Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all audiences.
Listener discretion is advised.
If I weer nlessues do the sounds, and I would have let myself go stad before her.
At just twenty years old, Brianna Berozini could pass for a teenager, but today in the courtroom, she looks even younger. Her blonde hair falls straight down her back, framing a face strained of color. She stands motionless before an Ohio judge, a shadow of fear flickering behind her solemn eyes. The room is silent, racing for the words she's about to speak, words that seal her fate. Brianna is here to plead guilty to killing her former friend Aliah Culbertson.
You're now pleading guilty, or admitting that you committed this crime. When you plead guilty, you waive or give.
Up constitutional rights. Do you understand each and every right?
Yes? Sure?
Are you waiving those rights?
And are you pleading guilty knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily?
Yes? Sure.
Only a year has passed since Heliah was killed. It all happened so quickly on that March evening of twenty twenty three. It's been a year of legal battles, spawn hearings, and fear on both sides. But today Brianna is admitting to what she did and she will face consequences for Helia's death.
Prosecution's going to push for prison. Your lawyers asking for probation. I indicated I would likely send you to prison with the ability maybe to get out early.
Is that your understanding of the discussions?
Yes, sure, a right, but.
I've made no commitment. I get to review the pre sentence investigation.
I'm going to do that.
I'll listen to both sides, but I'm inclined to do what I've told you, and you understand that.
Yes.
Sure.
On the benches behind Brianna and her lawyer, the split is as old as the feud itself. Helia's family is on one side and Brianna is on the other. The bad blood didn't start with Helia's death, but it's curdled into something much colder now. Each side sits stiff waiting for what comes next.
When you plead guilty, it is a complete admission. You're guilty.
You're going to be convicted today, and you're going to be sentenced on July the eleventh, it'll be on your record.
It's a nonexpungable offense.
It carries up to three years in prison and a fine of up to ten thousand dollars. Do you understand the nature of the charge to which you're pleading guilty and what the maximum penalties are?
Yes?
Sure?
That is it a maximum sentence of maybe three years and ten thousand dollars for Jeliah Culbertson's life.
You have any questions for me about anything that we've gone over, because if you do, now is the time to ask me. Are you pleading guilty to this crime I've outlined for you because you did, in fact commit that crime.
Yes?
Sure, all right, have a seat, thank you.
Brianna has no questions. This plea deal is the best outcome she could have hoped for. Because Brianna killed Heliah Culbertson. That is a fact. But what that fact leaves out is everything that led up to it, what was said, what was seen, what was feared, and whether what Brianna did that night was premeditated or panicked intent. Brianna stole Helia's life, but now she gets to wait for her sentence from the comfort of her family's home in Westerville, Ohio.
For the next month, Brianna will sleep in her own bed, eat her favorite meal, scroll through her phone, and take long hot showers. She's free for now. Helia, on the other hand, is dead and her family lives inside a grief that has no end. Even if Brianna gets the maximum sense she could be out by the age of twenty three. She will step into a future where most people will never know she's a murderer. So carry on with the very life she stole. No one in the
courtroom is satisfied. No one truly understands how it came to this. If Brianna had stayed at home that night, maybe Helia would still be alive. Whatever happened between those two girls, it didn't start that night, but it did end in murder. Now, let's rewind to about a year before Brianna stood in the courtroom, March twenty sixth of twenty twenty three, the evening Helia died.
From her unc I'm going on, what's going on?
My friend sat down at once to two one c stop carry out.
So one one that's the tree once one carry out? Stop? Oh stop, okay, calm down.
So one one.
Carry out blow stop.
I'm a.
Night. It was almost midnight in Columbus, Ohio. Such a beautiful place, Ohio, is, I always say? In the desolate parking lot of a strip mall, Heliah Culbertson's best friend, Kenzie Adrian called nine one one, desperate for help. Helia was sitting in the front seat of a jeep that belonged to their other friend, Dalon Barritte. Heliah took labored breaths as blood spilled down her neck and onto her orange tank top and pants.
Sure I know who stabbed it.
I know, free of your.
Ergie, Brianna okay waiting.
She watched and I don't know if he had, but the closed.
Up Kenzie couldn't get the information out faster. She needed it to be known. Brianna Barrowzini stabbed Heliah. They all witnessed it.
Okay, this memory with me.
We're gonna get you well throughout and health you guys.
Dalen wrapped his shirt around Heliah's neck, pressing hard to stop the bleeding. Kenzie clutched her hand, whispering to Haliah. They waited, their ears straining for sirens, hearts pounding. Kenzie and Dalen were paralyzed by the helplessness of it all. Then the police swarmed it.
Get back, boss, get back, I know, I know, I need you to stay back.
All right.
Hey, you gotta let them do their work. Okay, come on, guys, let's get back back.
Let's get back.
Come on, come on, I understand.
Let's get back here.
Okay, I'm gonna get your information.
Did you see it?
Yes?
Who saw it?
Okay?
Okay in the red hoodie?
Yes, all right.
I need you to get in the cruiser for me.
Okay, I'm gonna have to get you off your phone.
All right, I.
Understand that, but I need you Okay, I need you to get in the cruiser.
Okay, I'm to the phone. The parking lot was utter chaos as police quickly assessed the situation amongst these crying, red faced teenagers. The paramedics scooped up Palia into a stretcher and whispered to the nearest hospital. Dalen and Kenzie were left in the parking lot, shaking from adrenaline and terror. The police officer guided Kenzie to his squad car, instructing her to hang up her cell phone and sit down.
I have a seat. Is that you said, that's your friend.
Yes, that's my best friend.
Okay, what's her name?
Jelia?
H A l I ah, I know it's hard.
Kenzie sat looking up at the cop her eyes wide and teary. She stroked the end of her long ponytail like a child with a security blanket.
Do you know where she lives?
Yes?
Okay, very Ohio, but I don't know exactly.
Go ahead, Actually, I need you here.
