French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s assertion that “we are our choices” was the underpinning of a guilty verdict handed down Friday afternoon in the trial of Brenndan  M. Pietlukiewicz, 21, of Waterloo. 

The jury found that the choice of Pietlukiewicz to shoot Kyle Johnson in the leg on the evening of Nov. 4, 2025, was not an act of self defense, and Pietlukiewicz was found guilty of all four charges brought against him.

He was originally charged Nov. 7 with aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, a Class X felony, and aggravated discharge of a firearm (occupied vehicle), a Class 1 felony.

He was more recently charged with obstruction of justice as he was accused of intentionally deleting text messages sent from his phone to the victim in an attempt to conceal any potentially incriminating evidence, a Class 4 felony.

The fourth charge alleged Pietlukiewicz knowingly carried an uncased and loaded Glock 20 10 mm handgun in a vehicle without having been issued a concealed carry permit, also a Class 4 felony.

Following the verdict being read, Monroe County Resident Circuit Judge Chris Hitzemann granted a motion to remand Pietlukiewicz to custody in the Monroe County Jail pending sentencing in the matter on March 13 at 1 p.m.

A juror who spoke Tuesday with the Republic-Times on the condition of anonymity offered an insight to the jury’s rationale in delivering a guilty verdict.

“The evidence showed that choices were made that evening and, unfortunately, they were the wrong choices that did break laws,” the juror said. 

Those sentiments echoed the opening and closing statements of Monroe County State’s Attorney Ryan Webb.

“It’s about the facts,” Webb concluded Friday, saying those facts include Pietlukiewicz being shown on video shooting Johnson in addition to Pietlukiewicz later deleting text messages sent to Johnson in the minutes leading up to the shooting.

Webb also stated Johnson was led to believe he was going to “another fist fight” – not realizing it was actually a gun fight. 

Edwardsville attorney Robert Bas served as Pietlukiewicz’s defense attorney. 

While Bas agreed with most of the primary facts of the case, he spent much of last week trying to argue the reason behind his client’s actions – chiefly that Pietlukiewicz had “no other choice” but to shoot Johnson, who Bas portrayed as a “wild animal” seeking revenge against a man who was at one time his best friend.

Both sides agreed Pietlukiewicz struck Kyle Johnson in the leg by discharging a firearm from a parked vehicle in the RMC Cinema parking lot just after 7:15 p.m., turning himself in at the Waterloo Police Department headquarters a short time later.

Following jury selection last Monday, witness testimony began the morning of Feb. 3 and continued through Thursday.

The testimony told the story of how the friendship of Pietlukiewicz and Johnson – who at one point lived in the same residence – came to an abrupt end several weeks before the shooting.

Their friendship began around the time the two entered high school about seven years ago but ended in October when Johnson learned Pietlukiewicz had begun dating Harlie Brigance – Johnson’s ex-girlfriend. 

Candria Rogers, who had been in a relationship with Pietlukiewicz for more than two years and had also been friends with Brigance, offered testimony that Johnson sent her electronic messages and videos stating his intention to harm and even kill Pietlukiewicz after learning about his relationship with Brigance in late October.

Pietlukiewicz testified he received similar threats from Johnson at that time.

On the day of the shooting, Pietlukiewicz and Brigance both testified that the couple went on a date to the St. Louis Zoo before returning to Brigance’s apartment. 

After taking a nap, they then decided to attend a screening of a movie that night at RMC Cinema in Waterloo.

Upon arriving at the movie, the couple was approached by Johnson, who was asked to see a movie that night by his friend Jack Stewart, who also testified during the trial.

Johnson approached Pietlukiewicz while he was exiting  the passenger side of Brigance’s car.

A fight ensued, with Johnson punching Pietlukiewicz three times, wrestling him to the ground and kicking him in the face before entering the movie theater.

Pietlukiewicz and Brigance left the theater, returned to Brigance’s apartment and then returned to the theater parking lot about 7:15 p.m.

The return to Brigance’s apartment following the altercation became a disputed point throughout this trial.

Webb contended the couple went to the apartment in order for Pietlukiewicz to retrieve a gun, while the couple testified Brigance had left her debit card at the apartment.

Brigance also testified she never saw the gun until “after the shooting,” and Pietlukiewicz said under oath that the gun had been in the center console of Brigance’s vehicle the entire day on Nov. 4.

The motive for the return notwithstanding, Monroe County Sheriff’s Department investigator Wes Degener took the stand last Wednesday morning to outline a text conversation between Pietlukiewicz and Johnson that occurred between the first altercation and the shooting.

Using data extracted from Pietlukiewicz’s phone and text messages from Johnson’s phone, a virtual recreation of the trip from the theater to Brigance’s apartment and back was displayed on a large courthouse monitor as Degener described the location of the vehicle and contents of text messages sent at corresponding times.

Johnson sent messages seeming to brag about the outcome of the earlier fight as Pietlukiewicz responded by saying he was unfazed by the attack.

Johnson’s texts included  the statements, “couldn’t even hit me,” “there will be a next time,” “ain’t s*** without a gun” and “let’s go until someone is unconscious.”

A short time later, Pietlukiewicz notified Johnson he had returned to the theater parking lot.

According to Johnson, he left the movie after receiving that text despite thinking he was going to get “jumped” because he “felt he had something to prove.”

While approaching Brigance’s vehicle, Johnson said he “had a weird feeling” and began recording the encounter using the Snapchat app.

That video, shown multiple times over several days of testimony, was likely the key piece of evidence for the prosecution.

The video shows Pietlukiewicz and Brigance sitting in the vehicle in a part of the theater lot not generally used for parking.

A movie theater employee who testified last Tuesday noted she had “never seen anyone park there before.”

