Brian Canarelli’s second-degree murder conviction closes the trial phase of a case that began with a June 2021 shooting in Jupiter Farms.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — For more than five years, Brian Canarelli faced a first-degree murder charge over the fatal shooting of his estranged wife’s fiancé. Now the jury phase is over: Canarelli has been convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm, and the case is moving toward sentencing.
The change came Sept. 25 at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, where jurors returned a verdict after a five-day trial. They did not convict Canarelli of first-degree murder, the charge filed after James “Cole” Berger was killed in June 2021. Instead, the jury found Canarelli guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm. Circuit Judge John Parnofiello then delayed sentencing so a presentencing investigation could be completed at the request of Canarelli’s attorneys. The judge did not immediately place a sentencing hearing on the calendar.
The verdict ended one long phase of the criminal case but left another consequential decision unresolved. Canarelli, 46, faces a substantial prison sentence. Florida’s firearm law provides a mandatory minimum of at least 25 years when a defendant convicted of a qualifying felony discharged a firearm and the discharge caused death or great bodily harm. The statute permits a longer mandatory term up to life, and it does not prevent a court from imposing a longer sentence otherwise authorized by law. The exact punishment Canarelli will receive has not been decided.
The case dates to the night of June 22, 2021, when Canarelli’s estranged wife contacted him about their son. Contemporary reporting based on a sheriff’s office arrest report said she and Berger had been arguing at their Jupiter Farms property and decided three children at the home should leave. The 9-year-old boy wanted to go with his father. His mother called Canarelli at about 8 p.m. and asked him to come to the property on 98th Trail North.
Canarelli arrived in a white Porsche Cayenne and parked outside a gate. According to the arrest report, Berger approached and the two men began yelling at each other. Berger was engaged to Canarelli’s estranged wife, and reports said he had not known she had called Canarelli to the home. Their dispute continued near the gate. As the woman prepared to open it for the child, Berger went over the barrier and the confrontation turned deadly.
Canarelli’s estranged wife told investigators that she heard a gunshot and then ran toward the front of the property. She said she had not seen the gun but found Berger wounded and began trying to resuscitate him. She reported hearing Canarelli say he had shot Berger. Berger’s mother, who had arrived to pick up children, told investigators she witnessed more of the shooting. According to the arrest report, she saw Canarelli reach behind his back, produce a handgun and fire at her son.
Berger’s mother said he held a pebble but did not raise it toward Canarelli. She told deputies that after the first shot knocked Berger down, Canarelli approached and fired additional rounds. Investigators later reported finding six spent 9 mm casings near the entrance to the property. A handgun was visible on the driver’s-side floorboard of Canarelli’s Porsche, according to accounts of the scene. Berger, 37, was pronounced dead.
By the early hours of June 23, Canarelli was in custody. He was booked into the Palm Beach County jail and charged with first-degree murder with a firearm. At an initial court hearing, a judge denied bond and ordered him not to contact members of Berger’s family or witnesses. At that point, the case was an accusation supported by an arrest report and probable-cause findings. Canarelli remained legally presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors proved a criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
The years that followed did not produce a publicly reported resolution of the murder case until 2026. Meanwhile, the family litigation that preceded the shooting continued on its own track. Brian and Victoria Canarelli had married in 2012, and a petition to dissolve the marriage was filed Aug. 13, 2020. A later dispute in that family case reached Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. In March 2026, the appellate court issued a short decision affirming the lower court, without laying out a detailed factual discussion.
Six months later, the criminal trial began. Palm Beach Post photographs from Sept. 22 showed Canarelli at the defense table inside the Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley Courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach. They also documented a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office crime-scene investigator testifying beside a scene sketch, prosecutors handling evidence bags and a projectile displayed for the courtroom. The public images reflected a case built around the evidence collected after the shooting years earlier.
The State Attorney’s Office said Assistant State Attorneys Bethany Johnson and Courtney Behar, members of its homicide unit, prosecuted the case. Prosecutors presented evidence over five days and argued for a first-degree murder conviction. The jury was not limited to an all-or-nothing choice, however. Jurors ultimately returned second-degree murder with a firearm, establishing Canarelli’s guilt for Berger’s killing while declining to find him guilty of the greater first-degree offense.
The public record reviewed for this article does not disclose why individual jurors drew that line. There is no jury statement explaining which testimony or exhibit mattered most to deliberations or how jurors assessed the prosecution’s evidence concerning the more serious charge. Their verdict supplies the legal conclusion: first-degree murder was not the conviction, but second-degree murder with a firearm was proved to the jury’s satisfaction beyond a reasonable doubt.
That outcome is significant because Canarelli’s status has fundamentally changed since his arrest. For most of the case, reporting properly described him as charged or accused. After Sept. 25, he could be described as convicted. The remaining trial-court question concerns punishment. Parnofiello’s decision to obtain a presentencing investigation means the court will have additional material before determining the appropriate sentence within the law.
The firearm portion of the verdict sharply limits how low that punishment may go if the statutory provision applies as reported. Section 775.087 of the Florida Statutes provides enhanced minimum terms for listed felonies involving firearms. When a firearm is discharged and causes death or great bodily harm, the statute calls for a minimum term of no less than 25 years and allows the mandatory term to extend to life. State and local reporting on Canarelli’s conviction has identified the firearm enhancement as carrying mandatory sentencing consequences.
The passage of five years also separates the verdict from the circumstances in which Berger died. At the time of the shooting, he was 37, engaged and at a home where children were being sent elsewhere following an argument. His mother arrived expecting to pick up children and instead became an eyewitness in the murder investigation. His fiancée, who had called Canarelli for the child pickup, attempted to help Berger after he was shot. Those circumstances became evidence in a prosecution that would remain unresolved for years.
An obituary later cited in coverage remembered Berger for a different part of his life. Friends and relatives described him as a warm presence who made people feel comfortable, with the obituary calling him a “gentle giant.” Such memories did not determine the criminal charge or verdict, but they underscored that the victim at the center of years of court filings was also a son, father figure, fiancé and friend whose family experienced the case as more than a legal proceeding.
The dates used in reports about the shooting reflect the fact that events unfolded across an overnight period. The State Attorney’s Office described the killing as occurring June 22, while some reports have referred to June 23. The contemporary arrest-report coverage placed the call for the child pickup around 8 p.m. June 22 and Canarelli’s booking around 4 a.m. June 23. The difference is therefore one of how the overnight sequence is labeled, not a dispute about the underlying confrontation.
The prosecution formally marked its trial victory Sept. 28, when Palm Beach County State Attorney Alexcia Cox’s office announced that a jury had found Canarelli guilty. The office said the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case and that sentencing was pending. It did not announce a recommended sentence or a hearing date in that statement.
Canarelli therefore enters the next stage with the core facts of his criminal liability settled by the jury but his prison term still unresolved. Parnofiello will impose sentence after the presentencing process is completed. Until the court sets and conducts that hearing, the final length of Canarelli’s punishment remains unknown. What is no longer unresolved is the verdict: five years after Berger was shot outside the Jupiter Farms home, a jury found Canarelli guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm.
Author note: Last updated November 9, 2026.