Locked In with Ian Bick - My Reality TV Star Ex Accused Me of Attempted Murder at a Boat Party — Here's My Side of the Story | Cole Goldberg

Episode Date: August 2, 2026

Cole Goldberg was 22 years old when his girlfriend — a woman who appeared on the TLC reality TV show 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After — accused him of attempted murder at the 2022 Boca Bash, a massive annual boating event in Lake Boca Raton, claiming he held her head underwater during an argument on the boat. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder, domestic battery by strangulation, and simple battery — and spent nearly four years fighting those charges before finally going to trial. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, he shares his complete account of what happened that day on the water, what facing an attempted murder charge for nearly four years actually required of him, why he turned down a plea deal that would have required six months in jail and three years of probation rather than accept a felony conviction, and what the judge's not guilty verdict on all counts actually produced in someone who spent four years living under the most serious accusation available. _____________________________________________ #florida #attemptedmurder #truecrimestories _____________________________________________  Connect with Cole Goldberg: https://www.instagram.com/lmcolee/ _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en  https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:01 Moving to Florida and Sports Life 02:13 College, Law Aspirations, and Life Changes  03:14 Bokea Bash: Setting the Scene 05:20 Day of the Incident: Boating and Tensions  07:52 Boat Hopping, Parties, and Escalation  09:13 Drinking, Arguments, and Boat Incident 12:13 Accusations Begin and Sequence of Events 16:13 Events Escalate: The Swimming Incident 20:22 Alleged Drowning and Confrontation 24:22 Police Arrive: Investigation and Arrests 29:13 In Jail: The Fallout and Media Frenzy 33:39 Public Opinion, Press Coverage, and Personal Fallout 37:12 Legal Struggles and Ongoing Trials 41:52 Criminal Trials and Legal Delays 45:16 The Court of Public Opinion and Advocating Change 49:40 Defense Strategy and Trial Outcomes 52:32 Final Trial, Verdict, and Life After the Case 56:00 Lessons Learned, Moving Forward, and Advocacy _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact [e-mail] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka

My guest today is Cole Goldberg. In 2002, he was at Boca Bash, a massive annual boat party in South Florida. His girlfriend accused him of trying to drown her, and he was charged with attempted murder. He spent nearly four years fighting it, and today he's telling his complete side of the story. I'm originally actually from New York, so I was born here. I'm kind of used to the weather a little bit, but I live in Florida now. Pretty much for about, I would say, 15 plus years now. How long were you in New York for?

I moved when I was going to first grade, so maybe about six years old. But my family had summer camps in Long Island, Wanta, so I'd go back and forth every summer, but they stopped the New York summer camps ever since COVID. What kind of summer camps? Just like sports day camps. Oh, okay. And they would run them? Yeah, they own them, yeah.

So you grew up very athletic into sports? Yeah, I played everything besides golf, as I mentioned. But yeah, they still have a camp operating right now in Boca, Florida, so that's what they're doing currently. Where in the city did you live, or was it? Long Island. It was Long Island. Huntington specifically. Okay. Yeah. I worked in Massapequa for a little bit. Oh, nice. Yeah, the camp was in Wontaw. Oh, I'm not really too familiar with Long Island, but I knew a couple of cities. It's like a town over. Yeah, Wontow, Massapeco, America, the whole area, the South Shore. Yeah. Is that what your parents did full time growing up? Yeah, my dad's actually a lawyer, though.

Okay. My mom did this full time. What kind of lawyer? He does wills and trust. Yeah. So not like criminal defense or anything? No. And then where did you move to in Florida when you moved? Boca. Boca. Yeah. Okay. What was Boca like once you got there? Boca was great.

Of course, it was hot and humid. I had to get used to it, but it was just the right lifestyle for me. I was big into sports. Like we said, played everything. Football was my main sport. I actually ended up playing Division I, Atlanta, Atlantic University. I was a walk-on. So just being in that lifestyle, just growing up there, you're able to play all year.

There's no winder, of course. So it was nice. Did you want to go for football professionally? I did, of course, I had plans for that. I had a few injuries. I had some knee surgeries and kind of deviled those plans, but that was my goal, yes. And what happens after that career goal ended? I actually was focusing on becoming an attorney as well, like my dad, my grandparents, my uncle.

That was the path I was trying to take. What interested you about that? I was just interested always in general with just things they would do. Like my uncle is a personal injury attorney. I was interested in that. obviously my dad and his dad had the Will & Trust, Goldberg and Goldberg, based in New York, actually. I was interested in all the work they were doing. Their work was a little bit more boring, but it always fascinated me, especially now with my experience of what I've experienced now,

I more than ever want to get back into it. How many years are you out of school when what happened you happened? I literally just graduated. It was December of 2021, and this happened April of 2022. Okay. So I was just graduating. I actually had an LSAT schedule. It's a law school admission test. Scheduled four days after that Bogabash incident because I was planning on going to law school. And that never happened.

So what happens? I get faced with accusations of attempted murder, domestic battery by strangulation and battery, and I had to battle that for four years. But what happened that day, the day of the incident? The day of the incident? It's called a, we go to basically a lake party called Boca Bash. It's an annual event. It's like the biggest boat event in South Florida every year, I would say.

Thousands of people, thousands of boats, jet skis of all sorts, all gather around. And it's a big party from sunset, sunrise to sunset. We arrived very early and we're just there to have a great time, honestly. So 9.30 arrives. We go to my friend's house, his name Sebastian. We meet him at his house. There's a bunch of people there. We're getting ready to go on the boat because he lives on a canal.

So it's close to the intercostal, which gets you to Lake Boka, about a 15-minute drive. And nothing happens really at all. The only thing that happened that morning, I would say, was I got a call from one of my girlfriends, just a friend. We don't have a relationship or anything. She's asking how she could get on a boat as well because they're very strict with, like, life jacket rules and capacity per person and stuff like that. So she's like, can you find me a boat? and get me on the boat. So Caroline at the time, which was my then girlfriend, hears her over the speakerphone and she starts getting like very, I guess,

questionable and insecure about hearing a woman. So she starts questioning about that. That's the only thing that happened. But Caroline's 10 years older than me and she would always get some type of way when I guess a girl around my age or slimmer to my age would talk to me because I don't know if it was insecure or whatever, but that always 10, picked her off a little bit. So that was the only instance that morning. I just told her it was just she's asking for a place on a boat, that's all. And we ended up just brushing that under the rug and continued the day. She was extremely excited to go. It was her first time ever going to this event. I've been going since I was like 10 years old, so I've been there. I've seen everything.

I've been going every year since it probably started. So we get to the sandbar now. All the boats start coming in. We get there early. So the sandbar is in the middle. So the sandbar is in the middle of the bay or the lake. You have to get there pretty early to get a good spot unless you get trapped in by a bunch of boats because it's a whole like perimeter. So everyone just like comes together, ties up. It's a big lake party. Lake party. We get to the sandbar early so we can stand. Sebastian's dad was the boat owner and the captain. So he ties up with a bunch of his friends. Music's playing. We start drinking a little bit. Everyone's having a good time. Carolyn and I are boat hopping. A couple hours go by. I would say that.