We need to have I need you get that guy in the red hoodie he saw it, and.
That's not I'm here.
I'm here, just sitting down.
We had to tell them what happened.
I need to separate you guys like that's fine, just for integrity of the story.
The parking lot pulsed with street lights and the flashing blue of cop cars. Dyalen storm towards Kenzie, begging to sit with his sister, but an officer blo locked him. No one knew exactly what had happened yet, and right now they needed call not a shirtless panic Dayalen tearing through the scene.
All right, what happened?
Brie Barzini stabbed her. They were getting into a fight, and I was sitting in the jeep because I cannot be around brie bar Zini, because her baby, her brothers and my baby, dad and me and her at issues.
I don't know b a r z z I n.
I I am I okay Pine Oak or at Western Ohiots where she lives. She lives in West you think, wes, I know she lives. Into a fight and Jelia walked to the front door of the jeep. I saw she had a gash on her. She got in the car and she goes, I'm getting aschers. I hopped out the car. I called hermong much because I didn't see the fucking fight. I was sitting in the jeep looking away.
Kenzie was in shock, scrambling with her words. But what she knew was that Brianna Berezini that stabbed Heliah. Kenzie had issues with Brianna from the past, so she stayed away from the fights between the girls. The next thing she knew, Alia was bleeding from the neck.
You didn't see the actual fight, No, but I.
Know who Briberzini is.
I know her mother, and I know her address.
Okay, okay, all right, hang out for me, okay, okay. As Kenzie nervously puffed on her nicotine vape. The officer marched towards another kid who had witnessed the fight.
I kind of fault.
I didn't see if her gets stabbed at all.
Okay, it just looked like they were throwing punches.
Do you know either of them?
I know her, that was a who.
Jaliah the one that got stabbed. You know her, But you don't know I barely, Like I know.
I worked with Danielen for a little bit and I was hanging out with them.
Deny it, I need, I need you. Where did it happen at?
Yeah?
You take that right here in the front.
Like in the front of the smoke shop, Yes, sir, okay.
The off are continued collecting pieces of the story in fragments from the teenagers. The fight had happened in the strip mall, outside of a smoke shop that sold vapes, snacks, drinks, you know, all the things that keep teenagers alive. Next, the officer headed to the store, kicking oblivious customers off the property as he made his way inside.
Hey, guys, I have to shut this off.
Somebody just got stabbed and I need to basically close your doors.
I'm sorry.
Okay, even better, just don't let anybody come out this way.
Okay, go out the bag.
The officer closed the smoke shop and patrolman started taping off the entire parking lot. Outside another police vehicle a few yards away from where Kenzie sat waiting, Dylan was pacing towards another officer.
You're staying it right there, All right, okay, all right? This is your sister they got.
Is not blood related, but I'm not. He was fucking twelve.
It's a good friend of yours. Yeah, what's your first name?
Dalen's bare chest was covered in Helia's blood. He cried as he walked with the officer giving him all the information without question. He kept calling Haliah his sister, even though they weren't actually related. It's the kind of thing that made sense in his world, where closeness didn't need blood to feel real. They'd been friends for half his life, which for some like Dalen felt like forever, long enough for him to believe he had a duty to protect her.
Right, What did you see what happened?
On video?
Man?
Dalen stood up and pulled out his cell phone, holding up the screen for the officer to see. He had the entire fight on video. Every brutal second. He even posted it on Snapchat. Dylan, her self proclaimed brother, thought he was protecting her, but what he didn't realize was that he may have helped to get her killed, because buried in the footage, beneath the shouting and the blood was something that no one had noticed, something that changed everything.
Outside of a smoke shop in a strip mall in Columbus, Ohio, on opening that clearly tells you nothing goods coming, eighteen year old Brianna Berezini had stabbed seventeen year old Haliah Culbertson during a fight. When police arrived on the scene, they found a group of distraught teenagers who had witnessed the brawl, and one boy, Dalon Barritge, had filmed the
entire thing on his phone. Brianna had fled the scene after the fight, and as another troop of officers headed to her house to track her down, the ones on the scene continued talking to the witnesses, Alia's best friends, Daylon and Kenzie. After all, Dalen had the whole fight on his cell phone. Through tears, he passed his phone over and started playing. In the clip, you see Heliah,
she towers over Brianna by about a foot. Aliya is walking towards Brianna with her arms out, shouting, you wake it up.
My sister.
Bro.
Alia charges towards brin on a yelling who's obsessed? Over and over. Brianna backs up. She's got two canned drinks in her hand, and her boyfriend is beside her. He holds her arms and tries to guard her, being cautious not to touch Haliah at all. In the background, Dalon starts to tell him to get off his sister.
Yay, if you touch my sister and I'll have to put.
My phone down.
Bro Heliah cuntra ass to get it over way, Bro contra ass to get it overway, Helia.
Oh great more thug culture. Helia keeps charging forward, screaming in Brianna's face as Dalen keeps yelling. That's when some say Brianna pulls out a knife from her pocket. Others insist it was already in her hand. Heliah keeps thundering towards her. That's when Heliah's open hand slaps Brianna across the face. The fight ignites.
Yeah, countra ass, Helia cuncherr ass, Helia, dress you better get your girl before she gets fucked up even more as.
The motion is lightning fast. But that's when Brianna swings the knife up and slashes Helia across the throat. But Heliah doesn't stop. She keeps yelling, She keeps swinging her fists and throwing her body towards Brianna as blood spills and can drinks go flying out of the pavement and explode, which raises a chilling possibility. Did Brianna even realize the knife connected? Did anyone? For a moment it seemed like no one had been hurt at all. The fight breaks
up and Brianna's boyfriend pulls her away. Helia stumbles towards Dalan and the video cuts out. The fight is crystal clear, despite how short and frenzied the whole ordeal was. But what isn't clear is why it all started. But for that information and the officer's first turn to Dayalen.
What did all start over?
So?
All right?
So Kenzie, Kenzie's baby dad is Breeze older brother.
