Daddy's Little Girl

Summary

48 Hours – "Daddy’s Little Girl" (Aired June 18, 2026)

Episode Overview

This episode of 48 Hours explores the deeply divisive and tragic case of Mindy Bareni, a small-town Ohio teenager who shot and killed her father, Andy Bareni, in 1995. Central to the episode is the harrowing question: was this an act of cold-blooded, premeditated murder, or a desperate act of self-defense by an abused child? Through interviews with Mindy, her mother Shirley, Andy's family, and crucial courtroom testimony, the episode uncovers dueling narratives, emotional family history, and the risks of using the "battered child syndrome" defense in court.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Family and Small-Town Dynamics

• Growing up in rural Antwerp, Ohio, Mindy describes a community where secrecy in family matters is the norm.

  "What goes on behind closed doors stays there. That's what we were always told in my family." — Mindy Bareni (00:15)

• Shirley and Andy’s troubled marriage and subsequent divorce fracture the family. Mindy, age six, remains with her father as her brothers move out (02:09).

2. Allegations of Abuse and Turmoil

• Mindy recounts emotional, physical, and sexual abuse from her father starting at age eight, claims consistently denied by Andy’s side of the family.

  "He would have me massage him first... then things started..." — Mindy Bareni (02:38)
  "You're a whore, you're a slut. You're never gonna amount to anything. You make me sick." — Mindy Bareni, recalling Andy’s insults (03:07)

• Mindy's reports of her father's obsessive control: tracking her car mileage, searching her room, recording phone calls, and physical violence (03:40–04:05).
• Shirley, Mindy’s mother, expresses guilt over leaving her daughter with Andy and recognition of shared fears and trauma (04:43–08:09).

3. The Day of the Killing

• A confrontation sets off a fatal chain of events: Mindy, afraid of her father's reaction upon discovering she’d been smoking and possibly pregnant, takes his shotgun intending to kill herself, but ends up shooting her father after a panic (04:30–05:37).

4. Court Case and Battered Child Defense

• Mindy’s legal team, led by Larry Delabio, builds a risky defense centered on battered child syndrome—rarely successful and undermined by the fact that Mindy didn’t disclose abuse prior to the killing (05:59–06:28).

  "She killed her father. She shot him, but she didn't murder him." — Larry Delabio (05:59)

• The prosecution, led by Joseph Burkhard, frames Mindy’s actions as premeditated and questions the plausibility of her abuse claims, emphasizing that the fatal shot was fired into Andy’s back, from a distance, with no imminent threat (20:22–21:55).

5. Family and Community Divide

• Andy’s second wife, Joanie, and extended family adamantly deny any abuse, presenting Mindy as a troubled, defiant, and destructive teen (12:14–15:16; 13:32–14:50).

  "He was a great father. He was not a child abuser." — Joanie (12:29) "She was out of control... I became afraid of her." — Joanie (14:40)

• Mindy's brothers, Steve and Scott, testify that no abuse took place, placing further doubt on her claims (33:39–33:49).

6. Trial Tensions and Verdict

• Mindy takes the stand, detailing years of escalating abuse but struggles with clarity under pressure (27:19–28:49).

  "He would tell me to massage the back of his knee. Then he would roll over..." — Mindy Bareni, testifying (27:52–27:56) "Threats every day. Jerking me around every day. I never knew what he was going to do." — Mindy Bareni (28:15)

• Defense and prosecution mental health experts clash:
  • Dr. Kathleen Quinn diagnoses Mindy with PTSD and battered child syndrome (32:12–32:53).
  • Dr. Barbara McIntyre counters that Mindy did not meet criteria for battered child syndrome and instead paints her as chronically defiant (33:01–33:21).
• After two tense weeks, the jury convicts Mindy of aggravated murder, sentencing her to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 23 years (37:17–37:47).
• Shirley lashes out at the Bareni family as Mindy is led away, and Mindy's lawyer faints from the strain.

7. Aftermath and Reflections

• Both sides express devastation and a commitment to their version of justice.

  "We were really shocked... But I'm just glad that my son's name and character was more or less cleared up, that he was not the monster they made him out to be. I'm sorry, Mindy, but that's what you deserve, not what you got." — Andy’s family (40:06–40:32) "I'll get people to understand. If it's the last thing I do... So, we'll keep fighting. And as long as she stays safe, she'll be okay." — Shirley Bareni (40:38–41:01)

• The episode closes with the note that Mindy Bareni was released from prison in 2013.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mindy’s Desperation:

  "I just screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn't. The next thing I remember is him turning around and looking at me. I just thought, oh, my God, Dad, I'm sorry." — Mindy Bareni (05:15–05:37)

• Mother’s Guilt:

  "There's no excuse for me leaving her there." — Shirley Bareni (07:47)
  "She's the one suffering because of my mistakes. And that's what's wrong about it." — Shirley Bareni (39:20)

• Prosecutor’s Case:

