Horse People Trial - Olympian Horse Person Shoot Equestrian Horse Woman - NOT Guilty

Prosecutors closed their case Monday in the trial of Michael Barisone, a former Olympian charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting twice a tenant on his Long Valley farm before attempting to shoot her fiancé.

"The state rests," Christopher Schellhorn, a supervising assistant prosecutor for Morris County, said just before the lunch break.

Jurors socially distanced inside a courtroom in the Morris County Courthouse have heard from 14 witnesses since the trial started on March 28 including police officers, crime scene investigators, Barisone's girlfriend and employees and the victim Lauren Kanarek and her fiancé Robert Goodwin.

The defense began calling their witnesses Monday afternoon.

Defense attorneys have argued Barisone was suffering from temporary insanity at the time of the Aug. 7, 2019 shooting following a months-long dispute with trainee Kanarek and Goodwin that had triggered a prior mental health history and left him in fear for his life. Barisone's attorneys have not contested prosecutors' claims his client pulled the trigger, but they have asserted he reacted in self-defense.