This is around 12, so midday already, even there since nine, I would say. In the, I would say, the south-east side of the lake, it's like the deeper end where the channel is. That's where like the bigger boats are, like the yachts. We went to specifically like a three-story yacht. They had a trampoline tied to the back of their boat, DJ on the top floor, drinks. It was a vodka-sponsored boat. So that was like the place to go. So Carolyn and I decided to leave Sebastian's boat and swim all the way over to that boat, that area, because that's where everyone was going.

And we get there, we're having a good time, running the trampoline, meeting people socializing. The VACA sponsor actually lets us try a drink. So we have another drink there. And by the time, about an hour goes by, we're like, okay, let's go back to Sebastian's boat. So you swim all the way back to the sandbar. and the whole time going back of course and there it was it was tough at that point specifically we were hanging on to people's anchors jet skis floaties it was a tough swim um so by the time we approached sebastian's boat they're actually anchoring up getting ready to leave it's like

one o'clock at this point so i've been to boca bash like i mentioned before many times especially with sebastian and it was unusual for him and his friends to leave this early so i was like like what's going on? Why are you leaving so early? He's like, oh, everyone on the boat just drank a little too much. We're done. So I was ready to go as well. I didn't really care. I've experienced everything.

So I know this was Caroline's first time. So I gave her the option or asked you. I was like, what do you want to do? I'm good to go. Do you want to stay? She was having such a great time. She was like begging to stay. Like, no, I'm staying for sure.

Like, please. Like, I'm enjoying myself. So I get my belongings. I tell Sebastian we're staying. I have my backpack on now. We're just standing in the middle of the sandbar. The water is like a little less than knee high. And they're drifting off.

So there goes our ride, which is pretty important because, like I mentioned before, you have to have enough life jackets per person on the boat. So at that point, we weren't thinking, but we didn't have a ride home. And at that point, we're just like, again, socializing talking, trying to figure out my next move. So I'm calling some people I know that are in the area. Eventually, I get a hold of somebody, and they are. are willing to come pick Caroline and I up on the paddle board. So the south-east side of the lake, what the deep end is, where the big boats are, that's one area.

And then directly north of that, so they're also east is where this boat was. They were going to the new boat, the paddleboard. So they're just on the opposite end. He gets us on the paddle board, and he brings us to their boat. They're tied up with one of my friends, Anthony Mimo. So it's one boat with the paddleboard. It's Captain Duby's boat. He was the captain.

that's his name, and Anthony Mima was tied up next to him. So we get to both boats. We're boat-hoping back and forth. They're stepping over. And again, meeting people. I'm introducing her to people that she hasn't met. We're socializing. Have a couple more drinks, some seltzers, and just listen to more music.

So maybe 30 minutes goes by at this point. And Carolyn and I decide to use that paddleboard that picked this up. I asked the guy, I was like, do you mind if I use it? I want to go back to that three-story yacht. So we end up going, I'm paddling, Caroline's in the back of the paddleboard with me, and we approached the yacht. So this is, I guess, when the first accusation happened is as we're approaching the yacht, I'm tying up the paddleboard. Caroline and I decided to go towards that trampoline that I mentioned that's hanging off the back of the boat. There's about like eight to ten girls are jumping around having good time on there.

And as we're approaching it, Caroline says, you know what, I want to drink. can you go to the back of the boat? Because that's where the cooler was and grab me a seltzer. So she's going on the trampoline. I'm on the back of the boat. Tripoline's like roped off, maybe about five yards off the boat.

And I get to the back of the boat. I grab a drink out of the cooler. I show her it. I literally wait until she sees my attention. And I motioned her. I was like, Caroline, Carolyn, like, throwing her like this. You want this one, this one.

And I wait till she motions. Like, wait, throw it up. over, throw it over. So I underhand tossed it. Obviously, I can't hand it to her if she was too far away. And it like slipped through her hands, went to the floor of the trampoline. That's all that happened. Two other girls asked for Seltzer as well. They caught it with nothing issues. And after that happened, Caroline got visibly upset for no reason and just kind of just like swim off and just like, why are you throwing girls drinks? And I was like, that's all that they just asked for a drink. What's the problem. I mean, this gets back to that point where earlier in the morning where girls around my age,

she would get a little, like, emotional or insecure about. So that's what I could assume at that point. But she accused me that I overhand tossed it, pelted her in the face like a quarterback, super fast, hit her in the eye. Her eye, like, swelled up, like, black and blue, and she fell off the trampoline. That was what they tried to say was the battery charge, count three. No witnesses at all testify to that. That was a complete made-up story. Of course, even all the people around, no one said anything. This never happened visibly in her photos. That never happened on body cam.

Even when she went to jail and had her booking photos six hours later, because sometimes bruises show up a little bit later, nothing that was like what she's saying at all. So that happened. She just started swimming away back to the Duby's boat. She was just upset about I threw the girls the drinks. So I have the paddleboard at this point and I'm not going to leave it there. Obviously, I got to bring it back.

That's the right thing to do. So I started bringing the padboard back, get back five minutes later. I see Caroline on Duby's boat. She's just like talking to people dancing. And I question her again. I was like, what was that all about? Like, why are you getting upset? And she's like, it's no worries.

I guess she got over it. So she brushed that under the rug as well. And then at this point, we hop back over. to Anthony Mimo's boat. And this is when, I guess, some individual on the boat, I later learned he was like a 19-year-old kid. He was, like, very visibly drunk, falling over drunk, like, couldn't speak properly. He just slaps Caroline in her behind, like, extremely hard, like, leaves a whole red print

handmark and all that. And everyone was just like, what was that about? Like, just happened randomly. So Carolyn gets extremely upset and gets in this kid's face. and something was about like a physical team like so I step in between both of them I kind of like separate some distance so that nothing would happen and this kid like falls over from the little separation he falls straight to the floor that's all that happened because he was so like tipsy fallen over drunk and this is when Caroline accused me of pushing him overboard into a propeller blood everywhere

made the most dramatic scene possible, which that never happened as well. So that's all that happened. And Caroline basically started getting not only upset at the kid, obviously, but she started getting upset with me. She's like, why are you not defending me better? She wanted me to get violent and physical.

And I'm just like, I'm not doing that. Like, this is a young kid. He's clearly very drunk. Like, I'm not fighting someone on someone's boat. I don't do that. I'm not going to get physical like that. Like, there's no point. So she starts getting mad at me.

She's still mad at the situation. The Anthony Mimo's boat, that's where this happened. The boat captain was like, that was assigned to leave. It's around 5 o'clock at this point. So he took that as a chance. Okay, we're tying up. We're untying from you guys from Fat Dubey and we're leaving. We're going home.

So we hop back over to Dubey's boat where our stuff is. They're untying. Caroline's still upset by the situation, still upset that I'm not defending her like she wanted me to. She's like pacing back and forth, and I'm just like, I'm not, like, that's not going to do that. Like, it's not smart. So that's one of these onlookers may be, I couldn't even tell you, maybe 30 yards away behind us. Obviously, they had no context of what happened or couldn't hear anything. But they tried to say I was falling or back in forth for 20 minutes and were arguing.