  "This is a poem that Mindy wrote. And on the bottom, there’s a knife with a heart and there’s blood dripping off the knife. This is what Mindy’s thoughts were. This is truly who Mindy was." — Joseph Burkhard (20:35) "Fear has never come into the equation until much later when all of a sudden, 'Oh, I was fearful of my father.'" — Prosecutor Burkhard (22:26)

• Jury’s Dilemma:

  "Who is the abused? Who is the abuser? Who is the criminal?" — Andy’s family (18:36)
  "Who is the victim?" — Mindy Bareni (18:43)

• Verdict:

  "The jury finds defendant Mindy Bareni guilty of aggravated murder." — Jury foreman via narrator (37:17)

---

Timeline of Key Segments

• 00:15–04:30: Mindy’s childhood, divorce, and escalating abuse claims
• 04:30–05:37: Events leading to the shooting
• 05:59–07:17: Introduction of battered child defense, family reactions, and Shirley’s history
• 11:22–15:04: Andy’s family and stepmother Joanie present their alternate narrative
• 18:36–27:19: The trial: arguments, opening statements, emotional testimony
• 27:19–32:45: Mindy’s ordeal on the stand and expert testimony
• 33:30–34:12: Brothers testify, denial of abuse; final arguments
• 36:50–37:47: Jury deliberation and the verdict
• 40:01–41:01: Aftermath, long-term effects, reflections
• 41:01: Mindy Bareni’s eventual release noted

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Conclusion

"Daddy's Little Girl" offers a piercing look into the complexity of family violence, the fraught nature of memory and truth, and the intricacies—and perils—of the American legal system when child abuse is alleged as justification for murder. The episode leaves listeners unsettled, with more questions than answers about justice, trauma, and whether anyone in this family could ever truly come home.

Transcript

[Mindy Bareni]

I come from a small town. It's a farm community. I think people think, well, you have the right to raise your child how you want. What goes on behind closed doors stays there. That's what we were always told in my family. Whatever goes on here, you better not ever tell anyone.

[Narrator]

The mystery of what really went on here in this middle class house in Antwerp, Ohio, is at the heart of an unspeakable crime. A beloved father lies dead. His daughter Mindy, a high school cheerleader, is in jail awaiting trial for killing him in cold blood.

[Mindy Bareni]

I had said before, you know, out of anger, I could kill him, but I'm not a murderer.

[Shirley Bareni]

She doesn't deserve to be there. We myself as a parent should have saved her, and I didn't.

[Narrator]

So packing up at her Indianapolis home,

[Shirley Bareni]

we'll get up there tonight. I'll take Mindy her clothes.

[Narrator]

Mindy's mother, Shirley Bareni, is preparing for the fight of her life.

[Shirley Bareni]

Court starts tomorrow morning.

[Narrator]

She'll be taking the stand at her daughter's murder trial to explain what happened.

[Shirley Bareni]

She was still daddy's little angel there

[Narrator]

to a father daughter relationship that had once seemed magic.

[Shirley Bareni]

She loved him to death, and he loved her to death.

[Narrator]

Shirley met her future husband, mechanic Andy Bareni, in high school.

[Shirley Bareni]

I just turned 18, and Andy wasn't quite 17.

[Narrator]

They married just six weeks later when Shirley learned she was pregnant with another man's child. You must have felt like he was rescuing you.

[Shirley Bareni]

Well, basically.

[Narrator]

But after 15 years and three children, the marriage fell apart.

[Shirley Bareni]

I truly believe deep down he loved us. He just didn't know how at all.

[Narrator]

Depressed and dispirited, Shirley gave up custody of teenagers Steve and Scott and of six year old Mindy.

[Shirley Bareni]

He told them that I was the one that wanted to leave, that I didn't love them.

[Narrator]

Did you want to go live with your dad?

[Mindy Bareni]

Yeah, I did. It was a good life at first.

[Narrator]

It wasn't long, Mindy says, before life with the father she adored became a living hell.

[Mindy Bareni]

He would have me go in his room with him and he would have me massage him first. And things started to end.

[Narrator]

Things started?

[Shirley Bareni]

What do you mean?

[Mindy Bareni]

Like having me touch him and telling me that, you know, no one loves me like he does and.

[Narrator]

How old were you?

[Mindy Bareni]

About eight.

[Narrator]

And when she rejected him, she says

[Mindy Bareni]

he just started to hate me almost.

[Narrator]

I felt like her father began abusing her emotionally.

[Mindy Bareni]

What's wrong with you? Why are you so goddamn stupid? You're a whore, you're a slut. You're never gonna amount to anything. You make me sick.

[Narrator]

Her older brothers eventually left home. Her father remarried. Mindy became a teenager and wanted her freedom.

[Mindy Bareni]

I wanted to go spend the night with my girlfriends and talk to boys on the phone. I guess I wanted to do the things that every other teenager must do.

[Narrator]

That's when she says, Andy Bareni became impossibly controlling.

