‘Real Housewives’ Son’s Siblings CLAP Back in Sex Crimes Case

Three younger siblings have just hired. their own attorney and they are. officially appealing a ruling in their. brother KJ Bierman's sex crimes case. We. got the documents and we're going to. break down what may be happening, why. the siblings are getting involved, and. what it means. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. So the sex crimes case against KJ. Bierman just got a little more. complicated because now according to. court documents that we just got our. hands on,

this is becoming somewhat of a family. affair. I'll be clear about what I mean. here because what we're learning is that. KJ's three younger siblings have just. hired their own attorney. So they're. officially appealing a ruling in their. brother's criminal case, okay? We have. the actual court documents right here. We're going to look at what they're. asking the Court of Appeals to review, what we know about KJ's release that. potentially ties to this new legal move. We're going to try to read between the. lines. But Bierman is the son of Kim.

Zolciak and Kroy Bierman and he is. facing seven felonies including. aggravated child molestation and sodomy. for an alleged assault at a gym back in. April. He's pleaded not guilty. He's. currently out on a $200,000 bond. There. is a bond condition. This is notable. Could be important to what we're talking. about here and that is that he's barred. from having any contact with anyone 16. or younger and that seemingly includes. his younger siblings. Now, I'm not saying that that specific.

restriction is connected to this new. appeal. However, how do I not mention. it? The siblings aren't the only ones. filing appeals though. I should tell. you. KJ Bierman himself [snorts] also. filed a notice of appeal on November. 12th. We're going to get into all of. this, but let's not forget what this is. about. KJ Bierman was arrested in. August. He was later indicted on these. seven felony charges. His attorney Jason. Sheffield has argued from the very start. that his client is innocent pointing to. the fact that a sexual assault kit found. no male DNA on this alleged victim. He.

is also asked the court to move this. case to juvenile court so KJ is not. tried as an adult. It's important. because if this case stays in adult. court, some of the most serious charges. carry a mandatory minimum of 25 years. without parole. This would not be the. case if you go to juvenile court, different kind of punishment. But back. in September at the bond hearing, prosecutors dropped a bombshell that. made things very interesting. And that. was that Deputy District Attorney. Caitlyn McGillicuddy told the court,

told the judge that KJ was already under. juvenile court supervision for a prior. sexual battery charge. And she revealed. that investigators found videos on his. phone that allegedly showed him having. some sort of sexual contact or relations. with a family member under the age of. 12. KJ's attorney fired back though. He. called that characterization a gross. misrepresentation. And despite those allegations, the judge. did grant KJ a $200,000 bond but with.

the strict conditions I mentioned. before. But more specifically, he's on a. 24-hour house arrest at his mom's house. with an ankle monitor. He attends school. virtually. He's not able to go on social. media. He's barred from having any. contact with anyone 16 or younger. including seemingly his siblings as I. mentioned before. The judge's order also. specifically barred any other children. 16 or under from staying at the home or. visiting, which. seemingly would directly impact his. three younger siblings, right? Now those.

siblings, as I mentioned, hired their. own attorney. They filed an appeal in. this case. So we have the court. documents right here. And just to help. us understand what might be happening, what they're actually challenging, what. this means for the prosecution, I want. to bring in Safa Robinson Ferrer, criminal defense attorney, former. prosecutor. Thank you so much for coming. on. I really appreciate you taking the. time. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. >> So let's look at these documents, try to. make sense of them together. You got the. Georgia Court of Appeals granted their. application for an interlocutory appeal.

on November 12th. And the siblings'. attorney immediately filed the official. minor children notice of appeal that. same day. Okay. Why do they need their. separate attorney? I mean, we don't. really know what this is about. They. they filed an application for an appeal. They were granted that application for. an appeal. We don't know the substance. of it. Why would they need their own. attorney? What do you think is going on? >> A lot of times when you have domestic or. family incidents, and especially in this. particular case where you have. allegations of sexual abuse and sexual.

misconduct, and I would say granted we. also don't know who the alleged victim. is in this case, but a lot of times you. will see an attorney for the child be. appointed or a guardian for the child. that's an attorney. >> Well, we know that the alleged victim is. not a family member uh in this case. What we do know is there was an. allegation made uh by prosecutors. regarding. uh KJ Bierman having sexual misconduct. with a relative in the past um that may. have been part of a prior case. Even. though his attorney has fought back. against that and basically said it's.

being mischaracterized what happened. Have you ever seen a case before? If we. think for a second, is this an attempt. by his siblings to be with him, to be. near him, to be in the house. Have you ever heard of something like. that before where a court could say you. can't. be with your family? >> Absolutely. And in in more egregious. cases, you will see the courts issue. orders of protection. When the. complaining witness is not a family. member, there will still be a concern. from the court that the defendant in.