And they had no context what was going on. So that was their assumption. And all I was doing was trying to come. her down, I finally calm her down, we're at the front of the ledge of the boat at this point. I have her on my lap, and as she's finally calming down, and I'm explaining why it's not smart to do what she wanted me to do, that's when this captain, which is Captain Doobie, announces that they're leaving as well. And they said, if you didn't come with us, you need to get off, as we don't have enough life jackets for person on the boat, which I mentioned earlier is a big rule. I mean, there's police forces from every single agency you can imagine.

It looks like an army. I mean, you the Fish and Wildlife, the Coast Guard, the Bocopiti, every police force you could imagine in the area. They call them all for Boga Bash. And they're looking to arrest people. They've been trying to shut this event down for years. They close boat ramps. They make it very difficult to get out there, but they have no jurisdiction of the actual Lake Boka. So that's why they can't.

So it's pretty much an unofficial party every single year. So Caroline gets extremely irrational at this point. I mean, mind you, everyone's been pretty much been drinking. We've been there since 9 in the morning. She's drinking. Of course, I was drinking. Lack of food, lack of water. The sun beating on us all day and the salt water.

Everyone's exhausted at this point. I wasn't at all falling over tipsy drunk at all. I mean, I had my faculties, my awareness. Yeah, I was tired. I was pacing myself through the day, but that's pretty much what was my status. And I think was hers as well. But, again, we were exhausted. Um, so she starts getting irrational after hearing that announcement and was like, okay,

I got to get off the boat and swim this short. I'm jumping off. She's never been to Boca Bash before. She's an unfamiliar waters. Where is she going to swim to? I mean, behind you is the channel. That's where like the active boat traffic goes. You can't go that way.

The coast guard will pick you up in two seconds and extremely dangerous. And then in the middle, I mean, the sandbars are extremely far away. She can't make it, especially in our condition. And that's also more boat traffic coming in and out. So I didn't, it just didn't make any sense what she was saying. You can't physically really swim to land from where we were. And that was what she was trying to do. And she was very adamant about that.

So I'm kind of like at that point like trying to tell you that it's not smart. So I kind of like cold her down a little bit, not aggressive. I'm just like, don't jump out to her afraid of from jumping off for her safety. So that's when these unlookers that I mentioned before thought I was like holding it down, restraining her. They started saying all this stuff. And I let her go. I wasn't trying to be aggressive. She's a grown woman.

She made her decision. And she jumped off. I mean, she was very adamant about that. So as she's jumping off, she has her phone in her hand, actually. Start swimming just straight out to the middle of the bay. I have no clue where she was going. At this point, I'm trying to negotiate away home. I was like, we need to please.

Like, what's going on? I'm kind of like panicking. So ironically, the captain said they found two more life jackets because I guess people they brought earlier in the day never came back. So they did have two extra ones. So he's like, okay, I found two more life jackets. You have 30 seconds to go get her. So I take that very literal. Of course, I was like, okay, this is my chance to get for us to go home finally.

And I'm screaming her name, Caroline, Caroline. She's already like 25 yards. She's pretty far out. She couldn't hear me. So I'd jump in and my conditions were pretty similar. Again, barely any water throughout the day, no food, drinking sun, salt water, heat, everything. I was exhausted. Very exhausted.

And no time to warm up at all. I go like zero to one, like a full sprint basically, just trying to swim after her so I could get her back to the boat. And just for her safety, honestly, I was worried for her. And she's about halfway through, I would say 25 yards. I start to feel like my lower half sinking. And I knew I was in trouble at this point. I looked back over my right shoulder to the boat I just jumped off of. And I was like, should I go back in my head?

I was like, but I was so focused on getting Caroline. And I was like, I can't leave her. This is our only way home. So I keep going. And the more I swim, the worst condition I get, I start swalling water, water getting in my eyes. and I literally felt like I was blacking out and it was like in a black vortex

so I can't even explain it I was drowning. I felt like I was dying and I just needed something to touch to regain my composure like I was in the middle of the water nothing around me I couldn't like hold on to anything and I was literally sinking so I finally approached her I see her right shoulder sticking out

and that's all I was focused on and I saw she was stationary on something or I realized she was I couldn't tell it it was like a floaty over a shallow enough, it turned out there was a floaty, I mean the waters were extremely deep. It was like 10 to 15 feet high, I would say. So by the time I'm swimming, I'm coming from behind her and I just latch onto her right shoulder because that's the first thing I saw to touch so I could like hold my head above water. And that's all that happened. Then I released, I regain my

composure and it was, that's when these witnesses, I guess, where she got the, how she got the floaty actually, because she was in distress for swimming as well. So she asked people to set for a floaty so she could hold on to it because she was having trouble swimming. So I finally release out of her shoulder two seconds, just I needed that one brief touch to regain my composure. And that's when these people that gave her the floaty accused me of trying to drown her. And I release, I guess there's a, I grab one to the floaty now. There's a guy next to her, I guess, and he says he, in the deposition and testimony that he

gently guided her up onto the boat and that's when I tried to get on the boat right after that and I finally began my composer from the floaty now I'm hanging on to the back of their boat Caroline got on the boat and I'm trying to get in the boat too I mean in my head I thought nothing happened just now I just almost drowned I and that's all I know so I was in panic and I just needed my composure back so I finally am calming down a little bit and that's when these four individuals there was four people in the extra five people on the boat before I got were only included. There was a two couples, a husband, wife, husband and wife. And when I'm trying to get on there, boy, I just get screamed at, like, you just try to

drown her, you're a attempted murderer, you're a killer, get away, get away. I'm just like in shock even more at this point. I'm just, I couldn't even get a word out. They were just screaming over me. I was like, that's my girlfriend. I couldn't swim. Like, it's like, it's not what you think. Like, basically, big misunderstanding. And the boat owner didn't let me speak, basically. gets one of those fish gaff hooks, puts it on my face, and says if you don't get out of here, I'm going to strike you with this. So at that point, I shut up. I felt threatened. Thankfully, began my composure a little bit as I was hanging on to the back of the boat. And I look over

my right shoulder and Captain Doobie is actually, thankfully, much closer this time because he was waiting for me to get Caroline. So he was anchored up. He came closer to us. And I basically tread water back to that boat. I get lifted up. And at this point, I literally could have left. He's like, I could have been home. And it probably would have been done. And he's like, what do you want to do? Do you want to come home with us?

I was like, no, I can't leave my girlfriend. I mean, I'm not going to leave her. She's on some stranger's boat right now in unfamiliar waters. And she actually swam with her phone. So it's probably water damage as well. So I don't know what she's going to do. So instead, they drive me to the sandbar so I could stand because they don't want to put me in those deep waters with my backpack.

So from that, in time of the incident, or the alleged incident to the, by the time I get back and the sandbar, 15 minutes go by. Mind you, that whole time, the 15 minutes, Caroline's on these four witnesses' boats. Not one 911 call, no CPR, no medical attention, no marks, no injuries, absolutely nothing to what they're about to accuse me of. No videos, zero. I mean, it's just crazy what's about to be said. but I'm now in the sandbar with my backpack.

