Speaker 1: Hey, it's Stephanie back with the bonus episode. I want
Speaker 1: to play you some behind the scenes tape from my
Speaker 1: two reporting trips to San Francisco. The first one is
Speaker 1: from the night of the continuance. After Laura filed and
Speaker 1: Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation with the court and Mike
Speaker 1: was told his hearing would be continued in two weeks.
Speaker 1: Spirits were low. People who had been following the case
Speaker 1: felt defeated, and so did Mike. The evening of the continuance,
Speaker 1: I met up with journalist Megan Fox to hear how
Speaker 1: the rest of her day unfolded.
Speaker 2: Start recording.
Speaker 3: If you're ready, yep, all right.
Speaker 1: It was around eight thirty pm. Meghan and I sound
Speaker 1: exhausted because we were.
Speaker 2: The first question I have for you is what was
Speaker 2: your reaction to what happened today?
Speaker 4: It was awful. I couldn't process it until after I
Speaker 4: did some exit interviews with Omar and Clayton. I couldn't
Speaker 4: process it for a while. I'm not even sure I
Speaker 4: still have. I'm not even sure that I have. But
Speaker 4: there was a moment when Omar and Mike walked out
Speaker 4: of the courtroom and I could see that they were
Speaker 4: both crying. That was hard, really hard, and my heart
Speaker 4: just fell to the floor. And after I heard what happened,
Speaker 4: I went to Danielle, who was sobbing, and I hugged
Speaker 4: her and she fell on my shoulders and sobbed. And
Speaker 4: that was awful. But there was something inside of me
Speaker 4: that was keeping me from having any emotion whatsoever. All
Speaker 4: I said to her was we're not going anywhere, We're
Speaker 4: not leaving you, and we'll be here, and she was
Speaker 4: just sobbing, and it was It was awful.
Speaker 1: We now know that after the alleged life threatening circumstances
Speaker 1: that caused Laura to miss the hearing, she showed up
Speaker 1: at a horse competition that very same week, where she
Speaker 1: was show jumping and winning ribbons. The online community banded
Speaker 1: together on live streams. They launched a fundraiser to help
Speaker 1: Mike with the expenses of having to come back to
Speaker 1: court again in two weeks.
Speaker 4: It was insane.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I didn't intend for it to be
Speaker 3: a fundraising stream. I just wanted to tell them what happened.
Speaker 3: I wanted to have a better stream than yesterday. Because
Speaker 3: the WiFi went down, the power went out. It was
Speaker 3: a nightmare. My computer died. It was just a shit show,
Speaker 3: and I wanted to have a smooth stream and just
Speaker 3: tell them what happened and prepare them for a fact
Speaker 3: that there would be a fundraising stream, because I had
Speaker 3: already called Dave and like, we got to do this.
Speaker 3: I didn't think we would raise any money today. I mean,
Speaker 3: I was going to direct them to the fundraiser and
Speaker 3: I tell them, if you have it, give it, he's
Speaker 3: going to need it. They started donating to the GoFundMe
Speaker 3: so fast and furious that in the first hour of
Speaker 3: the stream, it was like four thousand dollars was raised
Speaker 3: in an hour. And that's when it started to hit
Speaker 3: me that, oh my god, we thought we weren't going
Speaker 3: to be able to raise thirty five hundred for the
Speaker 3: court reporter. We just passed four thousand and one hour.
Speaker 3: The community is just going nuts, and it kept going.
Speaker 3: By the time I was done with two hours of streaming,
Speaker 3: they were at ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand more dollars.
Speaker 2: Why do you think that that that what happened today
Speaker 2: sparked that with everyone.
Speaker 3: Nobody's giving up here. This is not what she thinks
Speaker 3: it is. She didn't stop anybody.
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, I went back to San Francisco for
Speaker 1: the continued hearing. Like I said in episode eleven, it
Speaker 1: felt like deja vus. The continuance threw a wrench into
Speaker 1: things for everyone, most of all for Mike and his
Speaker 1: wife Danielle, but also for the court system. Space is limited,
Speaker 1: and that time could have gone to someone who would
Speaker 1: have actually shown up. Even Mike's attorney, Omar Serrato, had
Speaker 1: a family vacation planned that had to be rescheduled due
Speaker 1: to the continuance.
Speaker 5: Here's Omar, So I had a vacation planned, and so
Speaker 5: I come home and I tell my wife that, yeah,
Speaker 5: it got continued in Hazel bad news, bad news, and
Speaker 5: then she's like what what?
