[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Hi, everyone, I'm dan abrams, and this is "courtcam."
- I'm ready to take a plea.
[group shouting]
- [bleep] you!
- [shouting indistinctly] [bleep]
- I hope you die in prison as well.
♪ ♪
Meet timothy demattio.
[rock music]
- Oh, boy.
♪ ♪
- The 34-year-old florida rock musician
Was charged with petty theft and damage to property
For allegedly trying to steal
Nutritional supplements from a store
And damaging items after he was caught.
As judge john hurley kicks off the bond hearing...
- He makes a request that will come back to haunt him.
- Turn on the mic, please, somebody.
One--one of the keys-- - your honor.
- Yes, sir.
- You know me, don't you? - No.
- Before judge hurley can get another word in,
This rocker breaks into a solo.
- I was going to [bleep] to pick up my scripts.
They said it was a 45-minute wait for some reason.
I'm walking around shopping.
I go to the bathroom to take a piss and wash my hands,
And the manager's in there, waiting for me,
Thinking I'm shoplifting. I wasn't shoplifting anything.
- No?
- No.
My first, second, third, fourth, thirteenth,
Fourteenth amendment rights have been violated.
♪ ♪
- But it turns out this isn't the first time
The defendant's been charged for stealing.
- As john hurley checks on the details
Of the pending charges,
Demattio can be seen growing more animated
With the public defender.
And when his mic gets turned back on...
- Your honor.
- Judge. - Sidebar.
- Yes, he raises his hand
And asks the judge for a sidebar.
♪ ♪
- Your honor. - Judge.
- Sidebar. - Wait. No. Stop.
- Your honor. - Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.
It's not your turn.
- After being muted once again,
Demattio decides to drum up some more attention.
♪ ♪
- Oh, boy.
- As the performance continues...
- Mr. Miller.
- Public defender dale miller hangs his head
And makes the executive decision
Not to unmute the defendant.
- Mr. Miller.
- I think he's trying to give him an opportunity
To calm down, judge.
♪ ♪
- Ultimately, the courtroom concert
Is cut short,
And demattio is forcibly removed by court security.
- Please sit down. - Your honor.
- [indistinct]
- Timothy demattio later pled guilty
To the petty theft charge and was ordered to pay $293.
The damage to property charge was dropped.
- Your honor.
- Judge. - Sidebar.
♪ ♪
- You're--you're a crook.
And you have been one for a long time.
- Next, we head to san antonio, texas,
For the sentencing of andrea vasquez.
♪ ♪
The 44-year-old mother,
A convicted felon with a history of theft,
Has pled guilty to four counts
Of felony theft.
♪ ♪
A year earlier, vasquez set up
A charity event to raise money
For the san antonio chapter
Of there for you, a national charity
That provides wigs to cancer patients.
She did it through a foundation
Her teenage daughter created
Called fashion for cancer.
The event raised $20,000.
The only problem was, despite being presented
An oversized $20,000 check at the event,
The charity never received the donation from vasquez,
And vasquez pocketed the money.
She was arrested after she failed to pay the vendors
Who helped organize the event.
Now, she's about to learn her sentence
From judge joey contreras. Per the plea agreement,
The max she can receive is eight years in prison.
First, the judge hears from the vendors,
Who have yet to receive payment.
- Two months after, and there was still no money.
- Next, it was vasquez who took the stand.
♪ ♪
She's hoping to convince the judge
She was just trying to do the right thing,
But got in over her head.
- I have no idea--anything of the fashion business at all.
I don't. I was mom.
We got stuck paying for liquor
For these vips
And people handing out more tickets.
It was just total chaos.
- Vasquez also claimed it was really her teenage daughter
Who was in charge of the foundation,
Though no charges were ever filed against her.
♪ ♪
After hearing the testimony, it was time for the judge
To decide whether she deserved sympathy or not.
- Ms. Vasquez...
♪ ♪
You're--you're a crook.
And you have been one for a long time.
Your record bears that out.
Now I know how these people got swindled by you.
You're a good talker. You're a very good talker.
And you know what the most--the most offensive,
Disgusting part of this whole proceeding is?
Is that your response is, "if I did anything wrong,
It was not watching what my daughter did."
A woman who will steal from victims
In the names of helping cancer and then walk into court
And throw her own daughter under the bus and say,
"the only thing I did wrong was not stopping my daughter
From being a crook,"
Deserves way more than eight years,
And I really, profoundly regret
That I can only give you eight years on each one.
♪ ♪
- And with that, the judge gave her the max.
- It will be the judgement of this court, in each cause,
You will serve an eight-year sentence.