Captain Doobie leaves me finally. I see Caroline where she is in the boat. She's on in the distance. Fifteen minutes go by. I arrive with my backpack on this time. So I took my time swimming. I backpack to help me support. I cut me afloat a little bit.

And as I'm approaching the boat, Caroline's there in the back kneeling over with her hand out, like comforting me, holding my hand. And I'm just there. and I didn't want to get on the boat after what just happened with the fish hook. So I'm just in the water. She's holding me and we're just, I don't,

we're just trying to figure out what to do. Like, like, we were all confused on what just happened. And just because I came back a second time, that's when they waved over the fish and wildlife police. And I was actually, like, relieved when the fish and wildlife were coming.

I thought they were going to take me to shore and the night was going to be done. I was going to go home. But that's not what happened. And, I start getting questioned by the cops. I'm completely cooperative. My story's never changed from the first cop to the second cop to testifying in court. I've never practiced once.

It's been the same because the truth is easy to say, you know. I just told the truth of what exactly happened. And that day is, I mean, I started getting accused of attempted murder that day for trying to drown my then girlfriend. When did you find out that's what they were investigating you for? Was it that same day or did they leave you, let you go and then a couple days later? It was that day. I got arrested that day, yeah. So they pieced that whole investigation together that quick just based off a witness.

It was a, first of all, it was a 24-minute investigation for an attempted murder charge. It was a big problem with the investigation. It was held by the fish of wildlife, nothing against them, but the actual officer has never done a felony case before. I mean, they're not used to these type of cases. They do the size of a lobster, you know, in life jackets. They don't do attempted murder domestic cases. typically. So it was a 24-minute investigation. They were on the boat with Caroline and those four people I mentioned, the four main witnesses, I would say. The owner of that boat, the guy who put the

hook in my face, he essentially was not only the owner of the boat. He was very vocal and aggressive towards me for some reason. And he also took the role of like the lead investigator. He planted the seed in this officer's head as he was coming onto the boat, waved over. He's like, He just tried the killer. It's attempted murder. Attempted murder. And this officer went with it. And he started like saying, oh, yeah, maybe it is. And then he's like, first of all, he starts making them do depositions. They're sharing pens, doing depositions together, not really separating them. I mean, I know it's a boat, but you could do better than that, you know? Like sharing pens and putting two people together doesn't make sense. This boat owner's hovering over everybody, making sure everyone's writing it. First of all, no one even wanted to get involved in writing it. The officer had to tell everyone, imagine that this was your daughter. basically coerosed them to like cooperate. No one wanted to cooperate at first. They're like, oh, she's just going to go bed and dead with him that night. Like nothing's going to happen of this.

No one took it serious because nothing happened. But this one owner was very persistent and I don't know what he had against me, but he just kept going. And then he, like I said, he turned out to be the lead officer also because he direct out of thousands and hundreds of boats. I mean, it was a little later this time, so a little less boats. So I'll say hundreds of boats around instead of thousands at this hour. he directed this lead officer to go to one other boat

he said oh they saw it too go go interview them which is those individuals that saw me across the way that said we were arguing for 20 minutes so he listened to this this guy the boat owner instead of interviewing any boat around the area

he just listened to whatever he pointed to which is very crazy to me and during this whole investigation he gets to Caroline of course at one point they're investigating an attempt and murder strangulate battery strangulation whatever the case maybe drowning case or charge and not one mention about any marks on her neck because there

was zero marks on her neck. He just kept asking maybe a hundred times about bruisings on her arm. I mean, that just didn't make any sense to me. And the bruising on her arm actually, they were real bruises, but they happened, they were older bruises. They were like spotty bruises. They happened six days prior to Bocabash the event, Carolyn got into a very bad car accident. She hit a tree. This was made into evidence, like pictures and proof of all this. She crashed into a tree. She actually had an option that day. She said she could have crashed in front of the car in front of her or a tree,

but she didn't have valid insurance or she had no insurance or I guess I'd expired driver's license and balded tires. So that's why it was like a little, it was wet that day. It was raining. So we decided to hit the tree because she had no insurance. So that's where those bruises came from. It was a pretty bad accident. But again, back to the investigation.

you're saying that she got strangled and drowned and almost died, but never asked one question about her neck. I mean, in evidence photos, that was the biggest indication, obviously, as well, zero marks. You'll see nothing. There's no injuries. No injuries exist throughout this whole case. So that was baffling to me.

And then the lead officer, I'm getting questioned at this point. As he's doing in his investigation, the lead officer, I'm talking to a different officer. I told him I couldn't swim maybe six times. He kept asking me, why did I touch my girlfriend? I said I just grabbed into her shoulder for a second

because I couldn't swim to keep my head above water, which is actually when I had an expert witness in trial, it's called the climbing the ladder effect. It's actually a known drowning instance. Instinct, I'm sorry. And it's basically when you're basically pushing up, climbing a ladder, you'll grab one to anything around, you just to keep your head above, you know.

So that's basically what I demonstrated alive. and pretty much he starts questioning me, and then I get questioned by the lead officer eventually, basically tell him the exact same story, told him I couldn't swim maybe six times as well, and they decide to go with whatever these witnesses thought they saw, which they had no context about. I mean, this whole case was a masterclass in perception without context.

It just goes to show you like a split second, I mean, could change someone's life just out of the blue. I mean, all I did was grab on their shoulder because I couldn't swim, but the whole story got reversed into me attempting to murder my girlfriend in front of thousands of people in broad daylight. I mean, who in the hell would think to do that? I mean, I would not like to throw my life away like that. I'm not capable of doing that. I would never do something like that. And she knows that to this day. And so does everyone that was involved. So I started getting questioned, like I mentioned by the lead officer now, told them the exact same

story, like I said, from the first officer to the second officer all the way when I testified four years later in court. Nothing's changed. And that's what happened that day. Were the witnesses on the boat that started this whole thing, were they intoxicated to? So here's the thing with that. I believe so. They all downplayed the amount they drank that day. But there was on body cam evidence. We admitted to evidence as well. There's like open blenders, open tequila bottles, some admitted to making margaritas. So definitely the people on the other boat owner pointed the officer to interview the other three witnesses. So there was a total of seven. There was four in the main boat and three other there. They were very intoxicated. I mean,

they were admitting to drink. But the four main people should have to downplay it for some reason. But on that, ironically, the four people, they all essentially, we're not calling them liars, they all saw something, but also said saw something different. And they didn't have the context of what happened. And they just took everything out of perception. I mean, if they knew that I was my reasoning for swimming after her and I was her boyfriend and my whole point of what I was trying to get her back to safety and back in the boat so we could leave, this would have never been a case, honestly. It never happened. And they would never made an accusation like this. Even one of the witnesses on that boat mentioned in their deposition and in trial when she was testifying that I look

like I was also in distress. So that is reasonable doubt right there. They gave Carolyn, of course, the benefit of doubt throwing her the wrong with her floaty showing that she was in the dress, but why not me, you know? But maybe in their eyes, I mean, I could be speculating that I could, they probably thought I was some like just random stranger swimming after a girl. I don't know what they thought, but they took it way out of context or they didn't know the context and they took it way out of it. It was just misperception. What about the other boat that saw, that knew that you went after her? Why didn't they come to your aid and tell the cops right then and there? they, the boat you're saying that I jumped off of.

