There were rumors swirling around about who he was
and things that he was doing.
So that's what was scratched on the hood of your car?
I did not scratch the car.
She sit here lying. And she knows she bold-faced lie.
She knows she lying.
You messing up my life.
I loved you and I tried to do everything I could for you.
She talk to me like I'm a sucker.
Just leave me alone.
This is so much.
[sobbing] This is so much.
[announcer] Now, on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Richmond, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 2039,
Hunt, Jr. versus Stitts.
All parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
- Thank you, Cassandra. - You're welcome.
All right. Mr. Hunt, according to your complaint,
you claim that the defendant over here damaged your car
by carving the word bitch into your hood
and scratching your driver side door with Xs.
Therefore you're asking for $3,700
which is what you say was gonna cost you to get it fixed.
- Yes, Your Honor. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
Ms. Stitts, your defense is pretty simple.
Wasn't me. I didn't do it. Right?
- Yes, Your Honor. - [Judge Levy] All right.
So when I looked at the complaint
and I see that that's the kind of damage that was caused to someone's vehicle,
that suggested whoever did it was a little angry
and it suggested it wasn't a stranger.
So why don't you tell us how you and the defendant know each other?
I met Lareese when I got out of college.
Her cousin, me and him was hanging out together.
He took me over to her house and I seen her.
You know, she was spunky.
I just--you know, everything about her, I just--I just liked, you know?
[Judge Levy] How long ago are we talking about?
[Kenneth] '96, you know?
And then about 2007,
my car was used to do a crime
and I had to go away for 12 years.
So while I was incarcerated, one of her cousins reached out to me
and told me her son just got killed and she's not--she's not doing good.
So I said, "Okay. You know, let me reach out to her, you know?"
I always--I always care for her.
I always, you know...
I reached out to her. We start talking.
When I first seen her, she was doing real bad.
She got real frail, you know?
And as we were talking, she gained her weight back.
You know, we start, you know, really conversing, really talking.
I say, "Hey, you know, if we keep doing this here, we keep going on,
I mean, I would love for you to be my wife."
How long into your 12-year stint was it that you suggested to the defendant
that you should get married?
Six years in.
Did you say yes?
I did. I fell for it.
It was a very vulnerable-- I was in a vulnerable state
and I did really like him and grew to love him.
All right. You get married
and she continues to visit you for the next six years?
Well, no. Let me--let me-- let me back that up
because I was wondering she's supposed to show up and she didn't show up.
She sent me a letter and told me, "Well, I don't think I should be married,"
- because she was cheating. - [Judge Levy] So hold on.
- Do you remember sending that letter? - I do.
Okay. And tell me about that from your perspective.
I was--I started seeing someone else.
There were, you know, a lot of rumors swirling around about who he was
and things that he was doing.
I believed them, started seeing someone else, and...
Besides that, you however stuck it out.
The two of you remained married
while you were incarcerated for the six years.
- Is that right? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] It was important for me to ask these questions, get that history
because someone scrolling the word bitch on a car
and doing damage is pretty substantial.
So can we see photographs of the damage?
So that's what was scratched
- on the hood of your car? - [Kenneth] Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] What year car is that by the way?
- 2013. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
Here we have the side door.
You see those scratches on the car, those X marks?
- Is that--is that the damage? - Yes, Your Honor. Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] And, Ms. Stitts, it's your testimony here, under oath,
that you did not do that?
I did not do that.
[Judge Levy] Do you have any idea who did?
[Lareese] Well, it could have been a number of people.
I brought some emails that indicate him having interactions
with different women that it could have been--
there was accusations that he's made over and over to me
that other people have done and he's admitted that, but this...
[Judge Levy] All right. Mr. Hunt, you alleged
that the incident happened on July 11th, 2023,
- around 2:50 a.m. to 3:10 a.m. - Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] So what I wanna know is what evidence did you have
to prove that she did it?
Did anyone see her?
I was with one of my coworkers.
She was over there taking care of me because I was sick.
She seen her but she didn't know who she was.
[Judge Levy] So you're saying that your coworker was able to identify
that person as the defendant?
She identified her to me but she didn't do it in court.
She was scared.
And this was in a domestic violence restraining order hearing,
- correct? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] And it's your testimony that this coworker of yours
that was helping you when you were sick on July 11th,
she goes into court.
