Son of Housewives Star’s Sex Crimes Case EXPLODES

For years, Kim Zoliaak invited the. cameras in. We watched the glamour, [music]. the drama, and the family life playing. out on reality TV. But there is no. camera crew allowed in the Fulton County. Detention [music] Center because that is. where her 15-year-old son, KJ Beerman, is right [music] now. This is as he. faces seven felony sexual crime charges. accused of sexually assaulting a female. [music] classmate. How did a kid with. the world at his feet end up here? And. what big move are prosecutors [music].

making that could change everything? Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So, if you watch a lot of reality TV, especially in the last 15 years, you. might be familiar with the name Kim. Zoliaak. She's spent years on reality TV. letting cameras into her life. She was. one of the original cast members of The. Real Housewives of Atlanta when it. premiered back in 2008. She even had a. spin-off show. It was called Don't Be.

Tardy, ran for eight seasons. She also. competed on Dancing with the Stars. She's a Bravo celebrity. And while she. might be used to having the camera. zoomed in on her private affairs, I will. tell you right now, nothing, absolutely. nothing, could have prepared her for. something like this. Her 15-year-old. son, Croy KJ Beerman Jr., is sitting in. a detention center. He has been there. for a month. He is facing seven felony. charges that could put him behind bars.

for decades. This is KJ to his family. A. kid who was supposed to be starting high. school right now with football. scholarship offers and a future ahead of. him. Instead, he's locked up, accused of. sexually assaulting a female classmate. inside a gym changing room. He's been. indicted on seven felony charges. Those. being aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual. battery, false imprisonment, three. counts of sexual battery against the. child under 16, and now the prosecution.

wants to try him as an adult, but his. lawyer says he's completely innocent. He. didn't do this. So, how does a. 15-year-old end up in this position? Well, that is part of what we're going. to get into, and we have a former sex. crimes prosecutor here to help us. understand all of this. But KJ's mother. has actually spoken out to about all of. this and we're going to get into that as. well. There's also a major upcoming. hearing in this case that we're going to. be paying very careful attention to and. close attention to. All right, I know.

this is a 180, but this is a sponsor of. ours that I think you're going to. absolutely love because picture this. You know those pieces in your closet. that you wear on repeat? You know, the. tea you always reach for first, the cozy. sweater, the perfect pair of pants, the. pieces that always make getting dressed. so easy. Well, that is what Quint does. best. So, Quint's high quality wardrobe. staples made with premium materials like. organic cotton, 100% Mongolian Kashmir, marino wool. They're fantastic. I'll. give you an example. Their TE's, it's. like a go-to in your wardrobe. So, not.

only are they incredibly soft, but with. layering under a sweater, they're. fantastic. And Quint makes great quality. homegoods, too. Yeah. From hotel quality. bedding to kitchen wear to furniture, all with the same well-designed approach. as their clothing. So find your next. fall favorites at Quint. Download the. Quint app for app exclusive offers or go. to quint.com/lawcrimer. Get free shipping on your order. 365day. returns now available in Canada and the. UK too. That's qui.com/lawcrime.

But first we need to lay out exactly. what allegedly happened here, where. things stand, because this case is. moving very rapidly. And I will just. tell you right now, fair warning, the. allegations that we're going to get into. quite graphic, okay? But we'll tell you. the gist of it. So, this all stems from. an incident back on April 23rd at a. Lifetime Fitness Center in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is a suburb in Atlanta. KJ.

was apparently 14 at the time. The. alleged victim was 15, a 15-year-old. female classmate. And according to the. police report, the two were at the gym. together. And KJ had allegedly suggested. they go into a co-ed sauna. So to get to. the sauna, they had to walk through a. family changing room, and that is where. this alleged assault happened. Now, Lawn. Crime has obtained the police report in. the affidavit, which lay out all of this. in disturbing detail, and we're going to.

get into this with our guest because. there's a lot to break down, but. essentially, the girl told police that. KJ began touching her, and she said no. She then alleges he forced her to. perform sexual acts on him and attempted. multiple times to try and force her into. further sexual activity. She claims she. finally managed to get away from him and. that is when KJ allegedly pulled up his. pants and left. The alleged victim. didn't report it immediately, but the. next day she apparently went to the.

