Early this summer, the court wisely denied Geoffrey Paschel’s retrial motion.
The disgraced 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days alum is serving an 18-year sentence following a conviction for a brutal domestic assault and kidnapping.
Geoffrey parted ways with his attorneys months later. But he threatened further appeals.
Now, he has finally followed through, filing a brief in his appeal.
In October of 2021, a court of his peers convicted Geoffrey Paschel for domestic assault, kidnapping, and interfering with an emergency call.
e attacked his then-fiancee, Kristen, in June of 2019. He brutally beat her, leaving her home smeared with blood.
She was eventually able to escape, fleeing to a neighbor’s house and contacting police.
Back in July of last year, Geoffrey and his (new) defense attorneys filed a notice of appeal.
Since then, they have filed for and received a series of extensions.
On December 8, they filed the Apellant’s brief detailing the six reasons that they wish to overturn Geoffrey’s conviction.
As one might imagine about a legal filing like this, the court document is conspicuously lengthy.
The good folks over at Starcasm have an extremely thorough, no-holds-barred, hyper-detailed writeup.
We will keep our coverage of his six whiny complaints — sorry, challenges to his conviction — as brief as we reasonably can.
Team Geoffrey’s first gripe is that the court did not grant a mistrial when Officer Johnson shared an observation with the court.
Police will often note when an injury appears to be self-inflicted, both in their official reports and when giving testimony.
Officer Johnson said this of Geoffrey’s alleged scratches, having apparently misunderstood the court’s instructions. The judge instructed the jury to disregard that “medical opinion” but did not grant a mistrial.
According to legal experts, Geoffrey’s second challenge to his conviction is the most likely of the bunch to stick.
Kristen, the woman whom he beat so severely that her face appeared swollen almost beyond recognition, mentioned his history of violent behavior.
The topic came up very organically — she was discussing his deletion of things from her phone during the assault and kidnapping (when he prevented her from leaving or contacting emergency services).
She answered the question honestly, but mentioning that he had deleted photos of injuries from prior abuse went beyond the scope.
The defense moved for a mistrial. The court declined, citing that the answer was inappropriate but immaterial to a mistrial.
Simply put, if the jury believes Kristen Chapman about the attack in June 2019 or not, her statement about past assaults would not sway them. Well reasoned, but it could be a vulnerability to the conviction.
The third is pretty simple. Geoffrey’s team claims that the trial did not include sufficient evidence for a conviction.
For the record, the court heard testimony from the victim, from police and investigators, and saw Kristen’s injuries.
The fourth point of contention is similar — arguing that the court should have granted a mistrial due to “cumulative error” from things already mentioned.
Complaint number five is Geoffrey’s team arguing that the court based his sentence “on the improper application of enhancement factors.”
Basically, if you attack someone or kidnap them, that’s illegal. But the law looks even more harshly upon these crimes when they involve “serious bodily injury.”
Kristen’s injuries extended to her entire body. Investigators found blood from the brutal attack throughout her house.
Finally, Geoffrey’s attorneys argue that the court should not have placed “great weight” upon Geoffrey’s ex-wife’s testimony.
As 90 Day Fiance fans have known for years, Geoffrey has a long list of exes — multiple ex-wives and ex-girlfriends — who accuse him of similar, monstrous abuse.
Prosecutors could have invited a parade of women to testify at his sentencing. They did not, and they did not need to.
Perhaps Geoffrey would have people believe that a group of women who have never met each other simply conspired to accuse him of brutal physical violence against them and their children, of sexual violence, and of holding them against their will.
The sentencing court very specifically noted that ex-wife Allison Moon’s testimony helped establish a “pattern of violent behavior.”
But Geoffrey’s attorneys believe that the court shouldn’t have heard from any of his exes. For obvious reasons.
We do not know how successful these arguments will be with the appeals court.
This is a very lengthy process. We can expect Geoffrey and any attorneys willing to take his money to continue to throw things at the wall and see what sticks, so to speak.
For now, we likely won’t see much of an update on this appeal filing until this summer. Like we said, it’s a long process.