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Kalaroga Shark Media. Good morning. I'm Garrett Fisher. Friday, March
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twenty seventh, twenty twenty six. We have two cases today
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and I'm going to be honest with you about both
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of them. The first one doesn't give me a clean villain.
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It gives me a woman who may have tried to
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kill herself and an officer who says she pointed the
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gun at him, and both of them testified under oath
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this week, and the trial is over and a judge
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is now going to decide which one is telling the truth.
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The Kelsey Fitzsimmons cop on cop shooting trial three days,
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both sides rested. We'll walk through all of it. The
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second one gives me a very clear picture. Gerhard Koenig
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is an anesthesiologist. He knows exactly what syringes do. He
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packed them in a bag before taking his wife on
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a birthday hike to a cliff side lookout in Hawaii,
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and this week, one year to the day after that hike,
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his wife sat in a Honolulu courtroom and told a
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jury what happened up there on that trail. Let's get
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into it. Case one state versus Kelsey Fitzsimmons, North Andover, Massachusetts.
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Some of you have been with this show since season one.
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You know this case. Reid covered it multiple times, the backstory,
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the bail nightmare, the judge drama. If you need the foundation,
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check those episodes. Here's the short version for everyone else.
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June thirtieth, twenty twenty five, North Andover, Massachusetts. Kelsey Fitzsimmons,
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twenty nine years old, former North Andover police officer, new mother,
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four month old infant at home. Three of her colleagues
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show up to serve a restraining order obtained by her fiance,
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Justin Eilion. The order requires her to surrender her firearms
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and hand over the baby. What happened next is the
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entire trial. Prosecution says fitz Simmons raised a gun and
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pointed it at Officer Patrick Noonan, pulled the trigger. The
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only reason he's alive is that the chamber was empty.
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Noonan then shot her in the chest. Defense says fitz
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Simmons raised the gun to her own head. She was
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in postpartum crisis. She wanted to end her life, not
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anyone else's. She survived. She was charged with assault with
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a dangerous weapon. She's been fighting this case ever since.
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Reid covered the bail situation extensively. She spent more than
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one hundred days in jail because she couldn't blow into
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a breathalyzer tube hard enough. She'd been shot in the chest.
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The lung damage made it physically impossible. The judge told
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her to comply or stay jailed. She stayed jailed. That
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whole chapter is in the archive if you want it.
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Here's what's new the trial, and I mean the whole trial,
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because it happened in three days Monday through Wednesday of
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this week, and by Wednesday afternoon, both sides had rested.
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We're already at verdict pending before we get into testimony.
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There's a decision that was made a week before trial started.
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Kelsey Fitzsimmons waived her right to a jury trial. She
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asked for a bench trial. One judge, no jury. Judge
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Jeffrey Karp will be the sole person who decides this case.
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That's a significant strategic call. Defense attorneys choose bench trials
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when they think a judge will be more rational than
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a jury, when the facts are complex, when there's emotion
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in the case that might push a jury towards sympathy.
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For the wrong side, or when the legal standard is
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the point and a judge is better equipped to apply
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it cleanly. It's not a sign of weakness, but it
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is a tell Fitzsimmons' team thinks they have the law
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on their side, and they want a lawyer making the decision,
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not twelve people who might have complicated feelings about police
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and guns and postpartum depression and domestic situations all at once.
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Let me walk you through the three days, day one, Monday,
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March twenty third. Opening statements execution came out straightforward. Fitzsimmons
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had a service weapon and two other guns in the home.
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When confronted with the restraining order, her demeanor changed. She
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lunged behind a doorframe. She reappeared with a gun. She
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pointed it at Noonan. She pulled the trigger. The only
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reason Officer Noonan went home to his family that night
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is that there was no round in the chamber. Defense
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attorney Tim Braddle countered her fiance had obtained a restraining
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order full of untested allegations. Three officers showed up to
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her home in front of her colleagues and friends to
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take her child. Her life was over. In her mind.
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She raised the gun to her own head. The other
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officers were not in the room at the time, and Noonan,
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the defense argues, had to create a story to save himself.
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Read that last sentence again. The defense is saying Officer
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Patrick Noonan fabricated his account of events because he needed
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a justification for having shot his colleague. That's the theory.
