[dramatic music]
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- 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.
♪ ♪
- First up, we head to Reno, Nevada, for a bond hearing.
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49-year-old Marvin Dizon has been charged with attempted
sexual assault of a child, attempted child abuse,
attempted use of a minor for a sexual performance,
and other related charges.
Three days earlier, police say Dizon allegedly attempted
to set up a meeting over social media
with an undercover agent posing as a parent
to arrange a sexual encounter with the fake parent's
children, ages three and nine.
When Dizon arrived at the scheduled meeting
place with alcohol and selfie sticks, he was arrested.
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Today, he appears before Judge David Clifton
to hear if he'll make bond.
He's represented by public defender Emily Gadbois.
The state's prosecutor is Nick Zicari.
- Mr. Zicari, this was a sexual-related case.
I'll start with you on bail.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
Yes, given the allegations here,
as well as the state's belief for the likelihood
of a conviction with these various sexual-related offenses
involving children, the state's requesting bail
in the amount of $400,000.
- After hearing from the prosecution,
Judge Clifton begins to address the court.
- I can't go just by the facts of the offense.
But they are very concerning to me.
When I read the PC sheet, I was appalled.
Where these cases have done several prelims
and several motion hearings on these cases,
I'm concerned with it.
♪ ♪
- Suddenly, Dizon appears to faint, falling hard
onto the bench behind him.
As a stunned defense attorney looks on,
Judge Clifton continues,
seemingly unaware of what has just happened.
- Likelihood of conviction, I have
to give to the favor of the state based upon the facts
as I read them, and also giving all facts
and circumstances in favor of the state at a bail
hearing, which--
- Your Honor, Your Honor, I believe
the defendant's momentarily passed out, Your Honor.
So I don't think he's hearing any of this.
- Well, he can sit down.
He can sit down. I don't care.
- Your Honor, he just has--
I think we're a little beyond him just being seated.
I don't know if it would be appropriate to continue
this until--
It's not going to happen.
I'm still going forward.
What's the status, Deputy?
- All right, we may have to continue to another day.
Go ahead, Deputy, whatever you have to do.
- By now, four deputies have arrived to help.
- Ms. Gadbois, do you--
- Your Honor, I can continue with this.
But I would defer to the needs of the deputies right now.
- Right, and I don't want to do it if there's
a medical risk to Mr. Dizon.
- After medical personnel arrive to treat Dizon,
deputy appeals to the judge.
- Judge, I believe this should be continued
to tomorrow, if possible.
- All right. Enough said.
We'll go ahead and do that.
Thank you, everyone.
- All right.
Are you currently detoxing from anything?
- Dizon was unhurt in the fall and was
back in court the next day.
♪ ♪
The judge set his bond at $250,000, which Dizon posted.
He was released to residential confinement,
must wear a GPS tracker,
is not allowed unsupervised contact
with minor children, and is banned
from using social media.
His case is pending.
If found guilty on all charges, he could be sentenced
to a maximum of 60 years.
He has yet to enter a plea.
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Next, we're in San Antonio, Texas,
for a sentencing hearing.
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27-year-old Matthew Wiessing has been convicted of murder.
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Two years earlier, police say 23-year-old Michael Echaniz
was walking to his car when he was shot multiple
times in the head and chest.
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He died at the scene.
According to investigators, Michael,
a grade school teacher
and coach, had recently started dating
Wiessing's ex-girlfriend.
So Wiessing quickly became a person of interest.
And with the help of surveillance footage,
detectives were able to place Wiessing near the crime scene
at the time of Michael's death.
They also found evidence on Wiessing's phone,
including information on how to silence gunshots
and how to remove gunshot residue.
The murder weapon was never recovered,
but Wiessing's parents told police
that two of their pistols had recently gone missing.
Wiessing was arrested, charged,
and released on $250,000 bond.
He was facing a possible life sentence.
But he took a deal and pled guilty to murder.
♪ ♪
Today, Wiessing appears before Judge Jennifer Peña
to hear his sentence.
The prosecution and defense have agreed
to a recommended sentence of 40 years in prison.
But first, John Echaniz, Michael's father,
delivers a victim impact statement,
speaking directly to the man who murdered his son.
- Thus far, you've been a craven coward, a petulant child
with a psychotic lust for blood,
a deranged, broken little boy who couldn't handle a fairly
common trial in human life--
being dumped.
I'd like a show of hands.
Who here has been dumped by a girlfriend or a boyfriend?
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OK.
