- Are you okay with the affair?
- I'm okay with it.
- A very strange love triangle...
- But you shot at her.
- I shot a warning shot.
- Oh, my God.
- A lewd act caught on nanny cam...
- He began masturbating in our son's closet.
- And a judge who offers unorthodox sentences.
- So the other choice is to mow the practice lawn.
There's a little catch to it, though.
- In courtrooms across America,
some pretty strange things go down every day.
- A glass pipe?
I was picking bumps on my face in the mirror.
- This is "Court Cam's" top five strangest moments.
[clock ticking]
Hi, I'm Dan Abrams, and this is a special edition
of "Court Cam."
We're counting down some of the strangest
courtroom moments ever caught on camera.
Let's get right into it with number five,
where a woman starts off requesting a protection order
against her husband's mistress.
But things get more complicated and much stranger from there.
[dramatic music]
First, we're in Atlanta, Georgia,
for a protection order hearing.
♪ ♪
53-year-old Rhonda Love has requested a TPO
against Re'Etta Walker.
Love claims that Walker has harassed her online
and showed up at her house demanding money.
Their connection?
Walker has been having an affair
with Love's husband of seven years.
♪ ♪
Today, both parties appear remotely
before Judge Alex Manning.
- Ms. Love, tell me what Ms. Walker did to you,
specifically what she did to you, please.
- She showed up at my house three times,
once with a man and a gun in her car.
- Tell me what happened once she came over there.
- Her and my husband know each other.
- Had an affair.
- Exactly.
♪ ♪
She has been calling me, like, the first of every month,
saying that he owes her money.
But I don't want to get between her and his relationship.
- Are you okay with the affair?
- I'm okay with it.
♪ ♪
I tried not to break them up
because I wanted him to go there.
But he wouldn't leave. He's still here.
- Oh, so you want him to leave you and go be with her?
- Yes. - Ms. Walker, what--
I mean, let him come on over and leave her.
What are you do--you don't want him that bad either,
right, Ms. Walker?
- I don't want him either.
There's too much drama and a lot of lies.
I don't want him. I'm okay.
I don't have a problem with her either.
- You don't want him.
She don't want him.
Wha--wha--
- The judge seems baffled by the situation.
But things only get stranger as Love explains
how the altercations nearly became violent.
- She came back with a butcher knife.
She had that knife out in her hand.
She is running around here with a butcher knife
in my yard, slapping on my car.
I really had to send a warning shot at her--
- Wait, wait, you fired a gun? - She shot at me.
- Yeah, I did.
♪ ♪
- Okay, w-wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
But you shot at her.
You fired a gun.
- I shot a warning shot into the ground.
- Oh, my God.
♪ ♪
- The two women continue arguing.
- You don't never go to another woman's house
about no man.
This is not what women do,
especially not businesswomen.
Businesswomen do not clown like that.
- Before making a ruling,
the judge wants a little more information from Love.
- So you knew he was a cheater when you married him?
- Exactly.
And I agreed.
Because that's our choice.
I knew he was a whorish man.
I knew he was.
But that has nothing to do with how I feel about him
or how he makes me feel.
- I don't know, he would make me angry.
Most people, he would make angry.
But here's the deal, ma'am.
I mean, you can't go out firing weapons,
even if she is out there kicking you--
you know, kicking your car or doing whatever.
♪ ♪
This ain't some "Sister Wives" thing,
so I don't know what y'all got going on,
but there's a whole bunch of drama.
♪ ♪
Here's what I'm gonna do, though.
In 30 days, ma'am, this is gonna be over.
Ms. Walker, don't go back over there.
This is gonna expire on October the 23rd.
- And I'm asking for my PTO, and I'm asking--
- I'm granting it for 30--
I'm granting it for 30 days, Ms. Love.
Ms. Walker, God help you,
you live in the same neighborhood.
So if you gotta pass her house, find another way out.
- Okay.
- After issuing the 30-day protection order,
Judge Manning has a final comment for the plaintiff.
- Ms. Love, put your gun away, because you're not--
once that bullet leaves the end of that barrel,
there ain't nothing you can do to control it.
There is no such thing
as a warning shot.
Do you understand me?
- Yes.
♪ ♪
- Next, in our number four moment,
when a man faces ten days in jail for mowing obscenities
into the lawn of a high school football field,
a judge known for unusual and creative punishments
offers him a strange deal.
♪ ♪
- Cody Scott, come on up.
♪ ♪
- Next, we head to Painesville, Ohio,
for a sentencing hearing.
♪ ♪
19-year-old Cody Scott has pled guilty
to criminal mischief and trespassing.
♪ ♪
Three months earlier, Scott turned himself in
to police after he and two minors mowed obscenities
onto the football field of his old high school.
Today Scott appears before Judge Michael Cicconetti
to hear his sentence.
He's facing up to 90 days in jail.
