- 10 hours ago
Worst Ex Ever - Season 2 Episode 2
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00:20I have no idea how he was cast on a reality show as big as 90 Day Fiance.
00:27He was like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
00:32You didn't know which one you were going to get.
00:35He grabbed me and shoved me, threw me on the ground, strangled me.
00:40I genuinely think he was trying to kill me.
00:44All I see is the abuse when I close my eyes.
00:47It was just not going to stop until he was stopped.
01:07I've never spoken to anyone about this other than the police and my friends and family.
01:14And I just feel like it's time.
01:19Looking back on it, there were so many red flags.
01:25I should have run for the hills.
01:32In 2017, I had just started my teaching job.
01:37I taught third grade.
01:39It was my dream job at my dream school.
01:42And after dating my boyfriend Cory through grad school, we ended up breaking up.
01:50He was my best friend, but we just weren't quite sure that that was what we wanted forever.
01:58And then I met Jeffrey in December.
02:06I was scrolling through a dating app and I swiped right on Jeffrey Ian.
02:14He was in his 30s, had dark hair, very good physical build, gorgeous eyes.
02:22And so I sent him the first message and just said hello.
02:26He quickly gave me his number and we were texting.
02:31He was very charismatic, clearly intelligent.
02:36And then we decided to go out on a date.
02:42We went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and hit it off right away.
02:49Jeffrey told me he owned several properties on the street where his house is and multiple properties around Knoxville.
02:59He made himself seem like a really successful businessman.
03:04Jeffrey was also at that time working as an actor on these crime shows.
03:10Yeah, I saw the cop cars out front. What's going on?
03:13What is this?
03:14Carlo Druitt.
03:14It's his mom's house.
03:16So I thought him being an actor was really cool.
03:18He was the total package.
03:22Jeffrey came on really strong, really hard, really fast.
03:26He would show up at my house with just a trunk full of groceries.
03:33We went to the mall a lot.
03:36I would see a sweater or a scarf and be like, oh, I love that. That's so cute.
03:41And then the next day he would show up at my house with it.
03:45He really just completely swept me off my feet.
03:59On our first date, Jeffrey told me about his ex-wife in Canada, Brittany, and his two children with her.
04:08They were two and ten months old.
04:11And Jeffrey had full custody of them.
04:15It was like I became a mom overnight.
04:18They went absolutely everywhere with us.
04:21I was overwhelmed by it at first.
04:24I wasn't really ever sure that I wanted kids of my own.
04:29But oh my gosh, did I fall in love with those boys.
04:34And then a couple weeks after that, right before New Year's Eve,
04:40I was staying at his house and I went downstairs.
04:46And there were two teenagers in his living room.
04:48And I'm like, hello, who are you?
04:50Like, hi.
04:51And he's like, oh, I'm just taking care of these couple of boys for a friend.
04:56The teenage boys would come and go.
04:59And so honestly, I didn't give it much thought.
05:08We were a couple months now into this relationship.
05:12I was walking upstairs at his house and saw mail sitting just on one of the stairs.
05:21And on the mail, it said Jeffrey Paschel.
05:24He had told me that his last name was Ian.
05:28And my instant first thought was, is he hiding something?
05:34I confronted him about it when he got home.
05:38He made me feel like I was making a big deal out of nothing.
05:43Ian is my middle name.
05:44You just assumed that Ian was my last name.
05:49And I was like, okay, maybe it isn't a big deal.
05:52And started to even question, like, did he tell me his last name was Ian?
05:56Or did I just make this all up in my head?
06:03And then one day, Jeffrey called me from his home phone for some reason.
06:10It was a number I didn't have in my cell phone.
06:14So I let it go to voicemail.
06:17And Googled the number.
06:20And it came up Allison Paschel.
06:25I'm wondering who Allison Paschel is.
06:28Is it his sister?
06:29Is it his mom?
06:31So I do a search for her name.
06:36And up pops a birth announcement.
06:39With Allison Paschel and Jeffrey Paschel for their son.
06:47He had made it seem like his children with Brittany were the only children that he had.
06:55This was a really big deal to me.
06:58What else is he trying to hide from me?
07:02So I searched Jeffrey's name.