[Mindy Bareni]

I got a job at McDonald's and he kept a log of the odometer. He knew exact how many miles it was to and from my job.

[Narrator]

He searched her room and more.

[Mindy Bareni]

He recorded my phone calls. He locked up the phones when he wasn't home. If I was talking on the phone and he didn't like it, he would rip the phone out of the wall and grab me by the neck and choke me, throw me against the wall.

[Narrator]

Now 16 years old, things kept getting worse and worse. Mindy found out she was pregnant. She would later miscarry, but she didn't know that then. How did you think this was going to play out?

[Mindy Bareni]

He would kill me.

[Narrator]

On the afternoon of September 27, 1995, Mindy came home to discover her father had searched her room again. This time, he had found her ashtray.

[Mindy Bareni]

I just got really scared. He just told me the night before that if he caught me smoking again, it would be the last time. Then I started to think about being pregnant, what he was going to do. It just kind of all built up.

[Narrator]

She broke into her father's bedroom and took his shotgun. She was going to kill herself, she says.

[Mindy Bareni]

I went into the bathroom because I figured if I messed up and I didn't kill myself, I didn't want to get in trouble for making a mess on the wall.

[Narrator]

What stopped you?

[Mindy Bareni]

Every time I got ready to pull the trigger, I just. All I could think of was when I was pregnant. So then I just decided that I couldn't.

[Narrator]

But before she had a chance to put the gun back, Mindy says her father came home from work.

[Mindy Bareni]

Right when he opened the door, he hollered, where the hell are you? I just got really scared, really angry. I just screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn't. The next thing I remember is him turning around and looking at me. I just thought, oh, my God, Dad, I'm sorry.

[Narrator]

Mindy Perenny insists she killed her father in self defense. To convince a jury of that, she will use the risky and rarely successful battered child offense. She'll claim physical, but especially emotional abuse. Abuse that left her in such terror of her father that one look from him that night sent her over the edge.

[Larry Delabio]

She killed her father. She shot him, but she didn't murder him.

[Narrator]

Mindy's attorney, Larry Delabio, what would you call this?

[Larry Delabio]

Self defense, pure and simple. At that particular time, in her mind, there was a perception of imminent danger, of fear.

[Narrator]

But a huge problem for the defense is that Mindy told no one, not one soul about the abuse until after the killing.

[Larry Delabio]

Nobody's known about it until now.

[Narrator]

She didn't tell anyone.

[Larry Delabio]

She never told anybody.

[Mindy Bareni]

I was scared. I didn't trust.

[Shirley Bareni]

Why didn't we see something wrong even there, compared to what she used to be?

[Narrator]

In hindsight, Shirley clearly remembers her daughter's cries for help.

[Shirley Bareni]

She had called me, she said, mom, you're not listening to me. I mean, clear as a bow, you're not listening to me. I can't take this. And I said, okay, Mindy, we'll get help.

[Narrator]

But nothing Mindy told her mother came close to the abuse she now describes.

[Shirley Bareni]

She would say, he yells at me all the time. He won't let me do anything, that kind of thing. But other than that, no looking back,

[Narrator]

Shirley says she should have understood what really was going on.

[Shirley Bareni]

I should have known I was just stupid.

[Narrator]

Because she says she experienced exactly the same kind of abuse at the hands of her ex husband.

[Shirley Bareni]

He used intimidation, threats, and violence to control you.

[Narrator]

Did he physically beat you?

[Shirley Bareni]

He didn't beat me. He would choke me, slammed me against the wall. You can get beat and the pain goes away. It takes you years and years to get over somebody making you feel like you don't want to live.

[Narrator]

She left her three children with him because she says she had no choice.

[Shirley Bareni]

I was afraid of him.

[Narrator]

She never dreamed Mindy would become his next target.

[Shirley Bareni]

I never believed that he would do it to her too, because she was his little princess. There's no excuse for me leaving her there.

[Narrator]

Can you ever stop blaming yourself?

[Shirley Bareni]

Maybe when she's home.

[Mindy Bareni]

Maybe she was just as afraid as I was. So she understands my fear and I understand hers.

[Narrator]

An earlier trial ended in a mistrial. So this time, Shirley will have her last chance to fight for her daughter's life in court.

[Shirley Bareni]

I really believe in two to three weeks, Mindy will be home where she belongs.

[Narrator]

It's a heart wrenching tale. But is any of it true?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

He was a great father. He wasn't a child abuser.

[Narrator]

Andy's family tells a totally different story.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

You see, she was just lying all the time.

[Narrator]

Running away of an out of control teenager who cut down her father in cold blood.

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[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I feel for Andy still today I go to the cemetery and feel like I have to apologize to him for what's happening to his name. I feel he's seeing what's going on.

[Narrator]

Did he spend much time down here?

[Shirley Bareni]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Summertime was river life.

[Narrator]

It's been four Years since Andy Bareni

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

died, Andy knew where every rock was in the river.