How many of you have murdered someone because of it?
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See how there are no hands up?
That's why you need to go away for a long time.
Because a free society has no place for that.
I'll never forget when I saw my son's
dead body for the first time.
I saw how the morticians had to patch
up the holes you made in his skull and his right hand.
I'll never forget visiting his classroom
and meeting his students and their families.
Those kids had their innocence stolen away from them.
You murdered their teacher, the coach.
Seeing all those kids torn up like that,
I will never forget that, ever.
I just couldn't help but think, look what you did!
♪ ♪
- When he's finished, Wiessing offers a brief apology.
- The judge sentenced Wiessing to 40 years in a state prison.
He'll be eligible for parole in 2044,
when he'll be 47 years old.
♪ ♪
- Next, we head to Jonesboro, Georgia, for a plea hearing.
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21-year-old Charmaine Walker has been charged with
battery family violence, trespass with damage,
and other charges.
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10 months earlier, police say Walker, a single mom,
got into an altercation with her mother,
allegedly punching her in the face, breaking a window,
and scratching her mother's car.
Walker's mother, 42-year-old Dominique Tremble,
called police.
Walker was arrested and charged.
She spent two days in jail before
being released on $5,000 bond.
♪ ♪
Today, Walker appears before Judge
Tammi Long Hayward to enter a guilty plea
and hear her sentence.
Walker's represented by attorney Justin White.
- What does your client plead to the offenses
before the court, Mr. White?
- Count one and five, she's pleading guilty, Your Honor.
Other counts to be merged.
- Ms. Walker, are you laying down in the bed?
If you don't get yourself up, I will issue
a bench warrant right now.
- Laying down?
I'm standing up.
I'm leaning against the mirror.
If I was laying down, I would have been way more comfortable.
But--
- Well, sit down somewhere, Ms. Walker.
- As Walker's mother, the victim, logs on to the call,
the judge checks in with prosecutor Suwana Janvier.
- Yes, Your Honor, the state was recommending
12 months to serve two days.
Count five would be 12 months' probation to run
concurrent with count one.
- And Mr. White?
- Your Honor, I just ask you to accept the plea, Your Honor.
- Ms. Walker, you're a mom.
So you're going to experience a lot of what
your mama has experienced.
And if you--
- Nuh-uh, listen to me.
If you allow your child to treat you--
ah, ma'am.
You're here for whatever I say you're here for.
I'm not accepting the plea.
She's going to do jail time.
♪ ♪
- What do you mean?
Because it's like you're telling me I'm a mom--
- And she-- you keep talking, you're going
to do more jail time.
I need a contempt order, 20 days.
♪ ♪
- 20 days? For what?
- Charmaine, just be quiet.
This is what everybody be talking to you about.
Just be quiet.
Just listen to her and be quiet.
- She about to get 20 days for direct contempt
before the court.
And this is why you're having the problems that you're
having, because she thinks she grown
and that she doesn't have to be responsible to anybody.
Anybody who attacks their mother and then
thinks that they don't have to listen
to a judge who's trying to put them on the right path,
that's a problem.
She ain't even good-- she ain't even fit to be
out here in polite society.
I don't want her walking around because she's
a danger to others.
I don't even think she should have her child.
♪ ♪
- Walker responds by leaving the call.
- Oh, so she signed off?
Bench warrant. Get it for me.
♪ ♪
I'm not playing today.
If she can't control herself enough to listen while somebody
is trying to talk about the behavior that
got her before a judge, that's a problem for me.
- I'm-- I'm sorry, Judge, because I
wasn't trying to get--
- No, ma'am, it's not you.
- I was just telling her to-- - But she's grown.
- I was just trying to tell her to be quiet.
- I get it.
As a mother, you're trying to save her from herself.
But obviously, that's not possible.
But what she's not going to do is
disrespect me or the process.
And she's not going to have a tantrum on this-- mm-mm.
She's not. No, ma'am.
- Walker soon returns to the call.
- Ms. Walker, you will find that life will be very, very
hard when you go forward the way
that you're going because you're so
busy popping off at the mouth.
First of all, it's rude.
Second of all, you're raising a whole son.
And if that's the way you're going to treat your mother,
that's exactly how he's going to treat you.
Are we clear?
- Yes.
- Everything that happened between you and your mother
was choices you made.
That's nobody else's fault, not mine or anybody else's.
And I'll be doggone if I'm going to sit here and listen
to you flip off at me like I'm the problem,
like I'm the reason you're here.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
- Yes.