Yeah, originally to go get her. So they left, actually. The cops came after. Remember, I swam back 15 minutes later? So they jumped me off at the sandbar. I said, I'm not leaving my girlfriend. They went home after that. Oh, I thought you said that they pulled back up, though.

They got closer. Yeah, but there was no accusation at that point. That was the first, so when that first happened, when I grabbed them to her shoulder and I ended up going back on their boat, there was no one made a scene. No one made any accusations, really. I mean, Caroline was just in their boat. I just left because I got the hook stuck in my face. I was like, I'm not going to stay here.

So they just dropped me off the sandbar. I mean, I could have left right there. Nothing really, no one thought anything of it. I mean, nothing happened. That's why. So, but they went there when the cops actually came. Now where did they end up going? They left right after they dropped me off at the sandbar.

Oh, so they, it's not. They went home. Okay. So the cops came to the sandbar. No, the cops came to the boat that Carolyn was on. So the whole accusation happened. I go back on that boat that I jumped off of. of they dropped me off at the sandbar

because I didn't want to leave my girlfriend. They gave me the option to go home with them at that point or stay because I said I wanted to stay and not leaving my girlfriend. So they'd bring me to the sandbar instead. Drop me off. So from the time where they picked me up

and brought me to sandbar and dropped me off, 15 minutes go by the time I get back to Carolyn. Okay. So they're gone at this point. They went home. Okay. Yeah.

And you didn't have any of their contact info or anything like that? No. I mean, I was just focused on going to my girlfriend, honestly. She was on a stranger's boat that I have no clue who they are, and she's never been here before. So I was just focused on getting her back and just meeting back up with her. Now, how intoxicated was she when she gave her statement?

Was she still pretty bad? She was, I mean, she wasn't terrible. I mean, she wasn't super intoxicated. She's been drinking all day. Obviously, she's light. She was leaving 120 pounds, and she was, I guess she was definitely tipsy, I would say, but she was aware. Ironically, that day when she was giving her statement, And she never accused me of anything.

She basically said exactly what I was saying to the police. She's saying, I think he just couldn't swim. He was grabbing out to my shoulder back area. But she was being, another issue is that she actually had a warrant out for her arrest that day. So she was being a little like reluctant speaking to the cops. So even though she didn't accuse you of anything, she was being a little like distance about them and didn't really want to talk to the cops. So she actually got arrested for resisting arrest with violence in Miami Beach maybe about a year before I met her.

She kind of kept this part of her life hidden for me. I mean, I didn't really know about it too much. So she ended up taking probation, pleading guilty. She was on a year of probation, I believe, and she ended up violating it, which I had no clue about. And she had a worn out for her arrest. So she wasn't even allowed to leave the county. So I think her warrant was in Dade County.

That's where she lived. And she was in Palm Beach at this point. And she wasn't even supposed to be drinking and none of that. So I had no clue about that. And ironically, during one of the trials, the prosecutor, her demeanor was off for that reason. So instantly, like literally three seconds into the first question from the cop, she says, I don't want to get arrested. I have three kids.

She repeatedly says that, like, 50, times. The cop is like, why are you saying that? Like, he didn't run her name yet. He ran it really late. So he's like, I don't, like, you're not going to get arrested. Don't worry. Like, what's going, like, why you ask, keep saying that. So her whole demeanor was strange because she knew she was maybe going to get arrested that day if they ran her name. So the prosecutor at one of the, there was two trials at the first trial. She tried to play that video, the body cam of her with the cops without volume. They tried to paint the picture that she was trying to be like a protected girlfriend for

abusive boyfriend and was scared to talk to the cops and trying to protect me. And she wanted to play the audio without her mentioning that she just wanted to get arrested. So that was pretty crazy to me that they were trying to get that in, but that never happened. But she ended up getting arrested a day, actually. They ran her name. And then during the whole ride to her jail, not one. one mention about what allegedly happened to her because obviously even she her statement that day said nothing happened.

She was just worried about obviously her kids and her getting out of jail and not getting in trouble with her probation. Never mentioned me once, once at all. And she ends up going to jail that day. I do too. I was shocked. I didn't understand what the hell was going on. I was like, this is a whole misunderstanding.

It's going to clear it up. And it just kept getting worse and worse by the hour. And then I find that she got to be. arrested too. I thought she was going to come like clear up. This knows understanding, but she ended up getting arrested, which was crazy. So you got arrested before her? Pretty much at the same time. So they brought us both the dock to land. So they put me in handcuffs and then I see her like in the distance. They had her like on the opposite end of the dock. And then I start seeing her getting in handcuffs and I was like,

what the hell is going on? And um, both go to jail that day. I get out. I get a no contact order on her, so the government basically broke us up. I couldn't even reach out to her. But again, I had hoped that she was going to come clear everything up. Like, what's like, nothing happened. And then she gets out of day and completely changed her story and ended up seeing her name all over the press. I mean, this went everywhere. TMZ started first, I think, and then it built like a wildfire after that. I mean, every single article and publication picked it up that you could imagine. And then painting me out like this monster, and it was just the craziest thing I've ever

dealt with. I mean, the court of public opinion is just wild and how they just formally all these opinions prior to any evidence showing. Why did it go so viral? She had the tag 90-day fiancé. She was featured in it maybe for five minutes. She was an agent of, I guess, the star. They called her the star of 90-day fiancé, but she was the agent of the star.

So they used that as, I guess, clickbait or whatever because she was in 90-day fiancé. She also had some little bit of background in reality TV and movies and modeling. So that was her career growing up. I mean, to that day. And then she would always mention to me that bad publicity is good publicity. And she went by the motto, always told me that she would burn any bridge for fame. So there was a lot of, like, alarming red flag things that she would mention to me throughout the course of their relationship. that I just kind of didn't pick up on, you know.

How long were you guys together by that point? We were together for nine months at that point at the day. So again, she's 10-year-old older than me. I was 22 when I met her, 22 when I met her. And just recently turned 23. I turned 23 in March. This was in April. And she had three kids.

So the beginning was. all fun in games. I mean, it was the honeymoon phase. It was different. I was with an older woman. It was a different experience. And maybe about like month six is when things kind of took a little bit of a turn. Not, I guess not essentially like between me and her or anything. It was more to do with like finances and supporting her family. She tried to expect me to play the role of a stepdad essentially at 23 years old. And I just wasn't ready for that. I just again just graduated college recently I was planning on a law school I couldn't take a family on and she was getting very dependent on me like I had to start driving them to school seven in the morning getting groceries paying for nails gas all this stuff at such a young age when I wasn't just in school I didn't even I haven't worked yet I mean it was a lot paying for a rent car repairs it was just way too much so she would just make like comments about how you need to be more of a man and stuff like that and that's all that happened I tried my best I mean And we took it day by day.

It wasn't even supposed to last this long. We were supposed to just have a summer thing and just kept getting dragged along every single day. How did you guys meet? We met at a nightclub called Dare. It's like in the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. I've never heard of it. Yeah, it's the big guitar hotel.

