[MUSIC PLAYING]
MICHELLE LEE: Brian had one thing on his mind
that night-- to protect that 12-year-old girl.
The one person who had no obligation to her at all
is the one that got punished?
BRIAN: I do not regret a thing I did, regardless of the fact
that I could spend up to the next 20 years
in freaking prison.
If people had known what I have lived through,
they would understand and would have
reacted the same way I did.
DERIC WALPOLE: Brian's charged with aggravated assault, which
carries up to 20 years in prison,
is a felony, and up to a $10,000 fine.
It basically involves my client defending a small child.
The law is if you intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly
threaten someone with serious bodily injury
and you exhibit a deadly weapon, you're
guilty of aggravated assault. That's the letter of the law.
The letter of the law is also that you
can use a reasonable amount of force
necessary to defend yourself from an unlawful
imminent attack from another.
I was at a friend's house across the street
from where everything occurred.
I received a text that a neighbor of ours
had beaten his daughter and that she
had ran to our house, at the time, for refuge,
and that they had contacted the police.
DERIC WALPOLE: Is it dark yet? BRIAN: Yes.
DERIC WALPOLE: How dark is it?
Pitch black.
All right.
What was your thought process?
The few times I had met this guy, it was,
he was drunk with an AR-15.
And I wanted to have an equal amount of firepower as he did.
I went to the garage and got an AK-47, which was in the garage.
About 20 minutes later, I saw him coming up the road.
When he pulled up his truck and he got out,
I couldn't see his hands.
Couldn't make out if he had a weapon or not.
And I was screaming at him from the top of my lungs, stay back.
Stay back.
Stay off the property.
And as soon as he walked about 4 feet onto the property,
I aimed the gun, 45-degree angle, in his direction
and I discharged 2 rounds.
The second those two rounds were discharged,
the cops come flying around the corner with their lights on.
The cop got out of his car and he's asking, who has the gun?
Who has the gun?
This is when I made my mistake.
And I told that cop that he had the gun,
and that he shot the rounds, and that I didn't have a gun.
That was a mistake.
DERIC WALPOLE: Why'd you do that?
BRIAN: I was almost sure of myself that he had a gun,
and that they would find that gun
and hopefully just take his gun.
Yeah.
What did you think the odds were at that point
that he had a gun?
BRIAN: Oh, I was 100% positive.
I mean, yeah.
We got some-- got some problems.
OK.
You know, you lied to the police.
That's the main one.
So the cop Mirandizes you.
You're telling the story.
BRIAN: Yeah.
I told them the whole story.
I was telling the truth this time.
So the police officer walks over to other police officers
and says, he tells me the guy got out of his car,
pointed the gun on him.
He turned around and when he got-- was getting back
in his care, he fired the shots after just
having talked to you.
And that's when they say, well, that's not self-defense.
That's-- that's-- that's aggravated assault.
So it's pretty serious.
It's the same level offense as sexual assault, robbery.
I mean, it's-- it's bad.
The only thing that's worse than that is a first-degree felony,
which is-- - Murder.
--murder.
A 12-year-old girl, who also happens to be my neighbor,
she said that her dad had laid his hands on her
and that there were marks.
I went over there and the girl was standing
in her kitchen crying, sobbing.
Her face was red.
Her neck was red.
And she proceeded to tell me that her and her
dad had gotten in a fight, that he
had his hands around her beck.
She said he tried to choke her, so I
brought her back to my house.
DERIC WALPOLE: So you were of the opinion
that he could show up and cause some serious harm.
Yeah.
DERIC WALPOLE: And then Brian comes over--
MICHELLE LEE: Yes.
--and you tell him, in person, what's going on.
MICHELLE LEE: Yeah.
And I had opened the door.
And he said, just go back inside for right now.
Go take care of the girl.
And so I did.
DERIC WALPOLE: Did you see Brian standing
out there with the gun?
Yes.
DERIC WALPOLE: What were your thoughts on that?
Um-- DERIC WALPOLE: Necessary?
Unnecessary?
There were so many thoughts running through my head
at that point.
Oh, absolutely necessary, absolutely necessary.
Brian had one thing on his mind that night,
and that was to protect that 12-year-old girl.
Let's just say I've done more praying in the last year
and a half than I ever have in my entire life.
Brian has a family that depends on him.
And what kind of system is that, that would send away someone
who tried to protect a child?
Good answer.
You didn't see a gun?
I didn't know.
DERIC WALPOLE: You do a good enough job telling your story.
To where I really wouldn't have you tell it any differently
if you were on the stand.
Do I need to get the prop AK out of the car?
Yeah,d I think you should get the prop AK out of the car.
BRIAN: I was standing about right here.
I took cover like this.
And as soon as he got out of this truck,
I was screaming at the top of my lungs
to-- for him to stay back, stay off the property.
Here, I'm going to go out here.
You tell me where he was.
BRIAN: Move to your right 3 feet.
There you go.
And I'm screaming at him, stay back.
Stay back.
And he's kind of doing a slow walk now.
Stay back.
Stay off the property.
Pop, pop.
And then no more than 5 seconds, that cop
comes buzzing around there with his lights on.
And as soon as I saw him make that corner,
I went like that, racked out the round, shoved it under the van
like that.
Why?
Because as soon as law enforcement arrives,
the last thing you want them to see in your hands as a gun,
whether you are a friend or foe.
Where do you suppose those bullets ended up?
BRIAN: It could have hit that water tower,
but I didn't hear any metal.
It's actually a damn good thing I didn't hit those power lines,
to be honest.
It's a damn good thing you didn't
hit lots of things, Brian.
You're responsible for where your bullets go, right?
Mhm.
I mean, they landed somewhere.
My concerns about Brian testifying are that the jury,
they think that he unnecessarily interjected himself
into this situation and sort of played vigilante,
when the situation could have been handled by the police.
And I'm concerned that in the heat of cross-examination,
he could get very combative.
And that could come across very poorly--
poorly for us, as well.
Yeah.
He can't get combative.
[PHONE RINGING]
What's going on, man?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
How'd that go?
No, it's not a win.
It's not a win, Deric.
I want you to go back to him and explain to him,
OK, look, I pretty much have been on probation
two years, as it is.
Like, I'm over it.
I've literally-- Deric, I've been on probation.
OK.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DERIC WALPOLE: Well, what do you know?
I sent an offer to him saying 6 months
probation on false report.
And he just sent me back an email saying, why
don't we just do time served?
If he means what I think he means, that's a wrap.
BRIAN: Hey, what's going on, Deric?
BRIAN: OK.
So they literally counter offered with a better
offer, is what you're saying?
OK.
Well, I guess tell him we accept.
BRIEE CARDWELL: OK.
It's done.
It's over with.
So we don't need to go to trial on Monday.
No, It's done.
Really?
This'll end tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we're going to go cross the Ts
and dot the Is and everything.
So it's done.
Like we're done, done.
It's done, done.
That's good.
It's over.
We did it.
See?
It's done.
I can't believe it.
Yeah.
BRIEE CARDWELL (VOICEOVER): It is
the best feeling in the world.
He's not going anywhere.
He's home.
[CHOKES UP]
[SIGHS]
The boys don't lose him.
I don't lose him.
We get to keep our life.
Um, we get to plan, like, a normal life.