07:05And I found a whole slew of court cases about his previous relationships.
07:14I found domestic assault allegations, alleged neglect, and abuse of the children.
07:23And that he had kept opiates in the house.
07:26And I was shocked to read that.
07:29Because it just didn't seem like the person I was dating.
07:34I also found several marriages.
07:36I believe four.
07:37When he was 18 years old, he got married for the first time.
07:44And that allegedly ended in an annulment.
07:47Then he married Sabrina.
07:51Then he married Allison.
07:55And then he married Brittany.
07:59And I found several birth announcements.
08:02I realized that those two teenagers were his as well.
08:06That their mother was Sabrina.
08:10He had completely lied and bamboozled me.
08:15I came across mug shots.
08:18And criminal charges.
08:20That included driving while intoxicated, assault, drug charges.
08:27And the biggest one he did sometime in federal prison in Texas.
08:36I was horrified.
08:38I am a teacher.
08:40I have never been in trouble.
08:41And now this guy that I'm dating is a felon.
08:45I have no idea who I'm dating.
08:53I confronted him about it.
08:58And he made it again seem like it wasn't a big deal.
09:02I'm like, well, you never asked.
09:05How am I supposed to ask?
09:07Do you have four ex-wives that you haven't told me about?
09:10Have you been to federal prison before?
09:14And then he told me that he wasn't honest about those charges.
09:19Because then I wouldn't have ever shown any interest in him initially.
09:24Which is valid.
09:25I was like, yeah, you're right.
09:27I wouldn't have dated you had I known this.
09:30And it made me feel tricked.
09:33And it made me feel trapped.
09:34Because now I had completely fallen for him.
09:40Jeffrey told me that his exes were conspiring against him.
09:45That they were just being vindictive.
09:47And they were just hurt exes.
09:51He had already lied about so much.
09:54I had every reason not to believe him.
09:57But I did anyway.
09:59Because I was completely in love with him.
10:08I am Sabrina Grigsby.
10:11Jeffrey Pashel's second wife.
10:14Jeffrey was like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
10:18You didn't know which one you were going to get.
10:21He made my life a living hell.
10:25You stole my dreams away.
10:37I was 25 when I met Jeffrey.
10:40And I went to a Halloween party.
10:42There he was.
10:44Jeffrey was extremely charismatic.
10:47That was his thing.
10:48I just thought, wow, he was wonderful to be around.
10:53He was a country boy, but he wanted to be cultured.
10:57He wanted to do more.
10:59Be more educated.
11:01Jeffrey wanted a lot of money.
11:03And he had big dreams.
11:06And that was very intriguing to me.
11:11Everybody was jealous of the relationship we had.
11:16It was just like a whirlwind of fun and love and laughter.
11:21It was very good to me and it was nice.
11:24For a while.
11:28We were engaged about seven months.
11:32We did have an incident.
11:34He had got quite upset.
11:35I'm not sure even what it was.
11:37And he pushed me into the entertainment center and I fell down.
11:43It was a big surprise.
11:47It happened so quickly and so forcefully.
11:50I mean, he might be a short fella, but he was pretty strong.
11:55I didn't want to even admit to myself that that happened.
11:59And I guess that just kept it in my mind that we were going to have a nice life.
12:05I didn't pay attention to the red flags.
12:07I was in love.
12:11I mean, Jeffrey had got married on April Fool's Day, 1998.
12:17Jeffrey talked all the time about wanting to have at least four kids.
12:21Come to find out, I had got pregnant with my first child on our honeymoon.
12:27I was so excited thinking, he's going to be the greatest dad, you know?
12:31Um, but he changed almost instantly.
12:36He was just a completely different person.
12:41Very agitated all the time.
12:44Anything would just set him off.
12:46And I was shoved, hit, horribly screamed at.
12:50I was just trying harder and harder, of course thinking I did something wrong.
12:57He kicked me a few times and I was afraid I was going to lose my child.
13:01So I tried to stay quiet, just do what he needed when he needed.
13:08He became horribly controlling.
13:11If I stayed up too long, he would turn the power off completely in the house.
13:17Where I had to go to bed.
13:20We lived in Greenback.
13:22It was in the country.
13:23Neighbors very far away.
13:25I was just very isolated.
