Sword and Scale - Episode 325

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

17-year-old Halia Culbertson and 18-year-old Bryanna Baronzinni went from friends to enemies over the course of a few months. Then, it all ended in a single, fatal fight. But did the person who set this tragic murder in motion walk away unscathed?Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. If I were to know that she was getting sad tonight, I would have let myself got stabbed before her. At just 20 years old, Brianna Berosini could be. pass for a teenager. But today, in the courtroom, she looks even younger. Her blonde hair fall straight down her back, framing a face drained of color. She stands motionless before an Ohio judge, a shadow of fear flickering behind her solemn eyes. The room is silent, bracing for the words she's about to speak, words that seal her fate. Brianna is here to plead guilty to killing

her former friend, Halea Culbertson. You're now pleading guilty or admitting that you've committed this crime. When you plead guilty, you waive or give up constitutional rights. Do you understand each and every right? Yes, Your Honor. Are you waiving those rights and are you pleading guilty knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily? Yes, Your Honor. Only a year has passed since Halea was killed.

It all happened so quickly on that March evening of 2023. It's been a year of legal battles, bond hearings, and fear on both sides. But today, Brianna is admitting to what she did, and she will face consequences for Halea's death. Prosecution's going to push for prison. Your lawyer is 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, Your Honor.

All right. But I've made no commitment. I get to review the pre-sentence investment. 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, you're all right. On the benches behind Brianna and her lawyer, the split is as old as the feud itself. Halea's family is on one side, and Brianna's is on the other.

The bad blood didn't start with Halea'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 11th. It'll be on your record. It's a non-expungible offense. It carries up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Do you understand the nature of the charge to which you're pleading guilty and what the maximum penalties are?

Yes, Your Honor. That is it. A maximum sentence of maybe three years and ten years. $10,000 for Halea 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. No, Your Honor. Are you pleading guilty to this crime I've outlined for you because you did, in fact,

commit that crime? Yes, Your Honor. 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 Halea 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 halea'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 meals, scroll through her phone, and take long hot showers. She's free for now. Halea, on the other hand, is dead, and her family lives inside a grief that has no end. Even if Brianna gets the maximum sentence, she could be out by the age of 23.

She will step into a future where most people will never know she's a murderer. She'll 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 Halea 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 26th of

2023. The evening, Halea died. What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? My friend just got down 161, close stop. Carry out. You said 161.

What's the street? 151 can carry out slow stops. Oh. Everybody's called this here. Boy, please, boy. He said that scrub shop. Okay. Calm down.

You say 161. Carry out slow stop. I'm on the boat. Okay. Okay. 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, Halia Culbertson's best friend, Kenzie Adrian, called 911 desperate for help. Halea was sitting in the front seat of a Jeep that belonged to their other friend, Dalyan Barrage. Halea took labored breaths as blood spilled down her neck and onto her orange tank top and pants. I know who stopped it. I know who stopped.

Who was it that this is? Free Berraini. Brianna. Beer Barraini. Brianna? Okay. Where is he now Marizini. She left in an affinity with Xi'an. I don't know if you had a class name, but they left to smoke stops.

Kenzie couldn't get the information out faster. She needed it to be known. Brianna Barozini stabbed. Halea. They all witnessed it. Okay, this day on the line with me. We're going to get these officers out to help you guys. Dalyan wrapped his shirt around Halea's neck, pressing hard to stop the bleeding. Kenzie clutched her hand whispering to Halea. They waited, their ears straining for sirens, hearts pounding.

Kenzie and Daly were paralyzed by the helplessness of it all. Then, the police swarmed in. Get back, boss. Just get back. I know you're... I know. I know. I need you to stay back, all right? You got to let them do their work, okay? Come on, guys. Let's get back. Let's get back. Come on.

Come on. I understand. Let's get back. Okay, I'm going to get your information. Did you see it? Yes, we... Who saw it happen? Me, him? The red hoodie. Okay. In the red hood. Yes.