Right, who's Kenzie the one in that.
All right here? The blonde? The blonde?
So her brother, her baby dad is her brother and her Okay, Kenzie's baby dad. Yes, Kenzie's baby dads here and she has a baby dad. And baby dad is Bree's older brother, older brother. Got they've had beef for the The child's going to four years old, so they've had beat for almost five years.
Type shit, you know what I'm saying, Like Brianna's older brother is the father of Kenzie's child. This relationship went very sour. Helia, being Kenzie's best friend, sided with her and developed a hatred for the entire Berazini family, as did Dalen. After all, Heliah and Kenzie were his so called sisters.
I look at Kenzie's mother adopted me, like, not legally, but my mom teaching me out from the ages of fourteen to seventeen, and Kenzie's family took me the fuck in Okay, So I'm very protective over Kenzie and whoever Kensey affiliates with.
Dalen was a classic latch key teen, untethered looking for something to hold on to after his own mother kicked him out. He found a sense of belonging in Kenzie's world. Her family became his anchor, and he clung to that feeling of home with everything he had fiercely loyal but emotionally adrift, Dalen absorbed every ripple of drama between Kenzie Aliyah and the Berezini family. To most adults, it would have seemed like none of his business, but to Dalen,
it was everything. He didn't just insert himself. He dug in, rooted himself in the chaos, convinced that was where he was meant to be and wasn't just going along for the ride. That night, he was steering the ship and when the fight broke out, he didn't step back. He stepped in. He stepped up, I guess you would say, with his cell phone in one hand and vicarious vengeance in his heart.
But like, that's my little sister and I've I've always been protective over her and ray bear Zini. She she the girl who did this hit. She just always runs. She's assists here and she talks shit, She talks and I saw, I saw the knife fucking drop, but I didn't did she not used bro Brie and Healia were supposed to be fighting while they were in the Columbus thing or what.
No, it was random as fucks. He came in while we came in.
The whole fight was spur of the moment. Aliah and Brianna had known beef for months. According to Kenzie, it was just a normal evening at the smoke shop, joking around with the store's owner that they all knew. Then Brianna and her boyfriend walked in.
Three walks in with her friend, and I didn't notice until Julia goes, that's brief, fucking Barrizini. I said, oh God.
I turned around, my saw her. She looked at me. I looked at her. I turned around.
I know Brie because she's my baby dad's sister. Okay, and I've known Brie since middle school, and I'm not allowed legally. I don't go around her or her brother or her family. I was fifteen and her brother was nineteen when I got pregnant.
Okay.
When Kenzie had a relationship with Brianna's older brother, she was a minor and he was legally an adult, which made the situation a problem, A big one.
Yeah, because I didn't know he was nineteen. He told me he was seventeen to figure out he was turning eighteen, and then he turned he was already eighteen. Then he turned nineteen, and I got pregnant when I was fifteen in April when he was nineteen that year, so I was like.
Oh, this is great.
When Kenzie's family found out Brianna's brother was nineteen, they filed criminal charges against him. This caused a major rift between the two families. Still, Kenzie allowed Brianna and her parents to visit the child on one condition. The child's father was not allowed to visit. Everything was going all right until they disrespected the rule and allowed Brianna's brother to sneak a visit.
Because before noon they would be like yeah, and they'd come over and I'd see her, or they would drop stuff off.
But they just obeyed everything.
And I caught them in a line and they saw them out in public with him, and I picked up my daughter and I said, you are all fucked in mind, and they.
Were like, you can't tell me what to do.
I said, this nineteen year old is going to tell your thirty five year old asked what I can do?
Put my daughter in my corn.
I left.
That's when Kenzie banned anyone from the Berezini family from seeing the child, including Brianna. Resentment grew between the two girls.
She isn't like because I don't let her, her family see my daughter. I guess her brother's not a good person. I have a restraining order on him.
He's legally not allowed to be around me or my family.
This battle of custody, restraining orders, and accusations had been going on for years. So when Kenzie saw Brianna enter the smoke shop on that March evening, she immediately wanted to get as far away from her as possible, but Helia had other plans.
Her and Brief start going at it because Brie gets behind us in line and Julia goes, you're obsessed or what? Because breposts tiktoks about Alio all the time. I'm just saying like they were friends at one point. I don't really know what happened there together. I don't know what issues they have, but they have like like they hate
each other. Something Priest called Julia cocaid. Julia called Bria cocade and was talking about her abusive brother and was talking about her family being city, and then bri was talking about Julia's mom and then Helia was like, well, I'll catch you outside then come outside, and is all right, bet, I'll be outside then. So I got into the cheap in the front seat, and I was looking forward because I'm not part of this fight.
So that all happened in the store, yeah, where they were where Brief was like, come.
On outside, and Hellia was like, I'll be outside.
Brie said, she'll be outside. Julia to her to come outside.
I'll catch you outside, all right, bet? Why do kids sound like retards these days? We've already got a language. You don't have to make up new definitions for existing words just to make yourself feel special. You're already plenty plenty special. Trust me. Anyway, According to Kenzie, it was that simple. Brianna and Helia started arguing, and the store
then agreed to continue things outside. Kenzie said that Brianna had posted nasty things to TikTok about Heliah, that their feud may have been fueled by Helia's loyalty to Kenzie and her situation, but that they had their own fight independent of her problems with Brianna's family. This wasn't a premeditated showdown. It was a chance encounter that spiraled fast. But even in spontaneous fights, there's a history, and this one had years of its simmering just below the surface.
No one's saying Helia deserved what happened, but this wasn't a clean cut case of victim and villain. Both girls carried grudges and when the moment came, they each brought their rage with them. Helia and her friends waited outside in the dark, while Kenzie sat in the jeep to distance herself from Brianna.
