At a stressful sentencing hearing on Thursday morning, a woman who killed a 17-year-old girl was given a three-year term with the chance of an early release. Tears and animosity flowed.
The sentence of at most 36 months in prison for 20-year-old Bryanna Barozzini was the maximum allowed by Ohio law after the court approved a plea agreement for admitting guilt to one charge of involuntary manslaughter last month, despite the fact that family members of the deceased, Halia Culbertson, clearly felt the punishment was out of proportion to the crime.
“Halia never got another birthday, or Christmas, or Thanksgiving; no more holidays,” sobbed MacKenzie Adrean, a friend of hers, throughout the statement. But her killer got to spend every holiday last year since Halia has been killed, freely and with her family, when Halia’s family, her whole family, never gets another one. She’s forever 17, and it lives in my mind.”
Admittedly, on the evening of March 26, 2023, Barozzini attacked the victim with a knife during a fight outside a smoke store in a Columbus, Ohio, neighborhood that is far to the northeast. After being taken to a neighboring hospital, Halia died shortly after from a single stabbing wound.
The event happened at 161 Carryout, which is a tobacco shop and convenience store. Based on the testimony of witnesses and camera footage, the argument started inside and eventually moved outside into the parking lot.
The younger girl passed away at Ohio Health Riverside Medical Center at 12:24 a.m. the next day. Later on, Barozzini was discovered at her residence in the Westerville neighborhood of Columbus.
Prosecutors unexpectedly abandoned their first-degree murder case in favor of a manslaughter charge in the first part of June. Just hours later, on the day before Barozzini’s trial was supposed to start, the state accepted the involuntary manslaughter plea. The state was ready to proceed with a trial on the lower homicide charge.
According to remarks made by Culbertson’s mother, Haley Culbertson, “It feels like a betrayal of my daughter’s memory and the justice she was promised. She wished my daughter to hell. She was clearly mad. Swore on her whole family her intent, so how does she end up in the same place at the same time?”
The state seems sensitive to a recent defense file that portrayed Halia as the combatant’s aggressor. Barozzini’s lawyer details his client’s vain attempts to flee for a considerable amount of time in a sentencing memo.
According to the court documents, “After being removed, she waited for Bryanna to exit the store. She confronted Bryanna, threatening her, pushing her and finally striking her. Although Bryanna repeatedly backed away and said she did not wish to fight, Ms. Culbertson continued in her aggressive actions.”
Prosecutors acknowledged last month that Halia once struck Barozzini in the face during the argument. The sword was then swung.
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It made contact with the victim’s throat. The defense contended that even after being stabbed, the soon-to-be-deceased girl attacked her unwilling attacker, only realizing after the fact that there was blood on her clothes.
On Thursday, there was little sympathy for Barozzini.
According to Kaelyn Culbertson, the victim’s sister, “nothing has scarred me so badly as losing Halia. How can someone be so cruel? How can someone be so vicious? Someone who was supposed to be my sister’s best friend killed her and left her to bleed out.”
The sentenced woman said a few words, conveying her understanding and sorrow for what had happened in a concise and calm manner.
“I will be living with this guilt the rest of my life,” she stated.
Those were presumably words of regret unheard.
Adrean went on, crying as the target of his contempt glanced down at the ground, “If anyone ever asked me what kind of people or how I would describe the Barozzinis, I’d say I can’t trust them as far as I can throw them. I wish this wasn’t what I was doing – reading a statement … I wish I was reading a speech at her wedding, seeing her raise kids, get her nursing degree she always wanted, or even living and talking to her when we get old in a nursing home.”