[Narrator]

But his second wife, Joanie, still cherishes every memory with every glimpse of the river behind their house.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

We had a pontoon. The weekends we go on the pontoon, when Mindy'd go, he'd pull her on a tube and she'd go tubing in the river.

[Narrator]

They married in 1992. Joanie helped raise Mindy from the time she was 8.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

She was a sweet little girl. I loved her as my own.

[Narrator]

And Joanie says that as the only other person actually in the house watching it all unfold. Only she knows the true relationship between Mindy and Andy Barani.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

He was a great father. He was not a child abuser. That is the issue, right?

[Narrator]

Absolutely.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

That is definitely not a true statement.

[Narrator]

She says Andy was nothing like the monster Mindy and her mother described.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Andy was a strict parent, but he was not an abusive parent.

[Larry Delabio]

Lady, you ask almost 99% of the people that knew Andy and I, I would bet you anything that you would not find one man that says anything against Andy.

[Narrator]

Andy's parents, Bill and Ruby, lived just two doors away.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Looks like rain coming in, don't it?

[Narrator]

And would frequently drop by the house. And here, this is Mindy. What do you think of when you see this picture today?

[Larry Delabio]

Sadness. It just remind me of what Mindy was and what Mindy is.

[Narrator]

The sweet little girl that Mindy used to be was replaced overnight, they say, by a teenager they hardly knew.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

You have to realize what kind of a girl you're working with.

[Shirley Bareni]

She's not an ordinary teenager. No way.

[Narrator]

Mindy's grandparents and her aunt Linda Koss, describe a 16 year old headed for disaster.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

You see, she was just lying all the time, doing drugs, running out of

[Narrator]

the house, running away, stealing his car. And a father desperately trying to save her.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

He was protecting her from the consequences of her own actions.

[Narrator]

That's the reason, Joanie says, for the strict rules Andy imposed on his daughter. She says he locked up the phones.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Yes, he did do that. She was calling friends in Indianapolis and making arrangements to run away.

[Narrator]

Check the odometer on the car.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

And yes, he did that. After she had skipped work one day.

[Narrator]

Go through her room looking for things.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

He would look for cigarettes. He didn't like her smoking.

[Narrator]

In the months leading up to the killing, Joanie kept a diary chronicling Mindy's misbehavior.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Quite a bit in there. The many times that she snuck out of the house, drinking and just the lying on where she was going. And who she was going. It was to the point where you didn't believe a word that she even said.

[Narrator]

She was completely out of control.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I became afraid of her. She was. The way she talked to her dad. She was so mean to him. It was just tearing his heart apart.

[Narrator]

Yet in all those years, Joni says she only saw Andy lose his temper once.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

She called him a very bad name, which he flew hot and he grabbed her by the throat, but that was the only time that he ever touched her.

[Narrator]

And as far as emotional abuse, in terms of calling her names, belittling her, telling her she was worth nothing, that was not true. As for any sexual abuse, did she tell you any of that?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

No. And I do not believe it.

[Narrator]

Joanni, your testimony in this is so important because there were just the two of you in that house, right? The jury is gonna look at this and determine that one or the other of you is lying, right?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

And it's her.

[Narrator]

It was Joanie who walked in on a distraught Mindy that night.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I walked into Mindy with a gun to her head. The first thing she said was, I shot Daddy's dad.

[Narrator]

She says her first thought was to get the gun out of Mindy's hand.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I convinced her to go out in the kitchen and sit down and smoke a cigarette.

[Narrator]

Andy's body lay just a few feet away. Did you realize he was dead?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

There was twice I had seen him. The first time I seen the pool of blood. And then the next time, he hadn't moved. So, yeah, I knew.

[Narrator]

Then she finally got Mindy into the car unarmed, and drove to the sheriff's department, where Mindy tearfully confessed.

[Mindy Bareni]

He just came on, and I'm sitting again. And I found him and I told him how much I loved him and not for Mirandi, because I was gonna come with him.

[Narrator]

The next day, Ruby Bareni did something perhaps only a mother could do.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

She cleaned up her son's blood. It was the last thing I could do for him. Not to have strangers in here, but

[Narrator]

for me to do that. Now the close knit family that once counted Mindy among its own will face off against her in court, convinced that this was murder, pure and simple. Do you believe that she actually sat down and planned it ahead of time?

[Larry Delabio]

Oh, sure, I think she planned it. I absolutely think she knew what she was gonna do.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

She shows no remorse. You can't be sorry and tell lies at the same time. For her to murder him and then come back and do this, like murdering him a second time is hard.

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[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Who is the abused? Who is the abuser? Who is the criminal?

[Mindy Bareni]

Who is the victim?

[Narrator]

Hold the court doors on two. It's day one of Mindy Bareni's murder trial in Lima, Ohio.

[Mindy Bareni]

Yes sir, can I help you?

[Larry Delabio]

Larry dilapio, Mindy Barini's lawyer and her

[Narrator]

lawyer is feeling the pressure.