They were outside of the cheap and I was like, I'm not part of this shit because I'm going fucking car. May can do another fuck you one, but I'm not part of this shit. And then all I heard wasn't fighting. I didn't really see anything. I didn't see anything at all. On te Kelly was walking up to the front door, thank to the driver door of the car, and all I can see is that she's bleeding. I'm holding her wrists and I'm trying to check for a pulse and she peed her pants in her eyes.
She was non responsive. Did you see Hellia with any weapons?
No, she didn't have anything. I had all of her stuff. I had her pepper sprare, I had her keys, I had it all. She didn't have anything on her except hands.
Kenzie and Dalen told the same story. The fight wasn't planned. It started in the smoke shop, just another chance encounter that got out of hand. Brianna agreed to meet Helia outside to finish what they had started. Brianna had a hidden knife, Helia had nothing but her two hands. She looked like a victim of an unfair fight. But looks can lie because at the same moment, another group of officers were at Brianna's door. They had found her and
her boyfriend inside. Brianna had showered and her bloody clothes were in the wash. The knife was hidden upstairs at the station. Brianna his boyfriend sat down with the police to talk.
Or just started like, how did you get up there? Who were you with?
So?
I was with Brite and we headed there just right after a car meet.
We were there.
We got there around eleven thirty eleven forty.
Since we got in, we noticed.
Heliah and a girl named Kenzie and some guy that'll never seen before.
We tried to move out the way.
Because there's always been issues between us ever since.
November, between who specifically.
So it's always been issues between me, Brite and Helia.
Okay, Kenzie has had some you know, long term issues with with family.
Have Yeah, Haliah said something pretty called or obsessed, and then it started an argument. The guy over over the counter Ben He said he doesn't want anything to do with this, so he got Haliah Kenzie and her friend.
Outside, and then Halia was yelling a lot and then breathe. The whole time was just you know, just trying to say, I don't want to fight you, Brianna.
His boyfriend had a feeling there would be trouble when he saw Heliah Kenzie and Dalon, so they tried their best to avoid them, but Heliah started shouting at Brianna, instigating a loud and vicious confrontation. The cashier kicked Heliah, Kenzie and Dalon out of the store. When police spoke with him, he confirmed this. The cashier told police that when the altercation in the store heated up, he knew he had to take action and remove Jalia and her friends.
So I told my coworker like, I'm going to defuse this.
So I stepped outside and was talk from to her.
She which.
And when I got sagged the one that got sad. You were talking to her.
I was trying to tell her like I got got his business, but just go.
But they didn't go. Dylan started egging Haliah on, riling her anger into a frenzy. He pulled out his phone and started filming.
He's standing right there and he's recording everything. And so she's getting upset thinking the two telling me to.
Go out there to stop her.
One really is I don't want no incident to have her here, period.
Carly Blanking was recording.
Was he with the girl that got staffed?
Yes, he was with her, Okay.
So he instigated it when I just calmed everything down.
Even though she was still upset.
Yeah, really yeah, and recording everything.
So footage of the Smoke Shops outdoor camera showed Heliah, Dalon, and Kenzie being escorted out of the store. They disappeared into the parking lot. Then about two minutes later, you see Heliah come back to the front of the store. She's pacing like a bull, yelling and waving her arms, taunting Brianna. From outside. In the corner, you could see Dalen following her around with a cell phone filming. Here's that recording, Halia, what you want to do?
Bro?
Where's she at?
Bro?
Where's she up?
Bro?
She's scared, Bro, She's scared. Alias should drag her at the store. Buzz, No, we waiting right here till you get your ones.
I've been waiting to see her.
Ask a beeper a minute, Bro, you should get arrested just for that laugh. That's when the cashier came outside again, telling Heliah and Dalen to go home.
So he wasn't helping the situation.
Nobody was hoping, No one like it was a dead silence. The two girls was talking to me, the other two was shopping, and once they had their words exchanged, nobody was trying to say, chill, calm down, no nothing. I'm the only one telling nobody just just go chill out. Go ahead, go leave a store.
According to the smoke shop cashier, it was Dalon who took the situation from bad to worse. The boy who was so hell bent on protecting his soul called sister was the one who egged on the needless fight that ended in murder. Breon his boyfriend said the same thing.
The male who was with her just kept instigating, just trying to make them fight.
I try to push.
Away Bertie and Julia because I'm sort of like, I don't have a person like Kalia, but I don't have the biggest problem with her. Yeah, just trying to basically end things without you know, getting anybody hurt.
You've heard the video anytime that Brianna's boyfriend tried to pull the two girls apart, Dalen inserted himself and threatened violence. If you touched my sister, gonna have to put my phone down.
Bro Heliah Contra asked to get it over waight, bro Contra has to get it over with Heliah.
But he's basically saying don't don't touch her or yeah, and.
The whole time, I don't know if the video shows this, that I was trying to back.
Them up, yeah, from each other.
It was polite, like the back of the hand, so obviously you didn't like it. So I tried to plumb breathe enough and everything escalated. Basically that if he didn't instigate Helia start to fight, none.
Of this would have happened.
Brian, his boyfriend, said that the state happened so fast he barely realized it until he noticed a sticky liquid on his own body. Still, the police needed to know why Brianna brandished that knife, Why was she even carrying one in the first place?
When did you know that Brie had a knife. She's been carrying knives she always carries. She always carries knives because.
Just a lot of people try to, you know, attack her or just try to.
Come up to her. Because the issues with.
Heliah and Brie has always been a thing since November. What happened in November, Haliah was just using me and brite, you know, saying she has a kid, she doesn't have a kid, basically using that as it excuse to get money or anything, really to just get as much money as she can. Uh, saying she needs to pay for gas and she doesn't even drive.
It just became a whole mess. We just loved it that and every.
Once in a while, either Helle would call me I would typically ignore, or she would just message Brie on Instagram.
Just talking crap.
It just happens like every couple of months, just randomly starts calling it again.
No one could really explain what had gone down between Brianna and Heliah to make their friendship curdle into hatred and violence. But it was all petty, silly teenage stuff, lies, manipulation, Instagram dms and TikTok gossip, bullshit.
