[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Hi, everyone, I'm Dan Abrams, and this is "Court Cam."
- You should be ashamed of yourself.
- I want dude off my case. [spits]
♪ ♪
- Got a runner.
[people yelling]
- Get out!
- This is not TV court. This is for real.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- First up, we're in Green Cove Springs, Florida,
for a sentencing hearing.
♪ ♪
41-year-old Jonathan Davis has pled guilty
to leaving the scene of an accident, causing death.
♪ ♪
Three years earlier, police say
Davis was driving on a county road
when he veered into oncoming traffic
and crashed head-on into another vehicle.
The driver of the other car
is 23-year-old Cassidy Mongeon,
who was on her way home from work.
Davis, who had already amassed 39 traffic violations
over 20 years, fled on foot and then spent
the night in the woods before heading home.
Cassidy was discovered by a couple, who, after arriving
at the scene, say they witnessed Davis
running towards the woods.
Cassidy had suffered a severe brain injury
and was placed on life support at a nearby hospital.
But the next day, as her parents held her hand,
Cassidy died.
♪ ♪
That same day, after he says he saw the story on the news,
Davis surrendered to police.
He pled guilty and was held on $75,755 bond.
[dramatic music]
Today, with the victim's family seated in the gallery,
Davis appears before
Judge James Kallaher
to hear his sentence.
The state is asking for the maximum,
23 years in prison.
But before the judge imposes sentence,
the state calls Cassidy's loved ones
to testify about their loss.
First is Christina Mongeon, Cassidy's mother.
♪ ♪
- He left my daughter critically injured
on the side of a dark road.
He admitted to having a cell phone on him.
However, he did not have the human decency
to call 911 or render aid.
♪ ♪
- Next to speak is Mike Mongeon,
Cassidy's father, who describes
seeing his daughter at the hospital.
But this time, they were so swollen,
they were bigger than my hands, OK?
All right?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
I'm mad all the time.
All the time.
The scenarios my family are forced to be in
because of--because of him,
'cause of you!
♪ ♪
Justice for Cassidy.
23 years.
- I hope you get it, buddy.
♪ ♪
- Next is the defendant, who faces the gallery
to deliver his own statement.
- I'm sorry.
I messed up.
I wasn't thinking, and I left the scene.
I didn't even expect her to be hurt
or anything like that.
- I stand before you-- [indistinct chatter]
- After his outburst...
- I stand before you-- [indistinct chatter]
- Deputies escort the victim's father to the exit.
- [speaking indistinctly]
- Judge Kallaher has the final word.
- [gasps]
♪ ♪
- Davis must serve a minimum of four years in prison
before he can potentially be released.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
Next, we go to Detroit, Michigan, for an arraignment.
♪ ♪
38-year-old Kevin Pollard has been charged
with criminal sexual conduct against a minor.
♪ ♪
Four years earlier, police say Pollard
met a woman from Arizona on the internet
and invited her to visit him in Michigan.
The woman brought her seven-year-old niece with her.
Not long after they arrived, Pollard allegedly
touched the girl in a sexual manner
while her aunt took a nap.
The girl told her mother, who reported it to police,
and Pollard was arrested.
Pollard had previously been charged
for similar behavior on multiple occasions,
but never convicted.
Today, he appears before Magistrate William Burton
to hear if he'll make bond.
Things get off to a rocky start.
- Say your whole name.
- The beneficiary.
- What's his name?
- The beneficiary.
[tense music]
- You got a first name, Mr. Beneficiary?
- My name is the beneficiary of the trust.
- Of whose trust?
- Are you stating that the trust
that we are now administrating
is the Kevin Pollard trust, Your Honor?
- OK.
[overlapping speech]
Bring up somebody else.
- Thank you--
[overlapping speech]
- By refusing to identify himself,
it seems Pollard is playing
the sovereign citizen card.
The magistrate tends to his other cases
before eventually returning to Pollard.
- Sir, I ask the questions here.
You give me yes or no answers.
♪ ♪
Is that clear?
- It's very clear.
- OK, listen.
- Yes.
- Are you also known by the name of Kevin Pollard,
amongst other names?
Yes or no?
- Are you stating that the trust
that we are now administrating
is the Kevin Pollard trust, Your Honor?
If so, Kevin Pollard is, in fact, present today.
It is you that is Kevin Pollard, Your Honor.
[quirky music]
- Really?
- Yes, Your Honor. It is you.
- Really? Really? You want to go with that?
- That is Kevin Pollard. Yes, Your Honor.
- I'm Kevin Pollard?
- You are--you are Kevin Pollard today, Your Honor.
I am the beneficiary.
- And who are you?
- I am the beneficiary of the trust.
- OK.
Well, then, Mr. Beneficiary,
take you and your trust back to jail.