[Larry Delabio]

She's a good kid. She should be out. She doesn't deserve to be in jail.

[Narrator]

But 20 year old Mindy faces life in prison unless a jury believes her risky defense that she was a battered child.

[Larry Delabio]

Sleep last night.

[Narrator]

Battered not just physically, but emotionally.

[Larry Delabio]

We're just going to tell them the facts. We're going to tell him the truth.

[Narrator]

Battered until at 16, she had no choice but to kill her father. Andy.

[Mindy Bareni]

If I had said, dad, I need your help, I'm pregnant. He would have killed me or he would have beaten me very badly that day.

[Narrator]

So you think you did the only thing?

[Mindy Bareni]

Yes.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

She must realize what she has done.

[Mindy Bareni]

It's the most heinous act.

[Narrator]

Andy's family and his second wife Joanie hope the jury will see Mindy as they now do, as a calculating killer with a story concocted to get away with murder. Before the trial begins, Mindy and her main ally, her mother Shirley be okay.

[Shirley Bareni]

We just have to tough out this couple weeks.

[Narrator]

Meet in a private back room.

[Shirley Bareni]

Are you ready?

[Larry Delabio]

The counsel for the state may make his opening statement.

[Narrator]

Ladies and gentlemen, State prosecutor Joseph Burkhard.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Mindy Bareni is guilty of aggravated murder and there's no legal excuse for her to walk away from this crime.

[Narrator]

Mindy's story, he says, is pure fabrication.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

This is a poem that Mindy wrote. And on the bottom, there's a knife with a heart and there's blood dripping off the knife. This is what Mindy's thoughts were. This is truly who Mindy was.

[Narrator]

She planned this murder, he insists, from the moment she broke into Andy's bedroom to steal the gun.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

This is Andy Braney's master bedroom.

[Narrator]

If indeed she intended to kill herself, Burkhardt wonders why. Then she went to the kitchen bathroom.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Rather than going to this bathroom, which is located next to the master bedroom, she traveled across the house here to this small bathroom located off the kitchen. And that's where she sat for about an hour before her father came home.

[Narrator]

That bathroom was the perfect spot, the prosecutor says, for Mindy to lie in wait. Mindy is in here.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Correct.

[Narrator]

Andy comes through this door.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Yes. Document Handywood's been marked as state's exhibit number in court.

[Narrator]

Burkhardt also highlights how Mindy's claim of self defense makes no sense, given how Andy Bareni died.

[Larry Delabio]

The cause of death was a shotgun blast to the left back.

[Narrator]

Mindy shot her father in the back.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

We have a man that's standing 40ft away. We have a teenager in the middle of the room with a shotgun. There's no confrontation, no verbal exchange, no physical exchange prior to the shooting.

[Narrator]

But jurors can buy the prosecution scenario and still not convict if they accept the battered child theory, if they really believe Mindy feared for her very life.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

The thing that's real critical is what did Mindy perceive was happening at the time that she shot her father?

[Narrator]

She said she was terrified.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

No, she said that she was totally pissed. She said that she was mad. She was angry.

[Narrator]

Remember, this.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Fear has never come into the equation until much later when all of a sudden, oh, I was fearful of my father.

[Narrator]

Raise your right hand. After two days, the prosecution wraps up its case with testimony from Mindy's stepmother, Joanie, who concurs. Mindy would go toe to toe in arguments with her father. The defense has a lot of work ahead.

[Larry Delabio]

Burkharth said he wanted to argue it. Hopefully we can show that Andy was the aggressor, that Andy created the confrontation. And hopefully the jury will see that the next day.

[Shirley Bareni]

I'm a nervous wreck right now.

[Larry Delabio]

What's riding on this tummy? My daughter's life at this time. Defense would call Shirley Brinny.

[Shirley Bareni]

My biggest fear is that I am not going to be able to get through to the jury.

[Narrator]

Shirley testifies that during their marriage, Andy was violent and abusive to her and their two sons.

[Shirley Bareni]

Our normal humiliation and verbal beating place was at the kitchen table. He would make us sit there for hours, and I mean hours.

[Narrator]

But he never turned his wrath on Mindy. By age 15, however, she called me

[Shirley Bareni]

crying and said, please, mom, please. I can't take this anymore.

[Larry Delabio]

Did she ever tell you anything specific about any bad things that Andy was doing to her at that time?

[Shirley Bareni]

No.

[Narrator]

So Shirley left her there.

[Shirley Bareni]

She made one comment. Please don't do this to me, mom.

[Larry Delabio]

But you did?

[Shirley Bareni]

Yes.

[Narrator]

After that, Delabio says Mindy fell apart. She was diagnosed as depressed, suicidal, and homicidal. She spent nine days in a hospital, but still told no one about the abuse.

[Mindy Bareni]

The fear of going back there anyway and then having told everyone just far outweighed the risk of telling. And maybe I wouldn't have to go back.