All right, I need you to get in a cruiser for me, okay? I'm going to have to get you off your phone, all right? It's my mom. I understand that, but I need you. I need you to get in the cruiser, okay? I'm talking to a cop on my house to hang up the phone. The parking lot was utter chaos. As police quickly assessed the situation amongst these crying, red-faced teenagers,

the paramedics scooped up Halea into a stretcher and whist her to the nearest hospital. Dalen and Kenzie were left in the parking lot, shaking from adrenaline and tons. terror. The police officer guided Kenzie to his squad car, instructing her to hang up her cell phone and sit down. Have a seat. You said that's your friend? Yes, it's my best friend. Okay. What's your name? Halia, H-A-L-I-A. Hold on, one second, one second. I know it's hard. I can write down. 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. Where she lives? She's in Sanbury, Ohio, but I don't know exact address. Yeah, go ahead. Actually, I need you here. We need to have a... I need you.

Get that guy in the red hoodie, he saw it. And this guy, too, I'm here. I'm here, I'm here. Just sit down. We have to tell them what happened. Oh, that's fine. Can I see my sister? I need to separate you guys, okay?

Just for integrity of the story, okay? I got you. I got to I'm over here. Okay. The parking lot pulsed with streetlights and the flashing blue of cop cars. Dalyan stormed towards Kenzie, begging to sit with his sister,

but an officer blocked him. No one knew exactly what had happened yet, and right now they needed calm. Not a shirtless, panic Dailen tearing through the scene. All right, what happened? Bree Berizini stabbed her. They were getting into a fight. I was sitting in the Jeep because I cannot be around Brie Berrizini

because her brother's and my baby dad and me and her, You don't know how to spell Berezini? B-A-R-O-Z-Z-I-N-I. Z-I-N-I, okay. Pine O'C-Four, Westerville, Ohio, is where she lives. She lives in Westerville, you think? West, I know she lives in Westerville.

She said they got in a fight, go ahead. They got into a fight, and as Halea 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 nauseous. I hopped out the car. I called 911 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 had stabbed Halea.

Kenzie had issues with Brianna from the past, so she stayed away from the fights between the girls. The next thing she knew, Halea was bleeding from the neck. You didn't see the actual fight. No, but I know who Brie Berazini 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 saw the handle, but I didn't see her get stabbed at all. Okay. It just looked like they were throwing punches. Okay.

Do you know either of them? I know her, that was it. Who? Helia, the one that got stabbed, that was it. You know her, but you don't know? I barely, like, I know, I worked with Dalen for a little bit, and I was hanging out with him denying it. I need...

I need you. Where did it happen at? Yeah, let's take that. Just right here in the front. Like in the front of the smoke shop? Yes, sir. Okay. The officer continued collecting pieces of the story and 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, you know, you know, 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 back. The officer closed the smoke shop. And patrolmen started taping off the entire parking lot. Outside, another police vehicle, a few yards away from where Kenzie sat waiting, Dalyan was pacing towards another officer. her. I'm going to standing right there. You're standing right there?

All right. Is that, is that pretty? That's him? My little sister, but I'm. Okay. All right. Come on. Oh, my sister.

It's your sister that got cut? No, she's not blood-related, but I'm not her since she was fucking 12. So a good friend of yours? Yeah, man. What's your first name? Dailen's bare chest was covered in Holiah's blood. He cried as he walked with the officer, giving him all the information without question. He kept calling Halea 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 Dalyan, felt like forever, long enough for him to believe he had a duty to protect her. Right. Did you see what happened? You said, I got that shit 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. Dailen, 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.

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18-year-old Brianna Berizini had stabbed 17-year-old Halea Culbertsin during a fight. When police arrived on the scene, they found a group of distraught teenagers who had witnessed the brawl, and one boy, Dalyan Berridge, 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, Halea's best friends, Dalyan and Kenzie. After all, Dailen had the whole fight on his cell phone. Through tears, he passed his phone over and started playing. In the clip, you see Halea.

