Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It it's Thursday, October sixteenth, and the
Speaker 1: former star of a beloved nineties sitcom is sitting in
Speaker 1: jail right now, a judge refusing to let him out
Speaker 1: of jail all over yes, a family matter. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: Robes.
Speaker 1: You used that line before. It is literally true. The
Speaker 1: former star of Family Matters is sitting in jail, denied
Speaker 1: bail right now over a family issue.
Speaker 2: Correct. Yes, the Family Matters theme is sticking with him,
Speaker 2: but not in a good way. For Darius McCrary, he's
Speaker 2: forty nine years old, made his first court appearance yesterday.
Speaker 2: This story is bizarre, and his behavior in court was
Speaker 2: even more bizarre, I would say concerning it seemed as
Speaker 2: if he was not altogether.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was trying to represent himself and maybe he
Speaker 1: was a little confused about the process. The judge was
Speaker 1: confused at times that we could clearly hear. But I
Speaker 1: don't think I would have known, first of all, his name,
Speaker 1: Darius McCrary with that of immediately.
Speaker 2: No, I would not have known his name. But you
Speaker 2: know his face, oh.
Speaker 1: Of course, Oh my goodness, it's undmistakable. Still to this day.
Speaker 1: All these years later, Jaleel right White, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people know that name immediately arkle from Family
Speaker 1: Matters and this show. I didn't realize they had a
Speaker 1: great run. Yeah, the show was on for nine seasons,
Speaker 1: that's the first five they would get twenty million plus.
Speaker 2: Wow and back in the day, right, what.
Speaker 1: The actual help? But this was a big deal of
Speaker 1: a sitcom that it features one of the few featured
Speaker 1: prominently black cast focused on a middle class black family,
Speaker 1: and he was the older brother.
Speaker 2: Yes, people have said he's kind of like the Malcolm
Speaker 2: Jamal Warner of Family Matters. Basically there were people were
Speaker 2: making comparisons and he has that look in the same way.
Speaker 2: When we heard, of course the tragic news about Malcolm Jamal,
Speaker 2: you saw where he was how many years decades later,
Speaker 2: and he still had that same smile, that same face.
Speaker 2: And truly, Darius McCrary is the same despite all he's facing.
Speaker 2: Even his mugshot if you pull it up, is a
Speaker 2: big smile on his face, and you recognize that face
Speaker 2: from the show Family Matters all those years ago.
Speaker 1: But yes, his name is not the one that jumps out,
Speaker 1: I think obviously because of Diehard Reginald Bill Johnson, who
Speaker 1: played the dad in that show. Obviously I love that guy,
Speaker 1: but this was he ends up getting this show because
Speaker 1: of that role in his stardom in Diehard. So all
Speaker 1: these things came together to actually give this kid, give
Speaker 1: Darius McCrary a pretty wonderful opportunity. And now he has
Speaker 1: a place really robes in television and broadcast and sitcom
Speaker 1: history because of the role he played.
Speaker 2: And unfortunately he's making the kind of news and the
Speaker 2: kind of history nobody wants to make. You know, a
Speaker 2: lot of people point to child actors in pros and
Speaker 2: tough times, and it seems as though one can only
Speaker 2: assume he's been in some sort of financial distress because
Speaker 2: these charges are back pay for child support payments, and
Speaker 2: according to reports, he owes ninety five thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: back pay of child support payments. That's significant, yes, and that.
Speaker 1: Has to accumulate over time if that actually is true.
Speaker 1: But that is out of Michigan, he claims. And this
Speaker 1: is nowhere we get into and initially we were. You
Speaker 1: almost are scratching your head at best, giggling at worst
Speaker 1: at some of the reasoning and logic that came up
Speaker 1: to what happened, but he was he missed a court
Speaker 1: appearance in Michigan, and because of that, the arrest warrant
Speaker 1: was issued. So he was picked up and not being
Speaker 1: let out now because this was a fugitive they consider
Speaker 1: this a felony fugitive arrest when you're wanted and you
Speaker 1: don't turn yourself in, and then it appears he's trying
Speaker 1: to possibly flee the country. That is why he's sitting
Speaker 1: in jail now with no chance of getting out. No bail.
Speaker 2: Yes, bail was denied yesterday, and he was apprehended at
Speaker 2: the border, at the Mexico border. So he is currently
Speaker 2: in San Diego right there, obviously near Tijuana, and there's
Speaker 2: all sorts of back and forth and confusion about why
Speaker 2: he was in Mexico in the first place.
Speaker 1: Because he was kind of in Mexico.