[Narrator]

So doctors released her to the one person she was trying to escape, her father.

[Mindy Bareni]

It was like a turning point for me. I just didn't care about myself anymore.

[Narrator]

That's when Delavio says her drinking and drug use escalated and she was running away.

[Mindy Bareni]

The last time I tried to run away is when social services became involved.

[Narrator]

Social services in the person of child abuse investigator Laura Alvarado.

[Commercial/Advertisement Voice]

Our agency received a call from father who was upset and was having some problems with his daughter.

[Narrator]

But when Alvarado interviewed her, she sided with Mindy.

[Commercial/Advertisement Voice]

I didn't feel the child was an unruly child. I felt that the child was troubled by what was going on in the home.

[Larry Delabio]

In your investigation, did you see signs of physical or emotional abuse?

[Narrator]

Emotional abuse again, Mindy pleaded for help. She said, if my mother doesn't want

[Commercial/Advertisement Voice]

me and doesn't want anything to do with me, then I'm willing to go to a military school foster home.

[Narrator]

But Mindy was a minor, and what to do was Andy's decision. A week before the killing, when Alvarado saw Mindy for the last time, she

[Commercial/Advertisement Voice]

just didn't open up as much. And it was like she had just given up and she was not disclosing anymore.

[Larry Delabio]

Thank you very much. I have no further questions.

[Narrator]

Because, says Delabio, Mindy by then had given up hope. As he heads out to the jail two nights later.

[Mindy Bareni]

Big day.

[Larry Delabio]

Important day tomorrow.

[Narrator]

He must make sure she doesn't lose hope again.

[Larry Delabio]

Mindy's credibility is going to be big tomorrow. Gonna mean a lot. The jury sees her.

[Narrator]

Mindy will testify tomorrow.

[Mindy Bareni]

I have nothing to lie about, and

[Narrator]

that means steeling Herself to relive the abuse that she says drove her to kill.

[Larry Delabio]

As tough as it's gonna be, put yourself there. Put yourself there. Okay? As tough as it might be to talk about it, just get down to it.

[Mindy Bareni]

I would like nothing more than to go home, to be someone to raise children.

[Narrator]

Andy, you shot your father.

[Mindy Bareni]

Yeah, I know.

[Narrator]

Is there a price for that?

[Mindy Bareni]

I think every day I look in the mirror. I didn't know that. It's a pretty tough price to pay. I hope that's enough.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

That was our only son.

[Shirley Bareni]

Yes.

[Narrator]

It's four years to the day since Andy Bareni was killed. What's been the toughest part?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

Just being without my husband.

[Narrator]

And ironically, today, Andy's killer, his daughter Mindy, will finally take the stand at her murder trial. What is the possible sentence here? Should she be convicted, she could face

[Larry Delabio]

33 years to life in prison.

[Narrator]

Her testimony is crucial. It's up to Mindy to convince the jury that her father abused her for years, although she never told anyone about the abuse until after she killed him.

[Mindy Bareni]

I know what the truth is, and I hope that they see the truth.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I hope they see through her lies.

[Larry Delabio]

Here at this time, we would call Mindy Brinny.

[Narrator]

As Mindy prepares to take the stand, her mother, Shirley, is worried.

[Shirley Bareni]

She has told a story so many times.

[Narrator]

Raise your right hand.

[Shirley Bareni]

At some point, you start to toughen toward that hurt. I think sometimes they want to see that emotional breakdown. Yeah. The mortgage.

[Larry Delabio]

Mindy, you said you would go home from the bar. What happened then?

[Narrator]

Mindy begins by recounting the years of abuse. First sexual.

[Mindy Bareni]

He would tell me to massage the back of his knee. Then he would roll over.

[Narrator]

Then verbal.

[Mindy Bareni]

He said, nothing but a goddamn worthless slut, just like your mother.

[Narrator]

Then physical.

[Mindy Bareni]

That's when he picked me up by my hair and started slamming my head against the door.

[Narrator]

Abuse that she says left her in fear of her life.

[Larry Delabio]

Were there threats?

[Mindy Bareni]

Threats every day. Jerking me around every day. I never knew what he was going to do.

[Larry Delabio]

The jury is now excused for about 10 minutes.

[Narrator]

During a break in a private back room, her attorney worries Mindy isn't getting her story across.

[Larry Delabio]

Don't think you have to tone it down. When you're out there, react, okay? Don't feel like you have to sit there and narrate the story, okay? Just tell him exactly, exactly the way it happened.

[Mindy Bareni]

God, Larry, I can't remember what those arguments were like. I mean, they were so. They happen every day. I don't know how to explain it.

[Narrator]

Just explain how it Happened, Mindy?

[Mindy Bareni]

I can't say, well, this is what happened this time, because I can remember him. He would stand or just say, if I say that, and he would just turn around and hit me. Just, you know, that noise he would make.

[Larry Delabio]

Try to follow me a little more this time.