this particular case or in any. particular case can reoffend or. victimize somebody that's in the family. So a lot of times or in many occasions, you will see a situation where the judge. issues an order indicating that the. defendant cannot be around any minor. children at any point in time. And that. often times will be family members and. children or siblings and things of that. nature. So although it is a more. [snorts] extreme order, they are they do. occur on occasion. >> And what would a court be likely to do.

in a situation like this? >> It's going to depend on the facts and. and the specific allegations. And so, what the judge will likely do is compare. the facts and allegations to the initial. case that's sitting before him or her, and then also take a look at the age of. the youth that are. asking for this order to be lifted. So, the siblings, what are their age? Are. they near or similar in age? Are there. any other allegations that could. indicate that the defendant in this case. may have victimized or would victimize? And I know that there's some rumors and.

rumblings about that. Um, the court is. going to take all of those things into. consideration and make its determination. on whether or not there's a risk to the. other minor children that are in the. home. >> This filing from the siblings i- i- is. incredibly [snorts] brief, doesn't. provide a lot more information. Is that. on purpose? Is that deliberate? Is that. possible that their attorney is keeping. it vague on purpose? >> Absolutely. And one of the things that. the attorney's going to want to do is, of course, protect the identities to the. best of the extent. Although we do know. that they are siblings in this case. Not.

only that, but the the attorney for the. child is also going to want to keep. things as broad in scope as possible as. to not give any indication to the public. on what's going on with his clients or. his or her clients, the the children. that they actually attorney for the. child represents. And so they're not. going to want to give out that. information. And the courts are. typically fine with that because these. become public pleadings and because. there are youth or minors in connection. with these events, they don't want the. attorneys to say things that may alert.

the public to what's actually going on. or happening with those minor children. >> When we say an interlocutory appeal, for. anybody who doesn't know, what exactly. does that mean? Does that give you. a clue as to where they're positioning, what the substance of this this appeal. is? >> Yeah, so there's a couple of things. going on here and a couple pe- appeals. that have been filed. One is with. respect to the children and again, we. don't know the specific facts, but it. could be something as simple as we want. the court to vacate its order indicating.

that we can't be around our brother. We. want to be around our brother and so. we'd ask that the court vacate any prior. orders of protection or stay away orders. from youth or children. With regard to. the other appeal that's in place or what. we believe and what we've seen in the. pleadings is that there is a request at. least from the government to do a. forensic interview or court ordered. forensic interview. And so the defense. is likely going to want to stop that. from happening. I'm actually surprised. that that hasn't happened as of yet, the.

actual forensic interview. A lot of. times in most cases what you'll see is. the child will make a disclosure. indicating that there's been some sort. of sexual abuse. They will be taken to. law enforcement or the police department. or a child advocacy center where. forensic interviews are conducted. immediately, sometimes even prior to. charges being filed against the. defendant. And the benefit to that is. that it's so much closer in time to the. actual allegations. And with forensic. interviews you often have one person.

who's interviewing the child, but then. there are members of law enforcement. such as your attorneys, your. prosecutors, your other law enforcement. entities that are present that need to. know what's going on with the child for. purposes of prosecution and litigation. They're all also present watching this. and it's recorded. It does become a part. of discovery. And so in this particular. case there's a possibility that it has. happened, but based on the appeal that. I've seen I think that the defense is. essentially asking for that not to be. ordered by the court. >> I was going to ask you this later, but.

I'll ask you it now since we brought up. it. forensic interviews of siblings. If that. is really on the table, if that should. happen, what's the relevance of that? Like what are they what would. prosecutors be trying to determine here? If this is a case about him allegedly. sexually abusing a non-family member, not at the house, at a gym, right? Why. is siblings? What do they need to be. interviewed about? >> Well, one thing that we often times know. and see is that there can be superseding. indictments in cases. And if there is an.

indication that there's possibly sexual. abuse or sexual misconduct between this. particular defendant and any other. family member, including the possibility. of siblings, then the government's going. to want to interview those children or. those youth to see if there are any. additional charges that they can bring. about against the defendant. And so. that's the purpose for those interviews. if they are looking to interview these. siblings. >> If you wouldn't do a forensic interview. if it was just, hey, we believe the. defendant told you something about what. happened. Like would you do a forensic.

interview if it was just you might be. called as a witness in this criminal. case? Can they be compelled to be a. witness in a criminal case against their. brother? I mean, that's that's. that would you do a forensic you get. what I'm saying? >> Yeah, yeah. No, so with regard to if if. the person is just a witness, you're not. going to do a forensic interview. A. forensic interview is specific to when. there are allegations of sexual assault. and abuse against a particular child and. that particular child is interviewed by. law enforcement and essentially it's a.

