A Fight For Survival - Catherine Brewington & Brittany Figiel

Episode #22 Part 2

We’ve covered many tragic cases in which a domestic violence victim or a victim and her children are murdered. Sometimes though, when a victim is pushed too far by an abuser, and through sheer luck ends up surviving, but kills her abuser. While a domestic violence victim surviving her ordeal is always a good outcome, living with killing someone, even a violent abuser can have a huge toll on the survivor. 

They have to carry that with them forever. Worse, it's not always straightforward that the court system will afford them an ounce of sympathy for their plight, and as we saw last week, might just call them a murderer and send them to prison. 

Is that what justice looks like?

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[Shaun] Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun] 

Last week we covered Tammy Lucero and David Hudson’s case, in which despite overwhelming evidence that she acted in self-defense, the “murderer” Tammy ended up accepting a plea deal that resulted in her being incarcerated for 4 years in what I think you can reasonably argue is a gross miscarriage of justice

[John] 

I'm with you on that. I was horrified by the outcome of Tammy’s case, and I'm no lawyer but I found myself turning this one over in my head trying to figure out if there might have been a better plea deal or a lesser sentence available to her. Perhaps if she had gone to trial instead of taking the plea, would she have been completely exonerated? 

I'm not familiar with the lawyers here, but I know based on my time on this planet that more money often means a better defense and a better outcome.

[Shaun] 

We have two more examples of self-defense cases this week (not just the one we talked about) with similar circumstances but with very different outcomes. Do you want to tell us about the first case?

[John]

Absolutely

On Wednesday night, February 10th, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. a shotgun shattered the calm in a quiet tree-lined neighborhood near Lone Mountain in the Northwest corner of the Las Vegas Valley, in Summerlin. 

Aaron Matthews had been shot with a 12 gauge shotgun by Catherine Brewington in their driveway in an apparent case of self-defense but as it turned out, the events that night were anything but straightforward.

Aaron Nicholas Matthews was born on September 9th, 1983. We think he was born in Kansas because the people who were awarded his estate were from Kansas, but we don't know the details, unfortunately. He has a daughter from a previous relationship born on November 28th, 2011, so she was only 4 years old at the time he died.

Aaron had no prior criminal history, at least in Nevada, but he was sued for child support in 2012, less than a year after his daughter was born. He was 33 in 2016.

Catherine Marie Brewington was born August 19th, 1961 (22 years older than Aaron) in Reno, Nevada. She has two children, a daughter, and a son who we know is an Attorney associated with the NV State Bar Association (so he’s an active attorney)

Catherine and Aaron have been dating for about 4 years, and living together for at least a year up in the Northwest corner of the Las Vegas Valley near Lone Mountain. That’s pretty much as far away from where we live as you can get, and still be in the metropolitan Las Vegas Area. 

[Shaun]

Another example of how domestic violence doesn’t discriminate on class. You can live in a 500 sq ft studio apartment or a 2-story house in the suburbs and still be a victim or an abuser. 

Absolutely. They lived at 4740 Sweeping Glen St which as I mentioned is a nice tree-lined street far from the neon lights of the strip (maybe a 40-minute drive from their house). According to Catherine’s recounting of the events of the night of the shooting, she and Aaron got into a physical altercation / DV incident, where Aaron allegedly choked Catherine and pulled her hair.

Other testimony indicates that Brewer had been planning to move back to Reno where she was from, but given how things were going she decided to move the schedule up and just get away from Aaron, likely for her safety (and her dogs too. She had 3 dogs). 

The fight they got into that night was escalating quickly, and Catherine attempted to arm herself with the handgun that she knew Aaron kept under a couch cushion. When she didn't find it there, she assumed that he had armed himself, and she said she feared for her life. There were also multiple 12 gauge shotguns in the garage so she got one of those, and headed outside.

Catherine told police the situation escalated more outside, and Aaron confronted her when she was packing up her car, loading her three dogs in so she could leave.