She was asked about whether she observed who did it during that hearing?
- [Kenneth] Uh-huh. - And she lied about it.
- That's what you're saying? - She actually said no.
She actually said-- she actually said, "Uh, uh, uh."
And then Your Honor said, "Speak to me." She, "Uh, uh, uh."
So she lied to the judge.
Correct, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] So you filed a domestic violence restraining order
after the incident involving what you believe
to be the defendant, right?
Yes. Only did that, Your Honor, after I looked at the Ring tone
and I seen that it was her.
[Judge Levy] Okay. Okay. Hold on.
I know that you included that in your complaint
and I was confused about that
'cause I didn't see any copy of any Ring video,
'cause that would have made this case extremely easy.
Tell me about this Ring camera.
So this is how I found out what time it was,
because I go across the street
and the neighbor, she pulls it up at 2:58,
my ex-wife, Lareese Stitts, she's on my--she's left-handed.
- She's on my hood first. - [Judge Levy] What--when is this?
When did you actually go to your neighbor
- to ask about this? - The next day.
- [Judge Levy] So July 12th? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] So, of course, you realize this is like the bombshell evidence.
- This is like the smoking gun. - And I hear you.
- Uh-hmm. - So where's the tape?
Well, when I go-- when I went back to get it,
because it was so-- it was so long to get it--
after I talked to the police,
and the neighbor said that it was too far, so it didn't last.
Okay. Well, you say that you also went to the police though, right?
- [Kenneth] Yes, Your Honor. - And when did you go to the police?
The next afternoon.
[Judge Levy] At the time, she's your wife, right?
- Uh-hmm. - Because in July of 2023,
you guys are in the middle of a divorce proceeding, right?
You had filed that in January.
So now what do you tell the police about what your wife did?
Well, the police officer...
- I actually had... - [Judge Levy] What do you tell...
... I actually--I actually had the police officer go
to the person's house to look at the Ring tone.
- You sure about that? - [Kenneth] Yes.
He wanted to go arrest her.
I said, "I don't want-- I don't want her arrested."
[Judge Levy] Yeah. Then explain to me how it is
that in the police report that you provided,
there's nothing, zero, about any camera.
Why is there nothing in that report about that?
Your guess is as good as mine, Your Honor.
[Judge Levy] Okay. But you do know
that what they did write in this police report
was that you, Mr. Hunt,
did not hear or see anything suspicious
- during the night... - That's right.
[Judge Levy] ... and there are no cameras at the house.
He spoke to a citizen on the street
who told him that he saw a woman get out of a blue Lexus
and key the car.
The citizen said he could not identify the woman
and did not want to be further involved.
That is what they wrote, you said.
There was absolutely nothing about a Ring camera.
Can you explain that?
Your Honor, it's--I told-- I told the police officer.
- He wouldn't... - Can you explain why it is...
[Kenneth] I can't explain that. I can't explain that.
- Okay. Thank you. Judge Acker. - Honestly, I can not explain that.
[Judge Acker] Thank you, Judge Levy.
I wanna ask you, Ms. Stitts.
There is something you said during Judge Levy's examination,
and it was in response to whether or not there were others
who might potentially have had some animus toward the plaintiff,
who might have been angry toward him,
and you said, "Yes. I've got emails here."
What are those emails that you've got,
because I didn't see anything in your packet?
Yes, Your Honor.
There are a couple of emails that he sent
that he accused me of calling him,
which I absolutely never do.
And he called me one evening.
And the email that you see on page 23 is him apologizing.
He thinks that I called him.
Clearly, it's someone else
and he's apologizing for speaking horribly to me
on my voicemail.
[Judge Acker] Let me just read it for the record.
[Lareese] Uh-hmm.
"Again, I'm sorry for waking you up out of your sleep."
And this is from the plaintiff to you.
"My friend said I was hella perky
and talking hella [bleep] talking a lot of smack.
So whatever I said to you, I'm very, very sorry
and wouldn't upset,"-- I think I get the gist.
This was a message from you to the defendant
where you clearly had accused her of something
and then you're like, "My bad.
I made a mistake. This was not you."
Yes. What Lareese is not saying is that when she's upset with me,
she'll block me and she'll call me from a unknown number.