[Mindy Bareni]

I've been trying. Okay.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

You picked up the gun and then you walked over to the bathroom, which is marked C on State's Exhibit 1.

[Shirley Bareni]

Correct.

[Narrator]

During cross examination, prosecutor Burkhard reminds the jury that on the day of the murder, Mindy went out of her way to get to the kitchen bathroom.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Why didn't you go to the bathroom that was right next to the bedroom?

[Mindy Bareni]

Because I got into the shower because I figured I'd be easier to clean up.

[Narrator]

And although Mindy claims she killed her father in self defense, just approximately how

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

far away from your father are you? About this far.

[Narrator]

He was 40ft away from her, probably a little bit farther when she shot him in the back.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

And you used this 12 gauge shotgun to shoot your father in the back, didn't you?

[Shirley Bareni]

Yeah.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

I have no other questions before she

[Narrator]

gets off the stand. Larry gets one more chance to question Mindy.

[Larry Delabio]

Mr. Burkhart showed you a number of drawings that you have. You said that that's a heart with a knife going through it.

[Mindy Bareni]

Right.

[Larry Delabio]

What did that represent?

[Mindy Bareni]

Just. I felt like my heart was broken. I felt a lot of pain.

[Narrator]

The pain of an abused child intent on committing suicide that day.

[Mindy Bareni]

But every time I got ready to do it, I couldn't because I knew I was pregnant. And I just. I didn't want to kill my baby, too.

[Narrator]

She spends six grueling hours on the stand.

[Shirley Bareni]

You did fine, baby. You did fine. They believe you. Yes, they do believe you.

[Larry Delabio]

We're done with you. It's going to be then it's just.

[Shirley Bareni]

No, no, no.

[Larry Delabio]

It's just going to be, you know, it's just going to be how they're going to listen to all those things and how they're gonna interpret all those things. You did a fine job, okay? You did the best you could. You did all that you could, okay?

[Mindy Bareni]

You don't think it went good?

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I think it went fine.

[Mindy Bareni]

No, you don't.

[Narrator]

You can tell it the truth.

[Mindy Bareni]

If you think it went bad, I want you to tell me. Look it.

[Larry Delabio]

If I thought it went bad, I would say it went bad. Okay?

[Shirley Bareni]

If.

[Mindy Bareni]

You certainly don't think it went great.

[Larry Delabio]

No, don't think it went great.

[Narrator]

But one unexpected observer was moved by her testimony. Jill Harris, a juror from Mindy's first murder trial has driven Miles to be here.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I just felt that I connected with her some way and I should be there just to show support that someone cares.

[Narrator]

The first jury's deliberations were tense. We did a lot of screaming, a

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

lot of crying, a lot of walking the floor.

[Narrator]

An anonymous call to a juror forced a mistrial, but not before the jury came to its own conclusion about Mindy. Did your jury believe her story?

[Mindy Bareni]

Most of us, yeah.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I believed that she did suffer from

[Shirley Bareni]

depression and better Todd syndrome.

[Narrator]

And the first vote was leaning in her favor. Seven of us wanted acquittal.

[Shirley Bareni]

Really? Yes.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Counsel for the defendant, he calls next witness.

[Narrator]

Concluding his case. Larry Delavio calls psychiatrist Dr. Kathleen Quinn. She was profoundly depressed. She says Mindy clearly showed signs of post traumatic stress. Just the hearing of his footstep or hearing him crack open a beer would make her feel scared about the next conference. On that fateful day, her fears intensified. He had searched her room again. She was pregnant. Her father didn't know that she had taken a gun out of his room.

[Larry Delabio]

Did Mindy Brinny perceive that she was in danger of suffering imminent death or great bodily harm at the hands of her father the day that she shot him?

[Narrator]

Yes, she did.

[Larry Delabio]

Thank you very much, doctor. I have no further questions.

[Narrator]

In rebuttal, the prosecutor calls his own expert, Dr. Barbara McIntyre.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Did you see Mindy Brenning being fearful of her father?

[Shirley Bareni]

No, I did not. This was a young woman who consistently

[Narrator]

defied her father, swore at him, called

[Shirley Bareni]

him names, threatened to kill him.

[Narrator]

Her diagnosis, Ms. Brenning, did not meet

[Shirley Bareni]

the criteria to be considered as suffering from battered child syndrome.

[Narrator]

But the prosecutor has saved his most damaging witnesses for last. The only other people who knew what it was like to grow up in that house.

[Mindy Bareni]

All my life, I saw them experience it. We talked about it.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Your Honor, we would next call Steve

[Narrator]

and Bareni, Mindy's brothers Steve and Scott.

[Mindy Bareni]

Do solemnly swear the testimony you're about

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

to give in this case.

[Narrator]

They refuse to have their testimony taped. I do, but they say that no abuse took place.

[Shirley Bareni]

They said it didn't happen, but neither one of them would look me in the eye.

[Larry Delabio]

When you're dealing with a situation like that in a close family and a close knit community, you deny abuse.