13:28He shut the phone off.
13:30So I had no communication, no vehicle.
13:34I couldn't see my mother, my father, my sister.
13:37I had no friends.
13:38My parents, they were begging me just come back home.
13:44I got to where I was just so sad all the time.
13:48But my grandparents on both sides, my parents never divorced.
13:53Loved one another through thick and thin.
13:55I just really thought I could do something that would fix it.
14:01Then everything would just be all right.
14:06It's hard to look at without being emotional.
14:14I could see what I'd probably already been through.
14:18I might have been smiling, but my eyes weren't.
14:22My eyes look about as sad as they do right now, I bet.
14:26Because I just wish I had a ran.
14:29Took that baby right there and just went as fast as I could.
14:41When we were first getting together, cocaine, that was his thing.
14:47He was doing it.
14:48He was dealing it.
14:50But at this point, he stopped doing the drugs.
14:54And then just really started dealing.
14:57He wanted to make more money.
14:59That was when it really got excessive.
15:05We had a lot of people coming in and out of our house all the time.
15:09You could smell it, see it.
15:10I always just tried to keep my son in another room.
15:16And then I was pregnant with my second child.
15:20And he kept telling me he wasn't doing that anymore.
15:23And he was trying to, you know, really get out of that aspect of life.
15:27And I thought he had stopped all of it.
15:37He'd taken my vehicle.
15:39I just thought he was going to go pick up his friend in Texas
15:43and bring him back for a visit.
15:47And then Jeffrey called me and informed me that he had been arrested for five pounds of pot
15:52and a couple ounces of cocaine.
15:55That was really devastating.
15:59And our lives were changed.
16:08When Jeffrey first went to prison, I literally still stayed at home.
16:12It took a long time for me to get out of that feeling that I could leave the house.
16:18That he couldn't hurt me.
16:20I didn't have a job.
16:22I was dependent on him.
16:24And he did leave us some money and paid the bills up a little bit.
16:29When Jeffrey was in prison, he did write the boys a lot of letters.
16:34He wrote me all the time too, saying that he was sorry for everything and that he was excited to
16:41have a new life with us and that he was trying to be a better father and a better family
16:47man.
16:48And I know this sounds crazy, but I was hopeful.
16:52I just kept trying to have faith that things would get better when he came home.
17:04But when he was released from prison, the control was 10 times worse.
17:09When you're in there, it's like the criminals, they learn from one another.
17:15And he was just sneakier.
17:17His evil was more finely tuned.
17:20The abuse was daily, mentally and physically.
17:24The sexual abuse got pretty awful too.
17:28Just forced to do things you just don't want to do.
17:31The monster definitely was back.
17:36Finally, after the eight years of marriage, I was going to file for a divorce.
17:41And he actually beat me to it.
17:44When I saw the paper that he'd filed before I did, I was ecstatic.
17:48I didn't want to be a part of his life anymore.
17:52After the divorce, Jeffrey used the children to manipulate me.
17:57It wasn't like they were his kids.
17:59It was like they were little pawns in a chess game.
18:02He made my life a living hell for the next decade.
18:07A few years later, he married Allison and then Brittany.
18:13And then next came Kristen.
18:16I prayed for these women.
18:18I prayed for them every night that they would wake up and be okay.
18:23Because I knew Jeffrey wasn't going to stop.
18:33In early March of 2018, Jeffrey's youngest son with his ex-wife Brittany passed away.
18:44It was very sudden.
18:47I had been so in love with that little boy.
18:50And he was like Jeffrey's little clone.
18:55They did a full autopsy and it was inconclusive.
18:58It crushed him.
19:01But it did bring us closer together.
19:04It was like we were trauma bonded over this horrible thing that had happened.
19:09But it was also like a switch flipped.
19:13The sweet side, the caring side, it was gone.
19:22He started getting really volatile.
19:27He was explosive when he was mad.
19:32He would pinch me, he would twist my arm.
19:36He bent my finger back, what felt like all the way back to my hand.
19:40Little things to kind of test me, to see how is she going to react?
19:47What is she going to do?
19:49And how far can I push this before she snaps?
19:54And then when he saw how upset I was, he completely turned it on me.