Okay. So tell me then, why were you apologizing?
[Kenneth] Because I thought she was calling me.
You know, just belligerently
- calling me, calling me, calling me. - [Judge Acker] And you were wrong.
- And I was wrong. - So I wanna talk
about what happened after the restraining order,
when you say she was following you.
So after the court, after the judge told us,
you know, stay away from each other,
I came out the courtroom.
I get in my car. I'm driving down.
I'm about to get on the freeway, and I notice a car speeding up behind me.
So I go to get over and the car kept following me.
So I get back over and I realize this is Lareese.
I said, "Oh, no. I better videotape it
'cause I don't know what she's-- what she's trying to do."
[Judge Acker] Did she say anything to you?
No. She didn't say nothing to me.
You don't dispute that you were behind him
- as you were leaving court? - No, I don't.
[Judge Acker] And your explanation is what?
My explanation is I was behind him
and I was upset and--yeah.
So given that clear anger that I think you've had--
'cause you mentioned in your answer that he'd been unfaithful to you.
Many times.
- [Judge Acker] There we're many times? - True.
[Judge Acker] And there were also occasions between the two of you
- that had become violent. - Yes.
[Judge Acker] And now let's fast forward
and revisit the issue of what happened after court.
You're following him.
You admit that you're trying to antagonize him
and you admit that you're upset.
May we see the video please?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You're messing up my life.
I loved you and I tried to do everything I could for you,
but you just talk to me like I'm a sucker.
I told her, "Just leave me alone, man."
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Kenneth Hunt Jr. is suing ex-wife Lareese Stitts
for car damages
after he claims she vandalized his car,
but Lareese claims it could have been any
of the many women her ex-husband entertains.
You're following him.
You admit that you're trying to antagonize him
and you admit that you're upset.
May we see the video please?
[Kenneth] My wife is following me right now in this blue Benz
and she will not get off from behind me.
I want you to see this, Your Honor.
- [Judge Acker] You were recording her... - Yeah.
[Judge Acker] ... because you wanted to have a record
of anything should the situation have escalated?
Yes, Your Honor, 'cause this is what she-- this is what she does.
She has a anger management problem.
Very angry. Very insecure.
Just--I mean, you look at me and you look at her.
I'm a beautiful, successful young man.
She is also.
People look at us.
I'm looking at both of you, and I'm gonna tell you what I see.
You're somebody who has some pent-up anger
because you don't like things that happened in the relationship.
- And you do too. - I do.
[Judge Acker] And you have sometimes accused her of things
that haven't quite proven to be true.
And right now we're in a court
and it's your burden to prove that she did this thing
by a preponderance of the evidence.
I'm not quite sure that for my part you're there
but I'm gonna pass the case to Judge DiMango. Judge?
The two of you standing here
are definitely not the two people in here.
Two calm, collected,
very much in control, disinterested in one another.
No. That's not who the two of you are at all.
In fact, you--you know, that phone call?
You know what I really think that phone call from you to her was about?
You wanted to see if she was home and what she was doing.
You knew you were calling her to check on her.
- I think that's what... - I was, Your Honor.
- Yes, you were checking on her. - I was, Your Honor. I was. I was.
It was baloney that you thought somebody was calling her.
- It was baloney that you made a mistake. - [Kenneth] No.
You just wanted to know that she was where you thought she was.
- Am I right? - I did, Your Honor.
[Judge DiMango] That's what the two of your lives are about.
You know, I did divorces as a judge for three years.
Three years more than I wanted to.
I did criminal for probably 40.
Give me a good criminal any day 'cause people in divorces,
- they're nuts. - [laughs]
[Judge DiMango] And the people hardest for a judge to divorce
are people like the two of you,
because you were happy she was following you
because you knew she still cared about you.
- I did, Your Honor. - [Judge DiMango] Yes.
- And you are so... - [Judge DiMango] I wasn't...
... you are so right, Your Honor.
Yeah. So good that I'm right.
The two of you started off on-- and I don't know--no foot.
I think people say "the wrong foot."
I don't think either one of you was on a foot.
Because you say, "I married him
because he treated me well."
He was in prison.
In your mind, what is treating you right?
That he was an ear for you when you were sad?
- Yeah. More than sad. - [Judge DiMango] Yeah.