Did Hell have any any weapons or anything, Does she have a knife out or anything.
I don't recall she had a knife out, but I know she does carry typically typically carries a knife. And then she always talks about carrying guns and all that.
That's why we take.
Her threats to very seriously because she always talks about either how having guns, hanging out with people that have guns, saying that she can kill us.
Is it's been a home best.
Pelia may have used big, bad threats about knowing friends with guns and saying she was going to kill Brianna, but Brianna was the one who brandished the blade and sliced it across Hillia's neck. But Brianna's boyfriend said there were many reasons why Brianna always carried a knife.
Another reason is that her ex boyfriend is abusive, always pulls up her own what's sixty one and just that what sixty one is not the best area to be in. So she always carries in her knife because first of all, she's small shoes and can't really protect herself in any other way. And the way most of these people fight now, they fight to kill.
After the fight was over and her boyfriend left the scene, they drove back to brionn his house where her brother was waiting, the one who fathered Kenzie's child. Brion, his boyfriend, said that he washed the knife and gave it to her brother.
So I took to the bathroom because it was still dripping blood, cleaning as much as possible.
Uh, and then I gave to Cameron in the living room. He gave the knife to Cameron. Uh, so you mean actually cleaned it up.
So, yeah, cleaned it up some because it just kind of dripping off the acteley knife and they were godn't want to get it all over the place.
Brion, his boyfriend and brother had hidden a murder weapon, but no one knew Heliah was dying. After the stab, she kept swinging and screaming. She didn't stop or surrender. Not until Brianna was gone and she sank into Dalon's car did her friends realize how deep the damage went. Dalan's phone marked the fight at eleven forty eight pm. By twelve twenty four, am Aliah was pronounced dead at
the hospital. According to the autopsy, the knife struck a critical zone and Heliah's clavigal, damaging a major artery, over half a gallon of blood poured into her chest. She didn't stand a chance. Still, Brianna insisted her violence was all a panicked reaction to Heliah's confrontation. It was all just a blur. She premeditated nothing.
And they're screaming at me.
And then the dude tells Helia to run up on me, and she's walking up and I keep telling her, I'm not fighting you back up, so you're not worth it. Keep telling her to back up, and I get my knife out in my hand and I'm holding and I said back up, and she attacks me. She first slapped me. She was pushing me well before that.
Ye.
I was trying to push her away from me.
But the other guy said was stealing to end up to touch her orse he was going to do something to him. I don't know what exactly had happened, but I went like this and.
Then she dragged me by my hair on the ground and like there was just blood in my eyes. I couldn't see anything.
Contrast, Aeliah, fuck her up. You better get your girlfore she gets fucked up even more.
H I don't think I hit her or anything, because I was on the ground getting blood out of my eyes.
I had no idea what was going on. I was just in shock at that point.
It's chilling how clear it is on video. Heliah charges at Brianna, who retreats, murmuring that she doesn't want to fight, but Helia keeps coming. Dalen records it all, his voice rising with every shout, not warning them, not breaking it up, just feeding the fire. Dylan wasn't a bystander, he was the catalyst. But then Brianna flashes the knife. Helia slaps her. Brianna swings and blood splatters all over the paper. Still, Heliah yanks her to the ground and Unlicia's brutal blows,
dragging her like a rag doll. Had she survived, there's no question Helia would have won that fight. She kicked Brionna's ass, even with a hole in her neck. Now I'm turning, Ghettu.
So during the.
Fire, when she was hitting you, what happened with a knife? During that time?
It had dropped on the ground. Okay, it wasn't no longer in my hand.
Did you know she had been cut?
At that point, I didn't know if it was many or heard because they were yelling, saying that, they were laughing, saying that she maybe bleed, so I was like, maybe there's a cut on me, But then I was looking all over myself when we got in the car, it was like, it's I don't think it's me.
What is this?
All stuffs animosity? Heliah used to.
Be a really good friend of mine, and then I found out a lot that she's just a really bad person. So I stopped being friends with her, and my friend Yed stopped talking with and then after that she pretty much just went crazy, like saying she was going to kill us and slash his tires and do all these things.
And like she does to most people, to her friends, Heliah was fearless, the kind of girl who would never back down. To Brianna, she was dangerous and unhinged, two versions of the same Helia told by people who loved her and people who feared her. Was Brianna the victim of Heliah's rabid aggression. Was this simply self defense? But there was one thing no one had seen yet, not even the police. It was something buried in the digital
noise from two weeks before the fight. A text message from Brianna to her friend tossed off like a joke, maybe even forgotten After a long rant with her friend about Halia's behavior, Brianna signed off with this message, I would sooner slice Halia's throat if he comes near me again. Just words, just teenage anger. But now with Haliah dead from a single stab to the neck, these didn't feel
like just words anymore. Seventeen year old Heliah Culbertson had died from his single stab wound to the neck during an impromptu street fight with her former friend, eighteen year old Brianna Brenzini. The two girls had been feuding for months, each claiming the other was just a bad person, but Helia's friend Kenzie also had big problems with her and
her family. Kenzie had become pregnant when she was fifteen with Brianna's older brother, who lied to her and told her he was a miner two when he was not. Drama ran through that friend group like a river, a big river, and on the night of Helia's murder, it finally overflowed. Brianna was arrested on March twenty seventh for the murder of Helia. She was taken to the county
jail immediately following her police interview. The Baronzini family quickly took action and obtained a lawyer named Craypants.
For the last twenty years, I bet at criminal defense attorney, practicing out of Columbus, Ohio, trying cases in state court, federal court, and representing people charged with really everything from speeding tickets to aggravated death penalty murder.
Brionna's bond was set at seven hundred and fifty grand, but she only spent two days in jail. Her family bonded her out as fast as they could, and she went home under strict conditions from the court. That's when Bob stepped into the picture and got to know her side of the story.