- So I still don't feel like you're a probation candidate.
But I'm going to try it, only--
only for your mama interceding on your behalf.
If it wasn't for your mama, you'd be going back to jail.
But, yeah, I'm going to try it.
But the first mess up, all of this is going to come back.
♪ ♪
She love her grandbaby.
And that's my gift to her for putting
up with your foolishness.
- Thank you.
- All right, take care.
- Judge Hayward sentences Walker
to 12 months' probation.
She must also pay a fine of $300,
attend a family violence intervention program,
and complete 40 hours of community service.
♪ ♪
- Next, we go to Monroe, Michigan,
for a protection order hearing.
53-year-old Paul Merrow is seeking an order
of protection against his estranged wife,
50-year-old Melissa Merrow.
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Two weeks earlier, as the couple
was going through a divorce, Melissa
was granted a partial PPO against her husband.
And after he told police that her cousin allegedly kicked
in his front door, Merrow requested his own PPO
against Melissa and her cousin.
Today, after an exchange with a court clerk,
Merrow became upset.
Then, according to court documents,
he allegedly pounded on a courthouse window
and yelled obscenities, prompting
Judge Mark Braunlich to order security
to bring him back inside.
- When the judge attempts to explain
why he wouldn't grant the PPO, Merrow
delivers a silent message.
- Despite Merrow's outbursts, Judge Braunlich
remains calm as he continues to explain his position.
- As deputies remove Merrow from the courtroom,
he has a few parting words.
- After spending two days in jail,
a much calmer Merrow appears again before Judge Braunlich.
- Merrow was released from jail.
And shortly after, a judge granted him
and his wife their divorce.
The case is now closed.
♪ ♪
- Next, we head to Livingston, Texas, for an arraignment.
42-year-old Steven McDougal has been
charged with capital murder.
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Six days earlier, police say 11-year-old
Audrii Cunningham went missing.
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According to investigators,
the last person to see her alive
was McDougal, a friend of Audrii's father
who was living in a trailer on the Cunninghams' property.
McDougal told investigators he left that morning with Audrii
as she walked to the bus stop but that he
was not responsible for her disappearance.
McDougal even assisted police during their search.
Five days after Audrii went missing,
her body was discovered by police in the Trinity River,
10 miles from her home.
Medical examiners determined she
died from homicidal violence, including blunt head trauma.
Police say McDougal, who 16 years earlier had been
convicted of child enticement, was
their only person of interest.
The day Audrii went missing, McDougal was seen at a gas
station and a local auto shop, where, according to witnesses,
he was covered in dirt and acting suspiciously.
Cell phone data also placed him at the river location
where Audrii's body was found.
After McDougal was arrested
on an unrelated aggravated assault
charge, police charged him with Audrii's death.
He was held without bond.
And today, McDougal is scheduled
to appear before a justice of the peace for his arraignment.
A deputy records the moment with his body camera.
- This is Captain Dawson.
It is February--
- 21st. - --21st.
We got Steven McDougal.
We're going to get him out to get arraigned.
- When the deputy opens McDougal's jail cell,
he's surprised by what he finds.
- JP wants to talk to you.
Where's your-- hold on.
♪ ♪
Well, put your--
- McDougal is completely naked and refusing
to put on any clothes.
- No, no, no, man. Come on, man.
Don't disrespect me like that.
- Well, wrap up in that.
- Wrap up in the blanket.
- Come on, come on.
- Steve, come on.
Let them arraign you real quick.
- Well, you've got to get up and sign this paperwork.
Come on.
- Come on, wrap up for me.
I appreciate you.
- McDougal complies and wraps himself in a blanket.
♪ ♪
Judge Jamie Richardson is all business
as she conducts the hearing.
- Mr. McDougal, I'm Judge Richardson.
I'm going to read you your rights,
and we're going to talk about your charge today.
You have the right to remain silent and not
make any statement at all.
Do you understand your rights, Mr. McDougal?
- OK, do you want a court-appointed attorney?
Or are you going to hire your own?
- Which one?
- You're going to hire your own?
- OK.
All right, all I need you to do is sign right here for me.
Your charge is capital murder.
And it's a no bond. - OK, thank you.
- OK.
- McDougal was taken back to his cell
and has yet to enter a plea.
♪ ♪
If found guilty of capital murder,
McDougal could be given the death penalty.
His case is pending.
That's it for this edition of "Court Cam."
I'm Dan Abrams. Thanks for watching.
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