Prosecution: Victim Was Killed for Revenge

A former B & B owner killed a business associate out of revenge for causing his family financial struggle, a prosecutor argued today.

Brandon Smith, a prosecutor with the District Attorney's office, made his closing arguments in the trial of Louis Joseph DiBernardo, 60, at the in French Valley.

The defendant allegedly killed Victor Borcherds, his former business associate, on May 12, 2010, at The Castle Bed and Breakfast in Wine Country.

DiBernardo barged into the victim's home, bound his wife's hands with duct tape and held her at gun point in her bedroom for hours until the victim came home. He then shot the man when he began to approach his wife, Smith argued today.

DiBernardo took the time to drive up to a fifth wheel he kept on the property -- DiBernardo was renting the home to the Borcherds -- and get a handgun he kept there. This is one piece of evidence that shows the killing was premeditated, the prosecution said.

He then told the victim's wife, Suzanne Borcherds, that he was going to kill her husband and give him "his just desserts," Smith said.

"It wasn't just about the house anymore. It was about him, about his anger, his need to be in control, his need for revenge," he said. "It became about making Victor feel how he felt inside."

The Borcherdses failed to pay rent and were plotting to drive the DiBernardos into bankruptcy, then negotiate to buy the Castle from the bank, testified Sherry DiBernardo, the defendant's wife, earlier this week. To read about her testimony,

The closing argument falls in line with the prosecutor's opening statements, when he first argued his case for convicting DiBernardo of first-degree murder. To read about the opening statements, .

The defendant's home is a 10-minute drive away in Menifee, Smith said. "He has a very, very long time to decide and to wrestle with what he was going to do."
DiBernardo fired four shots before Victor Borcherds was hit. The first went into the ground, the second and third into the drywall under a window, and the fourth went into Borcherds' abdomen.

Suzanne Borcherds wept in the audience as Smith projected a photo of her husband's dead body on an overhead screen.

"Follow the bullets. They are tracking the victim as he moved from one end of the room to the other to help his wife," Smith said. "He died an honest, admirable man who died trying to protect his wife."

Before the jury went to deliberate, he asked them to keep one image in mind. He reminded them of a video recording made a few hours after the killing played for the jury during which Suzanne Borcherds broke down crying.

To read about the what the recording revealed,