North Falton Hospital for an examination. and that is when police became involved. But there is a detail here that is a bit. complicated we need to talk about. So, the police report notes that no male DNA. was found on or inside the areas the. alleged victim claimed she was. assaulted. And that's going to be. potentially a major issue for the. prosecution. But despite that, the. investigation continued and on August. 17th, KJ was arrested and he was booked.

on felony aggravated sodomy and. aggravated sexual battery charges. He. was held without bond. And then, as I. mentioned before, on September 3rd, he. was indicted on the seven felony. charges. Now, his attorney, Jason. Sheffield, is pushing back, telling. multiple outlets that his client is 100%. innocent, that he has evidence of other. prior false allegations made by this. alleged victim. And he went on to say, quote, "Additionally, the officer's. report notes that investigators found no. male DNA on or inside the areas the.

alleged victim claimed she was. assaulted. The fact that he's been. arrested and is being held without bond. is a tragedy. He is not only presumed. innocent, but is in fact innocent. I'm. asking the public not to presume the. truth of these allegations and to give. the families on both sides their space. and privacy. Now, Kim Zuliaak also spoke. out telling Page Six in a statement, quote, "The allegations being made. against my son are nothing short of. reckless and deeply troubling." She went. on to say, "Every legitimate allegation.

deserves to be taken seriously and. investigated based on the facts and. evidence. At the same time, no one. should be publicly condemned based. solely on an accusation. We remain. confident that the facts and evidence. will establish the truth, and we ask. that people allow the proper process to. take its course rather than spreading. unproven allegations." Now, something. else I have to mention. So, Page Six is. now reporting that KJ's legal team has. filed a motion to transfer his case to. juvenile court and for confidentiality.

proceedings. So, they want this case. seemingly out of adult court into the. juvenile system. The stakes, the. punishment, the rules different. And a. bond hearing is now scheduled for. September 11th. The prosecution is. intending to try KJ as an adult. So, there's a lot at stake here and there's. a lot to break down. To do this, I want. to bring on a special guest. I want to. bring on uh Marian Bracha. She is a. practice professor of law and director. of the LLM and trial advocacy program. Before that, she spent years as a.

prosecutor handling these kind of child. abuse sex crimes cases. Uh good to see. you, professor. It's been a minute. Thanks for taking the time. >> Good to see you. Thanks for having me. >> So, you talk about a a 15year-old here, 14 at the time of this alleged incident. just walk us through what it means for. prosecutors to be seeking to try him as. an adult. Why do they want to do this? And what are the factors that a court. considers here in whether or not to try. someone or to transfer the case to adult.

court rather than juvenile court? Well, every state is going to vary in its. rules regarding who can be tried as an. adult and who can be tried as a juvenile. depending on age and depending on the. nature of the offenses that have been. charged. So, in Georgia, um it's it is. uh known colloquially and legally as the. one of the seven deadly crimes or seven. uh deadly sins. And um included among. those seven crimes are aggravated child.

molestation, aggravated sexual battery. um which are two of the charges that. this defendant has been facing. And so. because he is under 17 but older than 13. and charged with one of these seven. seven most serious or most egregious. offenses as determined by the Georgia. statutes, that automatically gives the. superior court in Georgia jurisdiction. over this case, which means that um even. though he's 15 now, 14 at the time of.

the alleged defense, um the adult system. has jurisdiction over his prosecution. and talk to me about how it would be. different, right? Like, so if you have a. case, a criminal case in a juvenile. court versus an adult court, the rules. of evidence different? Are the is the. procedure different? Punishments. different. Let's just talk about that. for a minute. >> Well, luckily for an evidence professor, the rules of evidence apply um at both a. juvenile proceeding, which is known as. an adjudicatory hearing, um the same way.

they would apply at an adult proceeding, which is known as a trial. So the. proceedings themselves are um a little. different in terms of how open they are. to the public in terms of the formality. that attaches. There is no right to a. jury trial in the juvenile system. Um, and there has to be um uh a a petition. filed by the prosecution by the state of. Georgia to proceed with the charges. against a juvenile and bring that case.

forward to an ad an adjudicatory. hearing, which for all intents and. purposes is a trial. Even however, if. there is a finding at the end of that. adjudicatory hearing for a juvenile, there isn't necessarily um the same kind. of disposition, meaning that you've been. convicted, you've been found guilty, and. and a sentence of incarceration will. follow that. Um there could be a. probationary sentence. There could be um. an open disposition period, which means. that the a juvenile defendant might be.

on court supervised supervision um for a. period of time just to make sure he's. going to school, make sure that he's abi. abiding by any other um uh conditions. that the court puts on his release. Um. and a juvenile very often remains. eligible to apply for sealing or. expungement of a juvenile record. Um, by. contrast, if a juvenile is tried in the. adult system, it's exactly as would.

would happen to an adult's record. There. is a trial, there is a right to a jury, put 12 people in the jury box as. factfinders. Um, those charges would. attach to a criminal record. if in fact. there is a conviction um after that. trial. Uh and it's very very hard if not. impossible to expune a conviction uh if. if one is the result of that factf. finding proceeding. >> I I that was so well said. Thank you so. much for laying that out because it's. very important to understand the. differences there and sometimes it's not.

