Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 5 Most Damaging Court Moments of 2022

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

The Law&Crime Network's Jesse Weber revisits the top 5 most damaging moments in court this past year that seemingly destroyed a defendant’s case.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking 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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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. Or did you tell me you wanted to go with me? I begged for my life and I said I will do anything and you said you're going with me. As we look back on, on 2022, we revisit the top five most damaging moments in court this past year that seemingly destroyed a defendant's case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Many of our trial watchers wait for those uh-oh or aha moments in court. You know,

something happens that is absolutely devastating to a defendant's case. It's kind of like in the movies, right? When there you have a defendant who says something, they're caught. off guard or someone admits something on the stand. The whole case blows up. You remember, you can't handle the truth from a few good men or the shower confession and legally blonde. I don't care what anyone says. That's actually a good movie. Anyway, many times, we just don't get that in real life because real life is not like television. That makes sense. But sometimes, sometimes we get those moments in real life. And I will tell you, they are something to see. So here are the top five admissions in the past year that seemingly destroyed a

defendant's case. First up, Trevor Summers. This was a very disturbing case out of Florida. Summers was accused of sneaking into the home of his estranged wife, Alisa, namely manipulating his children to let him in. Trevor and Alisa were separated. They were in the process of divorcing. In fact, Elisa took out an adjunction against him. And he was charged in connection with tying her up, sexually assaulting her, and then kidnapping her. Actually held her captive for days and even drove around with her in the car before he was ultimately arrested. So at one point in his trial, Summers decided to let go of his attorney and wanted to represent himself, which is his constitutional right to do. And when he did that, he of course had the

opportunity to cross-examine the government's key witness, the surviving victim, his ex-wife. Now listen to what she had to say. I'm asking you specifically, before we had sex, did I threaten you or force you to have sex? My answer is yes, you forced me to have sex with you. Did I hold you down? No. Did I push you? Not at that time of having sex, but prior to having sex, you did push me, you did hold me down, you did tie me up, you did attack me, and you did break into my home when I was sleeping.

You raped me. So you're calling it rape? It is. That is the definition of rape to come in. rape to come into someone's home and attack them and tie them up and then have sex with them. That is the definition of rape. Did you know I was coming to your house? No. He placed the pillow over my face with such force until I lost consciousness and had thoughts that I was going to meet Jesus.

And this was my last breath. That is why I have reasons to believe that you were there to kill me because I can't. that close to death. At one point, you said that if the police find us, if we get pulled over, you need to tell them this is all a big misunderstanding and that you agreed to go with me and that there's no foul plague. So, yeah, that's pretty bad for him. It's not just some random eyewitness.

This is the surviving victim of this testifying directly against the defendant about what she says happened to her at his hands. And you know what? The jury believed here because they convicted Summers on all 11 counts, including attempted murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Up next, let's focus a little bit more on some eyewitnesses. And we can't talk about eyewitnesses without getting into the Dorel Brooks Jr. trial. You see, Dorel Brooks was charged in connection with driving a Red Ford SUV into a group of holiday attendees during the Walker Show Christmas parade in 2021. It's happened down in Wisconsin. It ultimately resulted in the deaths of six people. people and injuries to dozens of others. And for anyone who watched this trial on the long crime network or followed it here on Sidebar, you know that it was pretty wild. It was pretty while because the defendant represented himself. And when defendants represent themselves, kind of like we saw with Mr. Summers, sometimes they think they know the case better than

their attorneys. They think that they can do a better job than their attorneys. And Brooks, he raised a number of different defenses. One was that there was a possible mechanical failure with the car, that whoever was driving didn't do this intentionally because the driver was honking, and of course, that he didn't do it. The problem for Mr. Brooks was that this wasn't a secret crime committed in the dead of night in a remote area. This was an attack in broad daylight in front of so many people. And that is why the most devastating moment for Mr. Brooks is when you had eyewitnesses positively identify him as the driver. Did you see anybody like actually fly or roll or tumbled?