She towers over Brianna by about a foot. Halea is walking towards Brianna with her arms out, shouting. Hey, get off my sister, bro. Halea charges towards Brianna 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 Halea at all. In the background, Dalyan starts to tell him to

get off his sister. Hey, if you touch my sister, I'm going to have to put my phone down, bro. Halea, crunch your ass to get it over with, bro. Crunch your ass to get it over with, Halea. Oh, great. More thug culture. Halea keeps charging forward, screaming in Brianna's face as Dalyan keeps yelling. That's when some say Brianna pulls out a knife from her pocket.

Others insist it was already in her hand. Halea keeps thundering towards her. That's when Halea's open hand slaps Brianna across the face. The fight ignites. Yeah, crunch your ass, Halea. Crunch your ass, Halea. Crunch your ass, Halea. You better get your girl before she get fucked up even more.

The motion is lightning fast, but that's when Brianna swings the knife up and slashes Halea across the throat. But Halea doesn't stop. Stop, she keeps yelling, she keeps swinging her fists and throwing her body towards Brianna as blood spills and canned 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. Halea stumbles towards Dalyan, and the video cuts out. 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, the officer's first turn to Daly. What did all start over? So, all right, so Kenzie, Kenzie's baby dad is Bree's older brother, right? Who's Kenzie? The one in that car. Oh, right here? Yeah, the blonde, the blonde. Okay, that I called. Okay. You called. Right. So her brother...

Her baby dad is her brother and her baby dad. Okay. Kenzie's baby dad? Yes, Kenzie's baby dad. Okay, so the girl here, she has a baby dad. Her baby dad is Bree's older brother. Older brother. Got it.

I'm there. They've had beef for the... The child's going to four years old. So they've had beef for almost five years type of shit. You know what I'm saying? I got it. Brianna's older brother is the father of Kenzie's child. This relationship went very...

very sour. Halea, being Kenzie's best friend, sided with her and developed a hatred for the entire Barazini family, as did Dalyan. After all, Halea and Kenzie were his so-called sisters. I look at like Kenzie's mother adopted me, like not legally, but my mom kicked me out from the ages of 14 to 17, and Kenzie's family took me the fuck in. So I'm very protective over Kenzie and whoever Kenzie affiliates with. Dalen was a classic latchkey 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, Dailen absorbed every ripple of drama between Kenzie, Alia, and the Barazini family. most adults, it would have seemed like none of his business. But to Dalyan, it was everything. He didn't just insert himself. He dug in, rooted himself in the chaos, convinced it was where he was meant to be. Dailen 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 always been protective over her, and Bray Barazini,

the girl who did the shit, she just always runs, she just sits there, and she talks shit. She talks shit, and I saw the, I saw the knife fucking drop, but I didn't think he got used, bro. Brie and Halea were supposed to be fighting while they were in the Columbus Square. Was this like a plane thing or what? No, it was random as fuck. She came in while we came in. The whole fight was spur of the moment. Halea 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 Bri and her boyfriend walked in. Brie walks in with her friend Ead, and I didn't notice until Halea goes, that's Brie fucking Berazini. I said, oh, God. I turned around and I saw her. She looked at me.

I looked at her. I turned around. How do you guys know her? I know Brie because she's not. my baby dad's sister. Okay. And I've known Brees since middle school. And I'm not allowed.

Legally, I don't go around her or her brother or her family. Why not? I was 15 and her brother was 19 when I got pregnant. Oh, good. 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. Um, a big one. Yeah, because I didn't know he was 19.

