" Uh. and and and what information are we. lacking that I want to see? I think. that's the kind of mindset you want from. a defense perspective. opening. statements, right? In a case like this, I always think opening statements, they. say sometimes opening statements can uh. you can win a case in opening. statements, even though, by the way, the. openings are and the closings are not.

evidence. Um, what what how would you. frame it if you were the prosecution? How would you frame it if you were the. defense? >> If I was the prosecution, I am going to highlight the. inconsistencies. I'm going to highlight. the discrepancies that came from the. mouth of Hildebrand. Things that are. demonstrably untrue that we can show. with evidence are are are um uh. deceptive. And then then sort of suggest. why would a person be deceptive once. their wife has gone missing and once.

they bought, you know, a human. beingsized trash can and all these uh uh. supplies to cover up a a crime, you. know. Um, on the defense side, you know, I'm going to talk about at least with. the evidence we have right now. Um, we. don't know uh who may have done this. We. don't know exactly what happened. You. know, have we been able to rule out uh. uh that that someone else could have. done this? Have we been able to rule out. that that that she could have done this. to herself? And I'm not casting. aspersions. I'm just asking questions.

based on on some of the things that need. to be tied up evidence in the evidence. um in the case. And so I think that. those are two potential approaches uh in. in opening statement. >> One other thing I want to explore. So in. interviews with the Anchorage Daily News. friends and family, they described. Sariah as warm, loyal, hardworking, a. strong sense of purpose, close ties to. her family. A friend that she'd worked. with in Utah, Kylie Clark, told the. Daily News she worked her butt off. If. she was invited to anything, she would.

be there no matter what. So it kind of, you know, personalizes the victim in. this case. But in response to questions. about Sariah and Hildebrand's. relationship, she said, quote, "They. seemed really happy." Now, she did. question the theory that Sariah left her. phone at home. Quote, "The story just. didn't make sense. She never puts her. phone down. She's 21. That thing is. glued to her hand." That's a key point. But Eric, I do wonder if that's. something the defense will highlight. Guy just kills his wife out of nowhere. Makes no sense. They were all happy.

Although you and I both know that. wouldn't be the first time that outward. appearances versus what's really going. on behind closed doors. >> Sure. You know, uh, juries in cases like. this, they want a coherent story before. they brand someone with this scarlet. letter for life and they know, uh, what's what type of sentence is coming. down the pike if they do that. They want. to be sure. And so, you want that sort. of cohesion within your mind as a juror. Why why would a person have done this? What would could be the motive here? I.

think the prosecution has to come with. some semblance of a motive. You know, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's. hostile, sometimes it's sociopathic. And. I'm not sure what could be the potential. motive in this case. But I think the. prosecution does have to shore that up. They've got to present the jury with a. reason why Hildebrand at 21 years old. would have offed his wife, also 21, under what what appears to be gruesome. circumstances. Now, um, Sarai's family held a. remembrance ceremony for her at.

University Lake Dog Park. You getting a. sense of what this loss is to friends, family, the community. It's just an. awful, tragic situation. As for. Hilderbrand, his trial is expected to. get underway this week. The first degree. murder charge carries a maximum penalty, our understanding, of 99 years in. prison. Before I let you go, Eric, how. does the sentencing uh work on that? You. know, up to 99 years, how does something. like that work? Typically, if if a person is convicted. of first-degree murder, you're looking. at the max that that there's a.

reasonable likelihood that he would get. 99 years. You know, even at 21 years. old, uh and even if he didn't have to do. uh every single day of that sentence, I. think he's looking in a practical sense. at the rest of his life behind bars. Now, there are other charges, too. There's a seconddegree murder charge. There's also a tampering with evidence. charge. If he is acquitted on a greater. charge but found guilty on one of the. lesser charges, well then the judge has. some discretion and the judge is going. to take into consideration the the the. crime for which he was convicted, the.

circumstances, but also his age, also if. there is a lack of criminal history, also any sort of contributions to the. community, including his military. service. And so if he's not convicted of. the top charge, uh, but convicted of. something lesser, um, that sentence. could the range of it is it could vary. wildly and it's hard to kind of predict. where it might fall. You know, 20 years, 40 years, 60. It's it's hard to kind of. say. >> I'm going to speculate. One last thing. before we go. I don't know if they're. going to do this. I have no idea. Again, I'm speculating. Um, mental health.

defense, former military, PTSD. Again, I'm speculating. I have no evidence to. back this up. Uh that he suffered. anything like this, but I'm just. wondering here. Um when you talk about a. mental health defense, not not insanity, but to negate certain elements of a. crime, is that something you think we. should potentially be looking out for? I. really don't know, though, at this. point. >> I think we've got to keep our eye out. for it during both the trial phase and.

the sentencing phase if we get there, if. there's a conviction. Right. uh you know. sometimes during the trial phase if. there is some sort of mental health. issue going on it can impair a person's. ability to form the mental state. required to be convicted of a crime. So. you know here intentionally killing. somebody or knowingly engaging in. conduct that has a substantial risk of. death if a person is so out of whack. mentally that can uh give a jury pause. as to whether they could form that. mental state at the sentencing phase if.

he's convicted. Certainly the judge. would consider any sort of mental health. issues going on and those could enure to. the benefit of the defendant and so um. yeah something to keep our eye out for. uh for sure. >> Eric Fattis, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Good to be with you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us and as always please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your. podcast. You can also check us out on. NBC's Peacock as well if you want to. follow me. Ex Instagram, my NewsNation.

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