Jury comes to decision in Holly Springs murder trial
It's my understanding from the bailiff that the jurors have
indicated that they've reached a verdict in this case
Uh So that being so I'm gonna go ahead and
have the ballot bring the jurors back into the courtroom
Welcome back
Ladies and gentlemen uh you're both has informed me that
uh you've indicated you've reached a unanimous verdict in this
case
Could I have the four person stand please Yes ma'am
Um This is yes or no question ma'am Is it
correct that the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in
this case
And have you completed the verdict form and signed and
dated it Very good
Could you hand the entire packet to the bailiff please
Yes
Thank you ma'am
And you may be seated
Okay
Thanks
madam clerk will you announce the verdict Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury Your foreperson has returned a verdict in
case number 20 crs 866
The state of north Carolina versus bryan slows
We the jury by unanimous verdict found the defendant brian
sluss to be guilty of first degree murder involving domestic
violence
This is signed by your four person
This 28 day of April 2022
Ladies and gentlemen uh if this is a unanimous verdict
would you each raise your hand just so I can
do a quick head count
Make sure this unanimous verdict
Let the record reflect 12 jurors have raised their hand
Council is there anything further that we require of this
jury All right so ladies and gentlemen Uh the clerk
will ask each of you some questions
She's gonna start with the four person and she's gonna
go back to juror number one and just listen to
the carefully to the question and answer the questions that
you're asked madam
Clerk would you pull the jurors please juror number five
U
S
Four person have returned a verdict of guilty of first
degree murder involving domestic violence
Is this your verdict Really Do you still ascent there
too with you Do you do you still assent to
that Yes
Okay juror number one your first person has returned a
verdict of guilty in the first degree murder involving domestic
violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still have
sent there too Thank you juror Number two your first
person has returned a verdict of guilty of first degree
murder involving domestic violence
Is this your verdict And do you still stand there
too Thank you juror number three your foreman has has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involved
in domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still consent
there too Thank you
During number four your foreman has returned a verdict of
guilty of first degree murder involving domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still ascent
there too Thank you juror number six your foreman has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involving
domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still sent
there to thank you Juror # seven your foreman has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involved
in domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still have
sent there to thank you juror number eight Your foreman
has returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder
involving domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still sent
there too Thank you juror Number nine
Your foreman has returned a verdict of guilty of first
degree murder involving domestic violence
Is that still your verdict And do you still ascent
there too Thank you juror number 10 your foreman has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involved
in domestic violence
Is that still your verdict And do you still sent
there to thank you During number 11 your foreman has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involving
domestic violence
Is this still your verdict And do you still sent
there to thank you juror number 12 your foreman has
returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder involving
domestic violence
Is that still your verdict And do you still sent
there to thank you
Thank you
Ladies and gentlemen anything further Mr man
All right anything further for this jury
It's some members of the jury
This does conclude your jury service on behalf of myself
uh for the court and for the state and the
defense we thank you very much for your service your
diligence and your attention to this matter Uh certainly a
three week trial is an imposition on anybody and you
have served admirably with your attentiveness throughout this trial
And and we are grateful for your participation
Uh Let me ask of the state
Are you prepared to pray judgment judgment All right
So what will happen next And you as citizens are
welcome to observe this proceeding if you wish Uh We
will hold a sentencing hearing and then I will impose
a sentence based on the verdict that you as a
jury have returned
Like I say you have no part in that
But you are welcome as citizens to view these proceedings
if you wish
If you do wish to then just remain right where
you're seated and we'll proceed directly into the sentencing
Yes
Yeah
Okay
Coming around the family purchased have a prior record level
worksheet
The jury has already heard about this one
Prior conviction for assault on a female
And the record
Alright
Mr Manning is that stipulated declined his prior record level
one for thank you
All right MS pomeroy your honor
Thank you
I do have just a few brief things but obviously