entirely clear. That was very well well. said. I appreciate that. So we have this. affidavit and it lays out what the. alleged victim told police in her own. words through the investigator. And I. kind of want to talk about this because. according to the Alpharetta PD, KJ. allegedly began touching her over her. shorts and she apparently told. investigators, quote, "She didn't know. what to do. She felt like she was. frozen." Now, she claimed she swatted. his hand away a few times, telling him. to stop, but that he continued. She told.

him to stop again, pushed him back. The. affidavit states, quote, "He then told. her, "You're fine. You're fine, and it's. not like I'm forcing this." And she. responded, "But yes, you are." and she. apparently told investigators that any. time she would say no, he would kiss her. to stop her from talking and he kept. asking and she kept saying no. Now, according to the document, she said she. finally gave in and she apparently told. police she performed a sexual act on him. for about 5 seconds before standing up. and telling him again that she didn't. want to do this. The affidavit then.

says, quote, he then gets mad and puts. his hand on her shoulder and pushes her. down. Now, professor, back to you. You. and I, I I talked about this before. There seems to be an issue with a lack. of DNA evidence in this case. Is this. purely. one person's account versus another. person's account? And how on earth is a. jury or a judge supposed to weigh. credibility here in terms of what. happened? >> That's exactly what they're supposed to.

do. You you you answered the question in. your question. So, um, for sexually. based offenses, and I'm fairly certain. that this is consistent across the. states and and and in Georgia as well, um, there need not be corroboration for. any element of any crime charged. This, however, is the uphill battle for every. prosecutor or every advocate who handles. uh a case of sexual violence, which is. to say that that these crimes aren't.

crimes that happen on street corners. They aren't crimes that happen in the. general public. They aren't crimes that. are captured by surveillance footage or. by dash cams, right? These are crimes. that happen in private in intimate. moments, sometimes even in a marital. home or bedroom. And it is very. difficult to prove those charges and to. prove the the the facts underlying any. offense because you're absolutely right. It comes down to one person's version of.

what happened versus another person. saying not guilty or not saying anything. at all, which is a defendant's absolute. constitutional right in this country. So. the the the the. job of the factfinder is to do exactly. how you phrased it, exactly what you. phrased in your question, which is to. weigh credibility, which is to watch the. victim or the complainant, the. complaining witness in this case, to. listen to her testimony, to watch how. she testifies, to listen to the details.

that she is able to relay about this. whole experience, watch her demeanor. while she testifies, consider if she has. any interest in the outcome of the case. Consider if there is any corroboration. to what she's talking about. Was there. surveillance camera footage outside this. family changing room at at the gym? Um. is there anything to corroborate that. they were in this changing area. together? Um and then of course the the. last factor that any factfinder um can.

and should bring to the to the. consideration of credibility is one's. own common sense. Does the testimony of. the complaining witness in this case. have the ring of truth? Does it come. across as believable um in the totality. of the circumstances? And considering. those four prior factors that that I. outlined for you, >> it it just seems to me and I've I've. covered a number of different um sexual. assault cases, alleged sexual assault. cases, particularly, you know, even when.

you're talking about adults, a defense. attorney cross-examining alleged adult. victim is challenging. It's sensitive. It's very spec. you have to be very very. careful in how you do it. But now if. you're talking about a minor, what is. that challenge for a defense attorney to. question the credibility of a minor. alleged victim? How does that work. exactly? >> So I I think I think the answer to that. depends on the makeup of the factf. finding body. So, uh, I think that, um,

a defense attorney preparing to. cross-examine, uh, a juvenile. complainant on a sexual assault case. might, uh, consider if there are parents. on the jury, if there are parents of. teenagers on the jury. um uh what the uh. jud take the judge's temperature in. terms of how the judge typically um. relates to or treats um juvenile. witnesses, juvenile victims, female. victims and witnesses on the stand. All.

of those considerations go into. informing the advocacy strategy in terms. of how that witness is approached. So, I'm not sure that there is a um if this. then that equation um to to bring to. the strategy of the defense here, but I. think that a good defense attorney would. always consider who the listener is and. whether a more uh aggressive form of. questioning might actually be effective, whether it needs to be a little more um.

empathetic and patient and soft toned. Um, but that's all really going to. depend on the makeup of the factf. finding body. >> Now, his attorney, Jason Jason. Sheffield, has been very public about. this case, and we mentioned earlier that. he told Page Six he has evidence of. these alleged prior false allegations by. this accuser. Is that evidence going to. come in? And what does that mean for the. prosecution's case if this is true? So I. would anticipate that that will be the.