♪ ♪
It says here, they stopped and used their mowers to mow
a penis shape and the words
"F you" and "F me."
- Neighbors called in to complain about it
because their children were viewing the obscenities
and the picture or whatever it was.
Why--just tell me why.
Why in the world would you do something like that?
- I was being childish, and I should have never done it.
- You've got other issues, Cody, and that's--
you know, you never finished high school.
- Right.
- You have attempted to get your GED?
- Yeah, I'm trying to get my GED.
- Well, I think you need to do that.
You got one good thing going for you here.
The police officer who wrote the report said,
he was the only one out of all the defendants
that showed some type of remorse.
- Yes, that is true, Your Honor.
- But, I mean, there's consequences to pay for.
- The judge,
who's known for handing out creative sentences,
moves on to Scott's punishment.
- I know one of the choices I wanted to do,
but I couldn't do it.
So you've got two other choices.
One is ten days in jail.
Okay? - Mm-hmm.
- Or the other choice is to mow the practice lawn.
- Yeah, there's a little catch to it though.
Okay? - All right.
- You're gonna do it with this lawn mower.
You want to bring it out?
[playful music]
Just a good old-fashioned lawn mower.
♪ ♪
- That's your option? - Yeah.
- Okay.
You'll do that instead of ten days in jail.
- Before wrapping up,
Judge Cicconetti has a couple more conditions.
- Now, in addition to that,
not to enter Fairport Harding High School property,
I don't want you-- I want you to stay away
from those codefendants that you were involved with,
maintain employment.
More importantly, I want you to get your GED.
- The next day, it took Scott three hours
to mow the entire field.
He later said he was grateful to the judge,
who taught him a valuable lesson.
As for his two codefendants, they were both minors,
and their cases are sealed.
♪ ♪
And we're already up to number three.
As a man waits for his case to be called
during a virtual hearing,
he takes advantage of the downtime
to catch up on his grooming.
That's when the comedy of errors ensues.
♪ ♪
Next, we're in district court in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Judge J. Cedric Simpson presiding.
As is often the case in busy virtual courtrooms,
several attorneys and defendants can be seen
on screen, waiting for their cases to be called.
One of them is 39-year-old Jason Ventro.
He's here today on a charge of failing to stop
at the scene of a personal injury accident.
Nine months earlier, Ventro rear-ended
a vehicle stopped at a red light.
After checking on the other driver,
who appeared uninjured,
and leaving his insurance information,
Ventro drove his truck to his home nearby.
When police arrived on the scene,
the driver was, in fact, found to be injured.
Ventro was located
and arrested for leaving the scene.
He's free on a $5,000 bond.
He's facing a possible thousand-dollar fine
and one year in jail if convicted.
Today Ventro is before Judge Simpson
for a pretrial hearing.
But before the proceedings even begin,
the judicial coordinator, Lisa Tang,
has some information about Ventro
to share with the judge.
- Your Honor, I'm so sorry to interrupt,
but I wanted to make you aware.
I believe Jason Ventro was lighting up
a glass pipe earlier.
- Mr. Ventro, what were you smoking?
- Smoking?
♪ ♪
Excuse me?
- Yeah, we-- you believe he was lighting up
a glass pipe just now?
- Not just now, approximately 15 minutes ago.
- A glass pipe?
- The coordinator believes she saw Ventro
in the virtual court smoking something from a glass pipe
while he waited for his case to be called.
Ventro has an explanation.
- No, Your Honor, I was not lighting no glass pipe.
I was picking bumps on my face in the mirror.
[playful music]
- All right. Well, I'll tell you what,
we'll go back and look at it.
- Okay, yes, please do.
- The coordinator checks the footage
before the court considers further action.
[tape rewinding]
♪ ♪
After Ventro logs in, he's seen holding
what looks like a clear purple pen in his hand.
He moves to the bathroom and places his phone
on the counter, facing up.
At first, it's unclear what's happening.
Ventro's holding the pen up to his face.
♪ ♪
But then it becomes apparent that he is,
in his own words, picking bumps.
♪ ♪
When Judge Simpson calls Ventro's case
a few minutes later, the judicial coordinator
sets the record straight.
- Ms. Tang, you wanted to say something to the court?
- Judge, I apologize. I was mistaken.
It was his camera angle.
- All right, thank you.
- Thank you.
- All right, we reviewed it.
That's why we review it.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
♪ ♪
- It was all a misunderstanding.
But it's also a good reminder
that virtual court is still court,
and judges and staff are always watching.
With the pimple-picking controversy settled...
- Sir, raise your right hand.
- The hearing continues.
He eventually pled no contest,
but failed to show up at his sentencing,
and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
- I'm Dan Abrams, and this is "Court Cam's"
top five strangest moments.
Now time for our number two story.
After disrupting the court several times,
a man accused of sexual assault and kidnapping
manages to cause an even bigger disturbance
when he appears from jail.
