Earlier this year, the 58-year-old former Olympic equestrian Michael Barrison He is on trial in Morristown, New Jersey, for the attempted murder of his own riding student, Lauren Kanarek. Barisone’s legal team of Ed Bilinkas and Christopher Deininger will bet on an unusual defense. They claim that Barisone was insane and was not legally responsible for his actions at the time of the shooting. Insanity requests are uncommon and rarely successful. Barisone’s defense is that Lauren Kanarek cornered him, in large part because of her use of social media.
Michael Barisone’s “48 Hours” Season 35 Premiere “Lauren” on Saturday, Sept. 17, October 9 on CBS and on Paramount+ The shooting at Kanarek” spoke in his first TV interview after the trial.
Nancy Jaffer
It was a fall from grace his elite equestrian sport had never seen. Barisone specializes in dressage—training horses to look like dancing. Considered one of the best coaches in the world, he has coached Olympians like Boyd Martin and Alison Bullock and represented Team USA in Beijing.
Barisone owns two magnificent horse farms, one outside Palm Beach and the other at New Jersey’s main horse farm. He called it Hawthorne Mountain. In March 2018, Lauren Kanarek started training with Barisone. Kanarek had his own equestrian dreams and was soon paying $5,000 a month to train, ride horses there, and live in the farmhouse on the Barisone estate. It seems like the ultimate arrangement for an amateur like Kanarek, a riding student being trained by one of the sport’s masters.
But by the summer of 2019, the arrangement had turned sour, and it would soon explode.Hawthorne Hills staff tells ’48 Hours’ contributor Nikki Baptiste The relationship between Barisone and Kanarek begins to deteriorate due to Kanarek’s expectations for her training. She wanted more direct guidance from Barisson than his assistant coach.
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Kanarek, an active user of social media, started posting her dramatic complaints on Facebook. In the summer of 2019, they were upgraded. On July 25, 2019, Kanarek posted: “Maybe it’s time for war. Anyone who repeatedly kicks a beast at rest will eventually wake her up!” In another post, she described Barrison as ” racist, homophobic” and “anti-Semitism” — allegations that Barrison vehemently denies.
“Some terrible things are happening on social media,” Barisone told Baptiste in an exclusive interview. Barisone said he was frightened and disturbed by Lauren’s post. “I remember complete and utter panic,” Barisson said. “Everyone said I was ungummed. I was ungummed.” Barisone’s supporter said her post had unfairly damaged his reputation and he feared it would ruin his business.
Barisone claims he asked Kanarek and her boyfriend Rob Goodwin to leave his property. But he said they refused. Barisson called 911 four times for help and told local police he was “fearing for our lives”. But police may think it’s nothing more than a landlord-tenant dispute.
Tensions in Hawthorne peaked on August 7, 2019. Michael Barisone pulled a gun from his office safe and drove his truck down the long gravel drive to the farmhouse where Kanarek and Goodwin lived.
What happened next is still unclear, but at 2:13 p.m. Lauren Kanarek managed to call 911 while bleeding profusely from two gunshot wounds. On the phone, Rob Goodwin can be heard wrestling and subduing Michael Barrison. When police arrived, they found Goodwin standing on top of a badly beaten Barrison. The 9mm pistol was made by Barisson. Lauren lay flat on her back in critical condition. She was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. The next day, Barisone was charged with two counts of attempted murder. He faces 80 years in prison.
He was jailed for more than two years until his trial finally begins in the spring of 2022. The sensational trial lasted nearly three weeks.
Lauren Kanarek was asked during her testimony if she had a plan to destroy Michael Barrison. “At some point, yes,” Kanarek replied. She was quick to make sure the jury understood she was the victim — she spent weeks in hospital and intensive care with a tube stuck in her throat son.
Michael Barisone told “48 Hours” that he remembered entering his office, but not picking up a gun or shooting Kanarek. The defense team hired mental health experts to back up their claims that Barisson was in fact temporarily insane. “She drove him crazy. She set him on fire and drove him to the brink,” Dr. Steven Simlin told Baptiste in an interview with “48 Hours.” The psychiatrist told the jury that, in addition to other events leading up to the shooting, Barisone suffered from paranoia as a result of Kanarek’s targeted use of social media.
The state’s expert psychologist, Dr. Louis Schlesinger, disagrees with Dr. Simlin. Dr. Schlesinger testified that Barisson’s ability to remember everything except grabbing a gun, driving to the farmhouse and shooting Kanarek was a “red flag”. He doubted Barisson’s story, nor did he believe he was insane.
The jury deliberated for four days. They came back with a dramatic verdict: Michael Barrison ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’. He was not criminally responsible for his actions on Hawthorne Hill that afternoon. Barisone was so emotional that he fell into the arms of the lawyer and wept. His defense team rejoiced, calling it “justice.” A few weeks later, Barisson was transferred to a mental hospital.
Lauren Kanarek’s father, Jonathan Kanarek, believes the jury was completely wrong and that Barison should spend “the rest of his life” in prison. He added that Lauren was “shocked and dismayed” by the verdict. Lauren did not give up her efforts to hold Barisone accountable and hired a civil attorney to sue Barisone on her behalf.
At a hearing on September 7, 2022, a judge ordered that Barrison be transferred to the less restrictive Greystone Park mental hospital for mental health treatment, with a follow-up hearing six months later to examine him Progress. After years of surgery and treatment, Lauren Kanarek is back on horseback.