social worker or case worker that does. the interview. But again, you have law. enforcement officers, the prosecutors, and everybody else that's watching this. interview take place behind closed doors. to see what charges are going to be. brought, if any additional charges, and. also to see if there are other patterns. of behavior. And in some states and. particularly here in New York, what. often can happen is prior to trial, and. I know they're in the state of Georgia, but we do have this rule here, is that. if there are other allegations of bad. conduct, you can't use them to show that.

a person acted in propensity with that. bad conduct. But if there are certain. acts that are so interwoven that they. create or would complete the narrative. for a jury or would show an absence of. mistake or motive, then the government. will attempt to introduce those facts. even if they are not bringing about. additional charges on on this particular. defendant. >> So let me go on to the filing. I've been. had some made of questions. I didn't. even go to the next part. You have the. minor children notice of appeal and it. states pursuant to O.C.G.A. 5634.

and 5635, the Georgia Court of Appeals. has jurisdiction in this manner and not. the Supreme Court of Georgia because the. does not involve constitutional rights. So they're fighting over. which court hears this? Why does that. matter? Why, why does that tell you. something about this? It's not a. constitutional rights issue, huh? >> Correct. And so what it is is a lot of. times and I would expect that this. particular case is sitting in the.

Georgia Supreme Court. And so when. there's an appeal specifically from an. order in this case, you're going to take. it to a higher court in this particular. case, the Court of Appeals, so that they. can make the decision or determination. on whether a lower court's ruling was. appropriate and if they will overturn. that ruling or decision at any point in. time. And we know that the case is still. pending litigation at this time. And so. these are. mechanisms that the government or the. defense can use in advance of completing. or adjudicating the case so that they.

can get these rulings overturned. >> So KJ's attorney, Jason Sheffield, also. filed a notice of appeal for KJ. And. this requests the court, the court clerk. rather, to send the Court of Appeals the. entire file from August 26th to present. day. And it lists a series of sealed. documents specifically. It lists the. state's emergency motion for court. ordered forensic interviews of minor. children and the Superior Court October. 5th, 2026 order granting state's motion. for forensic interviews of minor.

children. So the state wants seemingly. to interview minor children. I don't. know if it's again. siblings, someone else, the alleged victim. Why is this. important to be sent over? Does it tell you anything more about. this? >> What it tells me is that there's some. information in the court's filing. document and some facts surrounding the. case that do indicate that there may. have been more than one victim or more. than one child victim. And what the. government is asking is to do that.

forensic interview so they can determine. whether or not additional charges will. be brought. And based on the information. that the current court has and what the. government has and also what the defense. has, they are asking the Court of. Appeals to make a determination. The defense here seeking to remove the. court's order to actually complete the. forensic interviews, and I don't think. that's going to happen. I think that. they will continue to go forward. >> Now, I mentioned this before, but right, there was that allegation made by. prosecutors about this prior allegation.

of sexual misconduct by K.J. Bierman. with respect to a relative. K.J.'s. defense has argued that that prior. juvenile matter involved quote. inappropriate crude behavior involving. two middle schoolers, that it didn't. result in an adjudication for statutory. rape or intercourse, and you know, the. state described videos or video that. allegedly showed sexual activity with a. family member under 12. You know, you. look at this, you think about everything. that's happening here. Is this a part of what's going on here? Is this part of the fight with respect.

to the. respect to the siblings? >> It could be I I don't think that the the. video and the direct facts or what are. alleged facts of the minor children on. child minor child on minor child conduct. and videos. I don't think that that is. with respect to the siblings and other. minor children just specific to the one. victim here. But again, when you have. circumstances and situations where there. is alleged sexual abuse or sexual. misconduct and there is also a high. probability that other youth or children.

have been victimized, particularly youth. that live in the home with the. defendant, and the defendant may have. access to them, that certainly will give. the government pause to say we need to. look into this further. And a lot of. times we know youth and and individuals. who do sexually abuse children, it's not. typically just one child. It is a. pattern of behavior that they are. engaging in that can be a longstanding. pattern of behavior from from early. childhood age up into adult so depending. on the span of time, I think the.

government is taking a look at whether. or not there are additional victims here. including victims that share the. household with him. >> The big fight here also isn't just the. appeal. It's it's whether K.J. Bierman. is going to be tried as an adult. His. defense is arguing that because he was I. believe 14 at the time he belongs in the. juvenile system where the focus would. be, you know, rehabilitation is rather. than a strict prison punishment, incarceration. If he stays in adult. court, he's facing our understanding a. potential 25-year mandatory minimum. How.

does all this raise the stakes for the. defense with that on the table? >> It raises the stakes significantly. because we're not only talking about. what he could face as a youth, youthful. offender as rehabilitation, probation, and other programs and mechanisms to. cure the behavior for lack of a better. way to put it. But we're also now. talking if he stays in adult court, the. high stakes of facing significant time. in incarceration. And that is where he. would essentially be sentenced to.