When the family came in and then Brionn had a chance to explain what happened in her from her viewpoint. You know, there's a lot of thoughts to kind of go through your head, first one being you know, how accurate is this account and what other evidence is he going to be out there. I never really believe I think that a client comes in and tells me one hundred percent of the accurately, not because they're lied, but
they remember it a certain way. But my initial thought was, Wow, this sounds to me like it was a self defense and more of an accident and unintentional, but also just a tragedy. Just a young girl sitting in front of me, very very young, and another young woman dead. So it was just I hate to say senseless, but even at the first moment, I thought, this is just tragic.
It was tragic the fight that never should have happened. Brianna may have been fortunate enough to have been bonded out, but when she met her lawyer the first time, the prospect of going to prison for the rest of her life wait on her heavily.
My memories, it was a Saturday morning in my office and she was there with her family, very quiet, very timid. You know, she didn't just gush out with the account. I had to kind of, you know, ask specific questions and she would get to it, but very quiet, very scared,
very concerned, very you know, overwhelmed. I mean, she had just been released from the jail I suspect within a day of coming to my office, and her whole family just supportive, was scared and appreciative of just how serious this was.
And what about that text message, the one where Brianna said she would slice Helia's throat if she came after her previous tests showed that Brianna was upset because Helia had allegedly been driving past her house and making threats against her. Bob argues that the text had nothing to do with what happened that.
Night, and would argue to the jury that's irrelevant to what happened that night. It would be relevant if my client went looking for It would be relevant if my client said, there she is, I'm going to do what I said I'm going to do in that text, But she didn't.
Go looking for.
They ran into each other purely by accident, bad luck, just by answer. So despite the text, those words, her actions that I spoke louder, she backed up, She said I didn't want to fight.
She tried to avoid it.
Brianna may have been backing away as Helia charged, screaming, but according to Lee Detective Timothy Pribe, Brianna made one move that raised questions. She had a weapon. Aliah didn't, and what Brianna did with that weapon gave the police pause when it came to her innocence.
Haliah was unarmed. She was clearly unarmed. She did assault Brianna one time open handed smack, and then she turned and she walked away. I believe it was Brianna pulled out her knife ten to fifteen seconds prior to the smack, so there's there's more of an intent to harm on her part. And if she's pulling out a knife with an intent to do harm, that's a felonious assault, and then that harm causes a death, that's a murder.
Detective Pribe says that when they watched that video of the fight relentlessly, and not just their investigative team, but Pribe's boss and his boss's boss analyzing every millisecond to make sure they weren't seeing things the wrong way. He says that Brianna pulled the knife out prior to being slapped by Heliah. She holds it close to the side of her thigh and the blade is out of the switch. That made all the difference in his eyes.
Well, she keeps it concealed down at her leg mostly, she pulls it out in a very comfortable manner and holds it down, and then after she slapped and Heliah is walking away, that's when.
She charges her.
The key portion of this incident or this altercation, is that Afterjlia slaps her, she turns and starts to walk away, and that's when Brianna then you know, starts to swing her knife, and she swings and misses, and then then you see her come over the top and you know hit her right, you know, right at the top of the chest.
Detective Pride says that it wasn't the fact that she had a knife that showed intent, but the manner in which Brianna used it.
She doesn't want people to see that she has a weapon out and ready to go. That's how I'm looking at it, because she's not threatening her with it. She's not trying to back her off with it. You know, she's not protecting herself with it. She's initiating the assault with a weapon.
You can watch the whole video in our bonus content, and we encourage it to. The footage of Helia's death is hunting, but it also brought clarity. Every second of the raw, unfiltered truth was captured for both sides to examine. The state indicted Brianna on three charges murder, murder committed during a felonious assault, in voluntary manslaughter. She was looking at fifteen years to life for the murder charges and
another three to eleven years for the manslaughter. As the media grabbed hold of this sensational girl fight and did what they always do, Bob worked on his defense, preparing for an intense and very public trial.
When I first look at it, I say, this is pretty classic self defense. Now, Ohio law changed somewhat recently. It used to be that to claim self defense, the defense would then have the burden of proving that the person was in fear of imminent serious, farbly harm or death and that you know, they did not use disproportional force to repel the attack, and that was the burden
of the defense. That changed Back in twenty and nineteen there was a hospital that passed and signed by the governor, and as a result of that, the prosecution now has the burden of proving that it is not self defense.
Ohio was the thirty seventh state to pass this law, switching the burden of proof in a self defense claim from the defense to the prosecution. To compound matters legally, Ohio passed another law in twenty twenty one concerning self defense cases.
And that was a change in the law regarding your duty to retreat. It used to be that if you had at you had a duty to retreat, unless, of course, you're in your home or your vehicle, then you did not have a duty. But otherwise you had the responsible if you could safely get away from the situation, you had to get away from the situation. And if a jury determined that, yes, you were in fear of imminent serious bodily harm or death, yes you used reasonable force
to repel the attack. Yes, you did not cause the situation that gave rise to the affray, but you had an out. You could have left out the back door of the bar you were in, or you could have run across the street from the field you were in. If they found that you had the opportunity and ability to escape without exposing yourself to more harm, you could
not claim self defense. Between those two changes again fairly recently, you know, it's a It changes the dynamic a little bit about how you look at self defense cases because now a jury is going to be instructed they are not even to consider whether or not the person could have escaped, could could have left, could have fled the situation. It's nothing for them to consider. They don't get to determine. Well,
cheese that didn't have to happen. She could have left. Nope, she doesn't have a duty anymore.
These changes to Ohio law were a clear win for the defense. Now it was the state's burden to prove that Brianna wasn't acting in legal self defense, and the jury couldn't fault her for staying in the parking lot before Helia struck first. With the video of the fight and the cascade of witnesses who all told the same story, it was looking like Brianna had a solid self defense case. Tensions were high as Bob worked on his defense and
the prosecution prepared their arguments. Aliah may have started the fight, but she didn't walk into it expecting to die. No one ever does. I guess she didn't think Brianna would swing a knife. Who knows what was running through her mind when she slapped Brianna across the face, but I'd bet the last thing she imagined was dying in a hospital less than an hour later, Because, like Brianna's boyfriend told the detective, a fight isn't just a fight anymore, not these days, that is, And.