Catherine claimed that she saw Aaron reach for his waistband which led her to believe he was reaching for a gun, at this time she grabbed the shotgun and shot Aaron in the chest. It’s not clear how long Aaron survived, but it wasn't long, he was gone by the time paramedics arrived

Two uniformed patrol officers responded to multiple calls to 911. They were mostly there to “secure the scene” and ensure the safety of the public. That was important considering a 12 gauge shotgun had just been discharged in a busy neighborhood with a lot of families nearby.

No less than five homicide detectives and crime scene analysts arrived shortly after to take over the investigation, interview witnesses, gather evidence, such as items of Catherine’s clothing, and take exhaustive photos of the scene.

The problem was that the evidence gathered by the team including the forensic team and the interviews the detectives conducted didn't match up very well with Catherine’s account of the events.

For example, Catherine has said that she shot him in the chest as he approached her, but the condition of Aaron’s body directly contradicted that. Aaron had been shot in the right side of the back, with only a small exit wound in the front of his chest. He also had powder burns and stippling consistent with him being shot at very close range

“Stippling”  is a pattern of small burns or marks on the skin caused by burning powder hitting the skin. It is also known as tattooing, peppering, or powder tattooing. It’s caused by superheated gunpowder exiting a gun and is a result of close proximity to a discharged firearm. It is typically seen with a muzzle-to-target distance of less than 3 feet.

[Shaun]

So she shot him a really close range, which somewhat supports what she was saying about her being afraid of him hurting her. 

A neighbor was a witness to the whole incident also, and she told the police that there was in fact no loud escalating argument. She reported that it was “eerily quiet” and that Catherine shouted something like “get away from me” and then shot him. She didn't witness any physical altercation at the moment of the shooting. She was of course only reporting what she saw in the moment without the full context of what happened inside or prior

The location of where the shotgun was fired didn't match where Catherine said it happened either. The spent shotgun casing was behind her vehicle not on the side, near the driver’s side door consistent with her assertion that it happened as she was loading up the dogs into the car.

The police also found two more shotguns in the garage, both loaded with that same ammunition, which they took as evidence refuting the “spontaneous self-defense” claim. That seems like a bit of a leap to me.

They also recovered $2700 in loose cash in the truck.. And blood spatter on the inside driver's side front door. It seems like Aaron was near the front door and Catherine may have been behind the vehicle.

[Shaun]

Did they find his handgun? 

Interestingly, no. Aaron was not armed, and there wasn't any mention of the handgun in the bindover document.

Having said all that, I don't find it surprising at all that in such an unbelievably stressful situation the details could easily get confused, but some of these details are huge like the location she shot him (chest vs in the back)

To be clear, there was definite evidence of domestic violence between these two. Catherine described a fight on the night of the incident, stating that Aaron put his hands around her neck, choked her, and pulled her hair obviously indicating a level of physical aggression and control typical of domestic violence situations, and it must have really made her scared for her life.

As we often discuss, the most dangerous time in a relationship with domestic violence is when a victim leaves, and Catherine was in the process of leaving.

A crime scene analyst also documented the physical injuries on Catherine including an abrasion to her upper right lip, redness, and scratches around her neck, scratches on her right chest, scratches inside her left forearm, abrasions with a pattern of injury on her upper right back, redness on top of both shoulders and scratches and a cut on top of her left hand. All of these could be consistent with a struggle or physical assault.

Because of the discrepancies between her story and the physical evidence at the scene, Catherine was arrested and charged with open murder, which was later changed to Murder with the use of a Deadly Weapon. Her bail was set at $150,000, but her lawyer petitioned the court to reduce it to $50,000 based on 

1. Lifelong NV resident
2. Ties to the community (son and daughter)
3. No prior criminal history (felony or misdemeanor)
4. DV victim: all of the injuries I mentioned before.