So I used to like promote on the side just as I was in school. I mean, it was the new club that just opened up. So they had a lot of good talent, good DJs, artists, performers, whatever the case may be. So I would be there anyways, so I figured I might as well get paid to be there because as I show up, I know a lot of people in the area. So I guess my job was just to fill out sections and tables and just bring people in. And one of the nights she ended up being there alone. And I introduced myself, I gave her a drink, and we just hit it off from there.

And that's how I met her. So now are all the headlines pressing that she got arrested or just that she got almost murdered by her boyfriend allegedly? So there was a few that mentioned her arrest. I believe Fox did, but majority of the time, they just mentioned the attempted murder accusation. I mean, again, she saw the fame. She was used to the fame. She missed the fame, and she saw an opportunity to run with it. And she ran with it and completely backstabbed me, my trust, everything.

I dealt with a breakout at the same time as a backstabbing, and it was just the crazy, experience and seeing all my mugshot circulating all these headlines forming and all these opinions. It was the craziest experience. I mean, it's unexplainable. But then she also had to play victim to her own benefit for that violation of probation. So she worked for her. I mean, she went in front of the judge, I believe, and basically went along with the story that she switched up on. And she ended up just getting probation again rather than going to jail. What'd she say she was kidnapped by you to the new county or something? No, she just went along that she was a victim of attempted murder.

And she went with the whole story that she'd never accuse me of the day of and just went with everything. And it was just crazy to see. And then shortly after I get like a restraining order sent to me with these wild accusations, even more building on it. She said she was screaming atop of her lungs that I was digging into her private area, scratch to everywhere. All these crazy extra accusations. She said that I flipped over when I touched her shoulder and shook her like a rag doll and held her under for 40 seconds. At first she said it was like a, she felt like a girl, like a touch and one of her depositions.

And then on trial, she said it was like a shark. It was weird. I mean, even when I did touch her shoulder, everyone's accounts were so different. People said my hand was in the air. Some people said shoulder. Some people said neck. Some people said one second. People said four seconds.

She said 40 seconds. Everyone was all over the place. So they all basically said they saw the same thing, but something different. I mean, everyone was just like completely everywhere. So that's pretty much what happened there. How was that call with your parents? Who did you call first when you were in the jail? So I was in the holding cell.

There was actually everyone pretty much in there was actually from Boko Bash. I mean, there was a lot of like driving drunk or influence jet skis, whatever maybe, or boating on your intoxicated. I don't know the exact terminology for boating, but everyone was in there for that and they started going over everything and everyone was like talking about their charges and I told one guy and his mouth dropped

he's like you're the big dog in the cell I was like what do you mean this is a misunderstanding she's gonna come clear this up like nothing happened don't worry and he's like okay if you say so and then I call maybe five to eight times I would say I kept to call my mom my dad back and forth no one was answering

it was like maybe one in the morning at this point and I finally get a hold I believe it was my mom answered. And just told her what happened. I mean, obviously I told her the truth, and it just sounded like a misunderstanding. I mean, she was shocked that I was in jail, of course, but she thought that it was getting cleared up as well.

And I ended up, it was time for us to get put into our sales for the night. So everyone's going on, like, floor three and four. And it's my turn. They'd say I'm going to floor 10. So that's, like, I guess, where all the major crimes are, like the accusations of murder, attempted murder. and they put me up in there. And thankfully it was like around COVID time.

So you got to, everyone had their own cell. So I didn't have like a cellmate. But I would just sleep in as long as possible. It was cold. Obviously the beds were rock hard and of course and the food was terrible. But I was in there for a total of 21 hours. I had first appearance the next morning, which I guess that was the bond hearing. And I never been in trouble day in my life.

I had no clue about the terminology, what was going on, what the process was. So I go to court that morning. I think this is my opportunity to, like, tell the judge my story, like, what happened and just, like, get me out of here. Like, nothing happened. It happened so quick, I hear them talking about that I was, like, a graduate of Florida State University, a good kid in high school, never been in trouble. I guess he sets bond.

And, again, I thought there's my chance to tell my story, and I just get taken away super quickly. So I started having a panic attack. And then I go to the corrections officer. I was like, I didn't get to talk to the judge, what's going on. He's like, you could try again in 30 days. I thought I was in there for 30 more days. That's when I had, like, the biggest scare in jail.

I thought I was, like, in there for 30 more days. I didn't know if I had bonds or not. Later learned I did, it was a $60,000 bond, $50,000 for attempted murder, and $10,000 for battery. So it seems like a low bond. Yeah, I mean, I got, I had no priors, maybe. So I get bonded. out, open up my phone and then boom, my article headline after headline, Dominofag, wildfire, every article possible just bashing me. I mean, again, the court of public opinion

is, it moves much quicker than the court itself. And it's a problem. I mean, people formulated opinions way too early without any evidence being brought. And it's a big issue today, for sure. And that's what I'm currently advocating about, because, I mean, the speed needs to be caught up within the court system 100% because it's a problem. So I dealt with that. The first maybe month or two

was a struggle for me to even show my face. Of course, I had sleepless nights, anxiety. I got forcefully broken up with my girlfriend who I thought loved me and cared about me and would come forward and tell the truth. But then said she flipped her story and just ran with it for her own benefits. So I dealt with that.

I dealt with the court of public opinion and just one day something clicked, snapped. I mean, I always knew I was innocent. I knew nothing happened. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to start going back to the usual places, my gym, everything again, because I was just staying home and trying to figure out what was going on. But I started showing my face everywhere again because I knew nothing happened, maintain my innocence.

Of course, I had to explain to a bunch of people, but it's just better to even, like, I didn't really care what anyone thought anymore. I mean, everyone that knew me, thankfully, like growing up in Boka, I had a pretty big circle. Everyone that knew me prior to this and you would never do something like this. So I had a lot of people on my side that knew it was a complete BS. So that was that was cool. And then just took it day by day at that point. And I mean maybe a month after that, so this is maybe two months in, I get hit with a civil lawsuit, which completely shows her motive, of course. I mean, she was out there for money. I believe that now looking back at it,

she was trying to buy into my future. That's what she was doing with someone 10 years younger than her. She knew I had plans to go to law school. She liked my family where we lived, everything under the sun, you know. So I think she was trying to like grew me into this man that she wanted me to be rather than like me at that moment. So that's pretty much what happened there. Now, what's going on during this time? Do you go back to school or do you work or are you just at home?

During this time, you really, I can't do much. I mean, that's what's crazy about it. You're supposed to see innocent, I'm proving guilty, but obviously in the court of public opinion, it's complete opposite. And just in general, I mean, I, just for the point of it,

I tried to apply to, for a job or, like, try to get an apartment, I couldn't do anything. I mean, I was completely restricted. My whole law school plans were derailed or paused at that point. We were trying to figure out, like, what I could do. I mean, all my friends were just starting their careers,

moving on, just, I was watching everyone, to just move forward and I was just, I felt stuck. And this lasted for four years. My first trial was actually within two years. So it was November of 2024. That was my first trial. Initially, I had a different prosecutor. So one of the prosecutors actually downfiled the charges. So she removed attempted murder. She just got the domestic battery by strangulation, which is a felony. I think it was max five years. And then just a simple battery, the misdemeanor, which is one year. A new prosecutor came in.