The way most of these people fight now, they fight to kill.
Helia's family was grief stricken, giving very few interviews to the media. Kenzie posted videos on TikTok about how much she missed her best friend. The guilt must have weighed so heavily on her. Could she have done something to stop this? Maybe if she'd been the only friend with
Helia that night, none of this would have happened. As for Dalen, he was quiet all of a sudden, but Brianna's lawyer, Bob was zeroing in on him because Bob had reviewed the case inside and out, and according to him, Dalen held as much responsibility in Helia's death as Brianna did.
But I recognize right away that this dayling kid who's recording this and encouraging it, it may not have happened had he not been doing what he was doing. People don't act the same when they know they're being videoed. They perform okay. And you know, this young man was the oldest of anybody there, and he could have stopped us so easily, But he egged it on while they were waiting for Breonn to leave the store. He egged
it on while it was happening. This process of events, all of these little decisions that were made in the span of call it ten minutes that evening. At any given point, one different decision, and this doesn't happen. Aliah is alive today.
If Aleah had been alone in the store that night, she might have just flipped Brianna off and gone home the rant about it on social media. But she wasn't alone. She had Dayalen, self proclaimed brother, her hype man, her fierce defender, her peanut gallery. I could go on and on, and with him by her side, everything changed. Dalen, with his tears and loyalty, his dramatic storytelling and ride er Die energy. He was the one who hit record. Heleia wasn't just showing off for Dalen and his phone. She
was performing for the entire internet. That's a lot of people. She knew this clip would hit social media. She knew this would be on sortain scale. Now she didn't, but you get my draft. She wasn't just in a fight. She was on a stage with an invisible crowd ready to judge her, mock her, and meme her. Y'all motherfuckers are vicious. That kind of pressure warps everything in anything. Maybe that's why she didn't back down, even when knife
was flashed inches from her face. Maybe that's why she kept threatening Brianna, acting harder than she felt, because fear in a viral video looks like weakness, and nobody wants to be weak. And Brianna, maybe you shouldn't pull that knife out to win the fight. Maybe she pulled it out because she knew losing would be captured, replayed, and ridiculed endlessly. Maybe the blade wasn't about fear of Helia.
Maybe it was about fear of becoming a joke on the internet, the girl who got wrecked and went viral for all the wrong reasons, that sort of thing, and it still happened anyway. But by hitting record, Dalen changed the entire course of these girls' lives.
All it takes is for a friend to say, hey, you know what, let her go, let's get in the car, or I'm gonna put my phone away, I'm not gonna do this, or you know what, Halih, let's go. You know whatever, She's not worth it. One person says that, and maybe it derails the whole thing. Maybe the decision by mind client preant to stay in this store longer.
Now.
I don't know if she even knew Hilia was waiting for or when she did see her, maybe retreat back into the store, or don't pull the knife out of my pocket, or don't open the knife. Okay, I mean there's many, many decisions that were made by multiple people, and any one of them a different decision. I think this thing goes a different direction.
Look at the Brian, his boyfriend.
I mean, yeah, he was standing next to her the whole time, and he was kind of sort of trying to stop it. But if he was the biggest dude out there, I mean, if he could have just walked her to the car and put her in the car, that was always an option, you know, But they stood out there, and I get it. It's it's a situation that you can't you know, you necessarily don't know what
you're going to do when you're in that situation. But so many things that people could have just made decisions to step in and de escalate it.
Many people could have stepped in, but they didn't. It really came down to Haliah, Dalen, and Brianna, who each played a part in how this night unraveled. They all had choices, and they all made the wrong ones, feeding off of each other's fear, ego and adrenaline idiots wilden on TikTok so much. Should really do a study on how much harm and literal death social media has inadvertently caused. The results are probably terrifying, which is why we'll never
get one. That and the fact that morons love to change the meaning of words, kind of like these kids often to suit their own narrative. So harm, what harm? What do you mean by harm? Never heard of it? What's your definition of harm? That sort of thing? Utter bullshit. The whole mess was a chain reaction. Aliah paid with her life, Brianna faced prison, and Dalen Well, that innocent, doe eyed stoner boy with a magical cackle that resonates throughout the vape store, strip mall parking lot and a
heart of gold. Well he walked away scott free, like just another witness. When Bob said, he was so much more.
So when I look at who's responsible or who played a part in his death, I look at him and say, you know what you had? You had such a role in this thing, and it was so unnecessary, and it was so childish, and it's so dangerous, and it's just so maddening that right away I'm thinking you know. I can understand Alia, I can understand Brianna. I can't understand Dalen.
We looked up Dalen's record. Of course, by twenty one, he'd racked up nine arrests drunk driving, assault and firearm charges. You know, like a gangster. Half came before Helia's death and the other half came after, like clockwork. Dalen was astray, cut loose by his own family, absorbed into Kenzie and Helia's orbit like a ticking time bomb. Maybe he knew what he did. Maybe the arrests, the violence, the reckless spiral, they weren't just all accidents. They were confessions written and chaos.
I'll be honest. When I first met with the prosecutor, my first suggestion was to charge that guy. But they felt that, Yeah, after interviewing all the other windowses, they felt that, you know, Halia was going to do what Halia was going to do, and he did really spill the blame over to Dalen. I see it differently, but you know, that's that's not unusual to me. There's some responsibility. This should have been placed at his feet, but.
That wasn't going to happen. Still, Brianna was the killer, not Dylan. She was on trial for murder, and Bob had a big task ahead of him. Despite the law changes that swayed in his direction, Brianna made the choice to pull out that knife and swing it. She killed Aliyah. End of story.