Even with the above arguments, the judge ultimately did NOT lower her bail and In the end her son posted the $150,000 bail in cash. She was required to surrender her passport, surrender all the guns in her home (which was checked by authorities) and she was prohibited from moving out of Las Vegas, specifically back to her hometown of Reno.

She was given house arrest back in the home where the murder had taken place, and as you might expect her neighbors were not happy about it.

One neighbor wrote a letter to the Judge in which he expressed concerns about Catherine being placed on house arrest in their neighborhood following what was understandably a terrifying incident for the local residents. Unfortunately, he didn't seem even slightly concerned with the circumstances around the incident, saying 

“Regardless of the details which lead to and surrounded the death of Aaron Matthews, I was Witness to a violent act which I have trouble believing was entirely in self-defense.”

Of course, it's fine that was his (somewhat heartless and nonempathetic) opinion, but he’s not the one adjudicating that.

No less than two dozen other neighbors in the Stoneridge community signed a petition asking the judge not to let her be placed under house arrest in their neighborhood citing fear of future violence. Their suggestion was to have her house arrest be “as far as possible from here”. Clearly that’s just them wanting to make this someone else’s problem 

There was definitely a lack of empathy for her plight

Yes for sure, and definitely a little confusing. The victim was her boyfriend, the guns had been removed from the house, and if she was found to be dangerous, we would all hope that she would have been denied bail. It’s not clear to me what they were afraid of. 

For sure.

Nearly two years later, the trial was set to proceed. (the documents that describe the timeline are under seal, unfortunately so we’re not sure why there was such a long delay.). 

At that time though, the state was ready to go to trial. They had expert witnesses lined up to testify, but then in August of 2018, Catherine was offered a plea deal.

She pled to voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to serve a minimum of 60 months up to a maximum of 150 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections. 

That included a base sentence of 36 to 90 months, with an additional consecutive sentence of 24 to 60 months for the Deadly Weapon Enhancement.

But, plot twist, her sentence was suspended! That means she wouldn't spend any time in prison at all. Instead, she was given 4 years probation with all the standard probation conditions, and also 

1. She had to complete 8 hours of community service work each month of probation;
2. She had to abide by any curfew imposed by Probation Officer as deemed necessary;
3. She was to have no contact with the victim's family (it also said no contact with the victim, which we can agree is weird given that he was no longer alive)
4. She was to, within the first 30 days complete an evaluation (not clear what that means)

To me, this is the best outcome she could have possibly hoped for. The conflict between her account and the evidence and eyewitness testimony really raises questions, but it seems clear she was the victim of domestic violence and was defending herself legitimately.

Her probation is over now and she has moved back to Reno to be closer to her family as best we can tell, and of course we wish her only the best in her healing journey.

Although both of the women in our cases today defended themselves from domestic violence, the vast difference in these two cases is a good reminder that these types of experiences can vary widely, one of our victims had the means to mount a strong defense and hire an attorney, while the other had a public defender, and ended up spending 4 years in prison. 

Please remember that if you are experiencing domestic violence or you know someone who is, please take action. Reach out to local resources or shelters before the situation escalates like these two cases did.

Regardless, it's always important to believe the victims of domestic violence, and never give in to the urge to engage in victim blaming. 

NEW RECORDING Begins

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[Shaun]

I agree. 

The second case on this topic that I wanted to share took place in Elko, Nevada. 

Elko is more than 400 miles north of Las Vegas, or about a 7-hour drive. It’s about a 3 hour drive directly west of Salt Lake City, Utah. Elko is a small and rural town compared to Henderson or Las Vegas, with a population of around 20,000. 

Brittany and Timothy Figiel started dating in 2015 when they were both around 17 or 18 years old, moving to Elko from Louisiana just a few years later. Initially, the couple lived with Timothy’s father, but when they got married in 2019, they moved into their own place. 

Soon after, Brittany gave birth to a daughter and of course, since she’s a minor, we’re just going to call her Casey. 

Their relationship was described as rocky and tumultuous, and that conflict continued throughout their marriage which only lasted about 2 years. 

