LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (Court TV) — A panel of 7 women and 5 men found Nicholas Kassotis guilty of his wife’s murder and dismemberment after deliberating for just over an hour on Thursday.
The former JAG officer and Pentagon lawyer appeared stoic as the clerk read each charge and pronounced the verdict “guilty” on all 12 charges connected to Mindi Kassotis’ death, including the top count of malice murder. A muffled cry was let out in the gallery from where Mindi’s family and friends sat after the first “guilty” verdict was read.
Nicholas Kassotis reacts to the jury’s verdict in his murder trial Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Court TV)
After dismissing the jury, the judge moved to sentencing and heard victim impact statements from Mindi’s sister-in-law, Megan Mebane, Mindi’s friend, Morgan Paddock, and a statement from Nicholas’ third wife, Samantha Kolesnik.
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Kolesnik, a Pennsylvania resident, married Nicholas a few months after police discovered Mindi’s remains in the woods of a hunting club in rural Georgia. They met online, and she believed he was widowed after he told her that his wife and child had died two years earlier. Kolesnik and the defendant were planning their life together, and looking at buying a house in Lancaster when police arrested Nicholas, who had changed his name to Nicholas Kilian James Stark.
Kolesnik stated she was victimized and deceived by the defendant. Her statement read in court by the victim advocate said in part:
“I feel raped by him…I was not allowed to consent to a romantic and intimate relationship with Nicholas because he lied about his entire identity. There was no opportunity for true consent.”
The judge also heard from the defendant’s parents, Wayne and Linda Kassotis, who appealed to the judge for mercy, believing him to be innocent and incapable of such a horrific act.
FILE – Mindi Kassotis (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
“We feel incredible sympathy for (Mindi’s family),” said Linda Kassotis. “Nicholas was not responsible for this; we know him to be a kind and gentle person.”
Judge Charles Rose, in handing down his sentence, dismissed the defendant’s story about “Jim McIntyre” as a fictional character who does not exist and stated the case was supported by a “mountain of compelling evidence.”
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“This case has revealed a level of depravity that truly shocks the conscience,” Judge Rose said. “This is truly a heinous crime.”
Judge Rose sentenced Nicholas to the maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole and a term of 25 years to be served consecutively.