the family what they need to say is the most
important your honor
I cannot thank the holly Springs Police Department
Um I'm sorry I'm gonna try and get through this
um in the town of holly Springs for the amount
of time money
Um And heart that went into this investigation
I I certainly want to thank the Tazewell County um
Sheriff's department Bluefield Police department the north Carolina crime lab
the forensic biology section and so many others that dedicated
their time and hearts and souls to try and bring
some justice to Monica and her family
Um Mhm
Your honor
I mostly want I want to thank this family for
trusting me
Thank you
And so I'm gonna leave it to that now when
you want to go first your honor I believe first
Melanie tucker who you heard from would like to speak
MS tucker
Yes ma'am
Good afternoon
I just wanted to say some stuff about Monica and
the impact that this whole thing has I had on
me and my family
Mhm
Monica day mornin was my child
I carried her inside my body and I was there
for every event small or large
I wiped away her tears and I held her I
took care of every bump and bruise I attended every
school function game and every track meet
I helped her fill out job applications
We took family vacations to the beach every year I
was present for the births of both of her babies
I caught nova when monty gave birth to her Monty
was my daughter 1st and always and when she grew
up money was also my friend and I loved her
very much
She was a vibrant force
She was magnetic
Her energy was very strong whatever she was feeling you
knew it
She loved her family
We were a tight knit group Brandon and I had
raised money with her older sister Sam and eventually their
younger brother Trey
The three were very protective of one another
So much love between them
Money made friends easily
And she loved her friends
They always had a way of helping each other out
Our house was the house that Mani and her friends
gravitated to
Her special friends were like part of our family
Monty had her first baby kaylee when she was just
19 years old and she had her second nova and
what would be the last year of her life
She was only 22 years old
Monty grew into an amazing young mother
She had a natural easy way with mothering
She loved her kids fiercely
Kayleigh was her little partner her mini bestie
And for the three years and six months that Caylee
had her mommy in her life Nova had never spent
a night away from home
She loved breastfeeding and monte loved that she could give
that to her baby and adored that bond
Within eight short months that they had together
Both Children were incredibly attached to money and she embraced
it with everything
She had Monty's Children were her world
Mani was passionate about natural health and had begun taking
steps to become a dula as you guys heard Just
22 she had created her own elderberry business and was
on her way to training for a career to set
her and her daughters up for a promising future
And it had meant so much to her
She was very proud and excited Celeste took that all
away on April 7 2019 he destroyed her promising future
and he changed more lives than I can even mention
here today
Money will never see her daughters do all of the
things that a mom should be a huge part of
Okay Kayla and Noma the very closest person to them
in the whole world
Take it away by the hands of their own biological
father
Sammy won't have her sister her very best friend and
her wedding or when she has her first baby and
Sammy was able to do that for body with both
of her babies trade is that someone he looked up
to who loved him exactly as he is taken away
from his life forever
Neither Sami or tray will ever bounce ideas off of
or share news or good advice or sisterly love for
money
I will never get to hug my middle child again
I will never get to listen to her be cozy
with her or talk to her about all the things
literally all the things Brandon will never get to help
money with anything again
He will never get to joke with her the way
they often did or hug her in his protective nature
None of us will get to laugh with her special
birthdays our holidays together all of her cousins all of
her aunts uncles her biological father Curtis Barbara her aunt
her grandmother's does she think she won't get to spend
any time with them after raising three Children
Brandon and I I had gone from finish line back
to the start
As far as parenting
We have adapted our amazing young granddaughters and now we
are their parents as well as their grandparents
We are grateful that they are safe and happy in
our care
But this means we no longer get to bask in
the joys of regular grandparenting
A piece of our family puzzle is gone forever brian's
last took that from us
He took her from all of her friends her family
and her future
But most of all he took a mother from her
Children
A dedicated mother a mother who truly loved being just
that a mother and he stole this from his own
biological Children BRian solis is a murderer
He murdered Armani
But this isn't the only heinous thing he did
It was his ultimate act of evil but not his
last
He also chose to pretend to be here after killing
her for months after taking her life he used her
phone to text her family and often talked a lot
He must have really paid attention to the way and
how often she communicated with family and friends because he
was skilled at Impersonating money
