Law&Crime Sidebar - Ricky Martin Headed to Prison Over Incest Claim? NASCAR Stabbing, Kobe Bryant Crash Lawsuit

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

Could singer Ricky Martin spend years behind bars over incest allegations? Jesse Weber and former sex crimes prosecutor Kathleen Bogenschutz discuss. The man suspected of killing NASCAR ...driver Bobby East was a wanted felon on parole. Former police sergeant Melissa Pinkelton talks about if this could have been prevented and what the investigations could reveal. L.A. County accuses a man who lost his wife and daughter in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter of riding the "coattails" of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit. Law & Crime's own Elura Nanos explains if that is a fair argument.GUESTS:Kathleen Bogenschutz, Prosecutor Melissa Pinkelton, Former Police SergeantElura Nanos, Lawyer & Law&Crime Columnist LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that
Starting point is 00:00:35 will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Could Ricky Martin spend years in prison over incest allegations? I'm joined by former sex crimes prosecutor Kathleen Bogan Shoots. Plus, the man suspected of killing NASCAR driver Bobby East was a felon and out on parole. Could this have been prevented and what will the investigations uncover? Retired police sergeant Melissa Pinkleton discusses. And LA County accuses a man who lost his wife and daughter in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter of riding the coattails of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit. Is that fair? Long
Starting point is 00:01:22 Crime Zone, Allura Nanos breaks it down. welcome to sidebar presented by law and crime i'm jesse weber it is now being reported that latin musician ricky martin is facing incest accusations by his very own nephew this bombshell allegation coming from spanish publication marca and this comes after a domestic violence restraining order was filed against the living levita locus singer in porto rico now we didn't know who the accuser was until now. And according to Martin's 21-year-old nephew, Dennis Yadil Sanchez, he and Martin had an incestuous relationship that lasted seven months. It was one in which Martin abused him and the complaint further claims that when things ended between the two,
Starting point is 00:02:16 Martin kept on trying to get in touch with his nephew and allegedly loitered outside of his nephew's home. Now, what's interesting here is that as we reported on a previous sidebar episode, Martin was hit with a $3 million lawsuit by his ex-manager for unpaid fees, and she claimed that she had dirt on Martin. She claimed this included a, quote, potentially career-ending allegation. While it's not clear if this was in reference to this incest claim, it does make you wonder. A hearing on this case is set for July 21st. I'm joined now by criminal defense attorney Kathleen Boganchutz, who served as a sex crime prosecutor for years. Clean. Great to have you here on Sidebar. Good to see you. All right. So I don't know if you're an expert on Puerto Rican law, but when it comes to my understanding is Puerto Rico is very strict with their incest laws. And there have been reports that if this goes further and if he's charged and if he's ultimately convicted, he could spend decades behind bars. What do you know about this?
Starting point is 00:03:19 So the first question I have is when the alleged relationship happened. Was the nephew over 18 at the time? Is it possible that he, it started when he was under 18? That might be its own crime in and of itself based on the age difference between the two. Now, the incest allegation, it would appear just from a cursory lookup that I did that he might qualify as a third degree relative. under Florida law, excuse me, under Puerto Rican law, and that might fall under that statute. That also brings into the question that, you know, define sex, and obviously these are both men. So oftentimes in sex bat statutes or sexual battery statutes, you will have that it needs to be penetration, not to get gross on your viewers, but there would have to be some kind of allegation that that actually occurred as opposed to some sort of romantic relationship. So I think it's important to know that it's not as if Ricky Martin in his camp have remained silent because according to TMZ, Ricky Martin's attorney Marty Singer, says, quote,
Starting point is 00:04:33 unfortunately the person who made this claim is struggling with deep mental health challenges. Ricky Martin has, of course, never been and would never be involved in any kind of sexual romantic relationship with his nephew. And Ricky Martin himself on July 4th denied these allegations on Twitter. He said, quote, the protection order entered against me is based on completely false allegations. So I will respond through the judicial process with the facts and the dignity that characterizes me. Because it is an ongoing legal matter, I cannot make detailed statements at this time. I am grateful for the countless messages of solidarity and I receive them with all of my heart.