Yeah, so originally it was, we heard sounds, like thuds, and then it was in the air, like bowling pins. Okay. Did you get a look at the driver of the vehicle as it went through the parade? Yeah. When I had just said, it veered to the left and then struck the group of people. It was about probably six or seven feet from where I was standing. Okay. And I saw directly through the driver's window.

What did you see? I saw a man focused on the group ahead of him. Is that Daryl Brooks that you saw? Yes. And as soon as that happened, about 10 seconds after, I froze, and I said to my mom who was with me, I just saw that guy at the gas station. And it clicked that it was the same person.

You remember exactly that it was the same person. Yes. You stated that the vehicle was coming right at you. Did you were able to see inside the vehicle? I was. How many people were inside that vehicle? I could only see one person in the vehicle. Presumably the driver?

Yes, it was on the driver's side, front driver's side. could you tell male or female yes it was a black male and at the time i the eyes is what drew me in were completely wide open and um made eye contact with with the individual driving the vehicle so you looked eye to eye with the person who hit your your daughter i did do you see him in the courtroom today i do can you point him up by where he's seated and what he's wearing I ask that Mr. Brooks take off his face mask. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. He is seated at the table located over here.

He's got a gray suit on, a blue shirt, and a tie. But the record reflect that witness has identified the defendant, Carol Brooks. Objection, I do not consent to being called that name, nor do I know any individual by that name, Your Honor. The record will reflect that the witness has identified the defendant as the driver of the SUV that struck his daughter. May my objection be noted for the record as well, Your Honor. It's noted. Yeah, and despite all of the sovereign citizen rhetoric, where Brooks seemingly didn't consent to his name

and the government having authority over him, it didn't work. To have eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses to a crime and point out the defendant, that is huge. That is a prosecutor's dream, and it worked. The jury convicted Brooks of all 76 charges, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, and he was sentenced to multiple consecutive life terms of imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Let's move on to defendants taking the stand because sometimes when defendants take the stand, it inures to their benefit. They're able to tell their side of the story. They're able to explain why they did what they did or maybe they didn't do something. Usually taking the stand has a benefit in self-defense cases and also police involve shootings

because we want to understand why someone felt the need to pull the trigger. And that was the case in the Aaron Dean trial. Aaron Dean is a former Fort Worth, Texas police officer who shot and killed a woman named a Tatiana Jefferson at her mother's home. This happened when Dean and his partner were responding to a call about an open door at the home. Now, at the time, Jefferson was just babysitting her eight-year-old nephew and playing video games with. According to prosecutors, Dean never announced his presence. He never said he was an officer. He didn't knock.

Instead, he was shining his flashlight. and that's when Jefferson looked through a bedroom window while holding a gun that she had a license for. And Dean said, show me your hands, put up your hands, and that is when Dean shot and killed Jefferson. He was charged with murder, but he argued that he was acting in self-defense and he was justified. So he gets up on the stand, and he said that he thought she was a burglar and that he saw the gun. But then Dean got cross-examined by the assistant DA. You didn't have all the information you need at that point. Just tell the jury.

Just tell them you didn't do a good job. We were still... Would you give yourself an A-plus for that minute's 17 seconds? There's probably things I could have done better. What grade would you give yourself A to F? I'd like to see how you... Go ahead, tell us. I'm talking before you pull the trigger,

that minute and 17 seconds before you pulled the trigger, A to F. Probably a B. Oh, B. High pass and grade. What do you think you did the best? Not sure. You gave yourself a B

and you can't tell this jury what you did the best, not minute and 17 seconds? No, I'm not sure. Do you want to change your grade, maybe? No. So you're happy with every decision you made up until that moment you pulled the trigger about investigating this open structure? I'm sure there were things we could have done better.