No one knew his texts were elaborate detailed and the
frequency was typically on point how often she truly spoke
to each prominent person in her life
When she was alive
He hacked into her facebook and instagram accounts to attempt
to maintain the posting frequency and type when he didn't
He had a story
right here when he didn't he had a story of
wanting to take a break from social media
As many people do from time to time
It was all disgustingly well thought out
He stayed in touch by these frequent and detailed often
private type conversations all coming from her phone and social
media accounts to make her family friends and coworkers all
believe it was her that she was simply extra busy
sick working more and more etcetera brian's less planned pretend
and deceived and hid the fact that he killed money
He kept her Children in her tiny apartment in the
dark guiding from management and neighbors lying to them lying
to everyone
He abused her Children out of frustration for his own
horrific crimes and gigantic gigantic lies
He kept them from family who they were used to
and loved dearly
He is truly an evil human brian slices a predator
He stalks his prey he grooms and manipulates his schemes
and steals and cheats and kills he is a disgusting
monster
He deserves the worst punishment possible
He ended the life of a beautiful strong willed independent
super fun and funny and intelligent vulnerable special young mom
daughter sister granddaughter niece cousin and friend
Monty was a force to be reckoned with
But at £120 and just over five ft On April
6 to April seven of 2019
She couldn't fight back hard enough she couldn't come back
his angry narcissistic psychopath
During this final fit of his jealous rage
Monty couldn't hang on when brian's last had lost it
and decided to choke her one more time
This time choking the life right out of her
His life should absolutely be over
I pray that he paid for this crime for the
life that he ripped from this earth and all the
life that he has destroyed and changed in the process
of his evil crime
He deserves to die
But that is for God to decide not me
However the court can make sure that this murderer spends
the rest of his life in prison and I ask
that you please do exactly that
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you Miss tucker
Okay I saw her being born I cut the umbilical
cord and gave her her first bath With Sammy and
92 fathers weren't allowed in the birthing room
So Monica was the first I saw being born Monica
would call me daddy O she was an amazing daughter
woman and mother
She lit up the room when walking in with her
smile her blow and sense of humor
She made everybody happy with her positive persona
She was a go getter organized and just a wonderful
person to have in our life
I miss you Monica and I love you And I
will see you again when it's my turn to leave
this world
The one time I met the defender and he was
supposed to take care of her and protect her
But instead he killed her
Mhm Special thanks to the state the D
A
Jury and holly springs Police department
I can't tell you how much I am truly grateful
for all your hard work
Thank you
Mr morning
Thank you
Mm hmm
I'm Brandon tucker
I'm Monica stepfather and Melanie you know primarily raised her
from time out
She was five years old when I met her
And was it a big part of her life Until
It was taken actually the age of 22
Um so I had I wrote this
It says never laid to rest
Which is something that's true to this day
She's still never been laid to rest because only one
person knows where she is
But I'll start by last week I was looking at
monty's Pinterest page and noticed she has saved a pen
of a Maya Angelou quote that said I've learned that
people will forget what you said
People forget what you did but people will never forget
how you made them feel
I think that money would be happy knowing that she
made a positive impact and lasting impression on those who
knew her
She was the kind of present she wanted to be
around and she emanated good energy
That is how she made us feel
And the witnesses in this trial
That is how she made us feel
And the witnesses in this trial who knew money reiterated
that over and over this world would benefit from more
people like her
We love seeing the mother she had become and we
loved our role as grandparents
We were in the process of trying to find her
living situation closer to us so we could be closer
to her and the grandchildren but an encounter with evil
cut her life short before that could ever happen
On the contrary the defendants legacy will be that of
a murderer who stole a beautiful life and the disgust
we all felt hearing everything he did after killing her
Seeing that not one single person besides the defendant himself
testified on his behalf tells us all we need to
know about how he is perceived by those who know
him
The past three weeks have been extremely emotional for many
of us the ripple effect of the damage caused by
brian sluss murdering Monica has not only had a devastating
effect on our family but his actions have damaged the
lives of several other people and families as well as
for Melanie and I not only do we no longer
have money but we no longer get to be traditional
grandparents
Instead we've become full time parents all over again full
time parents to Monica's two daughters wonderful daughters that we
adopted
Two wonderful girls whose father murdered their mother to girls