Starting point is 00:05:10 What do you make of that response? I think that's expected. that I would really doubt that he would respond with, yes, I definitely did that. Sorry. Well, I didn't think that either. But, I mean, he could have remained silent, but they're categorically saying that this nephew is a liar. Well, and has mental health issues, which doesn't necessarily make him a liar. It just might be information that he's privy to as his uncle in order to discredit him.
Starting point is 00:05:37 I'd be interested in what the rest of the family has to say. And I think his brother made a statement too, right? Well, his brother was the one who revealed the identity of the accuser saying it's the nephew. Now, I am curious, as I mentioned before, his ex-manager in this and her lawsuit against Ricky Martin said, you know, she's got a potentially career-ending allegation against them. She helped him through this. She basically was trying to keep it secret for him. I'm not sure if it's about this, but I wonder if it is and if it is, how, what role she could play.
Starting point is 00:06:08 well i mean if she's the one who released it and it was some sort of a ploy to gain money from him she could have criminal charges pending against her for some kind of an extortion uh scheme but i mean the the truth is always a defense in that you know if you're trying to extort money from someone who's a rapist it's still extortion it just might be treated differently by the prosecutors So let's just take a step back because we know that there's going to be a hearing on this on July 21st. It's not as if Ricky Martin is facing criminal charges at this point. This was part of a domestic violence restraining order. What do you expect to happen at this July 21st hearing and how is this going to progress?
Starting point is 00:06:53 So generally the way that things occur in criminal, when there's these overlapping criminal and domestic violence cases, sometimes the injunction will come first. that the person files for the injunction before criminal charges can be filed, whether there's DNA, there's phones that need to be dumped, there's surveillance video, there's statements that need be taken, whatever line of things. And they file for the injunction prior to the person getting arrested. If this person is potentially facing criminal liability, and in this case it sounds like that is certainly a possibility, then the hearing will generally be put off into the future. injunction will be granted and it will be put off to the future so that the person who is responding to it has an opportunity to address the criminal claims. And really, usually the victim
Starting point is 00:07:44 is okay with that. I mean, if they only want them to stay away. All right. So we're going to get an answer maybe one way or another in the coming days. Kathleen Bogan shoots really appreciate it. Thank you so much for taking the time. No problem. See you soon. Over now to incredibly sad news out in Orange County, California. Former NASCAR driver Robert Bobby East was stabbed to death at a gas station. The suspect was identified as Trent William Millsap, who after fleeing the scene, was gunned down by police two days later in a standoff at an apartment complex. Investigations into both the shooting and the stabbings are underway. Now, no motive has been revealed as of yet for stabbing. But here's the thing. Millsap was apparently out on parole for armed robbery and had an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a different parole violation. So now the question is, how did this happen? I'm joined right now by Melissa Pinkleton, a retired sergeant from the Nashville Police Department. Melissa, good to see you. And welcome to Sidebar. Hi, good to see you too. The question is, how does this happen? Is that what you're asking me?
Starting point is 00:08:53 I mean, something's not adding up for me. This is a guy who had a record. He was on parole for armed robbery. He has this warrant for his arrest. What's going on here? Because it seems like this could have been stopped. And it could have. The problem is we have an epic breakdown and a huge failure in the bail system in our country.
Starting point is 00:09:13 And I know when I say that, you hear a lot of people talk in the mainstream lately about, oh, bail reform, bail reform. And what they're referring to is they're referring to, you shouldn't be held on a million. dollar bail for a small amount of drugs and that got so out of control just like recently in new york city when somebody got caught with 1.2 million or billion pounds of drugs they got released so the problem is is that when we do apply bail to the right people we're not following up with those people and re-arresting them for breaking their bail in bond conditions this has been going on for years this has been going on in every single state i can't tell you how many times that i
Starting point is 00:09:53 somebody that was on bail, who should have been in jail, or was a convicted felon on bail. And it's just what the solution to this is that we need to start keeping bad, bad people in jail because the recidivism rate is 50% or higher for those who commit violent, violent crimes. This crime should have never happened. And that's the solution is enforce bail and keep people in jail. Well, the question is, why did this happen, right? And there's a question of whether or not he should have been on the streets. but the separate question is there's no motive yet.