Is there anything else? We're recessed.
♪ ♪
- In addition to the eight years,
Vasquez was ordered to pay restitution
To the vendors to whom she owed money.
- You committed the worst possible crime.
♪ ♪
- Next, we're in orlando, florida,
For the trial of scott nelson.
♪ ♪
The 55-year-old was charged with first-degree murder
After he admitted to kidnapping
And killing 56-year-old jennifer fulford.
♪ ♪
During trial, nelson took the witness stand...
- Be seated.
- And delivered shocking testimony
With unsettling candor.
- Who killed jennifer fulford? - I did.
♪ ♪
- Four months earlier, nelson, a career criminal
Who'd spent more than a decade of his life in prison,
Was released on parole after doing time for armed robbery.
♪ ♪
He claimed he was getting his life back together
Until he lost his job, his place to stay,
And ultimately, his will
To live within the bounds of society.
♪ ♪
- You kick a dog enough times, they tend to bite back.
And really, they just don't care anymore.
♪ ♪
- The prosecution argued nelson
Was further tormented
By the wealth that surrounded him
In upscale winter park, florida.
♪ ♪
- These were the people
Who had nice homes
That you couldn't live in, never would live in.
- I was hungry.
I was starving to death on the streets of winter park.
People don't give a damn about nobody in his world.
They don't care.
- Nelson admitted he began plotting a home invasion
With the hope of stealing enough cash to run away
And escape his parole.
♪ ♪
He can be seen in this security camera footage,
Purchasing supplies.
- You bought zip ties. - Yes, I did.
- You bought duct tape. - That would be correct.
- You bought a knife. - I sure did.
- You, at that point, formed a plan to use those items.
You knew that somebody
Was going to pay for how you've been treated.
- That is very accurate.
♪ ♪
- Nelson then coldly explained how he picked
A location to hit: An expensive winter park home
Where 56-year-old jennifer fulford
Worked as a nanny.
- Your plan was, you were gonna force your way in.
- No, the doorbell works better.
She opened the door and let me in.
- But then, pressed on the details
Of what then happened inside the house,
Nelson appeared to have selective amnesia.
- No.
- No, I didn't do that. Maybe she did.
Maybe she was cold.
- Say that last line again. - I said, "maybe she was cold."
I don't know. I know she ended up cold.
♪ ♪
- Nelson's sick humor does not elicit a reaction
From the prosecutor, who lets him sit in silence,
Allowing his words to sink in with the jury.
♪ ♪
Nelson didn't take anything of value from the home.
Instead, nelson forced fulford into her car,
And was seen here using her atm card
To withdraw cash
Before driving roughly 20 miles south of the city.
♪ ♪
In a secluded area, according to nelson,
He opened the back of the car,
Where fulford was laying, still alive.
- Why did you bind her hands behind her back?
- I would imagine so that she couldn't leave.
- Why did you bind her feet with duct tape?
- I imagine so she wouldn't walk away.
- And why did you wrap her entire head in the duct tape?
- Probably so she couldn't scream.
♪ ♪
- Off a dirt road, in an area thick with vegetation,
Nelson stabbed fulford to death and left her body.
♪ ♪
- I never intended to kill that woman.
It was not in my heart to do that.
It wasn't what I had planned.
I didn't want to kill that woman.
She'd never done anything to me.
I believe the term is collateral damage.
- Surveillance video from the atm
As well as dna evidence found in the victim's car
Helped seal nelson's fate.
He was found guilty of the first-degree kidnapping
And murder of jennifer fulford.
♪ ♪
Facing the death penalty,
He again took the stand
During the penalty phase of the trial.
- How has your mental health been affected
By your previous incarceration?
♪ ♪
- I am a homicidal maniac.
♪ ♪
- The jury sentenced scott nelson
To life without parole
For the murder of jennifer fulford.
- Next, we're down under
For a hearing in adelaide, australia.
♪ ♪
Daniel nicholson, a 35-year-old father of four,
Has been out on bail, awaiting trial for weapons charges.
♪ ♪
Today, he's in court to find out
Whether magistrate sue o'connor
Will allow him to remain out on pre-trial release.
♪ ♪
- I revoke bail. I revoke bail.
- Apparently surprised by the ruling,
Nicholson turns to his attorney.
- But before he gets an answer,
Magistrate o'connor shuts down the conversation.
♪ ♪
- Just moments later, perhaps realizing
He's about to be locked up,
Nicholson decides to bail himself out of the situation.
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter and shouting]
♪ ♪
- Inside what's known as the dock,
Nicholson steps up onto a table
And delivers a punch to one officer
As he tries to restrain him.