whose mother is still out there and has never been
laid to rest
There's a mental agony that comes with knowing what he
did to money
An agony that causes sleepless nights and leaves an internal
hole in our hearts
Continual discomfort that can surface anytime without warning
This agony could be triggered by more things than I
have time to address in this statement
But I will try to at least convey what I
mean by the agony I'm referring to
Although words can't truly describe what I will attempt to
It's the pain of visualizing monty's final moments when he
was murdering her
It is the feeling her fear and thoughts in those
final moments
And
no way she needed you when you weren't there
To help
It is the torture of knowing she's still out there
somewhere
But not knowing where
It's the inherent feeling of knowing that she her spirit
yearns to be found
It's the hope that one day we will find her
and bring her remains home
But also knowing that they may never happen
Yes it's the reality of knowing that her remains may
not even be retrievable
Depending on his actions
It's not knowing exactly what he did to her and
having only your imagination to draw a conclusion
And over time having your imagination go to the darkest
of places as every and I mean every possible scenario
plays out in your mind
It's that nauseous feeling in your gut
When you picture those scenarios it's the combination of aching
pain and frustration of these thoughts that range from the
deep sadness to a raging anger
It's wanting him to feel physical pain
But finding self restraint because you must be present for
your grandchildren
It's just wanting to have her to hold her to
turn back time and tell her worst
So sorry we let this happen to you money
We would do anything to bring you back while knowing
that's not possible
It's being confronted with our own guilt of not doing
enough before reminding ourselves it's not our fault
It's all the what ifs that you go through in
your mind before being reminded there's only one person to
blame for her murder
This is the agony we live within the reality
We struggled to accept during this time we have turned
our faith in God to direct turned to our faith
in God to direct us through this storm and we
give thanks to God for giving us the best teams
possible
In order to bring justice for money
We are grateful the justice system got it right this
time and we find resolve and knowing this evil man
will pay for his heinous acts
However the fact remains we will continue to live with
the pain of what he did
Monica was strong
She was a fighter she wants to be found she
needs to be brought home and it is our belief
there's only one person in this world who can provide
the information to achieve that goal and that one man
is brian sluss the one who murdered and disposed of
her
The same man who lied about her and slandered her
good character as his former defense
The same sick and evil man who impersonated her and
caused further psychological harm to her family and friends by
taking on her persona her identity as we we're as
we all were having what we thought were real emotional
and heartfelt interactions with the daughter sister family member friend
coworker
We knew and loved some conversations with the impersonator was
so involved in intimate that looking back it feels like
a sort of sick emotional rape that took place while
he interacted with us as her
The defendant's mind is so dark and cruel
We still question whether his actions after the murder were
to buy time for his crime or if he was
getting off in some perverse fashion on the twisted game
This had become to him the same man who depleted
her bank account with dating site subscriptions after he had
murdered her your honor
I would also be remiss not to mention that according
to witness testimony brian sluss also stated that he when
he gets out he would kill Monica's parents if he
had to to get his girls
Considering that brian sluss has just been convicted of murder
this is a threat that cannot be disregarded or taken
lightly
He has had the free will each and every day
since he murdered Monica to confess his crime and be
truthful for the first time in his delusion filled life
But instead he has refused to as a christian
I consider myself a fair and just man
And if the defendant had done anything worthy of grace
during this whole process I would have sincerely prayed on
it and given real consideration and how I approached this
impact statement
But considering his choices and his actions have only made
the most nightmares of situations even worse I cannot consider
recommending anything less than the harshest punishment available to him
So I humbly ask your honor to consider my words
and sentence to specimen accordingly
Thank you
Thank you sir
Right
anything further from the state
Mhm
No your honor
Thank you
Mr
Manning anything on behalf of the defense
He's ready for sentencing
Mr slash for you to stand for me sir
The jury having returned a verdict of guilty of first
degree murder on the basis of domestic violence
The court imposes judgment of life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole for the murder of Monica morning bailiff
The defendant is in your custody to the family and
friends here
The court offers the sympathy of the state of north
Carolina for the loss of a wonderful soul
Thank you counsel
Thank you
We're approaching Yeah