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[Speaker 1]
Welcome to the Solo Sidebar. I'm Lauren Johnson Norris, and this is our second episode. But let's be honest, we're still just having that quiet courtroom conversation out loud.
[Speaker 2]
And I'm Ashley Duncan, still sitting in co-counsel and asking some real questions.
[Speaker 1]
This week, we're talking about a not guilty verdict that blew up headlines, a federal case where everything turns on the definition of consent, and protests in LA that turned into a military-style crackdown. Let's get into it. Let's start where we left off, the Karen Reid case.
That's the case where she was accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston cop, by backing her car into him and leaving him in the snow. Since we talked last, the jurors came back. They found her not guilty.
For all charges? For every single charge. The defense didn't just poke holes in the prosecution's argument.
They put on an entire case of police misconduct, an entire cover-up. This wasn't just about forensic evidence. It was a war between the TikTok version of the case that the defense adopted and the state's evidence.
[Speaker 2]
So kind of what you're saying is that the algorithm won?
[Speaker 1]
The algorithm won. But even more than that, this was a case where the defense alleged a complete police cover-up, that they hid evidence, that they pretended that she was the culprit when really the police were involved in the killing. And what's even worse is we watched the whole state case fall apart.
Witnesses got up and testified, and it turned out that they lied about their education on their resume. They couldn't get the timeline right. They couldn't calculate the time that the death occurred and when the victim was texting.
I mean, a matter of seconds, everything fell apart. And it worked out well for her? It sure did.
I mean, at the end of the day, a case that involves a police cover-up, allegations about police, any kind of case like that is really going to draw the whole system into scrutiny.
[Speaker 2]
Oh, for sure. And then I think the question now lies with a lot of people. It's like, what's happening next?
Are they going to go after the police? What's going to happen?
[Speaker 1]
Well, we know from our cases that that doesn't really happen. If the prosecutor was to attack its own witnesses, all their cases would fall apart. So I expect we'll have a cold case now that'll never be solved.
But Karen Reed is free. Yep. She got what she wanted.
[Speaker 2]
And most people out there on the TikTok journey got what they wanted as well.
[Speaker 1]
Next up, Sean Diddy Combs. Now we've been watching this federal case that's turned really on the question of what is consent? We heard from Cassie Ventura testify that she was in a relationship for 10 years, but during that relationship, she didn't think it was consensual.
This is an entire racketeering case based around allegations that Combs used his celebrity and used his money and force and violence to commit all kinds of felony acts, from human trafficking to arson. And ultimately, it's going to come down to whether or not the jurors believe Cassie and the other witnesses, or they see this case in a different light. And the defense?
Well, the defense did not call witnesses or put on a case. What they focused on instead was attacking the prosecution's case. They're going to close and argue that ultimately, these are just acts of domestic violence.
They are acts that may be weird or illegal, but they don't amount when you put them all together to a criminal conspiracy. And they're also going to argue that there was no other conspirators, like who was in on this conspiracy. So I think at the end of it, the jurors are going to have to decide if they think that these crimes rise to that level.
So it's more of a he said, she said type of situation. Well, the defense isn't even disputing some of the facts. I mean, they're saying the wild sex parties happened.
They're saying that there was domestic violence. They're just saying that the prosecution's case is not a RICO conspiracy. It's not a big, grand conspiracy that other people were a part of to use threats, violence, coercion, and crimes to engage in these crimes.
And there's no live stream going on? Right. So this case wasn't recorded.
We didn't get to watch it on TV. We just saw the sketch artists. But I'm sure when the verdict comes back, it's going to be big.
And we'll make sure to cover whatever happens and break it down for our audience in real time when we see them next. Next, we're going to talk about what's in the headlines. The ICE protests in LA, the police called out as well as the National Guard and even the military.
And even a reporter got shot with a rubber bullet. So what's been happening is over the last few weeks, we've seen ICE sweep in to some of Southern California cities and towns, scooping up people off the streets and deporting them, separating families. And people really had enough.
They showed up in LA, went on the freeway, went in the streets and said, we're not going to have this. We don't have kings. You can't do this to our communities.
In response to that, our president, Donald Trump, went ahead and ordered the National Guard into the streets without the approval of the governor. Now, the police in LA and many other cities and all of California don't cooperate with ICE. They're there to make sure that everybody's safe.
But when you send in ICE agents to start these kinds of efforts, people are going to respond. So we saw the National Guard was called and even the military. And the response really was unnecessarily chaotic.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah. I mean, well, especially with, you know, the agents are covering their faces and they're not identifying themselves. And that puts a lot of people in fear and panic.
You don't know if these are actual agents. You know, we just see people literally getting thrown into vans.
[Speaker 1]
It's scary, right? It's scary for communities because when someone covers up their face and doesn't identify themselves, first, we don't know who they are. People don't know if this is a legitimate government operation or something else.