He told me he was 17. to figure out he was turning 18, and then he turned he was already 18, then he turned 19, and I got pregnant when I was 15 in April when he was 19 that year. So I was like, oh, that's great. When Kenzie's family found out Brianna's brother was 19, 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 beforehand, they would be like, yeah, and they'd come over and they'd see her, or they would drop stuff off. But they just obeyed everything, and I caught them in a line, and I saw them out in public with him, and I picked up my daughter, and I said, you are all fucked in mind. And they're like, you can't tell me what to do. I said, this 19-year-old is going to tell your 35-year-old ass what I can do. Put my daughter in my car, and I left. That's when Kenzie banned anyone from the Barazini family from seeing the child,

including Brianna. Resentment grew between the two girls. She doesn't like me because I don't want her or 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 Halea had other plans her and Brees start going at it because Brie gets behind us in line and Halea goes you're obsessed or what because Bree posts Tick talks about Halea all the time just saying like they were friends at one point I don't really know what happened there did they go to school together I don't know what issues they have, but they have, like, they hate each other.

They've got something. Brie's called Halea Kokad. Halea called Brea Kokad, and was talking about her abusive brother, and was talking about her family being shitty, and then Brie was talking about Holiah's mom. And then Halea was like, well, I'll catch you outside then. Come outside, and Brie was, all right, bet. I'll be outside then.

So I got into the Jeep in the front seat, and I was looking forward because I'm not part of this fight so that all happened in the store where they were where Bree was like come on outside and Helia was like I'll be outside Bree said she'll be outside I'll be 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 in the store, then agreed to continue things outside. Kenzie said that Brianna had posted nasty things to TikTok about Helia, that their feud may have been fueled by Halia'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 it simmering just below the surface. No one saying Halea 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 Jeep, and I was like, I'm not part of this shit, guys. I'm going to fucking car. You can do it in the fucking one, but I am not part of this shit. And then all I heard was in fighting. I didn't really see anything. I didn't see anything at all until he got. Helia was walking up to the front door, like to the driver door of the car.

And all I can see is that she's bleeding. I'm holding her wrist, and I'm trying to check for a pulse. And she peed her pants, and her eyes, she was non-responsive. Did you see Heliot with any weapons? No, she didn't have anything. Okay. I had all of her stuff. I had her pepper spray.

I had her keys. I had it all. She didn't have anything on her except hands. Kenzie and Dalyan 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 Halea outside to finish what they had started.

Brianna had a hidden knife. Halea 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's 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 Bree, and we headed there just right after a car meet. We got there around 1130, 1140. As soon as we got in, we noticed Halea. And a girl named McKenzie and some guy I've 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, Brie, and Halea. Okay. Kenzie has had some, you know, long-term issues with Brie's family. Yeah. Yeah. Halia said something. Brie called her obsessed, and then it started an argument. The guy over-the-counter, Ben, he said he doesn't want anything to do with this.

So he got Halia, Kenzie, and her friend outside. And then Halea was yelling a lot. And then Brie, the whole time was just, you know, just trying to say, I don't want to fight you. Brianna's boyfriend had a feeling there would be trouble. when he saw Halea, Kenzie, and Dalyan. So they tried their best to avoid them. But Halea started shouting at Brianna, instigating a loud and vicious confrontation. The cashier kicked Halea, Kenzie, and Dailen 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 Halea and her friends. So I told my co-worker, like, I'm one of the few. use this. So I stepped outside and was talking to her. She shouldn't... He was for her, dear. Which one? The one that got stabbed. The one that got stabbed. You were talking to her.

I was trying to tell her, like, I got this business. Yeah. Just go. But they didn't go. Dalyan started egging Halea 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, don't want no incident to happen here, period, from blank. The one I was recording, was he with the girl that got stabbed? 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 shop's outdoor camera showed Halea, Dalyan, and Kenzie being escorted out of the store.

They disappeared into the parking lot. Then, about two minutes later, you see Halea 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 Dailen following her around with a cell phone filming.

Here's that recording. Halea, what's you about to do, bro? I'm outside the storm, man. Where's she at, bro? Where's she at, bro? Right, right. Look at here, bitch. I'm outside.

She's scared, bro. Right, you just said to take her up to her quick. She's scared. Hellie, you should drag her out the storm, bud. I'm outside. My, bitch. No, we waited right here. until you get your ones.