♪ ♪
Next, we're in Suffolk Superior Court
in Boston, Massachusetts, for jury selection
in the trial of 42-year-old Victor Peña.
♪ ♪
Peña is charged with kidnapping
and ten counts of aggravated rape.
♪ ♪
Three and a half years earlier,
a 23-year-old woman was reported missing
after leaving a downtown bar.
She and a man she'd met on the dance floor
were both kicked out for being too intoxicated.
They parted ways outside the bar,
and the woman continued walking alone,
where she encountered Peña, a stranger.
After a nearly three-day manhunt,
police traced the woman's cell phone to Peña's apartment
and found them both inside.
The woman was shaking, crying, and disheveled,
but appeared to be okay.
She told police she didn't remember
what happened the night of her abduction,
but woke up naked in bed next to Peña.
When she tried to leave,
she says he threatened to kill her.
♪ ♪
Throughout the three days of captivity,
Peña forced the woman to drink alcohol and read the Bible.
He also photographed her over 300 times
and sexually assaulted her repeatedly.
♪ ♪
Peña, who has a history of violence against women,
was arrested, charged, and held without bail.
♪ ♪
He's pled not guilty.
♪ ♪
Today Peña, looking much different than he did
when he was arrested three and a half years earlier,
is in court for jury selection.
♪ ♪
- All rise, please.
- Good morning, Your Honor. Before the court,
the matter of Commonwealth versus Victor Peña.
- Peña has been disruptive in earlier hearings,
so Judge Anthony Campo Jr. gives him a warning.
- Mr. Peña, I am going to require that you comport
with the rules of this courtroom.
I've always shown you respect.
And I fully anticipate and expect
that you will show not only this process respect,
but that you will have respect
for our Superior Court session here.
- But Peña seems unable to comply.
- Before long, Peña argues with the judge,
interrupts proceedings, and requests a new attorney,
a request the judge denies.
♪ ♪
Eventually, he's removed from the courtroom,
only two jurors having been selected.
For day two of jury selection, Peña is not in court.
- Peña appears via video feed a few minutes later.
And he's completely naked.
♪ ♪
For 16 seconds, Peña's fully exposed to the courtroom
while he performs a lewd act.
He looks back at an officer
before his video feed is cut off.
♪ ♪
The potential jurors were dismissed,
and Peña's video feed was disconnected.
The case eventually went to trial,
where the victim testified, she stopped fighting back
for fear that Peña would kill her.
Later, Peña testified through a translator
that the victim was enamored with him
and that sex between them was consensual.
The jury deliberated for just two hours
before returning with a verdict.
♪ ♪
Peña was convicted on all charges
and sentenced to 29 to 39 years in prison.
He'll be eligible for parole in 2051, at age 71.
- You're watching "Court Cam's" top five strangest moments.
And we've made it all the way to number one.
When a couple leave an inspector alone
in their house to work, their nanny cam exposes
an issue they never saw coming.
♪ ♪
- Do you recognize this photograph?
- Yes. That would be our son's Tickle Me Elmo doll.
- Next, we head to Oakland County, Michigan,
for a preliminary hearing
for 59-year-old Kevin Wayne VanLuven.
VanLuven has been charged with aggravated indecent exposure
and malicious destruction of property.
A year and a half earlier,
VanLuven was hired as a home inspector
by a young couple selling their home.
The couple left VanLuven alone in the house
with their real estate agent.
And when he got to the nursery,
the inspection took a disturbing turn.
♪ ♪
It was all recorded by a nanny cam,
which alerted the homeowners, who quickly called police.
VanLuven was soon arrested and charged.
♪ ♪
VanLuven appeared at his preliminary hearing virtually,
where a judge would determine if the case would go to trial.
Also at the hearing was one of the two homeowners.
- He began touching his genital area
when he walked into the bedroom.
♪ ♪
- Check out VanLuven's reaction
as she describes the video.
- He began touching his genital area
when he walked into the bedroom,
and I thought that was kind of odd.
And he grabbed our son's Tickle Me Elmo doll
and then proceeded to take it to our son's closet.
And then what it looks like on the video was,
he unzipped his pants and began masturbating
in our son's closet with his Tickle Me Elmo.
♪ ♪
- While the video appears to speak for itself,
VanLuven's attorney, Jeff Quas, argued
that because his client's genitals could not be seen,
it's not indecent exposure.
But Judge Nancy Carniak disagreed
and sent the case to a higher court for trial.
The trial lasted just one day before both sides rested
and the jury returned with a verdict.
VanLuven was found not guilty of destruction of property,
but guilty of the more serious charge,
aggravated indecent exposure.
He was sentenced to 19 days in jail,
with credit for 19 days served,
and 18 months' probation.
That wraps up "Court Cam's" top five strangest moments.
I'm Dan Abrams.
Thanks for watching.
♪ ♪