The murder trial of former Navy JAG officer Nicholas Kassotis, accused of killing and dismembering his wife in late 2022, commenced this week. While his defense attorneys argue for his innocence, state prosecutors urged the jury to apply “common sense” when considering the evidence.
Kassotis faces 12 charges related to the death of his second wife, Mindi Mebane Kassotis, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and dismembering a body, according to the Coastal Courier, WSAV, and WTOC.
As previously reported by PEOPLE, Mindi’s body was found in the woods of a hunting club in Riceboro, Georgia, on December 2, 2022—about a week after investigators believe she was killed—when a hunter came across her while tracking deer.
Law enforcement spent months identifying the dismembered body, which was discovered alongside a knife and a container of blood. Mindi, a writer and business owner who held a master’s degree in public and international affairs from Virginia Tech, was positively identified before authorities arrested her husband, Nicholas, in May 2023 in connection with her death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed the couple lived in Savannah, Georgia, at the time of the incident.
As the trial gets underway, Kassotis’ legal team has advanced a defense that prosecutors have dismissed as a “CIA, conspiracy theory type argument,” according to WJCL.
The Coastal Courier shared that Kassotis’ defense claims he is innocent and portrayed him as a man “living in relentless, all-consuming fear” of an alleged individual named “Jim McIntyre,” whose existence has never been verified. Attorney Douglas Weinstein explained that Kassotis exhibited suspicious behavior and deception toward friends and family, driven by fear of this purported figure, who the defense says claimed to work for the FBI and warned the couple that their lives were at risk.
“They were living, moving every few days, weeks, or months under the control of this person we’ll continue to call Jim McIntyre,” Weinstein said before the trial, per WJCL. “While the state calls this a fabrication, it is clear that Kassotis did not invent this after the fact. Both he and Mindi told people about their circumstances and why they were constantly on the run.”
Two days into the proceedings, Weinstein has yet to clarify how the defense believes Mindi’s death resulted from the couple’s alleged dealings with the supposed McIntyre figure. Weinstein did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
During opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Laurie Baio urged the jury to “bring your common sense, follow the law, and give justice to Mindi Kassotis,” according to the Coastal Courier.
The trial is anticipated to last two to three weeks.