20:01And was like, you're so dramatic, just like all my other exes.
20:07I didn't tell anyone that this was happening.
20:11No one.
20:12No friends, no family.
20:14He had already significantly isolated me from a lot of my friends.
20:20I owned a home in Knoxville.
20:22He didn't want me staying there.
20:24He wanted me staying at his house.
20:26Which is out in the country, about 20 or 30 minutes from Knoxville,
20:32where my friends and family and everyone is.
20:42At this point, we had been together about a year.
20:47When the times were good with Jeffrey, they were so good.
20:53He could be so kind, so sweet.
20:57He met my every need.
21:00And then something would set him off.
21:04He would choke me.
21:06He would pull my hair, throw me around the room.
21:10He broke my kitchen table and chairs, just smashing all of it to pieces.
21:16He tore my purse apart and ripped up my money.
21:21I couldn't get out of his gated property without him opening the gate.
21:27And this was common.
21:28If we would fight and I would want to leave, I was not allowed to leave.
21:34One time, I was so scared and I hit the panic button on my iPhone.
21:40And it called 911.
21:44He'd snatched my phone out of my hand.
21:47911 immediately called me back.
21:50Of course, now he has my phone, so I can't answer it.
21:56He sends it to voicemail.
21:59Yes, this is Knox County 911.
22:00We just received a phone call from this number.
22:02If you do have an emergency, please give us a call back and stay on the line.
22:06If you do not have an emergency, you can disregard this message.
22:12No one ever came.
22:13No one ever showed up.
22:16It became this constant cycle of abuse.
22:21Something bad would happen and then he would call constantly.
22:27So I would block him.
22:31What did I do to deserve this?
22:33Why would you block me?
22:34Like, why in the world would you block me?
22:37What am I doing wrong?
22:38I'm pleading to you.
22:40I'm pleading my case and you're just being vile to me.
22:44I mean, it's abuse.
22:47You're being abusive.
22:50He would go to the lengths of the earth and do whatever means necessary to get me back.
22:56He would get down on his knees and beg and make himself cry and just plead with me to forgive
23:02him.
23:04One time, he showed up with his three-year-old.
23:07Had him knock on the door, mommy, mommy, mommy.
23:11Like, how am I not going to open the door for this little boy that calls me mommy?
23:18And so I gave in.
23:20I let him in.
23:23And it started all over again.
23:30Now talking about it, I realize how insane this sounds.
23:35I can't even believe that I accepted this as my reality.
23:41But I was just so incredibly in love with him.
23:55We were in Destin, Florida, visiting his family there.
24:01We'd all just gone out and had this great dinner.
24:03And he took me outside, pulled a ring out of his pocket, and proposed to me.
24:16But the typical excitement that would follow an engagement did not follow.
24:23My parents were not fans of his.
24:27I mean, I had lost a ton of weight, and I wasn't allowed to cut my hair because he liked
24:32my hair long.
24:33He didn't want me wearing makeup.
24:37I was very much under his control, and I think that they knew it was going to get worse from
24:44there.
24:52On June 8th, we go out to dinner.
24:55My friend was our server at a local restaurant here in Knoxville.
25:00We're making each other laugh.
25:02It was a great night.
25:04We made plans to go out with my friend after.
25:06So real quick, I just wanted to walk my dog.
25:10Everything was fine on the drive home.
25:13Everything was fine when we got back to my house.
25:16I took my dog, Zoe, out for a walk in the neighborhood.
25:24And when I came back through the door,
25:30Jeffrey attacked me.
25:32He grabbed me, and he smashed my head into the floor over and over again.
25:41I was in and out of consciousness.
25:45I remember at one point being in the kitchen.
25:48I have no idea how I got there.
25:50The next thing I remember,
25:54he had me pinned in the corner of my living room and was just shoving me into the wall over
26:00and over again.
26:06I don't remember him saying anything.
26:09I had no idea what I did wrong that made him act like that.
26:15He had never been this severely abusive.
26:18It had never been this bad.
26:21I genuinely thought he was trying to kill me.
26:25I remember him dragging me up the stairs by the hair.
26:29I felt my face and realized that my nose was bleeding.
26:35The whole inside of my mouth was also bleeding.