Speaker 6: And you could imagine how that conversation went. She was
Speaker 6: very supportive, she was angry, she was really sad. She
Speaker 6: has some choice words for Laura, but she understood the
Speaker 6: mission and she's like, if I'm gonna miss my vacation,
Speaker 6: you better just fucking finish this. It costs US thirty
Speaker 6: three hundred dollars for the cancelation, fear whatever.
Speaker 5: It's like, well, I just gone to the wind, huh, I.
Speaker 6: Guess, and I just prompted, Look, look, we will go
Speaker 6: on a better vacation. I promise somehow we're gonna make
Speaker 6: this right.
Speaker 5: We're gonna make it.
Speaker 6: I will make it up to you.
Speaker 1: This example might sound small, but it just proves the
Speaker 1: ripple effect of Laura's actions. On my second reporting trip
Speaker 1: to San Francisco, the energy was markedly different. I was
Speaker 1: in the courtroom with everyone when the domestic violence restraining
Speaker 1: order against Mike was dismissed. I left the courthouse that
Speaker 1: day with Mike's attorneys, Omar Serrato and Rachel Warrez. We
Speaker 1: called a WEIMO, one of those self driving cars.
Speaker 7: It's my first weaylow. It's like a celemation, WEYMO.
Speaker 1: You can hear the energy and relief in Rachel's voice.
Speaker 1: We all piled in and debriefed the DVRO dismissal.
Speaker 2: Tell me how it was.
Speaker 7: Oh, it went as well as it possibly could have gone.
Speaker 6: It was literally best case scenario.
Speaker 7: Yes, in every respect.
Speaker 6: Oh, I should start with lit. Yeah, the fact that
Speaker 6: we didn't have to say anything. It was exactly what
Speaker 6: we were hoping for and what my fear was. And
Speaker 6: I was starting to get nerves, like, hey, it's like
Speaker 6: almost nine thirty. We're still not in the courtroom, and
Speaker 6: I was telling Rachel, Hey, they might be having like
Speaker 6: another end camera. I'm having flashbacks. I'm telling them. I'm
Speaker 6: telling Mike, uh, don't get your hopes up. Be prepared
Speaker 6: for everything. Because when they called us in and let
Speaker 6: everybody in and they basically started just conducting it as
Speaker 6: if they're going to start a trial, I started to
Speaker 6: feel better about it. Yes, and then they make note
Speaker 6: of the time it is. It is nine thirty. We
Speaker 6: were scheduled for nine o'clock. I don't see lower Owens
Speaker 6: here in the lobby or even here on zoom. Therefore,
Speaker 6: I'm going to dismiss the case. But before that, she
Speaker 6: cracked a joke with the court reporter. Oh, I guess
Speaker 6: this is gonna.
Speaker 5: Be a quick one.
Speaker 3: She did.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that was what I felt much better. A sigh
Speaker 7: of relief. Yeah, And this really was as gratifying as
Speaker 7: it would have been to, you know, present her with
Speaker 7: all the evidence that Laura was at a horse show,
Speaker 7: and she's done all these other things to other courts
Speaker 7: before like this. Any additional evidence that got presented just
Speaker 7: creates more possibility for chaos, which is I think what
Speaker 7: Laura thrives on. So the fact that the judge kept
Speaker 7: it so simple. She was ordered to be here, she
Speaker 7: did not appear. I told her the consequences it's dismissed
Speaker 7: is really the best result I think in terms of
Speaker 7: trying to minimize the work and chaos going forward.
Speaker 2: What are her options after this appeal?
Speaker 7: She can appeal. I don't think she has a good appeal,
Speaker 7: but she can appeal. She can also she can seek
Speaker 7: another restraining order. She has lots of options to make
Speaker 7: sure this doesn't end.
Speaker 2: Do you think she will continue on with that knowing
Speaker 2: that there's the criminal case going on in Arizona.
Speaker 6: Yes, because.
Speaker 4: There was no hesitation.
Speaker 7: Yes, she would have.
Speaker 6: She would have never brought this if that was going
Speaker 6: to be a determ.
Speaker 7: The only thing Laura seems to have any fear of
Speaker 7: is testifying in person. Yeah, and being subject to cross examination,
Speaker 7: which is not smart because in many ways submitting a
Speaker 7: written declaration is more potentially dangerous than having in person testimony.
Speaker 7: But she does not seem to be fully aware of.
Speaker 7: I guess the consequences of submitting a written declaration that's
Speaker 7: a lie?
Speaker 2: What grounds would she even have to file a new one.