♪ ♪
- Can I speak to the clerk before we go any further?
- You know what?
I'll put you in time-out.
Get your mind right.
- Several minutes later,
the magistrate tries again.
But this time, he's not alone.
- All right, beneficiary, I'm going
to give you another chance in front of another magistrate.
- That's no problem.
Can I have the clerk present, please?
- And sir--
- A second magistrate, Laura Echartea,
bypasses the defendant and directs
her questions to the jail.
- DDC?
♪ ♪
- The gentleman that is in front of the screen,
in front of camera 1,
what name do you have him listed as?
♪ ♪
- OK, and, sir,
you are identified as Kevin Pollard,
but you're considering yourself the beneficiary.
Is that correct, sir?
- OK, are you stating that the trust
that we are now administrating
is the Kevin Pollard trust, ma'am?
- I'm not administrating any trust
'cause there is no trust in front of me.
But what I'm asking you is,
you call yourself the beneficiary,
is that correct?
- Yes, Your Honor.
- OK, no problem.
- The magistrate moves on and addresses bond.
- The people, go ahead, as to bond.
- Yeah, the people are asking for $250,000 cash bond.
No cash, no surety.
If he's able to ever post bond,
we'd like GPS tether with home arrest.
- OK.
Counsel Kirkland, go ahead,
as to bond, please.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr. Pollard has maintained
that he did not sexually assault the little girl.
I'd ask this court consider a high personal bond.
If not that, a 10% bond.
- Thank you.
I've heard the representations from both sides
in this particular matter
in reference to the beneficiary.
OK.
There was a forensic interview with the victim,
and she disclosed that she was touched by the defendant.
Based on the representation, based on the reading,
this court is convinced that Mr. Pollard, OK--
I'm sorry, the beneficiary, that he is a predator
in this particular matter.
That's why we're putting at $250,000 cash.
Also, there is another bond condition.
He's not to be around any minor children.
That concludes the arraignment of the beneficiary,
also known as Kevin Pollard.
- That is not fair! - That concludes this matter.
Thank you. - That is not fair.
You cannot do this.
Under oath and on record, you cannot do this.
I have rights, and you violated them,
and you was not my judge.
- The magistrate entered a plea of not guilty
on Pollard's behalf.
He remains in custody, and his case is pending.
♪ ♪
- Next, we're in Wyandotte, Michigan,
for a probation violation hearing.
♪ ♪
24-year-old Matthew Snead has been convicted
of driving a vehicle while intoxicated.
♪ ♪
Eight months earlier, Snead was sentenced
to one-year probation
and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence.
He was also ordered not to consume alcohol.
But after a probation violation,
he was ordered to wear a tether to monitor
any alcohol consumption.
Today, Snead appears with his attorney, Thomas Court,
before Judge Elizabeth DiSanto,
because his tether recently
showed an alcohol level of .057,
another violation of his probation.
When asked how alcohol got into his system,
Snead offers a curious explanation.
- So Mr. Snead stated that the reason
he tested positive for alcohol was because
he received a haircut and a shave.
[quirky music]
- Oh, sorry. Aftershave was alcohol.
Only alcohol, if I recall correctly, right?
- OK.
- In an attempt to resolve the matter,
the state calls the owner of the tether company,
Jeremy Stradley, to testify if aftershave has
enough alcohol to cause a positive result.
- There's been multiple studies done.
As far as the absorption of alcohol through the skin,
it's just--it's not.
It's just--to get to these levels in this kind of time
is not--it's not a feasible thing, Your Honor.
- Is that your testimony, that it's impossible
or it's just not likely?
- It's not likely.
- Judge DiSanto is not prepared to make a ruling.
So two days later, she brings in
the defendant's barber, Tyron Varner,
to testify about the products he uses.
- Walk me through your haircut with Mr. Snead.
- And you've been doing this for how long with Mr. Snead?
- Two years. - OK.
And you've been using the same products on him?
- The witness is excused, and the judge
is ready to make her decision.
- I hear that the combination of the disinfectant
that's put on your face does contain alcohol.
I also heard the testimony
that you've been using these products for two years.
- Yet you haven't tested positive for alcohol
from these products before.
So see where I'm going with that?
♪ ♪
- You also have had random testing,
and you haven't tested positive for alcohol
from the hair products.
That's my point.
- OK.
Based on the testimony of Mr. Stradley,
it doesn't appear that that would be
what would cause that alcohol event
to go up to a .057.
Court's going to order you to continue probation.
Court's going to order 30 days jail.
♪ ♪
I'm going to suspend that jail, sir.
I'm going to do a jail review.
I'm just giving you fair warning, sir.
Any violation of any term of your probation,
any positive reading on your tether,
you're serving that 30 days.
- The judge gives Snead a break,
continuing his probation and ordering him
to return to court for a jail review in 60 days.