26:39He made me go to the bathroom and wash my face.
26:43And I remember being so scared to wash my face
26:48because I thought he was going to smash my face down into the faucet.
26:53And he told me to go get in bed.
26:55And I did.
26:58I was pretending to sleep.
27:01I was afraid that I had a concussion or a brain bleed, that I was gonna die.
27:07So I tried so hard to stay awake.
27:11As soon as his head hit that pillow, I jumped out of bed.
27:15And I just made a beeline for it.
27:18I had no shoes on.
27:20I ran down my driveway as fast as I could.
27:27I kept going.
27:30And I made it to my neighbor's house.
27:35I'm telling 911, where is your emergency?
27:38I have a neighbor that has been beaten.
27:41She is severely beaten.
27:43She has a head trauma.
27:45Very large trauma.
27:49On June the 9th, 2019,
27:53we responded to a domestic violence call off of North Shore Drive in the West Knoxville area.
28:01The time was 1.49 in the morning.
28:06We knock on the door.
28:08When we hear pounding on her door, we thought it was him.
28:12And I was so afraid.
28:16Sorry, we thought you were him.
28:18Oh, okay.
28:19We're very scared.
28:20That's all right.
28:20We left the lights off because we're very scared.
28:23All right.
28:24Kristen is sitting on the kitchen floor of the neighbor's house.
28:30With this really big, raised bruise on her forehead.
28:34And she has abrasions consistent with domestic assault if somebody's been thrown around.
28:39We got some emergency.
28:41And we turned me up against my kitchen floor and my living room floor.
28:45Okay.
28:46Um...
28:46These guys are going to check you out.
28:48I'm going to have them do that first while we're asking questions.
28:51The forensic unit arrived and started photographing her elbows and her knees and forehead.
28:58The paramedics that came to the scene said I really needed to go to the hospital.
29:09We make our way from the neighbor's house over to Kristen's house.
29:14It's probably close to three in the morning.
29:18However, as soon as we started knocking on the door, Jeffrey immediately answers the door.
29:23And he's wide awake.
29:25And he is...
29:26He's wired.
29:27We're going to have the house.
29:28No.
29:29You don't have permission to come to the house.
29:30Oh, yes, we did.
29:31Oh, yes, we did.
29:31You don't have all these scratches on you.
29:34What's going on?
29:35How do you think?
29:35Have a seat.
29:36Have a seat.
29:37Have a seat.
29:38Right there.
29:38You want another exact choice.
29:40Have a seat.
29:41Have a seat.
29:41I'm not going to tell you again.
29:43Okay.
29:43Is it okay?
29:44It's fine.
29:44It's fine.
29:46He's talking really quickly.
29:48In my opinion, he's under the influence of cocaine or methamphetamine or some other stimulant.
29:53Tell me that.
29:55She's mad because I want to lose her.
29:57Okay.
29:58We're asking about Kristen's injuries.
30:00And you can tell he's trying to come up with an explanation.
30:04She acted absolutely, absolutely, I mean, crazy.
30:07I mean, scratched me, ran against the wall, hit herself, slapped herself.
30:13No, that made sense.
30:14Where did she supposedly run the wall?
30:17Not supposedly, she really did.
30:19Right here.
30:26The forensic unit had located some blood spatter on the walls, on a light switch, and as well as on
30:34the floor.
30:37After just a couple minutes of interviewing Jeffrey, we determined that he's the primary aggressor.
30:43We arrest him.
30:44I didn't touch the woman.
30:46That's nothing you got with him.
30:47When we placed him in handcuffs, he's got this disbelief.
30:51Absolutely not.
30:52No way.
30:53You know, we're making the wrong decision.
30:54He's innocent.
30:57We placed him in the patrol vehicle, and he flipped a switch.
31:01He just became unhinged and enraged.
31:06He starts kicking at the windows, a horse kick in the door, and we have to pull him out,
31:12and we have to restrain his legs.
31:13We place him back in the back of my patrol unit, and he continues kicking.
31:21So we have to pull him out again to connect the chain of the leg irons to his handcuffs.
31:29And, you know, typically not going to do that unless somebody's just really off the rails.
31:39At the hospital, I had to have a CT scan done.
31:43I did have a concussion.