I've been waiting to see her ass get beat for a minute, bro. Talk about cocaine. Who's sitting there doing talking about him? You should get arrested just for that laugh. That's when the cashier came outside again, telling Halea and Dalyan to go home. So he wasn't helping the situation at all? Nobody was helping nothing.

Like, it was a dead silence. The two girls was talking to me. The other two was shopping. And once they had, they had, words exchanged. Nobody was trying to say chill, calm down, no, nothing. I'm the only one telling them, like, just go chill out, go ahead, go lead a store. According to the smoke shop cashier, it was Daly who took the situation from bad to worse. The boy who was so hell bent on protecting his so-called sister was the one who egged on the needless fight that ended in murder.

Brianna's 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 Bernie and Halea because I'm sort of like, I don't have a person like Halea, but I don't have the biggest problem with her. 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, Dailen inserted himself and threatened violence.

If you touch my sister-girl, I'll have to put my phone down, bro. Halea, crunch her ass to get it over away, bro. Crunch her ass to get it over with, Halea. But he's basically saying don't touch her. Yeah, and the whole time, I don't know if the video shows this, but I was trying to back them up from each other. It was polite, like the back of the hand. So obviously he didn't like it.

So I tried to find breathing, and that's been. and everything escalated. Basically, if he didn't instigate Halita start the fight, none of this would have happened. Brianna's boyfriend said that the stabbing 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 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 Halea and Brie has always been a thing since November. What happened in November? Halea was just using me and Brie, you know, saying she has a kid, she doesn't have a kid, basically using that as an excuse to get money or anything really to just get as much money as she can

saying she needs to pay for a gas when she doesn't even drive it just became a whole mess we just left at that and every once in a while like either Halee 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 Halea 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 Halea have any? Any weapons or anything?

Does she have a knife out or anything? I don't recall if 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 very seriously, because she always talks about either having guns, hanging out with people that have guns, saying that she can kill us.

It's just been a whole mess. Halea 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 Halea'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 around 161. and just that 161 is not the best area to be in So she always carries in her a knife Because first of all, she's small She 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, Brianna and her boyfriend left the scene

They drove back to Brianna's house Where her brother was waiting the one who fathered Kenzie's child Brianna's 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 it as much as possible

And then I gave it to Cameron In the living room You gave the knife to Cameron Yeah So you can actually clean it up some Yeah, cleaned it up some Because it just kind of drip it off The actual knife

And we didn't want to get it all over the place. Brianna's boyfriend and brother had hidden a murder weapon. But no one knew Halea 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 Dalyan's car did her friends realize how deep the damage went. Dalyan's phone marked the fight at 11.48 p.m. By 12.24 a.m.,

Aaliyah was pronounced dead at the hospital. According to the autopsy, the knife struck a critical zone in Halea's clavicle, 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 Halea's confrontation. It was all just a blur. She premeditated nothing.

And they're screaming at me, and then the dude tells Halea 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. I 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, yeah, I was trying to, like, push her away from me, but But the other guy said was stealing him to touch her or else he was going to do something to him. I don't know what exactly 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.

Crunch your ass, Alia. Fuck her up. What's that bitch? You better get your girl before she get fucked up even more. Oh, huh. I don't think I hate her or anything. Because I was on the ground getting blood on my eyes. I had no idea what was going.

I was just in shock at that point. It's chilling how clear it is on video. Halea charges at Brianna who retreats, murmuring that she doesn't want to fight. But Halea keeps coming. Dalyan records it all, his voice rising with every shout. Not warning them, not breaking it up, just feeding the fire. Dalen wasn't a bystander.

He was the catalyst. But then Brianna flashes the knife. Halea slaps her. Brianna swings and blood splatters all over the paper. Still, Halea yanks her to the ground and unleashes brutal blows, dragging her like a ragdoll. Had she survived, there's no question Halea would have won that fight. She kicked Brianna's ass even with a hole in her neck. Now I'm turning ghetto.