Speaker 2: Kind of Tijuana. Well, so he was arrested actually trying
Speaker 2: to get back into the United States. That's when he
Speaker 2: was arrested, not when he was he claims accidentally across
Speaker 2: the border into Mexico. Do you buy that.
Speaker 1: I can't make sense of it. It doesn't mean it
Speaker 1: didn't happen, doesn't mean it's not true, but he made
Speaker 1: the quarter appearance yesterday, but they say he was arrested
Speaker 1: on October fifth. So his lawyers and his I guess
Speaker 1: his agent people had different and stories here robes, but
Speaker 1: the official one he's going with right now is what
Speaker 1: was he doing when he was caught.
Speaker 2: So he claims, and by the way, he represented himself
Speaker 2: in yesterday's hearing, which was such a mess. The judge
Speaker 2: was like, nah, you need to have some legal representation
Speaker 2: because you don't know what the hell you're doing or
Speaker 2: talking about. And we can get into that because what
Speaker 2: he said was bizarre and almost unintelligible at times. But
Speaker 2: he said that he was caught at the border because
Speaker 2: he was going to Tijuana to build homes for the homeless,
Speaker 2: but that he accidentally crossed into Mexico because he couldn't
Speaker 2: find the person he was supposed to meet. But his
Speaker 2: agent initially said that he was in Tijuana because he
Speaker 2: was looking at property in Tijuana. So there are multiple
Speaker 2: stories going around, none of which seemed to be correct.
Speaker 2: But we don't know for sure.
Speaker 1: But real estate and building homes for the homeless kind
Speaker 1: of go together. Maybe those things are related, and somebody
Speaker 1: who's got don't have all the details. That's possible.
Speaker 2: But the confusing thing is though that he's saying he
Speaker 2: didn't mean to go to Mexico. So despite some explanations
Speaker 2: as to why he was in Tijuana, now we're hearing
Speaker 2: him say he accidentally cross the.
Speaker 1: Border because he was supposed to be meeting the guy
Speaker 1: in charge of the project and helping build the homes,
Speaker 1: and that was confusion about where they were supposed to meet.
Speaker 2: Is the story got it? So where is this guy?
Speaker 2: Because that could clear a lot of things off. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying if we could hear from him, I would
Speaker 2: feel better about this version of his story.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you get confused when you confuse about where
Speaker 1: to meet somebody. Is it on this side of the
Speaker 1: street or is on that side of the street.
Speaker 2: You don't accidentally cross into Mexico, Okay, it's a process.
Speaker 2: You don't just walk in to Mexico casually cross the border. Whoopsie,
Speaker 2: there are border patrol agents. There are actual like aren't there.
Speaker 2: Like it's kind of like even I think about an
Speaker 2: easy pass station on steroids, Like I haven't crossed the
Speaker 2: border actually driving into Mexico. I've crossed the border driving
Speaker 2: into Canada, and I know that's a process as well,
Speaker 2: So I can't speak to actually having ever driven into Mexico,
Speaker 2: so I don't know what that actually is, but I
Speaker 2: guarantee you you have to show your passport, you have
Speaker 2: to actually talk to an agent, you have to probably
Speaker 2: state why you're going. You. They don't just let you
Speaker 2: drive in there. You can't accidentally go to Mexico.
Speaker 1: But those are Mexican officials checking your information, right, So
Speaker 1: I'm saying an arrest warrant wouldn't have popped up only
Speaker 1: on the way back.
Speaker 2: Right, although I don't know, like who knows that. I'm
Speaker 2: surprised that that didn't pop up. Then if there was
Speaker 2: a if he missed a court appearance back in June
Speaker 2: and he had an arrest warrant out for him, it
Speaker 2: is interesting he was able to get into Mexico without
Speaker 2: being flagged at that point, because that was the initial
Speaker 2: story that he was apprehended trying to go to Mexico.
Speaker 2: But it's been I guess now clarified that he actually
Speaker 2: got apprehended coming back into the United States.
Speaker 1: So the story, who knows what it is, But why
Speaker 1: did he miss a court appearance having to do with
Speaker 1: childs support in the first place.
Speaker 2: Ropes got an explanation for that. So here's the problem. See,
Speaker 2: the notice was sent to a PO box and not
Speaker 2: to his actual physical home address he claimed that's from.
Speaker 2: And then on top of that, he claims he had
Speaker 2: COVID and he was really sick and that's why he
Speaker 2: hadn't gone to check his pobox. Now, apparently he recovered
Speaker 2: well enough to accidentally head to Mexico, but he didn't
Speaker 2: swing by his PO box first to get that really
Speaker 2: important court appearance notice saying he was wanted in court.