Speaker 7: Well, yeah, yeah, she would say that Mike is behind
Speaker 7: the JFC account. She would say that Mike walked by
Speaker 7: her house, but she can't prove it. Or she could
Speaker 7: just say she wants one for all stuff that has already happened.
Speaker 7: I mean she will win that way, but she can
Speaker 7: say whatever she wants. Yeah, and so I really think
Speaker 7: she'll go the Appellet route frankly, and then only if that.
Speaker 7: I think she wants to maximize how long this goes,
Speaker 7: how involved she can be. So I think she'll pursue
Speaker 7: the Appellet route, and then after that doesn't work, I
Speaker 7: think we'll see another restraining order saying like Mike stalking me.
Speaker 7: I think that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 6: If that happens, good luck.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I can't see him even granting a temporary.
Speaker 6: Now if she falls in this county, yeah, I mean
Speaker 6: it even have to be in Arizona, but they know
Speaker 6: about her up there too, that's true.
Speaker 2: Anything else that you guys want to say about today,
Speaker 2: how you're feeling. Did anybody else think it was crazy
Speaker 2: that it was raining all morning and then the moment
Speaker 2: we walked out of the courtroom there was sun.
Speaker 7: Yes, you saw this sudden. Yeah, No, I think it's
Speaker 7: really seeing Mike and his family there. It really reminds
Speaker 7: you that this has been his life. It's been so
Speaker 7: debilitating in so many ways over the last however many
Speaker 7: years for him. Seeing him so relieved and seeing his
Speaker 7: family so relieved, I think it was worth everything that's
Speaker 7: been put into it, because he didn't deserve this.
Speaker 6: And the thing is like we've experienced it like two
Speaker 6: weeks ago when we were back here and we thought
Speaker 6: that we had a mutual dismissal. Oh that whole thing,
Speaker 6: and they were celebrating and Mike is in tears and
Speaker 6: everybody was in tears. And then I'm sitting there my
Speaker 6: phone is buzzing in my pocket, like what is this.
Speaker 6: Laura's asking for a remote links or whatever. But she
Speaker 6: says she was going to be there to whatever. And
Speaker 6: then I got another one saying she asked for a
Speaker 6: link for David Jingers. That's right, And I'm like, what
Speaker 6: is going what's going on? And then I email Laura, Hey,
Speaker 6: I thought we had an agreement. I think that's still
Speaker 6: the case. And then she says, no, we don't have
Speaker 6: an agreement. Just like that. I'm like, he just the
Speaker 6: devastation in that moment. Mike wasn't devastated in that moment.
Speaker 6: He wasn't I was pissed. Yeah, I was genuinely pissed.
Speaker 6: We were up until like two am that night. I
Speaker 6: went back to working on my cross. People are putting
Speaker 6: together the trial notebooks, you know, people were documenting stuff.
Speaker 6: That whole night was just this weird blurb.
Speaker 7: You can only imagine how it feels for Mike. This
Speaker 7: is not nothing to him. You know, this has been
Speaker 7: his life and the emotional roller coaster for us, just
Speaker 7: because we're invested legally, and also because Mike has become
Speaker 7: a friend, you know, who we care about. The emotional
Speaker 7: rollercoaster for us and you and the people that have
Speaker 7: been following this is so much that even two weeks,
Speaker 7: last minute back and forth, it's not like a regular
Speaker 7: trial where you're still kind of like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 7: I was ready, now I'm not. That's a lot of adrenaline.
Speaker 7: This is like devastation and then elation, and then you
Speaker 7: know it's circling through those emotions so quickly it takes a.
Speaker 5: Toll on it.
Speaker 4: That's the truth.
Speaker 6: Like the trials, and they get continued and you know,
Speaker 6: Zion whatever, I guess.
Speaker 2: I'm dude in a month.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but there's never like an audience are like this
Speaker 6: ground swell of support for somebody. That just adds in
Speaker 6: a variable that I did not account for because just
Speaker 6: seeing the devastation I could handle it. I was pissed,
Speaker 6: but then seeing everybody else being pissed, it just further
Speaker 6: sinks you into this place. So when you ask me
Speaker 6: what do you feel, I feel nothing. I was not
Speaker 6: going to acknowledge any negative. I can't get too low.
Speaker 6: It's look, we'll be back in two weeks. That was
Speaker 6: the only thing to say.
Speaker 2: So time to celebrate now, yes, now I feel all
Speaker 2: the things.
Speaker 7: Right, yep, let's go celebrate, and we're going to toast
Speaker 7: a Judge Gold.
Speaker 6: I think yes to Judge Gold.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Stay tuned for new
Speaker 1: episodes and bonus content on the Love Trapped Feed.