You're telling this jury you're happy with every decision you made from that, when you first turned that body cam on to the minute and 17 second mark. Based on what I knew at the time, yes. Oh, checking that house, checking that perimeter, you're giving yourself a bee. Yes. He shoots and kills an innocent woman in front of her young nephew and grades himself a bee. And then he can't even answer why that's the case. He can't even answer what he did right.

Seems pretty confident in his actions, but he was ultimately convicted. But he wasn't convicted of murder. He was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter. In other words, the jury felt that he acted recklessly, not intentionally, and he was ultimately sentenced to over 11 years in prison. When we come back, talk about monumental admissions that torpedoed a case. We're going to get into two of our biggest trials of the year, Alex Jones and Johnny Depp, Amber Hurd. Is this a struggle session? Are we in China? I've already said, I'm sorry, hundreds of times, and I'm done saying I'm sorry.

I didn't pregenerate this. It was the first person to say it. American governors might be in blame for this as the left did so we rejected it mentally and said it must not be true but I legitimately thought

it might have been staged and I stand by that and I don't apologize for it. And don't apologize, Mr. Jones. How could I talk about a defendant's case blowing up without talking about Alex Jones? So the Info Wars founder and host

was in a very tricky legal situation. He was sued by the families of those who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as a former FBI agent for comment that he made regarding the massacre, namely that it was staged and it was fake and it was a hoax. They sued him under various legal theories such as defamation and intentional emotional

distress. And the reason he was in a tricky situation is because Jones automatically, by default judgment, lost these lawsuits because he failed to abide by court-ordered discovery obligations. So the trials that we covered on the law and crime network were purely about how much would he owe the plaintiffs and damages. He's going into these trials as a loser, and it just becomes a matter of how much does he have to pay up. That's going to be up to the juries. Now, his defense was that he realized he made a mistake.

He tried to correct the record, that the plaintiffs were over-exaggerating their damages, that he and his company, which was also being sued, didn't have a lot of money left over. And Jones decided to explain a lot of this when he took the stand. But focusing on his first trial in Texas for a moment, there was one moment that you could say, changed everything for Alex Jones. You see, that is because Jones, while under oath,

said he couldn't find any text messages from his phone, from him talking about Sandy Hook. But when cross-examined by plaintiff's attorney Mark Bankston, he was confronted with evidence to the contrary. And then he was hit with this bombshell. Do you know where I got this? No. Mr. Jones, did you know that 12 days ago? 12 days ago, your attorney's messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you've sent for the past two years. And when informed, did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way. And as of two days ago, it fell free and clear into my possession.

And that is how I know you lied to me when you said you didn't have text message about saying you go. Did you know that? I see I told you the truth this is your Perry Mason moment I gave them my phone and then mr. Jones you need to answer the question no I don't know this happened but I mean I told you I gave him the phone over it just said you said in your deposition you searched your phone you said you pulled down the text did the search function for Sandy Hook that's what you said mr. Jones correct and I had several several different phones with this number But I did, yeah.

Well, of course, I mean, that's why you got it. No, Mr. Jones. That's not why I have it. My lawyer sent it to you, but I'm hiding it. Okay. Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones. Please just answer questions.

There's no question. Mr. Benson also only asked questions. Sure. Mr. Jones, in discovery, you were asked, do you have Sandy Hook text messages on your phone, and you said no, correct? You said that under oath, didn't you? I mean, if I was mistaken, I was mistaken, but you got the messages right there. You know what perjured is, right?

I just want to make sure you know before we go any further. You know what it is. Yes, I do. I mean, I'm not a tech guy. I told you, I gave, in my testimony, the phone to the lawyers before, whatever, and so you've got my phone, but we didn't give it to you. No, Mr. Jones. One more time.