I think this old prosecutor got appointed or took a different job. I don't know what the case was there. But she offers me to plead deal this new prosecutor, which was six months in county jail, convicted felon for domestic battery by strangulation. And I think I had to write like an apology letter. Declined that instantly. I knew I was innocent. I'm not taking any jail time.

I'm not having a felony on my record. No shot. simply for that no new evidence came in no fact nothing just because i declined my plea deal she said i'm upfiling the charges again so she up filed it now to attempted murder second degree attempted murder domestic righted by strangulation batteries and i have three charges on them that i'm basing now what do you mean by first trial you go to trial once or i had two trials so i had a trial in november of 2024 so after i declined that obviously went to trial um i did a jury trial then. So, um, we did the whole jury selection the first day. Day two comes, opening

statements happen. Within three minutes of the trial, there was a mistrial declared. Why? What happened? The prosecutor implied essentially to the jury that if I didn't testify that I was guilty. So, which is like law 101, you can't do that. So that declared a mistrial right there. Um, So all that time, all that effort, jury selection, three minutes done. Now, in a situation like that, what happened to the prosecutor? Nothing. I mean, probably in front of her peers, it's embarrassing, but nothing. I mean, it's a mistake, I guess.

That's all that happened. I mean, the judge wasn't too happy, of course, because everyone was sworn in, and the whole process happened the day before, so, but nothing happened. And it takes a whole other two years to go to trial after that. It did, yeah. I mean, it took two years. There was a lot that happened. There was like four pregnancies.

The prosecutor got pregnant. The alleged victim, Caroline, got two pregnancies. She has five kids now, by the way. The lead officer's wife got pregnant. There was just so many pregnancies. And that's what delayed. My judge actually also, another delay was she got appointed to the appellate court. So I had to get a new judge.

So all that happened, that all caused delays. and then four, and then, yeah, this past March, actually, March 26, March 9th was the first day of trial. I actually decided to go a bench trial this time instead. Not many people do that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's definitely risky. I mean, I definitely had to weigh out the pros and cons, but I was just afraid about the jury having, like, prior outside opinions with the whole articles and how viral it went. And I didn't want anyone to just, like, come in with that knowledge. And even if they didn't have that knowledge, and I know they're not.

instructed to not like read out read about articles when they leave the courtroom and by the judge but I was worried about they still would I mean it's it's you can't avoid it not like they're not they're human it's going to show up on Instagram TikTok whatever all social media I mean back in the day it was the news and that's it but now it's everywhere especially with true crime stories and all this stuff it's impossible to avoid so that's what I was really worried about and um aside to go to the bench trial. Again, I had my second guesses about that before I decided to because obviously, I mean, it's a government worker. The judge was actually a former prosecutor. So I was worried about like going against two prosecutors essentially. Like I was way not my options. But ultimately,

I needed someone to go strictly based off the facts and see through all these outside noise. And I thought this judge was the right fit for that. And I ultimately went with that, which was a great decision. Was that your lawyer's idea or was that your idea? It was kind of collective. My lawyer obviously suggested it for me and then I was, it was my decision at the end of the day. It was a very tough decision to make, but I felt like it was the right and it turned out to be the right decision. Now, what's your dad saying throughout these four years? Because he's a lawyer himself, successful, you know, is he on your side? Is he supportive? Of course. Yeah, my whole family was extremely supportive. I mean, as I mentioned before, everyone that knows me, especially my family,

I'm not capable of doing something like this. He was saying, obviously, no plea deal. You're fighting this all the way. He's like, if this is me, I'm not accepting anything. Of course, it's like scary to, you're going against, what, I think, total of like 21 to 25 years, max? It was going against really serious allegations and charges. And he's like, I'm fighting this all the way. You must do it.

I mean, you have the public and everything reading all this stuff that believe everything they read. they're telling me to take plea deals and trying to pressure me into it. That's another thing with all the court of public opinion in the media. I mean, as a defendant, the pressure and everything around you, if you feed into it, I mean, it can make you plea, like, if you're getting nervous and scared, especially when you're innocent, it's a problem, you know? Also, another issue is the cost of fight. Anyone else, I mean, thankfully, my parents came up for a few dollars.

I mean, again, I was in a situation. I was just a graduate. I didn't work. money to my name at that point in time. So being able to afford attorneys to fight allegations like this is an issue because a lot of people can't. And they'll be forced to plea. Like if, for example, my situation, someone could have took six months and had a felony on

the record for something they didn't do at all and they're innocent of because they couldn't afford to fight these allegations. I mean, I know everyone has a right to counsel, but these public defenders don't have the resources necessary to fight accusations like this, like hiring experts or whatever the case might be, and they're also swarmed with many cases. So essentially, it feels like they're trained into plea deals because of the amount of workload they have as well, and the lack of resources that the state provides them. So the cost of fights an issue, because if, I mean, they would be, yeah, you'd be forced to plea for something you're innocent of, and it's a problem,

if you can't afford to hire such great attorneys to fight allegations like this. So what was your attorney's defense strategy going into this? The strategy was just my truth, I mean, that I just couldn't swim. And it was a whole misunderstanding. It was, it was the whole, it was a masterclass in perception without context. That's what the case was based of. If they didn't, if they had the context of what was actually going on, this would have never happened. And just the bunch of everything, the whole lack of injuries, lack of anything, I mean, nothing was just like adding up at all. What was the smoking gun in the testimony that you think that the judge sided with you on?

So one of the biggest highlights, I would say, first of all, Caroline's testimony was basically like a pinball machine. She was everywhere, contradicting herself from deposition. She didn't know anything. I mean, she said I shook her like a ragdoll and I flipped over and made up all this extra stuff. And then the whole can situation where she said I threw a pelt at her. She said it was unintentional that day. She was all over the place. The prosecutor tried to correct her and tried to guide her saying that it was intentional.

it was everywhere. I mean, the witnesses obviously all said something different as well again. The time that she was underwater maybe or one second, my hand was in there, my placement of the hands were all different. The lead, the boat owner actually said something pretty wild. The whole hook situation where you tried to get me away from the boat after Carolyn was already on, he tried to say at trial that he had to use the hook to get me off of her. So you tried to make the situation a lot crazier than it was, and that was a complete lie at that point.

But specifically my testimony during cross-examination, my body cam, I guess my interview couldn't come in that I was giving to the police that day because of hearsay, self-serving hearsay. So they couldn't play what I was saying to the police that day. The only way they did was if the prosecutor had to refresh my memory or impeached me on something. So there was an instance where the prosecutor had to refresh my memory. So she brings over my body cam. She has a laptop, brings it over to the stand. It has to be played out loud for, so my lawyer could hear it for objection reasons, but the judge is supposed to not hear it. He has to pretend he's not listening.

So there was one point where she went to refresh my memory. and she accidentally played the wrong part of the body camp. And that part that played was when I told the police officers that I couldn't swim. So ironically, when the judge was reading his verdict, as to count one attempted murder, he mentioned that the court later learned, something along these lines, the court later learned that within the first 20 minutes of Mr. Goldberg's investigation, he mentioned that the fisherman while I left that he couldn't swim. So, I mean, that just was an amazing blessing that just came out.