On June 8, 2022, when Brittany went out to spend some time with some friends, Timothy came to her house to watch Casey. When Brittany returned home that evening, Timothy told her he was going to take Casey with him and introduce her to his new girlfriend. 

This started an argument between the two of them because Brittany had not even met the new girlfriend. She said that she wanted to meet her first and thought that Timothy and the new girlfriend should be together for a length of time before introducing Casey to a new person. 

That’s pretty common for single parents when dating, that they delay having their kids meet the new boyfriend or girlfriend so that it doesn't cause constant upheaval for the child.

The argument escalated and Brittany said that Timothy told her “I’ll just kill you and I can do whatever I want with Casey.” 

Brittany later stated that she had seen Timothy become enraged and violent many times before in past arguments and she QUOTE “knew what it meant and what would happen next.”

Timothy chased her into the kitchen where she grabbed a large kitchen knife and warned him to stay away.. He charged at her though, and ran right into it. For reference, Brittany is 5’1 and weighs 90 lbs, while Timothy is enormous, at 6’2” and 257 pounds. That’s a HUGE size difference and it has to be intimidating when someone nearly three times your size is threatening your life and running at you.

Brittany initially thought she had stabbed him in the stomach, but blood was coming out from his chest. 

He staggered out of the front door and collapsed onto the porch. According to reporting, Brittany ran to her “husband’s relative’s house next door” – which I think is very likely to be Timothy’s father’s house —  and told them “Call 911. Timmy.” 

The relative went with Brittany back to her house and saw Timothy lying on the porch bleeding out. He told authorities that Brittany was ‘Hysterical.”

He scooped up Casey and brought her to his house, while a female relative called 911. 

When the police arrived, they found Timothy on the front porch bleeding from a stab wound in the chest with Brittany kneeling over him, putting pressure on the wound. The EMTs tried to save his life, but they were unable to, and Timothy died on the porch.

A knife described as a “meat cleaver” was identified at the scene as the murder weapon and was collected by the police. 

[John] 

That's weird because you can't really stab someone with a meat cleaver. It’s dull on that edge. It’s more for chopping

Yes, that part confused me as well. I'm not sure why the officers described it that way. Brittany was arrested and charged with open murder, battery with a deadly weapon, and domestic battery. Due to the charge of open murder, she was held without bail. Casey was put into child protective services and placed with relatives. 

[John] 

Again. Weird. We’ve talked about MANY cases where there’s an open murder here in NV and the person is offered bail. Maybe in those other cases, the charges were changed to some other more specific form of murder? Seems weird to me though. Everyone gets bail here.

Timothy’s death was the first murder in Elko in about a year so as you can imagine, in a small town like that it caused quite an uproar.

The trial began on March 15, 2023 in Elko District Court. Brittany argued that she had killed Timothy in an act of self-defense, as a result of being a victim of ongoing domestic violence. 

During the trial, the prosecution brought evidence that Timothy’s autopsy showed that he had died from a knife wound to his chest that was seven-and-one-quarter inches deep and had punctured his left lung and his heart. Timothy did not have any defensive wounds and no alcohol or drugs were found in his system. 

Police said that there was no reported history of domestic violence with the couple. Despite her claim of ongoing domestic violence. Brittany stated Timothy had strangled her and had pushed her down the stairs when she was pregnant. 

In addition, Timothy’s father had witnessed an incident where Timothy had picked up Brittany and threw her against a wall, causing her to hit her head. Timothy had also threatened to kill her if she touched him again. The story was corroborated by a text message between Brittany and Timothy, where Brittany texted him “I have a knot on my head, thanks for that.” and he replied, “Sorry about that, I was out of line.” 

During the trial, a domestic violence expert testified about the cycle of domestic violence and Timothy’s controlling behavior. As reported in the Elko Free Press, Brittany was not allowed to go to the grocery store without him, and any money she earned became his money.