Speaker 1: That, I mean, how my question how late? How far
Speaker 1: past a court appearance or responding to the court before
Speaker 1: they issue a war weren't for your arrest? If you
Speaker 1: get a notice to come to court, it's not going
Speaker 1: to be a notice that, hey, your court date is tomorrow,
Speaker 1: it's going to be in two days, in two weeks,
Speaker 1: could be next month.
Speaker 2: You usually have ample time to plan around a court
Speaker 2: date like that.
Speaker 1: Okay, So is it possible he didn't check the PO
Speaker 1: box for quite some time?
Speaker 2: Is that he must have had what is it called
Speaker 2: the long hauler syndrome of COVID, Because I've had COVID
Speaker 2: twice that I know of. I was recovered within three
Speaker 2: to four days.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I am not going to it all make
Speaker 1: any assumptions about the level of discomfort he had while
Speaker 1: he had COVID. That thing is serious.
Speaker 2: He was able to physically make his way from Michigan
Speaker 2: to Tijuana.
Speaker 1: It was more important to get to the people, the
Speaker 1: homeless who need homes. Okay in Tijuana.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I mean, I don't know they did it?
Speaker 2: Was it Endeavor? There was the name of an organization.
Speaker 2: I actually thought now, so obviously this is verifiable. So
Speaker 2: whatever he's saying, Oh, he's going to have to be
Speaker 2: a name, verify it. Oh I didn't see that. Does
Speaker 2: that make it different from him?
Speaker 1: Yes, it does. I didn't know that was official name.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a guy's name. They said Rando
Speaker 1: that he was trying to find. But that makes.
Speaker 2: Perfect Esperanza programs. So this he's this is according to
Speaker 2: his representative. She says that he accidentally crossed into Mexico
Speaker 2: due to a mix up about where to meet his
Speaker 2: partner for the Esperanza program, where he volunteered to build
Speaker 2: homes for unhoused individuals. That is exactly what the name
Speaker 2: of the organization is that they referenced Esperanza. I'm not
Speaker 2: familiar with it.
Speaker 1: Housing and benefits assistance in Philadelphia, Esperanza program. Yes, there's
Speaker 1: a thing that does something with housing in Tijuana maybe
Speaker 1: all over, Yes, for thirty years, the Esperanza program.
Speaker 2: All right, I cannot wait to hear from Esperanza.
Speaker 1: I can what if he's listed in the leadership here
Speaker 1: something he's not, But yes, it is exactly what it's
Speaker 1: what they do. This is interesting. So is it possible
Speaker 1: that he legitimately had something to do in Mexico.
Speaker 2: It's just there was a lot of mixed messaging going on,
Speaker 2: so it's confusing to know what to believe and what
Speaker 2: not to believe. So much so that the judge was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're going to deny your bail. You're going to need
Speaker 2: to be extradited back to Michigan, where then you can
Speaker 2: actually go and appear in court for those missed child
Speaker 2: support payments, which he says was an accident as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but stay with us here when we come back.
Speaker 1: We'll explain what his response to all that that. The
Speaker 1: judge says, yeah, we'll tell you what his response was
Speaker 1: and why his quote appearance was a bit bizarre and
Speaker 1: a bit confusing even to the judge.
Speaker 2: And continuing our coverage of a well a developing and
Speaker 2: can even it's a story that just gets more and
Speaker 2: more bizarre as the days go on. We're talking about
Speaker 2: former Family Matters star dealing with some very tricky family
Speaker 2: matters right now, and he needs to appear in family court.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, though, he has been in a jail
Speaker 2: on the border of Mexico and the United States after
Speaker 2: he was arrested apparently now trying to cross back into
Speaker 2: the country after accidentally going to Mexico. He claims to
Speaker 2: help build homes for the homeless. Okay, so if you
Speaker 2: think anything that we have said up until now is
Speaker 2: strange and puzzling, just wait until you hear how his
Speaker 2: bail hearing. His first hearing went yesterday in court where
Speaker 2: he attempted to represent himself in this hearing. It didn't
Speaker 2: go well.
Speaker 1: No, it was very confusing and he was at times
Speaker 1: trying to At one point he cited a case, another
Speaker 1: criminal case and trying to make a point about his
Speaker 1: own rights being violated. It was you couldn't make sense
Speaker 1: really of what he was saying. He was trying to
Speaker 1: represent himself. He was also standing behind I guess kind
Speaker 1: of in a glass holding cell, trying to talk to
Speaker 1: the judge through the window, So that made it all
Speaker 1: so awkward. But it was strange and what was this
Speaker 1: I'm making a special appearance. That whole back and forth
Speaker 1: with the judge as well. He kept repeating I'm making
Speaker 1: special appearance. The judge said, what are you saying? Whose
Speaker 1: special appearance? What are you? And back and forth to
Speaker 1: where she was even trying to get him to say
Speaker 1: his name on the record, and he wouldn't say it
Speaker 1: because he didn't seem to understand. Not that he was
Speaker 1: being hostile, he just didn't seem to understand what.