[Shirley Bareni]

I have a real tough time forgiving him for this. Real tough time.

[Narrator]

The verdict when 48 hours returns.

[Larry Delabio]

Yeah, this is it. This is the culmination of all the work, all the time.

[Narrator]

Two weeks after Mindy Bareni's murder trial began, it's Time for the jury to decide her fate.

[Larry Delabio]

Don't do it. You know.

[Shirley Bareni]

Okay.

[Larry Delabio]

Let's do it. End of this.

[Mindy Bareni]

Okay.

[Larry Delabio]

Get on with things.

[Mindy Bareni]

Okay.

[Narrator]

The question. Did she cold bloodedly plan her father's murder?

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Mindy Barenti removed the final hurdle. And the hurdle was Andy Barenti or

[Narrator]

did she kill him in self defense?

[Larry Delabio]

She had an honest belief that she was in imminent danger of great bodily harm. That her dad was finally going to

[Narrator]

break after years of abuse.

[Larry Delabio]

You have the ability, ladies and gentlemen, to send Mindy back to her mother.

[Shirley Bareni]

At this time, the jury is excused

[Larry Delabio]

to start their deliberations while.

[Narrator]

While the jury deliberates.

[Shirley Bareni]

Did a wonderful job.

[Larry Delabio]

Hey, you guys helped me.

[Shirley Bareni]

Oh, God.

[Narrator]

Mindy is returned to her cell.

[Shirley Bareni]

I think she's coming home.

[Narrator]

But it's a huge gamble. By choosing not to accept a plea agreement, she could be considered convicted of aggravated murder. Mindy is being tried as an adult, so a guilty verdict could mean life. By contrast, if the jury buys her story, she could simply walk out of here. For now, all anyone can do is wait.

[Shirley Bareni]

The weed. You Gotta wonder what 12 people are thinking.

[Larry Delabio]

I think we covered all the points.

[Shirley Bareni]

I hope they can tell who's lying and who's not lying.

[Mindy Bareni]

They had to have saw Scott, Steve, all the lies Joanie told that she got called in.

[Larry Delabio]

Who knows?

[Shirley Bareni]

And it's up to them. Basically.

[Mindy Bareni]

That's driving me nuts that mom can't be here.

[Shirley Bareni]

And that's the scary part.

[Larry Delabio]

I'll hang out a little bit upstairs, take some more notes.

[Mindy Bareni]

Don't be gone too long.

[Larry Delabio]

All right? I'll be back. I'll be back.

[Narrator]

After 24 nerve wracking hours, we do have a verdict. The nine woman, three man jury reaches a verdict.

[Shirley Bareni]

Where is she?

[Narrator]

Love you, baby. With her boyfriend Dave at her side, Shirley braces herself. As does the family of Andy Bareni.

[Larry Delabio]

The jury finds defendant Indian Bareni guilty of aggravated murder.

[Narrator]

Mindy is found guilty of the most serious charge. Aggravated murder. Not only did she kill him, the jury says she planned it from start to finish.

[Larry Delabio]

Thank you very much.

[Narrator]

The judge sentences her to life in prison with no chance of parole for 23 years.

[Mindy Bareni]

I can't believe. I can't believe.

[Narrator]

It's all too much for Larry Delabio.

[Shirley Bareni]

Oh, my gosh.

[Narrator]

He faints. And Mindy, barely able to stand herself, is led away. In her grief, Shirley lashes out at the Bareni family. You are the most evil people I've ever passed my life.

[Mindy Bareni]

This is your granddaughter, for God's sake. I never expected

[Shirley Bareni]

we needed justice.

[Narrator]

On the way back to her cell, a still shaken Delavio tries to get medical attention for the nearly catatonic Mindy.

[Larry Delabio]

Medical these people are going to take care of you, okay?

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Just be okay.

[Mindy Bareni]

Okay.

[Shirley Bareni]

All right.

[Larry Delabio]

Love you.

[Mindy Bareni]

Come on, Mindy.

[Shirley Bareni]

She's the one suffering because of my mistakes. And that's what's wrong about it.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

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[Shirley Bareni]

We were really shocked.

[Narrator]

It's the day after the verdict.

[Andy Bareni's family member (likely Joanie or Ruby Bareni)]

I was stunned. I couldn't believe it.

[Narrator]

The Bareni so desperately wanted.

[Larry Delabio]

We didn't expect it to be this severe. But I'm just glad that my son's name and character was more or less cleared up, that he was not the monster they made him out to be. I'm sorry, Mindy, but that's what you deserve, not what you got.

[Narrator]

Do you think in retrospect, it was a mistake to try to use this defense?

[Shirley Bareni]

No. It's what happened. And I'll get people to understand. It's the last thing I do. She said, mom, I'll be all right no matter where I am. So we'll keep fighting. And as long as she stays safe, girl, she'll be okay.

[Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard]

Mindy Baretti was released from prison in 2013.