31:46They prescribed me some pain medicine because I was just in an immense amount of pain.
31:54The next day, Jeffrey got bailed out.
32:00So on Monday morning, my parents took me to the Knox County Sheriff's Office,
32:05and we filed an order of protection.
32:09The order of protection is a civil case, so I actually had two cases against him.
32:13My civil case, and then there was a criminal case for the actual domestic assault.
32:19His family couldn't contact me.
32:21His friends couldn't contact me.
32:22He obviously couldn't contact me.
32:24The engagement was definitely off.
32:27Completely cut all ties on that day.
32:42I am an assistant district attorney here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
32:48I've been in various units within the office, one of them being the domestic violence unit.
32:54When I got the case file, what initially stood out to me was just the amount of violence involved
33:00in this particular assault. There was literally almost an injury to every part of her body that you could see.
33:08I could tell that this was an incredibly brutal attack that took some time to happen.
33:18At Mr. Paschel's arraignment, Jeffrey was charged with aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault,
33:26and interference with a 911 emergency call.
33:30There was an offer betrayed to him to plead to a felony offense. That was a four-year probation offer.
33:38No jail time.
33:40This saves the victim from having to come to court and to testify. It doesn't drag it out.
33:45He declined the offer.
33:49At that point in time, we had to actually get this case to trial.
33:59Jeffrey's ex-wife, Allison, reached out to me after her attorneys found out about the assault,
34:05just to check in and see if I was okay. And through Allison, I met Sabrina.
34:14When I finally got to speak with Kristen, I found out, yeah, she's just as amazing as,
34:20you know, Allison was or any woman that he was blessed enough to be with.
34:25We started talking about the things that he said and did.
34:29And hearing what Kristen went through, it was very triggering.
34:34But we've been through the same thing at the hands of Jeffrey.
34:40This has been going on for decades.
34:43This was just not going to stop until he was stopped.
34:51Given COVID, the court system having to shut down
34:55took a lot longer than we wanted to actually get this case to trial.
34:59And while his case was pending, I had learned that he was on, I guess, a reality TV sort of
35:06dating show called 90 Day Fiancé.
35:17I just landed in Moscow to see the love of my life, Varya, in person for the first time ever.
35:24I had no idea. I had no idea.
35:2990 Day Fiancé Before the 90 Days is a reality show that follows international couples who have met online.
35:36Basically, the premise of the show is that they're already dating before they meet for the first time.
35:41Which means apparently he was in a whole other relationship with someone from Russia during our engagement.
35:49I met my girlfriend online several months ago.
35:52I truly believe that Varya and I are meant to be together.
35:55If things go well with Varya, I'm going to propose to her.
36:05And by July, he's already in Russia filming.
36:10I was still black and blue.
36:13I'm sure he was already cast for the show when my assault happened, so they wouldn't have caught that.
36:19But he had several criminal convictions before he was on 90 Day Fiancé.
36:25I was able to find these convictions. People on the internet were able to find these convictions.
36:31The media was able to find these convictions before the show even aired.
36:36Jeffrey, his history runs deep and it runs dark.
36:39If these allegations are true, it sounds like he's got some serious anger issues.
36:45They aired the episodes anyway.
36:49I'm Jeffrey, I'm 41 years old, and I live just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.
36:56But I like to do anything that I can get out there and get my hands dirty.
37:00A lot of people really liked him on the show.
37:02I mean, he's portrayed as a very likable, charismatic, strong, hard-working, all-American country boy.
37:13I did watch a few clips of it and my children were in it.
37:18And he was speaking with them about all the women that had hurt him and the things that he'd been
37:22through and that he deserved to be happy.
37:25There's a risk that I'm going to be heartbroken.
37:27And it really scares me because I don't think my heart can take into a letdown.
37:33It just kind of hit me like, we didn't hurt you.
37:38You hurt us.
37:41Despite all these awful allegations, he still had a growing fan base that loved him.
37:46Did you know that I had a YouTube channel?
37:48I had Cameo.
37:49I had Fanbound.
37:51Jeffrey created a fan base from being on that reality show and he really fed off of it.
37:56He just kept getting larger than life.
38:05He just kept thinking that I'm untangible.
38:09I'm unstoppable.