- [bleep] back off!
[all shouting]
- After slipping through their fingers,
He's able to get one foot on top of the divider...
♪ ♪
And launch himself onto a nearby table,
And then into the arms of this officer.
♪ ♪
With the courtroom descending into chaos,
A woman makes a plea on nicholson's behalf.
♪ ♪
- But as he continues to push his way toward the door,
More officers pile on before he can make it there.
- Daniel nicholson later pleaded guilty
To attempting to escape custody
And two counts of recklessly causing harm
To a prescribed emergency worker.
He admitted to being under the influence
Of crystal meth at the time,
Saying he was just "freaked out."
Nicholson was sentenced to 21 months in prison,
With parole eligibility after one year.
♪ ♪
As for the original weapons charge,
He pled guilty and was ordered to pay a $320 fine.
♪ ♪
- Next, we go to kalamazoo, michigan, for the trial
And sentencing of charles pickett.
♪ ♪
The 52-year-old was charged with five counts
Of second-degree murder
And four counts of operating a vehicle
While causing serious injury.
Two years earlier, pickett struck a group of cyclists
Out for an evening ride with his pickup truck,
Killing five of them and wounding four.
♪ ♪
Earlier in the day, pickett had taken several painkillers
As well as methamphetamine,
And was allegedly driving
Nearly 60 miles per hour
In a 35-mile zone at the time of the crash.
When paramedics arrived at the scene,
The uninjured pickett was incoherent.
♪ ♪
- Pickett pleaded not guilty,
Claiming he didn't know the drugs he ingested
Would cause him to drive so erratically.
♪ ♪
The prosecution argued otherwise
And focused their case on the damage pickett imposed
On the victims who were killed as well as those who survived.
♪ ♪
This is jennifer johnson,
Organizer of the bike ride, who was maimed,
Describing the scary moment after the crash
Where she came to.
- Waking up, opening my eyes,
And seeing my left arm tightly gripping a fence,
And I just remember seeing burrs covering my gloves
And my riding jersey.
So then I started scanning my body,
Just to assess what was going on,
And I struggled when I couldn't find my right leg.
♪ ♪
So I kept looking, and I found it,
Very acutely over my right shoulder.
♪ ♪
- It took the jury four hours to return with a verdict...
♪ ♪
Guilty on all counts.
♪ ♪
At sentencing, the prosecution
Asked for the maximum sentence,
Life in prison.
♪ ♪
- I submit to you that mr. Pickett should never,
Ever have the opportunity to get out
And get behind the wheel of a car again.
And the only way to ensure that is to make sure
That the numbers that he's going to go away for
And serve in prison don't allow for even that possibility.
♪ ♪
- Next, it was pickett's turn to address the court,
As well as the victims and their families.
♪ ♪
That's it.
♪ ♪
- When pickett was finished,
The judge announced his sentence:
38 to 73 years in a state prison.
Pickett's earliest release date is June 2056.
He will be 90 years old.
♪ ♪
- Next, we go inside the fall river, massachusetts,
District courthouse for an arraignment hearing.
- The defendant proclaiming her innocence
Is 38-year-old olivia lara.
After an investigation by local police
And homeland security,
She was charged with three counts
Of human trafficking
And deriving support from prostitution,
For allegedly providing
Underaged sex trafficking victims
To patrons of a local bar.
♪ ♪
Investigators claimed lara arranged sex for customers,
Then drove three girls, aged 15 to 17,
To various locations to meet with the men
And perform sexual acts in exchange for money.
♪ ♪
At her arraignment, after the judge sets cash bond
At $100,000, lara first becomes emotional...
♪ ♪
- I didn't do it. I didn't do it.
I'm telling you, I didn't do it.
♪ ♪
- And then spins out of control.
- [wailing]
♪ ♪
- As lara is taken into custody,
She pauses for a moment
Before slamming her head against a plexiglass divider.
♪ ♪
It appears the deputy's first instinct
Is to grab the back of the defendant's head
So she can't harm herself.
♪ ♪
The deputy struggles to gain control...
- Let me get out, please!
- And finally gets lara on the floor,
As another officer helps.
- Please... - Get out!
- Officials order everyone out of the courtroom...
- Get out!
- Out! - Get out!
Get out.
- Including distraught members of the defendant's family.
- Out.
[all shouting]
- Everyone get out. Out.
♪ ♪
- Olivia lara would later plead guilty
To the lesser charge
Of deriving support from prostitution,
And was sentenced to three years in jail.
♪ ♪
That's it for this edition of "courtcam."
I'm dan abrams. Thanks for watching.
♪ ♪