You know, I thought we had a problem with the weapon, and I also thought that we had a problem or difficulty with just the sadness of the thing. There is a there is a family who is grieving, and rightfully so. There's a girl there who is young and dead, and it's it's horrible, and juris feel that they see sympathy, and it's it's normal as humans, we want somebody to answer for this tragedy. We want somebody to be responsible for this tragedy, and the only person on trial is Brionna.
My whole approach was my client didn't want to fight, She wanted to back up.
She kept backing up.
She wanted to get out of there, and that you know, at some point I would have argued to the jury that you know, the most timid of animals, when you corner it, it has no choice what to lunch forward, to do something to try to get out of that situation.
But the trial would never come because in early June of twenty twenty four, just before Brionna's murder trial was set to start, the prosecution suddenly dropped the charges and offered Brianna the chance to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. That was the plea you heard her accepting in the beginning of this episode. The evidence was too strong for
the defense to argue that this was intentional murder. It was very clear that no one went to the smoke shop that evening with the intent of Helia losing her life. When that fateful sentencing day came, Helia's family huddled on one side of the courtroom while the baron Zenies were on the other. Brianna stood in front of the judge and accepted her guilt for Helia's death. Before the judge relayed her punishment, Helia's family had a chance to speak.
Kenzie stood up first, barely able to get her words out between sobs. After describing what a tough yet sensitive girl Heliah was, she got into how this had all changed her life.
I'd rather be standing at her wedding and giving a speech or her graduation, but I'm here and I know Julia, and I know her killer. The best six years of my life, I've dealt with her killer, her family. And when I finally thought I was getting away away from these people, and I finally got my family away from these people, Helia's killer did this to the most important person in my life. That night, I felt a part of my soul, more like all of it left when
Helia left. I hope that her killer gets the maximum sentence. I hope you realize or understand somewhat.
Who Helia what was really was in this world.
A daughter or sister, a cousin, a friend, a student, a coworker, a granddaughter and niece aunt. She was someone's child that got taken too soon, and she's now forever seventeen years old.
The blame that Heleia and her supporters placed on the entire Baronzini family was palpable, especially when Helia's mother got up to speak.
In most scenarios, bringing a knife to a fistfight is considered unethical, illegal, dangerous. It's crucial to approach conflicts with a mindset of de escalation and consider the potential consequences of introducing a weapon into a physical altercation. The right course of action usually involved seeking a nonviolent resolution to
ensure your safety through legal and ethical means. Here we have a smart, college educated four point zero student with so many recommendations from friends and family for the pre sentencing investigation. That sounds like someone that should know the difference between right and wrong. Maybe she's just smart enough to play us all.
Like Bob said, in a senseless tragedy like this, everyone is searching for someone to blame. Eliah's family blamed Brianna, and Brianna's family blamed he Leah, but both girls for some responsibility for the way that that night transpired. That didn't make it fair, but it was the cold, harsh truth. Before the judge relayed his decision, the prosecution made one last plea to the courtroom, arguing that Brianna reacted with disproportionate rage and intent not fear.
It is reasonable that those actions would anger Brianna Barzini. However, none of those actions justified Brianna Barzee taking a knife and plunging it into Holi as clavigal. Rather, that is an act of unjustifiable rage, as stabbing is a disproportionate response to a slap.
The prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence. Brianna stood up and apologized for what she did, saying that she will live with the guilt for the rest of her life. Then the judge reminded the court that she was facing three years in prison and a ten thousand dollars fine. That was the maximum. Then he gave it to her, reminding her to stay out of trouble. Behind bars. Brianna was taken away to prison.
When it comes down to it, all in reality should have been was just a fight, just you know, if his fight of some sorts, and then the guys would have stepped in, hopefully and just broke it up, and they would have yelled each other, they would have went on their way, you know, and there you know, nobody would have lost their life out of it. Cops probably
wouldn't even have been called for it. But you know, Brianna chose to bring out a weapon and then to use that weapon in the course of that assault, so she escalated it, and that's that's how I look at it.
The video Dalen captured still haunts Holiah's family. These were her final moments and they were nothing like the Heliah they knew and loved. And then she was gone. Brianna currently sits in jail. She filed a motion of early release and it's been granted this August, which means she will have only served one year for the death of
Heliah Culbertson one year. Detective Pride knows that what happened that night was a series of bad choices by every person in that parking lot, but he believes Brianna got away with murder.
She's the one who brought a weapon into the fight. She brought a knife into a fistfight, and I think that there should have been more consequences for that.
There were a lot of bad decisions made that night. Aliah made one when she escalated the argument with a slap, Brianna made one when she pulled out a knife in the middle of a fist fight. And Dalen, well, Dalen made his when he chose to hype up Palia and film the fight instead of stopping it. Because Dalen is an asshole. Once that camera comes out, everything changes. This wasn't just a fight anymore. It was a show, and
all three of them knew it. They weren't just teenagers in a parking lot, finally forced to face their internet fights in the real world. Now they were performers playing to an invisible audience on social media, a bunch of board assholes that are taking a shit. That's what raised the stakes. Social Media didn't kill Heliah, That's not what I'm saying. But it created the environment for her to die, a changed behavior. It added pressure, It made everything feel
dramatic and impossible to walk away from. A modern teenager's world is already so insular, impulsive, and emotional, trapped behind a screen where reality is half baked. But when performance becomes instinct, and every reaction is subconsciously shaped for an audience, even real danger can feel like just another scene to play out. And in the end, Helia died, Brianna went to prison, and Dalen walked away with no charges whatsoever, just a ghost in the margins of a murder. He
helped set an emotion. No one wins in a story like this, because the truth is it didn't have to happen. But when teenagers are raised in a world where everything is filmed, where attention is currency, and where the pressure to show off never shuts off, even a fistfight can turn into a performance. This time that performance ended in death. It's not just tragic. That's the cost of a culture that values footage more than the fallout. Speaking of footage,
we got a lot of it. Sword and Scale Television available at swordscale dot com.
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