Prosecution alleges plan to kill Briar

The prosecution argues a Portland woman helped plan and commit murder; the defense says there was no plan.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented opening statements Monday during 20-year-old Shelby N. Hiestand’s trial in Jay Circuit Court for the Jan. 12, 2020, murder of Shea Briar. The prosecution also began presenting its case, calling two witnesses to the stand and playing footage of Hiestand’s interrogation with local law enforcement from Jan. 14, 2020.

The trial, which is scheduled for four days, was set to resume at 9 a.m. this morning with the prosecution continuing to present its case.

Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur told jurors in his opening statement Monday he will prove the death was not accidental and that Hiestand and Esther J. Stephen, 30, Portland, planned to kill Briar. (Stephen was convicted of Briar’s murder in March.) Probable cause affidavits filed in connection with the case allege Stephen, who shared a child with Briar, distracted Briar while Hiestand grabbed her .22-caliber rifle from a vehicle and shot him in the back.

John Quirk, Hiestand’s attorney, argued there was no premeditation.

“The problem with this story … the state wants to tell you there’s some great plan,” he said. “There was no plan … Please remember the State of Indiana has to prove the things they just told you.”

Schemenaur told the jury that Hiestand said she and Stephen “were like sisters.” He said an argument between Stephen and Briar convinced Hiestand the child would be better off without her father.

“The defendant said this was their plan all along because she didn’t want Shea in their life,” Schemenaur said.

During the video played in court of Hiestand’s interview with Jay County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Patrick Wells and Dunkirk Police Chief Dane Mumbower, Hiestand said she didn’t approve of Briar.

“That little girl would be just fine without him,” she said.

She said Briar had anger issues. She spoke about an argument between Briar and “EJ” –– Stephen’s nickname –– during which she thought Briar was going to hit Stephen.

“It was kind of scary, why would he do that?” Hiestand said in the video.

At the start of the more than two-hour interrogation clip, Hiestand told Wells and Mumbower she didn’t know much about Briar’s death except for what she read in the newspaper.

During Hiestand’s interrogation, Wells told her the police knew she, Stephen, Hannah Knapke and Briar went out together that Saturday night and began asking questions leading up to Briar’s death. (Knapke, 20, Fort Recovery, is also charged with Briar’s murder and is set to stand trial in November.)

She confirmed they drove to Loblolly Creek on county road 125 West, just south of county road 850 North, in rural Bryant, the same place Briar was found about 2 a.m. Jan. 12, 2020. (He died later that day at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.)

“If you sit and tell me anything but the truth, it’s going to look bad,” Wells told Hiestand.

She began to cry.

“I wanted to make things right with him,” she said. “I wanted to be friends.”

She said she wanted to shoot her rifle with Briar, but instead accidentally shot him in the back while he and Stephen were on the opposite side of the bridge. When asked why she and the others left Briar without seeking help, she said was “scared” and “didn’t know what to do.”

Wells and Mumbower repeatedly asked Hiestand about planning the murder during the remainder of the clip.

“It just happened,” Hiestand responded. “I wouldn’t do that.”

When asked if it was the plan to bring a rifle, she responded, “I guess.” Near the end of the video, she said planning had been done in a matter of days. She also said they stopped over Loblolly Creek because “nothing was around that bridge.”

“I hoped he would’ve lived,” she later said in the video.

“I still can’t believe I did it,” Hiestand added later. “I can’t.”

Wells testified, identifying Hiestand and confirming the video accurately depicted his interview with her.

Sharon Taylor, Briar’s grandmother, also testified and identified Briar and his daughter in the photo. She also identified Hiestand and confirmed Stephen and Hiestand spent a lot of time together.

Throughout proceedings Monday, Hiestand remained mostly quiet, kept a blank expression and stared at the floor. After Schemenaur presented a photo of Briar and his daughter together, she appeared to be holding back tears and wiped at her nose with a facial tissue.

Three days still remain of the trial, which opened Monday with jury selection taking most of the morning and opening statements beginning at 1:30 p.m. Judge Brian Hutchison adjourned the court shortly after 5 p.m.

“It’s just a long day, we’re just at the beginning here so, you know, maybe the first or second inning of a nine-inning ball game, so we’ve got a lot more ground to cover,” Schemenaur said after court adjourned.

Hiestand is the second of three women to stand trial in Jay Circuit Court for the murder of 31-year-old Briar, who was a Portland resident. Stephen was sentenced in May to 55 years in prison after a Jay Circuit Court jury found her guilty in March. Knapke’s trial is slated to begin Nov. 15.

Stephen was transported to Jay County Jail last week in connection with the case.

In Indiana, murder carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years.