Speaker 2: It made me actually think he was going for an
Speaker 2: insanity defense. I don't think that that's a defense for
Speaker 2: not paying child support, but it actually felt like he
Speaker 2: was setting up a mentally unstable sort of defense for himself,
Speaker 2: because that's how bizarre it was. But specifically, I have
Speaker 2: some of the quotes at the beginning of the hearing,
Speaker 2: he addressed the judge saying, I'd like to say I'm
Speaker 2: here on special appearance. The judge was very confused and
Speaker 2: said especially appearing for whom. That was the response, and
Speaker 2: then he repeated, I'm here on special appearance. The judge
Speaker 2: repeated the question, sir, who are you specially appearing for.
Speaker 2: He finally responds, specially appearing for Darius McCrary, I'm here.
Speaker 2: I'm here. So it was just bizarre, and it just
Speaker 2: kept going on and on to the point where the
Speaker 2: judge finally said that you, Darius, are unable to understand
Speaker 2: and appreciate the legalities of these proceedings. And that's when
Speaker 2: she said, I'm going to assign you a court appointed
Speaker 2: lawyer because you need help.
Speaker 1: Again, he was trying to do some lawyering and was
Speaker 1: making them a claim that his rights were being violated,
Speaker 1: and particularly his rights as it comes to due process,
Speaker 1: and he said that in court, but he starts signing
Speaker 1: the fourth, the fifth, the fourteenth Amendment. He's throwing all
Speaker 1: this out, and the judge only heard the voice. I
Speaker 1: think it was a woman.
Speaker 2: It seemed like a woman.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean she was patient there and indulged him
Speaker 1: for a little bit, but she finally got to a
Speaker 1: point and say, all right, we need to wrap this up.
Speaker 1: Go get a lawyer. We're going to sign you one
Speaker 1: right and try this again. I think he has another
Speaker 1: court appearance and we can have I think the fourteenth
Speaker 1: when did I.
Speaker 2: See, Well, Michigan has thirty days to kick him up
Speaker 2: from this jail cell in San Diego to bring him
Speaker 2: back to Michigan to face the charges he's facing there.
Speaker 2: So yeah, this is just it. It was a strange
Speaker 2: story that got stranger and it's look, who knows what's
Speaker 2: going on in his life. Who knows what's going on
Speaker 2: in his head, but certainly he needs legal help, but
Speaker 2: it seemed like he needed even more help than that
Speaker 2: after watching him.
Speaker 1: I hate to say, I don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: in his personal life, but he certainly don't want to
Speaker 1: didn't want to end up where he is. And for
Speaker 1: a lot of us who grew up watching, loving, admiring,
Speaker 1: looking up to gets like him, you just hate to
Speaker 1: see it. But like anybody else, people have issues and
Speaker 1: problems in life and try to do the best to
Speaker 1: make them right.
Speaker 2: It is one of those things where people go through
Speaker 2: tough times, but usually not with the spectacle of cameras
Speaker 2: and people trying to discern, you know, your lowest point
Speaker 2: to know that everybody's watching and listening, and it's not
Speaker 2: how you want to be remembered, and it's certainly not
Speaker 2: how you want to have your name back in the headlines,
Speaker 2: especially when you've been you know, the person he's been
Speaker 2: and representing and a show that's been beloved, And it's
Speaker 2: just tough when you see people fall on tough times
Speaker 2: and have it all out there for everyone to voyeur listed,
Speaker 2: voyeur list it. I can't talk today. Go ahead, I
Speaker 2: give it one more shot, voyistically Is that right? Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm going to just try to say this in another way.
Speaker 2: It's just tough when you are now basically the headline
Speaker 2: that no one wanted, and certainly not you, and you're
Speaker 2: having to deal with that. So anyway, we will continue
Speaker 2: to follow this see if there's any new updates, any
Speaker 2: new light that could be shed on what possibly was
Speaker 2: going on behind the scenes. But for now, thank you
Speaker 2: so much for listening to us and just bearing with
Speaker 2: me stumbling on that one word that I still am
Speaker 2: not going to be able to say. I may be
Speaker 2: rebok alongside DJ Holmes. Have a great day, everybody,