Department of Corrections sentence. Yes, there are rehabilitative programs, sex. offender programs that an individual can. engage in while he or she is. incarcerated, but they are stuck to the. environment of being a prisoner in the. Department of Corrections and don't have. the access or flexibility to engage in. outpatient treatment or to be on. probation and to still be with their. family members and things like that. So. it certainly raises the stakes and he's. looking at a significant amount of time. if in fact this stays in Superior Court.

>> I'm going to throw one more curve ball. to you before I let you go and I know. that I didn't send you these documents, but I'm just going to ask you generally. speaking. I did I broke this down the. last time we talked about KJ Beer man. because one of the things his attorney. is trying to do is to essentially throw. out the indictment saying it's. insufficient. And the way he's doing. that is saying you look at the actual. statutes, you look at the actual. elements, and then you look at the. allegations in the indictment and. there's not enough. It hasn't been pled. with particularity. Does that actually.

work? Like how detailed do you have to. get? There and I I broke this down last. time. It does become a question, you know, did. you allege with specificity how this is. that particular illegal sexual act or. whether force was used and whether or. not what you're alleging here is it. duplicative of another charge? Are you. talking about a different body part or a. different act? Generally speaking, cuz I. know I didn't throw these documents at. you, does that work? Does a court actually.

throw out an indictment, force it to be. refiled, force you to go back to a grand. jury? Generally speaking. >> They do. And it matters because at the. end of the day, when the government. brings about an allegation, they do have. to refer to the statute. On this. particular date and time, this. particular defendant engaged in X, Y, and Z. This particular conduct, whether. it be by force, threats, coercion, whether the the nature of the sexual. act, all of those things matter, and. they have to be supported by the. statute. If there's an allegation that.

is not supported by any one element of. the statute that the government is. alleging, the court must dismiss the. charges. Whether they do it with or. without prejudice, the likelihood is it. will be without prejudice and they can. refile, but it does have to be pled with. specificity, and his attorney is exactly. correct that the particular acts have to. be alleged in the correct and. appropriate way in conjunction with the. statute. >> I actually made the point last time, if. that happens, it puts more pressure on. the prosecutor because I believe that.

there was an effort here to say, well, okay, we'll call in the lead detective. or the lead investigator to testify. about those particular facts. But it. also makes me wonder, you know, if. you're getting that detailed and that. specific, A, do you have the facts to. back it up to support the charges? But. B, I wonder if it puts a lot of pressure. on the alleged victim in this case. She. would have to testify and be grilled. about the very specific. minute-by-minute, second-by-second. circumstances of what she's accusing him. of doing.

And I wonder if that would, you know, she could say, I I can't do this. I. don't want to testify. I'm not saying. she would, but also, you know, she knows she's the. subject of this criminal case. It was. already going to be very tough to. testify. Just things I'm thinking about. as this goes forward cuz. um you know, what happens if you had a a. complaining witness who says, I I'm not. going to testify against them. I can't. do this. I don't want to subject myself. to this. Does that whole case fall. apart? >> It does. It does. And it happens a lot. more than you would think, Jesse. And. you know, it's not going to be enough.

just to put an investigator on the stand. to cure the indictment and to fix the. the allegations and and make them in. conjunction with the statute. You have. to call the victim to testify. The. investigators weren't there. The. officers weren't there. There was nobody. else there, allegedly, that could. testify to the facts and circumstances. of what happened other than the alleged. victim in this case. And so that victim. has to testify, has to provide either. there initially when the case is new,

provide their supporting deposition as. to what happened. If it's there not. enough facts and especially when we get. down to trial, the victim is going to be. required to come in, testify in front of. a court of however many people. in front of the defendant and answer. these very sensitive and sometimes. embarrassing questions and be very open. and transparent about that. And a lot of. times individuals, adults, they get. afraid to do that and decide they don't. want to cooperate and go for it. So it's. a lot more difficult for a child to do.

that as well. And a lot of times in. cases you will see a child advocate. appointed to the child to assist in. preparing them for their testimony, to. be there to support them and their. family as they prepare for trial. >> Safa Robinson Ferreira, thank you so. much for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. I'm Jesse [music]. Weber. I'll speak to you next time.