And he wasn't supposed to hear that and he did. So do you think you would have been convicted if? No, I don't. But it was like the cherry on top. It was just what was, I mean, that's just crazy to me that it couldn't come out in the first place with the whole hearsay rule. I mean, I, that's what I told the cop from day one, both cops, the first cop, the second cop, all the way to my testimony. And I was testifying in court, of course I said that as well. And the fact that he just was able to hear that when he wasn't allowed to or wasn't supposed to and just came out like that was just like that was just like that.

was just like a blessing. Was that the first time you had seen her or at trial, the first trial? Was it the first time you saw her? Yeah, I've only seen her at trial. Yeah. So your relationship just abruptly stops and you never really talked to. I mean, the government literally broke us up. Have you talked to her since?

No. After the trial? No. I mean, I have no, I guess, resentment towards her, but I'm just shocked you with everything I could do something like this and she would continue it like this. And, I mean, I'm just very disappointed. Now, what about the civil lawsuit? Does that get settled before the criminal trial or after?

That's actually still pending. I'm not sure what's going on there. I know during trial, during her testimony, my lawyer has questioned her about that, obviously with her motive that she had opened up a civil trial so soon after these allegations for her motive of money, of course. She started saying that her civil attorney was threatening her and all this stuff. So he actually left the case.

So she has no attorney currently. And I don't have the status about that. I mean, but it seems like it's going nowhere. I mean, she has no case. Yeah. Yeah. Now, what happens when you're found not guilty? Do you just get your life back?

Do they put out articles? You know, what happens? Right. So I was found not guilty on all counts. So it was, he actually started during, first of all, the verdict. This trial was March 9th to the 12th. The verdict, the morning of the verdict when he was reading it was on my 27th birthday, ironically. So I was in question.

during my birthday. And he starts with count three. Basically gives his reasonings, which was the simple battery. He says there was no can. There's no evidence that the can was thrown out of her based on all pictures and there's no testimony to that. He says, not guilty. And he skips over count two, which was domestic battery by strangulation.

So he skipped over. It went to count one. At that point, I mean, count three happened. I was relieved, obviously. skipping over count two, I started getting a little nervous because I was like, why is he skipping it? Like, he's going to slip the baby and give me count two. He jumped to count one, and then I see two officers

walk into the door as well. So I started, like, my heart started panicking. I was like, is this really about to happen? Count one says the whole thing, mentions the body cam thing that I just told you about, not guilty. And then count two comes domestic right resurrection. Basically gives the exact same reasons for count one, says not guilty.

All celebrate. This is all in court TV, by the way. It was all live. And it was just the biggest relief, the biggest weed off my shoulders ever. Yes, I mean, the not guilty is, it was amazing. But you still have that, all those articles out there still that you need to, I needed to physically change the narrative myself. And I'm currently like an advocate now for fair trials and due process and going on against the court of public opinion and how it's a problem and bring an awareness to a situation. like this, the cost of fire, all these issues that I faced, the whole plea deal issue that was up filed just because I just declined on the plea deal, everything bad.

So I'm currently just changing the narrative now. I mean, yes, the not guilty is alive and well, and I'm very thankful for that, as always, but the court of public opinion is definitely still there sometimes because you have people that don't follow through to the end, especially with a four-year process. They read the headlines, formulate the opinions, think they know all the evidence, think they know it all, and they don't follow through until the first. finish line. How much you think you paid for your defense? So that's, I would say, um, probably close to 200. Wow. Yeah. And do you think you'd have the same

outcome with a public defender? Um, honestly, I do. The case was just, shouldn't have been this far, honestly. I mean, the public defender didn't have the resources. I mean, I had to get an expert witness, a drowning expert that testified and to, uh, climbing the latter effect. And I'm very thankful for my attorneys. They were amazing Mark Shiner, Heidi Perlitt, amazing attorneys did an incredible job. But I just think this case should never been brought this far. And I think the only reason why it was brought this far because of the media attention that it received, I think I've never hit the press. Chargers would never been brought up. Did your friends stick by you over these years? Or did you lose some?

I definitely lost some. Majority stick by me, yes. But it was a blessing in the skies because I was able to see what you friends are for sure um obviously after the news came out they tried to come back but i was like keep it what did you think of the criminal justice system before you went through this and now after going through it yourself what do you think i had no knowledge on the criminal justice is the middle i mean i had no i wasn't around anyone who's ever been in trouble i've never been in trouble um so i had no opinion really um i thought the system worked well but me going through it and especially all these allegations for four years. I mean, my life was derailed and facing these crazy accusations that for something that I'm innocent of and didn't do. There's no really evidence of.

I mean, there's a lot of holes in the field, I'll tell you. I mean, there's a lot of problems for sure. Now, will you pay to get like some of the articles scrubbed or how does that work? I've looked into it, but instead I'm changing the narrative myself. I mean, I've currently been on a bunch of articles. I mean, thankfully people covered it, the not guilty verdict. reverse the narrative in that way. But I've been advocating. I've been going on live news channels, news nation, Fox, et cetera, just talking about these systemic issues as well.

And I'm just changing the narrative and continuing to tell my story like I am today. Do people treat you differently still in your community or has everyone kind of shifted past it? Majority shifted past it. I know I hear in the background, people still have their opinions, of course. People just like to be right

and want to continue to be right when they read something and they believe everything they read and they didn't want to accept the truth. So there's definitely people that still formulate those negative opinions for sure, though. Now, will you go back to pursuing your lawyer career now? Definitely. I actually signed up for my LSAIT, a law school admission test for in September. I plan on taking it and applying for the next cycle this next August. Now, you wouldn't have been able to go into that at all during this whole case? No. Is that just a rule? Or? I mean, it's not, necessarily a rule. It's just, I guess everyone has their own rules specifically. That was their

preference. I mean, like I mentioned during the whole four-year process, I couldn't even get an apartment or a job or nothing. I mean, innocent of everyone guilty, but it's really not. Yeah, they really destroy someone. Yeah. So where do you see yourself next, aside from pursuing the lawyer career? Yeah. I mean, continuing to advocate as well for these processes. I mean, the lawyer career, of course, I mean, I want to be a criminal defense attorney. I want to be able to, I feel like could resonate well with people that are in my shoes or will be in my shoes, unfortunately. And I want to keep fighting for them. But yeah, just continuing to advocate specifically for these issues. And I really want to make a change. What do you, when you look back at the incident,

do you think there's anything you could have done differently? Yeah. I mean, I could have left earlier. I could have left initially when my friends left at 1 p.m. I want to, I wanted to to leave. I've been there many years. I was okay with leaving. I just wanted to accommodate Caroline. She wanted to stay. I could have left during that process where I swam back to the boat after the alleged incident, but I decided to stay because I wanted to protect my girlfriend. So those two instances I could have left. Of course, I never went to Boca Batch to begin with. There's many things. I mean, I also had no business being in a relationship with her for that long. I mean, just we were on two different paths. She's 10 years older. She had the

three kids. I was focused on my own career. We just weren't meant to be. Well, Cole, I appreciate you coming on on the show today. Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for making the trip out. Thanks for having me, of course. Yeah, definitely.