During the fire when she was hitting you, what happened with a knife during that time? It had dropped on the ground. Okay. It was no longer in my hand. Did you know she had been cut at that point? I didn't know if it was me or her, because they were yelling, saying that, they were laughing, saying that she made me 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, I was like, it's, I don't think it's me. What does this all stem from? What's the animosity? Halea 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. My friend Ead 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, like she does to most people. To her friends, was fearless, the kind of girl who would never back down. To Brianna, she was dangerous and unhinged. Two versions of the same Halea, told by people who loved her and people who feared her. Was Brianna the victim of Halea'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 Halea's behavior, Brianna signed off with this message. I would sooner slice Halea's throat if she comes near me again. Just words, just teenage anger, but now, with Halea dead from a single stab to the neck, these didn't feel like just words.

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each claiming the other was just a bad person. But Halea's friend, Kenzie, also had big problems with her and her family. Kenzie had become pregnant, which she was 15, with Brianna's older brother, who lied to her and told her he was a minor too, when he was not. Drama ran through that friend group like a river, a big river. And on the night of Halea's murder, it finally overflowed. Brianna was arrested on March 27th for the murder of Halea. She was taken to the county jail immediately following her police interview.

The Berenzini family quickly took action and obtained a lawyer named Bob craypants. For the last 20 years, I've been a 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. Brianna's bond was set at 750 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 Brian had a chance to explain what happened from her viewpoint,

you know, there's a lot of thoughts that kind of go through your head. First one being, you know, how accurate is this account and what other evidence is you going to be out there. I never really believe. I think that a client comes in and tells me 100% of the truth accurately, not because they're lying, but they remember it a certain way. But my initial thought was, wow, this sounds to me like it was self-defense and more of an accident and unintentional, but also just a tragedy. Just a young girl sitting in front and 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 weighed 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 but scared and appreciative of just how serious this was. And what about that text message? The one where Brianna said she would slice Halea's throat if she came after her.

Previous text showed that Brianna was upset because Halea 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. I would argue to the jury. That's irrelevant to what. what happened that night.

It would be relevant if my client went looking for her. 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 chance. So despite the text, those words, her actions that night 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 Halea charged screaming. But according to lead detective Timothy Pryb, Brianna made one move that raised questions. She had a weapon. Aaliyah didn't. And what Brianna did with that weapon gave the police pause when it came to her innocence.

Halea 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 10 to 15 seconds prior to the smack. So 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 Pryb says that when they watched that video, of the fight relentlessly. And not just their investigative team, but Prib'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 Halea. 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. She pulls it out in a very comfortable manner and holds it down. And then after she slapped and Halea is walking away, that's when she charges her. The key portion of this incident or this altercation is that after Halea 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 you see her come over the top

and, you know, hit her right, you know, right at the top of the chest. Detective Pryb 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 you to. The footage of Halea's death is haunting, 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 and voluntary manslaughter. She was looking at 15 years to life for the murder charges and another three to 11 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, you know, 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 bodily harm or death. and that they did not use disproportional force to repel the attack and that was the burden of the defense. That changed back in 2019. There was a House bill 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 37th 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 2021 concerning self-defense cases. And that was a change in the law regarding your duty to retreat. It used to me that if you had a duty, 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 responsibility 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 situation 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. They could have left, could have fled the situation. It's nothing for them to consider.

They don't get to determine, well, geez, 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 Halea 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. Alia 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 saw. 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. Halea'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 Halea that night, none of this would have happened.

As for Dalyan, 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, Dailen held as much responsibility in Halea's death as Brianna did. But I recognize right away that this Dalyan kid, who was 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 this so easily, but he egged it on while they were waiting for Breonna 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, 10 minutes that evening, at any given point, one different decision,

and this doesn't happen. Halea's alive today. If Halea had been alone in the store that night, she might have just flipped Brianna off and gone home to rant about it on social media. But she wasn't alone. She had Dailen, her 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. Dailen, with his tears and loyalty, his dramatic storytelling and ride or die energy, he was the one who hit record. Halea wasn't just showing off for Dailen 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 sort and 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 and anything. Maybe that's why she didn't back down, even when a 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 she didn'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 Halea. 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 going to put my phone away, I'm not going to do this. Or, you know what, Halif, 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 my client, Breonna, is staying in the store longer.

