by Rachael Joseph

Created on: August 21, 2009   Last Updated: August 24, 2009

On September 29, 2003, my aunt Shelley was shot to death in the Hennepin County Courthouse downtown Minneapolis, MN. Her murderer received life for this offense. Fairness is not really the issue here, but how can we protect people like my aunt from the woman who killed her before it is too late?

Her name was Susan Berkovitz and all of her life, people knew there was something "off" about her. Unfortunately, "off" had never been diagnosed. Sure, Susan had been banned from the Red Cross, the public library and even the Ramsey County courts, but she had never been banned from my aunt Shelley. Later diagnosed as a psychopath with schizoid tendencies, Susan had a "me against the world" mentality that often turned vengeful. She was a frivolous litigant and when her own brother and sister decided to move her parents to California and put my aunt Shelley in charge of their finances and medical care, Susan blew a gasket. She decided that she was somehow being cheated out of an inheritance that didn't exist and went after my aunt. She sent dead animals, she sent threatening letters. The police did nothing and Shelley was told that the police could do, nothing until Susan did. They let her become a victim.

So, in the summer of 2003, Susan Berkovitz bought an antique gun at a gun show in Minneapolis and began target shooting. She filed a complaint in Hennepin County where she knew there were no metal detectors, and Susan had also been banned from the other major county's courts. The courts ruled to protect themselves, just not my aunt. On September 29th, 2003 she had a court date scheduled at the Hennepin county Government Center. She had another frivolous charge and showed up several hours before the court time banging on the door to be let in, she wanted to see the courtroom layout. Workers found her behavior bizarre, but no one was alerted.

When court time finally came, my aunt had requested a security guard to accompany her and her lawyer-she was scared of Susan, and with good reason. The three of them sat separately outside the courtroom and my aunt needed to use the restroom. The security guard accompanied her while Shelley's lawyer, Rick, knelt down to open his briefcase. He planned to serve Susan with similar papers like he had in Ramsey county and have Susan declared a frivolous litigant in Hennepin county as well. He heard a loud pop and felt his neck get very hot, he'd just been shot by Susan Berkovitz. He saw her calmly walking toward

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