38:11There's nothing anybody can do to me now.
38:18Prior to actually going to trial, Mr. Paschel posted numerous videos online
38:24where he had talked about all of the accusations.
38:28What's the biggest, I guess, misconception that you think that people have about you?
38:34Oh, I mean, it's got to be woman beater.
38:37It's got to be a woman abuser, domestic violence person, whatever it is.
38:42When you go through something like this, you're advised not to talk about it.
38:47So while he got to do Instagram Lives, talk to his followers and tell them his side of the story,
38:57I had to be silent.
38:59This is all just a ploy.
39:00This is all just a, um, an agenda to try to make me lose custody of my child.
39:05He said that I joined forces with all of his exes and that we were all scheming against him.
39:12I think this is going to be a Johnny Depp moment.
39:15I think this is going to be like, this is going to be like Amanda Heard getting
39:19called out and being recorded actually being the abuser.
39:32Welcome back to Court TV Live.
39:34I'm Ashley Wilcox.
39:35We want to start first with Tennessee versus Jeffrey Paschel.
39:39The former reality TV star who was accused of a brutal attack on his former fiancee.
39:46Kristen's assault took place very late on June the 8th of 2019.
39:52We were not able to actually go to a jury trial until October of 2021.
40:01The hardest part of the trial was obviously seeing him again, having to face him.
40:06It was terrifying.
40:10It's hard enough for a victim to come to court to tell 12, 13 people whom they've never met the
40:18worst experience of their life.
40:20Now she was going to have cameras looking at her.
40:23She knew that this was going to be televised.
40:25So the case definitely stood out for that reason.
40:30Jeffrey Paschel was a little bit different than some defendants because he was so clearly confident.
40:36I would argue perhaps arrogant.
40:39He to me looked like somebody who wanted to be in control.
40:44Varya, his fiancee, was in the front row every day supporting him.
40:49In my opinion, this was a pretty straightforward case.
40:52And so the only strategy that I really had was just to let Kristen talk.
40:57During that time, did you try and get away or anything?
41:01When I was screaming, I was trying to get away from him, but I couldn't.
41:05He's too strong.
41:06He was holding me down on the ground and then he was pushing me around and I could not get
41:11away.
41:13It was awful having to sit across from Jeffrey at trial.
41:18He would just lock eyes with me and not let go.
41:23It was very scary to have him stare at me like that.
41:27I remember going up the stairs and then that's the last thing I remember.
41:32I don't know what happened up there, but there was blood splatter down my bedroom door.
41:37So something happened up there.
41:40Kristen, in my opinion, was very credible.
41:42I was confident that the jury was going to believe her.
41:50At this point in time, the state calls Mr. Jeffrey Paschel.
41:56Sir, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you go?
41:59I do. Thank you.
42:02Typically, defense attorneys tell defendants, you're not taking the stand.
42:06It's not going to come off well.
42:08But Jeffrey Paschel, in my opinion, does it because he thinks he can manipulate the jury,
42:15control the jury and convince them I'm right, I didn't do anything wrong.
42:20I went to go leave. She attempted to grab my keys.
42:24Well, she did grab my keys and tried to bolt out the door.
42:27And as she went to bolt out the door, the door, this being a door, the door open.
42:33She ran smack into the door, side of the door as she ran out.
42:40So she grabbed my keys and turned and hit the door, the open door.
42:46He essentially tried to say that she was drunk, that all of these injuries were self-inflicted.
42:52But the weight of the evidence was so strong against that.
42:56And I think that the jury saw that.
42:59The jury went out mid-afternoon.
43:03They actually weren't out for very long. It was actually just a few hours.
43:10The jury came back with a verdict really quickly. I was shaking and I was terrified.
43:15And I held my parents' hands.
43:19I didn't know what way it was going to go.
43:33I can't even explain that feeling of euphoria when they found Jeffrey guilty.
43:41This coming Thursday, Jeffrey Paschal, the convicted reality cast member from the TV show 90 Day Fiancé Before the 90
43:48Days, will be sentenced.
43:49Once a reality TV star, Jeffrey Paschal, he now faces 12 to 20 years in prison without the possibility of
43:58parole.
