Vt. Man Acquitted In 2010 Shooting

Chelsea — A jury on Monday acquitted a 45-year-old Thetford man of all charges in connection with a 2010 shooting.



The 12 Orange County jurors found Thomas Berecz not guilty of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment.



Berecz took a series of deep breaths as the jury foreman read each verdict aloud in Orange Superior Court on Monday afternoon. When the foreman finished, Berecz leaned over and shook his attorney’s hand.



“I feel the verdict is just, and it is a relief after more than four years,” Berecz said in a phone interview on Monday evening. “I have been waiting for this day. Now it is here, and I can start a new chapter.”



The charges stemmed from a Sept. 13, 2010, altercation between Berecz and two men that was part of an ongoing feud. Berecz fired .30-30 rifle rounds into their car.



Berecz did not dispute that shots had been fired but claimed self-defense. Jurors were tasked with deciding whether Berecz’s actions were justified.



His attorney, Dan Sedon, of Chelsea, said the verdict reflected Berecz’s innocence.



“We have always maintained that Mr. Berecz didn’t commit a crime, and in fact, his prosecution was close to a travesty,” Sedon said Monday. “Four years this has gone on; four years he has been living a nightmare he can’t wake up from.”



Prosecutor Thomas Kelly, the Washington County State’s Attorney, said his office would accept the jury’s findings.



“I think the jury looked at the evidence and made a decision they felt was just,” Kelly said. “I would never criticize a jury. They did their job and I think we did ours.”



The prosecutors called at least 16 witnesses to the stand over the six-day trial. The jury deliberated about three hours.



The September 2010 feud that led up to the events in question involved Berecz, his ex-wife, Diane, James Moses Sr. — Diane’s boyfriend at the time — and Moses’ relatives.



Berecz filed for divorce from his wife in June 2010 and moved across the street to live with his father, Fred. His ex-wife continued living in the home they shared, and James Moses Sr. later moved in with her.



During closing arguments on Monday, the defense said Berecz had reason to fear the Moses family because of events that occurred prior to the Sept. 13 shooting. Berecz acted in self-defense when firing rifle rounds into a vehicle that pulled into his father’s driveway that night, Sedon said.



Prosecutors argued that Berecz tampered with evidence at the scene immediately following the shooting, including removing bullets from the headliner of another vehicle in the driveway and scuffing footprints.



The defense disputed those claims.



Prosecutors also argued self-defense wasn’t justified because evidence showed the Moses family members were unarmed when they drove into Berecz’s driveway and he opened fire on them.



The defense argued that the total number of bullets fired that night couldn’t have come just from Fred Berecz’s revolver and Thomas Berecz’s rifle. Fred Berecz accepted a plea agreement in 2012, in which he pleaded no contest to a charge of reckless endangerment and served 30 days on a work crew.



The defense said the guns together could have fired nine shots, and that given the brevity of the gunfire — less than 10 seconds — there was no time to reload. The defense said more than nine bullet impacts were found at the scene that night and that the additional shots had to have been fired from the vehicle, which was occupied by James Moses Jr., who suffered a leg wound, and his cousin, Kyle Moses, who was unharmed.



The prosecution disputed the defense’s claim that an individual inside the vehicle was armed.



Sedon said the concept of self-defense resonates with jurors.



“I think a Vermont jury is going to look very closely when a homeowner uses force on their own property,” Sedon said. “The fact that Mr. Berecz hadn’t gone elsewhere looking for trouble, the fact that Mr. Berecz sought judicial protection, the fact that it was obvious that he was worried about these very people showing up. (I think) all of that hit home for the jury.”



On Friday, trial Judge Robert P. Gerety rejected a motion by the defense for an early acquittal.



In January, Gerety rejected a proposed plea agreement that would have seen Berecz serve 30 days in jail for the charges.



Berecz said on Monday that he was happy that plea deal fell apart.



Kelly, the Washington County State’s Attorney, took over the prosecution in 2011 when Orange County State’s Attorney Will Porter withdrew from the case, citing an “irretrievable breakdown in relations” with the victims.



Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.