Sure, it looks like a kidnapping. But also, how do you seek recourse or redress as a citizen if you don't even know what's going on?
[Speaker 2]
Right. And a lot of these people aren't even having due process throughout this whole thing. You know, we've heard some pretty bad stories about what's going on while they're in these detention facilities and, you know, people are being taken away from all of their everything, you know, their whole family, their friends, their jobs.
And people are trying to do the right things. But then this is happening.
[Speaker 1]
Well, imagine the risk that you're going about your business and somebody without a mask and without identification throws you in the back of a van. You could be a U.S. citizen. You could be somebody who's just a law-abiding person who could end up in El Salvador.
And that has happened. That has happened. So it's no surprise that people are in the streets protesting this.
And what I think we'll continue to see are some arrests, but really the response by bringing in the National Guard and even the military is totally disproportionate for what we saw in the streets. You're always going to have people in protests who violate the law and who might get detained or arrested. But unless the government, the local government or the state government, says we need help, it makes no sense for the federal government to send troops.
And that moves us into the next myth of the week. You know, I've been seeing on social media, people claim, well, if somebody is not in the country legally, then they don't have the same rights.
[Speaker 2]
So even if you're undocumented, you still have rights.
[Speaker 1]
That's why we call it the law of the land, right? Our constitutional rights apply to everybody in the United States. You just have to be here for them to apply to you.
You don't have to be a citizen. You could be here on vacation and the same rights, the due process rights of the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, all apply.
[Speaker 2]
So when people are saying they don't have rights, you know, it doesn't apply to them. They're just wrong. They're not just wrong.
[Speaker 1]
They're dangerously wrong. When we start to talk about people as others and not people who are just here, who have access to the same rights as everyone else, we're really setting a dangerous precedent and conversation. And it doesn't matter if it's just people on the internet saying it or people in the federal administration.
It's just wrong. Everyone here has the right to have due process. And that's what makes our Constitution so strong and makes us a democratic country.
[Speaker 2]
I agree.
[Speaker 1]
So let's talk about our usual suspects, probation violations. You know, we get a lot of calls from folks who are on felony probation and maybe they violated a term of that, but they don't understand, why am I in trouble? Aren't I free?
I'm not in jail.
[Speaker 2]
You know, and a lot of times they don't understand the depth of the consequences either.
[Speaker 1]
They don't, because when someone's put on probation, what that means is the maximum exposure, that amount of time you could have got, is still kind of hanging over your head. So failing to keep your address valid with the probation officer, failing to do any courses, or pay money back that you owe, or cooperate with the probation officer could result in jail time.
[Speaker 2]
Right. I feel like a lot of the people that call in that I'm working with, it's, you know, oh, well, life got in the way. But sometimes these judges don't care.
Like you were sentenced to something, you agreed to follow these terms and life happens, but you still have to pay for the crime, essentially.
[Speaker 1]
The best way that I try to explain it to clients is that you signed a contract. You signed a contract and that contract was that you were going to do those certain things. And by doing them, you're not facing the punishment of being incarcerated because you pled guilty or were found guilty.
So when folks say to us, you know what, I got busy, I wasn't able to do that, they're breaching the contract. And the court in probation has the right to come back and say, well, we need to get you back on track and we get to punish you for not doing that. And so, of course, we as defense lawyers are going to go in and explain the circumstances and say why certain things happened and how people should be given the benefit of the doubt.
But ultimately, if someone's placed on probation, complying with probation is the most important thing that they can do while they're on it.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, I mean, definitely, because if not, you could end up doing jail time. And that's counterintuitive of everything that your defense attorney is trying to do for you.
[Speaker 1]
Right. We're trying to keep people out of jail. So when they're putting themselves back in there, it doesn't just make our job harder.
It just makes life harder for that person. Yeah, exactly. Now for our sidebar reflection.
This week, it's when the room shifts. And I want to talk about the human element of a courtroom. As a lawyer, you may have everything prepared.
You've got your witness statements ready. You've got your argument prepped. But then you go into a courtroom and something changes everything.
It could be something the judge says, or a witness says, or some piece of evidence comes in, and everything can change. It's why we really have to be on our toes.
[Speaker 2]
And it's not always in the transcript, you know?
[Speaker 1]
Absolutely. I mean, the docket entries are just words. They can't always collect the vibe or the energy of what's going on in a courtroom.
And when we see everything shift, it really requires us as lawyers not just to be on our toes, but to be prepared for anything, to have alternate arguments backed up. And it's being tuned into what's going on that makes lawyers the most successful in court. If you're still listening, congrats.
You're officially on the jury. And jurors are legally obligated to review and subscribe. If you've got questions, cases you want us to cover, or a headline that just didn't sit right, reach out to us and let us know.
We'll break it down for you. No fluff. Thanks for joining us on the Solo Sidebar.
We'll see you next time.