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Then the witnesses, Justin Aleyan, Fitzsimmons' ex fiance, testified about
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what led to the restraining order. He'd seen disturbing messages
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from fitz Simmons. He said he thought his son's life
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was in danger. He'd gone to pick up his firearms
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the day before, he said, out of concern that detail
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the father removing his own guns from the home because
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he feared the mother is going to stick with the judge.
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Then Officer Patrick Noonan took the stand. Noonan gave his
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version of events. He was there to serve the order
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and help retrieve the child. Fitz Simmons was told about
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the restraining order. She went upstairs to pack a bag
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for the baby. She was visibly upset, starting to shake.
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She went to one knee, was gathering clothes, and then
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he said she lunged behind the doorframe, reappeared with a
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gun pointed at him, pulled the trigger, no rounding chamber.
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He screamed her name, drew his weapon, shot her twice
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as she was back pedaling. Also on day one, Sean
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day in North Anna officer who was in the lobby
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at the time. He heard someone say Kelsey, don't do it.
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He ran upstairs, he heard shots. He found fit Simmons
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on the ground. She was saying, and this is what
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he reported, I'm sorry and I want to die. I
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want to die. The defense will tell you those are
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the words of a woman in suicidal crisis. The prosecution
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will tell you those are the words of a woman
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who thought she was going to die because she'd just
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been shot. Both readings are possible. That's why we have
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a trial. Day two and Tuesday, March twenty fourth, Noonan
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returned to the stand for cross examination. And here's where
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it gets interesting. Noonan was asked whether he had called
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Kelsey Fitzsimmons a whack job after the shooting. His answer,
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and I want you to notice exactly how he answered this.
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He said he may have, may have not, No, not,
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I would never say that about a colleigue legue may have.
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That is the answer of a man who remembers saying
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it but is hoping may have does enough work to
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keep him credible. Other officers testified. Officer Timothy Houston, who
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was also in the home, said he was downstairs. Alayan
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was there. Fitz Simmons didn't want him in the house.
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Houston went to ask him to leave. He was heading
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downstairs when he heard the gun shots. He didn't see
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the moment of the shooting. Michelle Mitchell, a corrections officer
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and one of fitz Simmons's close friends. She was supposed
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to be a bridesmaid at the wedding, testified that she
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had spoken to fitz Simmons on June thirtieth before everything happened.
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Fitz Simmons was crying, the baby was crying, and fitz
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Simmons told her she needed justin. A woman in crisis
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calling for the man who just had a restraining order
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filed against her. That's either the profile of a domestic
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situation that had become untenable, or the profile of a
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woman who was desperate and not thinking clearly, or both
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those are not mutually exclusive. Day three, Wednesday, March twenty fifth,
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the state rested its case in chief. Then the defense
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began presenting witnesses. First up, Maureen Teresi, Noonan's neighbor. She
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testified that at some point after the shooting she had
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a conversation with Patrick Noonan. She'd asked him what was
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going on at the police department, and Noonan, according to
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her testimony, told her he was the shooter, said he
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had no choice, and then she told the court this
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he called Kelsey Fitzsimmons a whack job. So now we
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have a second source on the whack job comment. Noonan's
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own neighbor. Noonan may have said it when asked his
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neighbors said, says he said it to her directly. I'm
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going to be honest with you. The value of that
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testimony depends entirely on how you weigh the word of
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a man who says may have versus a neighbor who
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says he actually said it. But the pattern it suggests
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an officer who, after shooting his colleague was immediately casting
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her as unstable in himself as having no choice, is
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at minimum worth noting the defense is noting it. Then,
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Lauren Page, Fitzsimmons's mother, she was at the home that day.
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She testified about the plan for the afternoon. Kelsey was
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supposed to do CPR training at work, then meet Aleyan
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at the North Andover Commons at two thirty Aileayan didn't come.
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Kelsey was upset. Then three officers showed up and the
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mother who had been there with her daughter left the
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house three minutes before the officers arrived. Three minutes then
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Kelsey Fitzsimmons herself took the stand. She talked about the
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career path that brought her to North Andover. She talked
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about a lion. He hadn't been home for days, wasn't
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responding to her, didn't show up at the Commons like
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he said he would. Then the restraining order. She said
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she was confused, wasn't given any of the details, was
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asked to pack a bag for a two week separation
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from her infant. And then her account of the gun.