Please remember, if you need to assert to put the amendment, you can. I need to know you can do that. do that but you testified under oath previously that you personally searched your phone for the phrase sandy code and there were no messages you said that under oath yes no i did not lie so that was really bad that's basically being caught red-handed you aren't being truthful about that and if you're not being truthful about that what else are you being truthful about and in the end the jury came back with a massive damages award against Jones for almost $50 million, and it only got worse for Alex Jones because in his second trial out of Connecticut, the jury there awarded the plaintiffs almost

$1 billion. And the judge then ordered an additional $473 million in additional punitive damages, which is a form of punishment. Let's close this out. And let's close this out with arguably the biggest trial of the year and perhaps the last 10 years. And that is Johnny, Depp versus Amber Heard. Pirates of the Caribbean star sued his ex-wife for defamation over a Washington Post op-ed piece that she authored in which she claimed she was the victim of domestic abuse, implying at the hands of Johnny Depp. Hurd ended up countersuing Depp for comments that his attorney made, presumably on his behalf, calling Hurd's claims a hoax. So it was really a he said, she said, and this was a very, very ugly case. Hurd had taken the stand. She got very highly emotional.

She recounted the disturbing accounts or disturbing alleged accounts where she said she was sexually, verbally, physically abused by Johnny Depp. But Depp would get on the stand and say the complete opposite. He said, no, no, no, no, no, that he was the victim, that Hurd attacked him. So the question was, who to believe? Well, there is one thing for Hurd and Depp to get on the stand in 2022 about what happened in the past and for jurors to weigh their credibility. And then there is something entirely different about hearing something in real time. And that is one of the most damning pieces of evidence in this case. And I am referring to the infamous audio recordings.

You see, the couple would actually tape their arguments, their fights at times, although sometimes Depp said he didn't know what was happening. Well, in a possibly very candid moment, listen to what Amber Hurd said. No, it's not to get you mad. It's just to get out of a bad situation while it's happening before it gets worse. in Australia when we had the big fight where I lost the tip of my finger at least

five bathrooms and two bedrooms I went to to avoid talking to me to avoid working it out to escape the fight you don't escape the fight you escape the solution

you escape the solution you escape figuring it out we cannot work it out if you run away to the bathroom every time. I said to you, Travis, I said, no, I said to you, hey, tell Travis what just happened. Oh, you told me to do it. You told me to.

You said, go do that. I said, no, tell him what just happened. And I lied. And that you punched me in the thing. You figured it off. And you said, no, fuck out. I didn't what the f***ing is talking about. And I watched you lie.

I didn't punch you, by the way. I'm sorry that I didn't hit you across the face in a proper slap. but I was hitting you. It was not punching you. Babe, you're not punched. Don't tell me what it feels like to be punched. You know, even a lot of fights.

You've been around a long time. I don't know. No. You didn't get punched. You got hit. I'm sorry I hit you like this. But I did not punch you. I did not deck you.

I was hitting you. I don't know what the boat motion of my actual hand was. But you're fine. I did not hurt you. I did not punch you. I was hitting you. How are you tough? How, what am I supposed to do?

Do this? I'm not sitting here bitching about it, am I? You are. That's the difference between me and you. You're a f*** a baby. You are such a baby. Grow all the fuck up, Johnny. Because you started physical fights?

I did start a physical fight. Yeah, you did, so I had to get a fuck out of there. Yes, you did. So you did the right thing, the big thing. You know what? You are admirable. That was really powerful. You have heard on tape admitting that she hit Depp

And not only that, that Depp didn't really necessarily fight back, but ran away. Well, you have to imagine that really hurt, Heard, because the jury found her liable for defamation for each of the three statements in the op-ed piece, although they did find Depp liable to Heard with respect to one statement from his lawyer, but really Amber Heard lost. The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages, $5 million in punitive, and awarded her $2 million. But as of recently, Heard and Depp agreed to settle the case instead of, having to fight over who gets the money and how to obtain the money and, you know,

fighting over appeals. They've settled the case, although the terms of that settlement have ultimately been, have not been disclosed. Either way, not great stuff for defendants all around. And that's all we have for you, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber.

I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.