Starting point is 00:10:24 So now there's the investigation into the stabbing itself. We'll get to the shooting, but the stabbing itself, what is that investigation going to look like? What's happening behind the scenes and what are you expecting? Like you said, I've heard there's no motive as well. And the thing lately, you have a lot of people committing crimes that are motive or not have motive or not. And what I don't think the majority of Americans who do not do the job as a police officer
Starting point is 00:10:49 or law enforcement understand is that we have set up. within our society, this belief amongst criminals, amongst criminals are white, black, every age, every race. We have given them the psychological advantage of that they can do whatever they want whenever they want. And they're not going to get caught for it because there's not enough police enforcing the law. And there aren't enough police officers following through with once that is enforced, following through with bail conditions and stuff like that. So I'm curious to the motive is you may never have a motive just might be another person going i'm going to do what i want what i want because i'm not going to get caught anyway and the reason we don't one of the
Starting point is 00:11:28 reasons we will not have may not have a motive is because the suspect was killed he was killed by police and there's an investigation now into the shooting itself what we do know is that during the execution of this arrest warrant police used a swat team um according to the police milsap became confrontational with officers and a police canine was deployed. This actual dog was actually shot, but it seems the dog's okay. And subsequently, an officer involved shooting occurred. So what are you, how does this investigation unfold into the shooting and what are you expecting there?
Starting point is 00:12:01 Well, I'm expecting, I would assume, having confirmed that there's body cameras. I would expect body cameras have on all the officers. We'll get a copy of the search warrant and how they tracked him down. If you've seen his picture, he's not a hard guy to miss. What guy? Lots of tattoos everywhere. So his description is not hard to miss. I'm sure they tracked them down, maybe possibly even through his probation records. And I assume that it went the way it should have gone is a warrant was served and executed. And the dog, they sent the dog because my understanding is he had a firearm. So the dog went, which is, that's their job. And the officers
Starting point is 00:12:40 responded when the dog did as well. So those are the things that I expect to learn. But I think the body camera will probably have the majority of what happened. Any red flags in terms of this shooting? Again, it's such a sensitive issue. They tracked him two days later. I mean, does the time frame matter to you and the fact that it took two days to ultimately find out where he was? No, I think the time frame is great. The sooner, the better. That way he's, because the longer it goes, the harder it is to track down a suspect, especially with the limited amount of police resources that are available in the street today. So information that's coming out right now, I have not heard anything that gives me any red flags
Starting point is 00:13:21 so far as pertaining to what's been let out. I think it was good job, good investigation, clean shoot, and unless anything comes out, that's all I would have to say about it. I'm glad that you know what? Police one, bad guy zero. All right. Well, there's still more. We want more answers.
Starting point is 00:13:40 There's a lot of questions right now. We can speculate as to what might have happened, but obviously this is a story that we will hopefully continue to follow. Melissa Pinkleton, thank you so much. And I do want to let everybody know that NASCAR released a statement said it was sad and to learn of the tragic death of Bobby East. We extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Bobby, a true racer. Melissa, thank you. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot's decision to continue flight under visual flight. rules into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the pilot's spatial
Starting point is 00:14:17 disorientation and loss of control. We have more unfolding in the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed several people, including NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. Now, Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's widow and mother of Gianna, and Christopher Chester, whose wife and 13-year-old daughter were killed as well. They have sued L.A. County, and they're accusing it of improperly sharing graph, photos of the crash. Now, both lawsuits allege that first responders shared images of the crash with multiple sheriff's deputies and allowing these pictures to be really released on personal cell phones and
Starting point is 00:14:56 later to become a source of gossip within their department. So this is a really, really disturbing case. But right now, Los Angeles County has asked a federal judge to separate Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit from Chester's suit. And the county says, that Christopher Chester should not be permitted to, quote, ride Bryant's coattails by consolidating his case with Vanessa Bryant's. Well, to make sense of this, I'm joined right now with Allura Nanos, who's a trial analyst and columnist for law and crime, and Allura actually wrote a great article on this major development.
Starting point is 00:15:31 Allura, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for coming on to Sidebar. Thanks, Jesse. It's so great to be here with you. You know, it feels like a very harsh thing for the L.A. to say they're riding the coattails of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit. Is that a fair, is that a fair argument to make? Well, you know, I agree that it sort of sounds harsh if you don't have any context. But to be perfectly fair to L.A. County here, all throughout this lawsuit, at every
Starting point is 00:15:59 opportunity, the county has spared no chance to make sure that they say this is a terribly tragic accident and that they understand that the emotions are very high here. But what they're trying to do is separate the fact that we have one plaintiff, Vanessa Bryant, who has very specific unique circumstances relevant to her case in that Kobe Bryant was a major celebrity. Christopher Chester, who has another parallel, very similar lawsuit, just doesn't have that same aspect to his case. So the county is making an argument that I think it has to make, which is you can't put these two cases together because they're not really the same.