♪ ♪
- Next, we're in Ypsilanti, Michigan,
for a sentencing hearing.
♪ ♪
37-year-old Cushmeer Muhammad has pled no contest
to operating a vehicle without a license,
causing death,
fleeing a police officer,
and concealing a stolen vehicle.
♪ ♪
A year earlier, police say Muhammad was driving
a stolen SUV when he was pulled over
for failing to use a turn signal.
When officers approached the vehicle...
- Hey, go on--get over here.
- Muhammad drove away.
Officers pursued, reaching speeds of 90 miles an hour.
But Muhammad eluded them.
- But then about a mile away,
Muhammad crashed into another car.
♪ ♪
- Don't move!
♪ ♪
Stay right there! Show me your hands!
♪ ♪
[siren wailing]
- The driver of the other vehicle was
62-year-old Elizabeth Messer.
- Oh, [bleep].
Real bad in there. - Yeah.
- Emergency services tried to save Elizabeth...
♪ ♪
But she died at the scene.
Muhammad just injured his leg in the crash.
- [groaning] Please help me, please--
- OK.
- He would eventually make a full recovery.
[indistinct chatter]
He was initially charged with several other felonies,
including carrying a concealed weapon
and felon in possession of a firearm.
Bond was set at $1 million.
Muhammad pled no contest in exchange
for some of the charges being dismissed.
And it turns out Muhammad was already
on probation in another county for breaking and entering.
He also had a pending drug trafficking case
in federal court.
♪ ♪
Today, Muhammad appears before Judge Patrick Conlin
to hear his sentence.
The prosecution is asking for 7 to 15 years in prison.
But first, Jason Messer, Elizabeth's husband,
delivers a victim impact statement.
But I can tell you one thing, Judge.
He could go home today--
today, not serve one day.
Let me give you a ride home, pal.
♪ ♪
I'll give you a ride home.
One-way trip.
- Sir.
Sir, your comments are directed to me.
- Before Judge Conlin imposes sentence,
the defendant has a statement to make.
- I really just want to apologize to the--
to the Messer family, her husband.
I really hope that, you know,
that God can soften his heart
and allow him to mourn
and to allow him to understand
that I wasn't trying to hurt his wife at all.
I was--you know, I made a--
I made a bad decision.
♪ ♪
And I'm going to do everything in my power to correct my ways,
to discipline myself to assure that, you know,
that I can become the person
that I'm-- that I'm trying to be.
- When he's finished,
Judge Conlin hands down his sentence.
- It is the sentence of the court
that you serve 7 years to 15 years
in the Michigan Department of Corrections,
with credit for 405 days served.
Good luck to you.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
- Muhammad must serve a minimum of seven years
before he's eligible for parole.
He must also pay $14,151 in restitution
to the family of Elizabeth Messer.
As for Muhammad's federal drug charge,
that case was dismissed.
♪ ♪
- Next, we're in El Dorado, Kansas,
for a probation violation hearing.
♪ ♪
40-year-old Crystal Haynes has pled no contest
to criminal trespass.
♪ ♪
Two years earlier, Haynes was arrested for trespassing
in a residential garage and sentenced
to a year of probation.
But Haynes missed several court appearances,
and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
♪ ♪
Today, she appears without a lawyer from the county jail
before Judge David Ricke, who checks in
with state prosecutor Brett Sweeney about bond.
- It looks like it's a no bond hold, Your Honor.
- Is that based on previous failure
to appear in regards to this warrant?
- It is, Your Honor.
♪ ♪
- Well, she's apparently a very poor risk
to let back out.
I'm gonna leave the no bond hold order in effect.
♪ ♪
- Haynes does not react well to the judge's decision.
- Please!
- Um--
- [crying, speaking indistinctly]
- What's the matter?
- I want to go home. [sobbing]
- OK, I'm not understanding you.
But probably it's not gonna make any difference.
- I want to go home.
- You want to go home?
♪ ♪
- Please!
- If you were really worried about deprivation
of your liberty, you would show up in court
and take care of business, Miss Haynes.
- Apparently, you don't want to do that.
So we're gonna have to leave you in jail
so that we--we can get you produced for court.
The jail is right there.
- [sobbing]
- I think you probably need to make
a request to your attorney
to have your court date advanced, OK?
Have it moved up.
But for now, I'm gonna leave the court date
where announced.
Anything else, Mr. Sweeney?
- No, Your Honor.
- The hearing comes to an end,
and Haynes is escorted back to jail.
A little less than two months later,
she was released on bond.
But when she failed to pay her fines
and missed even more court dates,
Haynes was served another warrant and arrested again.
She remains in custody.
Her case is pending.
That's it for this edition of "Court Cam."
I'm Dan Abrams.
Thanks for watching.
♪ ♪