44:05During trial, the rules of evidence actually don't allow us to bring in what we call propensity evidence, prior bad
44:12acts,
44:13because we want the jury to see the crime at hand.
44:17But it is something that we can use in sentencing.
44:21So, his ex-wife, Allison, actually testified at the sentencing to the abuse that she suffered.
44:27At any point during your marriage, was there physical abuse?
44:34There were many threats made to me, into my family.
44:38He was violent to me on numerous occasions.
44:43And I'm going to stop you for just a second. When you say threats, what kind of threats?
44:47To kill me.
44:50She testified to them taking trips together where he would strangle her.
44:56She testified about a time where he held her face close to a fire.
45:00And then she testified about a time where she had actually moved.
45:04They were split up at the time. When she comes home and finds him in her home.
45:10He immediately attacked me and grabbed me and shoved me into the wall, threw me on the ground,
45:17strangled me. When I finally broke free, he went and swung at me and I moved so he could hit
45:26the top of my head versus my face.
45:31When Allison was on the stand, I felt like I went backwards to my own abuse and I had to
45:38leave the
45:38courtroom. She testified that he raped her. I think that everybody in the courtroom, when she was
45:46testifying about that, you know, we were all extremely disturbed by it. I mean, her abuse went on for
45:51years. So her, her testimony was, was incredibly powerful at sentencing.
45:58Every defendant has the right to be heard at sentencing. And Jeffrey Paschel took that opportunity.
46:06I have a beautiful family.
46:12Beautiful friends. I'm a dad.
46:18He focused on, I've got all these children and friends and family. What did he not focus on?
46:25The victims.
46:27I go out of my way to help people. I don't need anything. I don't want anything.
46:33It just gives me that internal satisfaction to help people. You know, that's what, that's,
46:41that's my reward. So I ask that you, uh, you have mercy on me. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
46:50What is going on behind closed doors is much different than the image that Mr. Paschel projects
46:58out to the rest of the world. The judge just absolutely nailed Jeffrey's character.
47:06He saw right through him. Twelve citizens from Knox County listened to her and they listened to the
47:13defendant and they found beyond a reasonable doubt that she was telling the truth. And I agree with
47:19their assessment. I've never felt more seen, more vindicated. It was truly an absolutely amazing moment.
47:30This behavior towards these women is sick. It is sadistic. I think that Mr. Paschel has a desire
47:42to inflict as much emotional damage to these women as possible. For the reason stated,
47:47the court finds that the appropriate sentence in this case is 18 years to serve.
47:53This was an unusual case because the state requested 16 years. The defense argued for fewer.
48:00The judge didn't do either of those things. Instead said, I'm giving you more.
48:06Not only did I take my power back, but I felt like I gave power back to so many women
48:11that he has
48:12taken it from over the years. And when Jeffrey was found guilty, it made every bit of suffering worth it.
48:26The judge said, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
48:27Jeffrey, how's Jeffrey? Of course, the most common question. I expected that.
48:31Well, soon we will have a call with the lawyers team to discuss the strategy of filing
48:42to the Supreme Court. Yeah, so keep your fingers crossed.
48:48Baria has been very outspoken about supporting Jeffrey, and she still stands behind him.
48:55So today marks 1,255 days since my loved one Jeffrey Paschel has been in prison.
49:10A lot of people after they go through something like this will join like a support group.
49:16My support group is Sabrina and Allison. And the bond that I have with them and the connection
49:22that I have with them, it's just incredible. Kristen's my hero. Today I have a beautiful bond
49:31with Allison and Kristen. It's a blessing. We're like sisters.
49:42Shortly after the assault, my college ex-boyfriend reached out to me just to check on me and said,
49:50hey, how are you? This was in July of 2019. We rekindled, got engaged, and we were married in October
50:01of 2019.
50:04Corey was my rock through everything. He was extremely supportive. He just made me feel
50:11so confident and so sure about going through with the process. And he was just the most wonderful
50:18partner that you could ask for in this awful situation.
50:22I think going through something like this, this traumatic, not only does it teach you what you
50:30don't want in a man, but it shows you what you do want. And now we have kids and everything
50:39in my life
50:40right now is honestly just phenomenal.
50:42I don't know.
50:43I don't know.
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