For some reason, during the opening arguments, the DA brought up the height and weight difference between Brittany and Timothy – again, Brittany is only 5-feet, 1-inch tall and weighs 90 pounds – and Timothy was 6-feet, 2 inches and weighed 257 pounds.

[John] 

I honestly have no idea what the prosecution thought they were doing there. That is NOT something that helps their case. If anything it makes it much more clear why she’d be so afraid of him physically. I'm about 150 lbs, and I’d be intimidated by a 450lb person.

In contrast, Brittany’s attorney - Elko County Public Defender Matthew Pennell - said that despite their differences in size, QUOTE “she finally had the courage not to be a victim and stood her ground.”

[John] 

I'm sure the defense was really happy that the prosecutors had brought that up. What a layup.

The trial lasted for two weeks and included the testimony of 26 witnesses and more than 100 exhibits entered into evidence. The prosecution largely tried to cast doubt on Brittany’s claims of violence as there were no police reports made and the only witness was the father in law. The prosecution also tried to disprove the facts and circumstances of the stabbing, saying that the angle of the stab wound and the lack of defensive wounds meant that Brittany wasn’t holding the knife out away from her body in a “stay away” stance. They argued he would have been cut by the knife or had some defensive wounds before he got close to her. He was much taller, and had a longer reach than her. 

The defense argued that Timothy was walking fast towards Brittany, in a rage, and that if her intent was to kill him, why did she only stab him once, then run to get help, and attempt to stop the bleeding afterward? 

Her attorney shared that Brittany had said, “What else was I supposed to do?” And he argued that  “Brittany couldn’t have done anything else, otherwise she would have lost her life that day.”

Her defense attorney also emphasized how she was a victim of domestic violence and evidence had shown that Timothy did not care for Brittany at all and that he was angry and violent towards her.  Timothy himself had admitted to punching holes in the wall next to Brittany’s face. Her attorney said, QUOTE  “Why would he admit to that if it wasn’t true?”

Evidence showed that at one point Timothy had said “There’s a lot of mines, there are a lot of holes and she’d never be found.” 

I want to read this last part from Pennell’s closing argument - “Brittany was the real victim in this case. When someone threatens to kill you, you should believe them. Especially when just the week before, they violently assaulted you and told you they were going to kill you. Especially if you’ve been punching holes in the walls near her face just a month or two before you threatened to kill her. Especially if you had the physicality and the power to overwhelm her and do whatever you wanted to do.”

“And especially when someone has no choice but to defend themselves, we don’t punish the survivors.”

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury could have found Brittany guilty of murder in the first-degree, the second-degree, manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter.

After 2 hours of deliberation, the jury found her not guilty. 

Brittany still lives in the Elko area with her daughter. She speaks out on her social media about domestic violence. 

Note: Quote from Brittany - October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So I wanted to share these hotlines for anyone I know who may need them or someone you may know who needs them. You deserve a better life than you have now 🩵 I’m always here for anyone that needs someone to talk to without judgment. 

[John]

Over these past 2 episodes, we’ve seen three examples of women who were forced to defend themselves from attack using deadly force, but we saw how vastly differently they were treated by the judicial system. It's clear that the courts have problems when it comes to domestic violence and self-defense. It seems a systemic form of victim blaming where instead of a person asking “why didn't they leave?” it’s the courts sending them to prison with the prosecutor having asked, “why didn't they retreat?”

The reality is sometimes there’s no option to retreat.

[Shaun]

Advocates, like Brittany, and even police officers often stress that victims should reach out and contact hotlines or other local resources for help because the advocates are trained to listen to you and help you develop a plan that works for you. 

If you yourself are not experiencing domestic violence, you can also call hotlines for your own emotional support or even advice on how to best help your loved one who is going through a domestic violence situation. 

If you are someone who has used violence in a relationship, you can also reach out, you can remain anonymous, and find out what support is available to help you cope and work to change your behavior. 

We have a list of resources in our show notes and on our website. 

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