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