Starting point is 00:16:38 But were there pictures improperly taken of his family that were disseminated? So L.A. County has admitted that at least some pictures were in fact taken by sheriff's deputies and first responders. They were shared internally among people in the department. And we know of at least one incident where a sheriff's deputy, I think it was a deputy in training, took that picture and showed it to a bartender, apparently to sort of impress that point. person that the deputy had been at the crash scene. And there's actually surveillance footage of the deputy doing that. Now, to what extent other people in the department have taken or shared pictures is kind of still up for debate because we're not in the fact-finding part yet. We're still in discovery. This is all pretrial. So the county has admitted at least some wrongdoing, but it has
Starting point is 00:17:28 always maintained that those pictures have not circulated farther than the few people that they've already admitted. You know what's sad about this, Laura, is we're talking about human lives and we're talking about a celebrity and non-celebrities. And there feels like there's this distinction, right? And it's not so much as if the L.A. County is saying one life matters more than the other, but again, it's purely about the photos and what was taken and what was it shared by. But they also make this argument that I thought was interesting when I was reading your article about the emotional distress and how the emotional distress that was suffered is different. Can you explain that? Yeah. So a big part of this case, and it's important, as you noted, to remember that this is
Starting point is 00:18:06 not a case about negligence about the plane crash. This is only about the wrongdoing as far as sharing any photos. And Vanessa Bryant is claiming emotional distress based on having pictures of her deceased loved ones shared around for gossip purposes and things like that. And you could certainly imagine how that would be extremely upsetting. But of course, the emotion behind something like that is going to be very different when we're talking about a celebrity where there's tremendous public interest in every single aspect of the case, tremendous potential for those pictures to get shared and gossiped and talked about versus someone who is an unknown. And what emotional distress, Vanessa Bryant, has in fact suffered as a result of any wrongdoing is critical to the case
Starting point is 00:18:50 because that is what she would ultimately be compensated for if she prevails. So we need to know just how upset is she. And what's really difficult here is separating, well, of course she's upset because her loved ones died in a plane crash. It's very difficult to tease out how much of her emotional distress is due to the crash versus how much is due to any wrongdoing with these photos. It's going to be very difficult to tease out where is that distress? And how do you figure out how much of the distress comes from one thing versus the other thing? Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. Do you think that ultimately what's going to happen is these cases will be separated and maybe Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit goes forward and Chester's doesn't? So,
Starting point is 00:19:30 the cases are already separated, and Chester is asking for them to be consolidated because so many of the facts are the same or at least similar. So the court is going to rule on whether they get to be consolidated. And L.A. County opposes that we have not seen in paper yet from Vanessa Bryant, so we don't know what's going to happen. But my guess is that the court is not going to consolidate them. Now, I think Chester's case could absolutely still go forward, but I think the potential for damages there is going to be different. Because, you know, what's going to, it's going to, it's going to amount to is going to end up in a different place. By the way, just real quick, is this just a bad look for L.A. County? I mean, I didn't love the quote that they actually put in their motion and
Starting point is 00:20:13 their opposition to the motion that said, don't ride Kobe Bryant's coattails. But at the same time, if you think about it, that kind of jarring feeling that I think we all got when we read that is exactly their point. They're saying to this other person, don't do that because even though there's a tragedy that's not very nice. I think it maybe is not the most sensitive thing to do, given that they're basically saying that to a person who lost loved ones in a plane crash, but look, that's their attorney's job is to advocate on their behalf, not to be sensitive to everyone around them. So I agree that it's not the best look, but I think it might be necessary in this case. Alara, thank you. And thanks for reporting on this, because I think it's a really important
Starting point is 00:20:53 kind of legal update in these cases and not a lot of people are reporting on it. So Alara, I really appreciate you taking the time here on sidebar and also reporting on it. Thanks so much, Jesse. I'll be back again soon. Please. All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:21:11 Sidebar is produced by Sam Goldberg, YouTube manager, Robert Zoki, and Alyssa Fisher as our booking producer. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

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