As Johnson approaches, he can be seen in a reflection with his left hand in his pocket and the phone used to record the video in his right hand.

While next to the car, Johnson is heard tapping on the hood of the vehicle as Pietlukiewicz says, “Back up off my window, *****.”

At that time Brigance, with both feet resting on the vehicle dashboard, glances up briefly before returning her gaze to her phone.

The camera angle briefly shifts to the back seat of the vehicle, then back to the passengers. 

That camera shift, however brief, was another disputed fact of the case.

Johnson testified he turned the camera to the back seat because he saw a gun case.

Bas, arguing self defense, maintained that Johnson shifted the camera to not capture him punching Pietlukiewicz – even though the action was purported to happen in the space of one second with Johnson using his non-dominant hand and keeping the camera steady.  

Nevertheless, the video then shows the window still being rolled down as an unaffected Pietlukiewicz brandishes and “racks” the gun, points downward and pulls the trigger. 

The video then stops, as Johnson explained, because the Snapchat app is designed to record only while the phone is being engaged. 

He dropped the phone after being shot, thus ending the video. 

Pietlukiewicz then leaves the theater parking lot, turning himself in at Waterloo Police Department headquarters less than 15 minutes later. 

In addition to disagreements about the purpose of returning to Brigance’s apartment and what happened when the video shifted momentarily, Bas also presented an account of Brigance’s interrogation by WPD officer Chad Nord which included details not substantiated by Nord.

Bas tried to imply that Nord attempted to coerce Brigance into offering information – although Nord described an encounter that was mostly casual in nature.

The trial was marked by repeated objections and requests for “sidebar” conversations between the judge and attorneys, most of which were initiated by Bas.

At one point, it took a whole hour for Webb to get an affirmative response from Degener by asking if there was evidence found on Pietlukiewicz’s phone of a search using ChatGPT, an online artificial intelligence program. 

It was later revealed Pietlukiewicz had used ChatGPT on Oct. 18 to ask how a person might legally shoot someone who entered his property. 

It was also learned Johnson threatened to go to Pietlukiewicz’s property that day, to which Pietlukiewicz responded by encouraging Johnson to “step foot” on his or Brigance’s property, later adding “I actually live for this.”

Webb later established Pietlukiewicz had at one point driven past Johnson’s residence, directing a green laser pointer light into the house. Webb later pointed out that one of Pietlukiewicz’s friends owns a gun that had a green laser sight attachment.

While Bas’s version of events had several obvious flaws, what most likely doomed the defense was the fact that very little character evidence about Johnson’s recent criminal history was allowed to be admitted at trial. 

During pretrial motions, Bas indicated his intention to introduce “evidence of victim’s character and prior acts of violence” based on the 1984 landmark case People v. Lynch.

Webb later told the Republic-Times that specific case allows for such evidence only as it pertains to prior interactions involving the parties named in a complaint.

As much of Johnson’s recent encounters with law enforcement only involve Brigance, none of the information was allowed to be presented. 

For instance, on July 21, 2024, while Johnson and Brigance were dating, Johnson was arrested following a high-speed chase beginning at Brigance’s apartment.

He was subsequently charged with aggravated domestic battery (strangle), unlawful restraint, aggravated fleeing/eluding police, and aggravated battery of a police officer. 

Johnson was alleged to have strangled a female victim, that being his girlfriend at the time, Brigance. He then detained Brigance and another woman in that while being asked to leave, he “held a steak knife and refused to permit” them to seek police assistance. 

The resulting police pursuit involved speeds of 21-plus miles per hour over the speed limit. Johnson is also alleged to have “spit on the arm” of a Columbia police officer in the incident. 

While awaiting trial on those charges, Johnson was charged with two counts of harassment through electronic communication (threaten to kill) and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on March 25, 2025.

All three of those charges were dismissed as well as the 2024 charges of aggravated domestic battery (strangle), unlawful restraint and aggravated battery of a police officer in exchange for a guilty plea to aggravated fleeing.

Johnson was sentenced to 24 months of second-chance probation on May 1, 2025.

Mere days later on May 4, Johnson was charged with criminal damage to property and criminal trespass to land in connection with an incident at Brigance’s apartment.

Johnson also has an open aggravated battery case pending in St. Clair County.

Despite Johnson’s recent run-ins with the law, he is free and his former best friend likely faces prison time due to a series of choices.

A Class X felony is punishable by 6-30 years in prison, while a Class 1 felony can produce a sentence of 4-15 years of incarceration.

The juror who spoke with the Republic-Times mentioned choice as a topic discussed among this jury during deliberations.

“Had different choices been made by the defendant when the first altercation occurred and he reported it, then I believe the appropriate party would’ve been charged accordingly,” the juror said following the trial. “But again, unfortunately, that just wasn’t the outcome in this case. Physical, mental and emotional domestic abuse is very real, and I wish when reported those individuals were better educated on how to properly handle the situation.” 

Prior to the verdict being read, Judge Hitzemann advised the audience that no outbursts would be permitted upon reading the verdict, and extra MCSD and WPD personnel were on hand for the reading. 

Shortly after the verdict was read and the jury dismissed, friends and family of the defendant could be heard weeping as Johnson and his friends exited the courtroom. 

Pietlukiewicz’s mother then shouted, “I love you Brenndan,” which was followed by similar sentiments from his friends, although most of them were asked to leave a short time later.

One individual was heard shouting, “I didn’t f****** say anything!” as he was leaving the courtroom. 

Several officers were stationed near the north courthouse exit to ensure the group did not create any further disturbances.

The friends of the recently-convicted Pietlukiewicz could then be seen sobbing and embracing along different parts of Mill Street west of the courthouse – their emotions being the result of a poor choice.