RUTLAND, Vt. -
The sounds of Jennifer Berube's alleged attack on Ofc. Damon Nguyen inside an interview room at the Rutland City Police station are hard to listen to.
The prosecution paints the picture of a woman whose motive was to kill.
"A deadly weapon was used. It was used with stealth; it was used from behind and it was going to the area of Officer Nguyen's neck," Rutland County Prosecutor Marc Brierre said.
During her initial interview with police, Berube claims it was not her intent to kill the officer when she allegedly approached him from behind and dragged a knife across his jugular.
"I thought I could talk to the officer and scare him and get his keys," she said. "I just wanted to get my husband out."
Berube was arrested with her husband for allegedly using stolen credit cards. Her attorney hoped Berube's word would hold up in front of a judge, saying not only did she not intend to harm Nguyen, she was sorry that he suffered at all.
Detectives say it was a Leatherman-brand folding knife that Berube is accused of using on the officer. She claims she found in the room.
"On the floor in one of the interview rooms, in the north interview room on the floor under the table by the leg," Rutland Police Det. David LaChance said.
In the end of the nearly four-hour hearing, the judge ruled the weight of the evidence in the video against Berube was great. She is being held without bail.
"The evidence from him would be pretty compelling that the defendant was intent on killing him by using a knife in a vital area of his body, that being the neck," Vt. Superior Court Judge Theresa DiMauro said.
A DVD of surveillance video of the alleged attack was shown as evidence in court, but the media was not allowed to see it. We're not really sure why. The screen was set up in such a manner that we could not see it. When we tried to set up on the opposite side of the courtroom so we could get a better view, we were told to move. We were told the screen would not move to accommodate us. When we submitted a request to the judge to allow us to view the DVD after the fact, she let us view it-- but just the disk itself sitting on a counter. We could not play it, record it, or view its contents.
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