subject of uh a motion in lemonade or a. motion pre-trial. um which is a proceeding at which the. judge who will preside preside over the. trial will consider the admissibility of. certain evidence. So ordinarily uh. witnesses on sexual crimes of uh and. victims of alleged sexual offenses are. protected by what's known in many states. as rape shield. Um, and so there is a. version of that law in Georgia. I would. anticipate that the prosecution in this.

case would invoke that to say this is. this is information that might pertain. to the victim's sexual past, which is. protected. She is protected from having. that brought up in open court and. cross-examined about it. Um, the answer. to that or the response from the defense. would be this. We're not getting into. her sexual history. We're not um asking. about prior partners or prior. experiences. What we're doing is is.

exploring information that might have an. impact on uh how her credibility is. judged. So if there is evidence that she. has been dishonest in the past, if she. has these instances of dishonest. behavior or false reporting, the. factfinder has a right to hear that. because she has this tendency for. dishonesty and they have a right to. consider that potential uh history of. dishonesty in weighing whether or not. she's being honest or truthful or. credible in this instance.

>> Let me ask you this. If it turns out. that this case is dropped or it turns. out that her allegations are. unsubstantiated, um. does he have a legal claim against her. in any way? Because this is a very. public case. This is a point where his. mother has come out and said everybody. reserve judgment at this point. Um he, you know, I talked about what his life. was going to look like and now he's uh. you know, he's been locked up uh without. bond, which we'll talk about in a.

minute. Um, but again, these are very. serious allegations. We're trying to. understand what to make of them as well. But does he have a potential legal claim. against her if this prosecution falls. apart, if the charges are dropped? Talk. to me about it. >> I I have seen that happen before. Um, not not very often, but I have seen that. happen where there is a defamation claim. filed uh at at the conclusion of a. criminal case if again, as you put it, the victim's um reports or her claims. are unsubstantiated. However, there's a. different standard between for.

dismissing a criminal case or finding. that there is insufficient evidence to. proceed with a criminal case um uh. versus the standard for finding that. there was a false statement made. So, remember there there's, you know, and I. don't I don't mean to make light of this. at all, but there's a big difference. between being innocent and being found. not guilty. being found not guilty means. that there wasn't sufficient evidence. presented by the prosecuting body that. they didn't meet their burden. That. doesn't mean that the person that the. person accused didn't do it. It just.

meant that it couldn't be proved. And so. it's the same distinction. I'm trying to. make an analogy. There's the same. distinction there between dismissing a. case um and and finding that there's. insufficient evidence to proceed or to. substantiate the the state of Georgia's. burden in this case. um a and the the. burden that the uh plaintiff in a civil. case would have to prove that this. victim on the criminal case made. knowingly false statements when um she.

reported these um this episode to. police. >> Do you think it's significant that his. mother publicly came out and made a. statement not just saying, "Hey, there's. nothing we can talk about right now. In. due time, I will." No. Came out quite. aggressively in response to these. allegations against your son. What did. you make of that? >> Uh, not much to be perfectly honest, Jesse. I'm a parent. Um, I I think any. parent out there can can relate to what. they would say or do if if their child's. future were on the line. Um, so the fact. that that uh his mother made a statement.

that shows me that that she's a. supportive mother and and wants the best. outcome for this case. um evidentiarily. Um as a former prosecutor, as a law. professor, I don't think it carries much. evidentiary weight because that. statement wouldn't be admissible in. court. Anyway, >> final point uh regarding bond from a. legal standpoint, is it unusual for a. 15-year-old to be held without bond for. a month, or do you look at these charges. and you say, "No, it makes sense.". >> Well, I'll I'll say this without at all.

meaning to be flip or sarcastic. This is. Georgia after all. I will say that in my. opinion, it is rare to see a juvenile. held for over a month um without any. supervised release, without any. possibility of bond. Um bail is intended. to secure a defendant's participation in. the criminal process. It is intended to. um make sure that a defendant shows up. when and where they are subpoenaed for.

their hearings, for their trials. It is. not intended to be punitive. It's not. intended to um be the first step in a in. a penalty phase. Um so to keep a. 15-year-old um in custody for over a. month, especially with with school in. session now, is um is somewhat. surprising to me, but again, that's. going to vary jurisdiction to. jurisdiction. um and the state of. Georgia might um have put forth that it. has an interest in keeping this person. in custody, not only to assure his.

presence and participation, but also for. the safety of the victim and the. community at large. >> Yeah. And he's look, he's facing some. serious allegations, some serious. charges here. Um Professor Marian. Brocher, thank you so much for taking. the time. Good to see you. >> Thank you. Good to see you, Jesse. >> 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 podcasts. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as [music] well. If. you want to follow me, X Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber live,

Monday through Friday, 11 pm Eastern. See [music] you next time, everybody.