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She decided to take her life. That's what she testified.
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She was losing everything. At the same time, she pointed
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the gun toward herself, pulled the trigger, it was unloaded,
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and then Noonan shot her in the chest. She never
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intended to hurt anyone else. She denied pointing the gun
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at Noonan, her exact words reported by Court TV. I
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had just lost everything. The defense rested. Both sides are done.
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Judge Carp will decide. Here's where I land on this,
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and I mean it plainly. There are two completely opposite
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accounts of what happened in that upstairs room, and nobody
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else was there except Nonan and Fitzsimmons. The other officers
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were not in the room at the moment of the shooting.
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It comes down to one person's word against another's. Noonan
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says she pointed the gun at him. Fitzsimmons says she
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pointed it at herself. One of them is not telling
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the truth. The judge has to decide which one. What
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I will say, the system that sent a woman four
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months out of childbirth to jail for more than one
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hundred days because a bullet wound stopped her from blowing
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into a tube, that system failed her before this trial
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ever started. Whether or not she's guilty of assault with
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a dangerous weapon, she deserved better than those one hundred days.
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That's not in dispute. That's just the record. We'll follow
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this to verdict, Judge Carp. The floor is yours. We'll
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be right back. Gerhardt Koenig is an anesthesiologist who brought
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syringes on his wife's birthday hike, and this week, one
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year later, she told a jury exactly what he said
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to her while he was using them. Case two State versus.
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Gerhart Koenig, Honolulu, Hawaii. We've been covering this since it
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opened on March nineteenth. Quick context for anyone just joining.
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Gerhart Koenig is a forty eight year old anesthesiologist from Maui.
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On March twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, he and his wife,
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Ariel traveled to Oahu to celebrate her birthday. She had
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never been on the highkey planned on a narrow trail
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above the Nuanu poly Lookout. Prosecutors say he tried to
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murder her. He is charged with second degree attempted murder.
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He has pleaded not guilty. The thing about this case
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that I keep coming back to, that I've been coming
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back to since March twentieth is the syringes. He is
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an anesthesiologist. He knows exactly what those syringes do. He
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knows the chemistry, he knows the effect. He packed them
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before a birthday hike to a cliff side lookout. That's
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not something you accidentally have in a trail bag. That's
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not your insulin or your EpiPen. That is a specific
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tool that a person who knew exactly what it could do,
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deliberately brought to a location where another person would be
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isolated above a sheer drop. That's not a mistake. That's
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a choice, and I want that to sit in the
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air for a moment before we get into the testimony.
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On Wednesday, this show gave you days one and two,
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the hikers who ran toward the screaming, the crime scene evidence,
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the photographs of his face bruising cuts that the defense
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will use to argue this was a mutual fight. All
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of that is in Wednesday's episode Go Find It Today.
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Day three, Tuesday, March twenty fourth, twenty twenty six. Ariel
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Koenig took the stand on her birthday, exactly one year
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to the day after her husband allegedly tried to kill
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on that trail. Let me walk you through it the
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marriage context from the stand. Ariel Koenig is a nuclear engineer.
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She described what had been happening in the marriage in
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the months leading up to the trip. She had what
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she characterized as an emotional affair with a married coworker
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in Washington State. They never met in person. It was
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flirtatious WhatsApp messages. They had a code word h E
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L e U to let her know when Gerhart was
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nearby and she should be careful. Gearhart found out in
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December twenty twenty four. She described the period after that
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as strained. They went to couples therapy, they went to
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individual therapy, and she told the jury that as they
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boarded the flight to Oahu, she genuinely believed this birthday
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trip was a turning point. I felt hopeful that this
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was going to be a nice trip that kind of
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started the next chapter for us, she testified. The morning
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of my March twenty fourth, they woke up at their hotel,
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had breakfast. Gearhart gave Ariel a birthday gift, a necklace
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and a card. The defense asked her to read the
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card out loud to the jury. She became emotional. The
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card referred to her as angel Face. He called her