Now, I don't know if she even knew Halea was waiting for her. 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 Brianna's 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 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 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 Halea, Dalyan, and Brianna, who each played a part, and 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. Someone 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. Well, it's your definition of harm, that sort of thing. Utter bullshit. The whole mess was a chain reaction. Alia 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 such a role in this thing. And it was so unnecessary. And it was so childish and it's so dangerous. It's just so maddening that right away, I'm thinking, you know, I can understand Halea.

I can understand Brianna. I can't understand Dailen. We looked up Dailen's record, of course. By 21, he'd racked up nine arrests. Drunk driving, assault, and firearm charges. You know, like a gangster. Half came before Halea's death and the other half came after, like clockwork. Dailen was astray, cut loose by his own family,

absorbed into Kensi and Halea'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 after interviewing all the other witnesses, they felt that, you know, Halea was going to do what he was going to do, and it did really spill the blame over to Dalyan. I see it differently, but, you know, that's not unusual. To me, there's some responsibility that should have been placed at his feet.

But that wasn't going to happen. Still, Brianna was the killer, not Dailen. 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 Halea. End of story. 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 family who is grieving, and rightfully so. There's a girl there who is young and dead, and it's horrible. And the juries feel that. They see sympathy. And 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 Brianna. 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, let to lunge forward, to do something, to try to get out of that situation. But the trial would never come. Because in early June of 2024, just before Brianna'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 Halea losing her life. When that fateful sentencing day came, Halea's family huddled on one side of the courtroom while the Berenzini's were on the other. Brianna stood in front of the judge and accepted her guilt for Halea's death. Before the judge relayed her punishment, Halea'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 Halea 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 Hulia. And I know her killer, the past six years of my life I've dealt with her killer, her family. And when I finally thought I was getting away from these people, and I finally got my family away from these people, Halea's killer did this to the most important person in my life. That night, I felt like part of my soul, more like all of it left. when Halea left. I hope that her kill against the maximum sentence.

I hope you realize or understand someone who Halea was really was in this world. A daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend, a student, a co-archer, a granddaughter, a niece, and aunt. She was someone's child that got taken too soon, and she's now forever 17 years old. The blame that Halea and her supporters placed on the entire Berenzini family, was palpable, especially when Halea'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 involves seeking a non-violent resolution, to ensure your safety through legal and ethical means. Here we have a smart, college-educated, 4.0 student with so many recommendations from friends and family for the pre-sentencing investigation. That sounds like someone that should know the difference between white 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. Halea's family blamed Brianna, and Brianna's family blamed Halea. But both girls bore 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.

Those actions would anger Brianna Berezini. However, none of those actions justify Brianna Berezini, taking a knife and plunging it into heliose clavicle. Rather, that is an act of unjustifiable rage. A 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 was. 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 $10,000 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, a fist fight of some sorts. 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 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 how I look at it. The video Dalyan captured still haunts Halea's family. These were her final moments and they were nothing like the Halea 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 Halea Culbertson. One year.

Detective Prybe 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. Alia made one when she escalated the argument with a slap.

Brianna made one when she pulled out a knife in the middle of the fistfight. And Dalyan? Well, Dailen made his when he chose to hype up Halea and film the fight instead of stopping it. Because Dailen 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 bored assholes that are taking a shit. That's what raised the stakes. Social media didn't kill Halea. That's not what I'm saying, but it created the environment for her to die. It 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, Halea 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 into motion. 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. that values footage more than the fallout. it you cheap fuck go get it it's only 20 bucks and you can get 20 episodes right now they're an hour long each that's a lot of true crime Thank you.