So you two are like this.
You know, you can't pull it apart. I'm telling you.
And the more you pull, you know, they used to have those things for the kids.
The more you try to pull 'em apart, the more your finger gets stuck in them?
That's the two of you.
And this here, listen. I came into this case.
I grew up in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, the girls key cars.
They do. They key the cars.
I've seen many a keyed car.
And it was easy for me to take that leap of faith that you keyed the car.
However, you didn't prove anything that she keyed the car.
The Ring camera, suddenly gone.
Did you ever hear of using your camera to take a picture of the Ring camera
while it was showing that?
I would've been like, "Wait a minute. That's her.
That's her. I need a picture of that." Now, you didn't do that.
The girl. Only your coworkers, they stay overnight.
They see things and then they don't wanna testify.
And though my gut from being a Brooklyn-Italian girl
tells me, "Somebody keyed that car."
I can, at this point, be sure where I wanna go.
- So you... - Did you wanna say something,
- Judge Levy? - Yeah.
[Kenneth] Say something to what you're saying, please?
- Go ahead. Yeah. - Yeah.
So, Your Honor, the reason why she's not here
is because when we came out of the restraining order,
she threatened her on the steps.
- After this incident... - I don't--honestly,
I don't believe any of this.
- Let Judge Levy deal with it. - [Kenneth] Okay.
Let me offer another reason why.
- Let's just call her JP. - Okay.
Those are her initials from the police report.
JP is not here
because she wouldn't wanna have to testify inconsistently
with what you testified to in court.
And would you just refer to her as a coworker or was she your girlfriend?
She was a coworker, a friend.
[Judge Levy] And she was not your girlfriend?
- No, she was not, Your Honor. - [Judge Levy] And you never referred
- to her as your girlfriend? - [Kenneth] And she's--no,
Your--no, Your Honor. She's still not my girlfriend, Your Honor.
Now, I love police reports.
I love police reports,
especially when the police write down verbatim what it is
that people such as yourself, complainants, tell them
and they put it in their reports.
This is the police report from July 12th.
"Hunt told me the following,
Stitts is his ex-wife, and they broke up a year ago.
He is currently dating JP."
- That's totally off. - [Judge Levy] Right.
So now we have this officer who misidentifies JP as your girlfriend.
- [Kenneth] Yes. Yes. - 'Cause he got that wrong.
The officer messed up when he just forgot
to include in his report anything about a Ring camera.
- Yes. Yes. - [Judge Levy] He just forgot that.
[Judge Levy] And this Ring camera, by the way,
this is what I'm curious about
because here, you sent an email to the defendant here
on July 12th, 2023 at 6:13 in the morning.
- You provided that, right? - Yes.
This is what you wrote in the email.
"I was sleeping last night.
I pray you didn't scratch my car up
because I'm going to look at my uncle's Ring camera
when I get off and see who did it.
Otherwise, if it wasn't you, what's up?"
Can you explain how it is that after you allegedly saw this,
you didn't go back and send an email to your wife
and say, "Baby, I got you on the Ring"?
Why didn't you do that?
Because she came to the gas station and told me she did it.
That's why. She said, "I did some [bleep]...
- [Judge Levy] Hold on. Hold on. - ... to your car."
- Are you sure that's your answer? - [Kenneth] That's my answer.
Okay. So what we're talking about now
is July 12th, 2023
when you sent the email out,
- "Baby, I hope it wasn't you. What's up?" - Yup.
And the incident with the following that we saw
where she follows you to the gas station,
according to the case docket of the divorce action,
you left court.
That's video taken August 8th.
So that means all the time between July 12th and August 8th
when you know about this Ring camera,
you never send an email back to your wife
and say, "Baby, give it up. I saw you." You never did that.
No, I didn't, Your Honor.
Okay. Thank you. I have nothing further.
[Judge Acker] Just a couple of things on which I'd like to follow up.
I note that you even submitted
what you describe as a correction to the police report
because you really did not want us
to think that this person was your girlfriend.
Why should we care about that? Why was that so important to you?
Because she sit here lying. And she knows she bold-faced lie.
She knows she's lying.
And I care about this girl so much and she gonna sit here and lie.
I would never ever do you ever, ever. Ever.
Uh, don't talk to her, please.
What happened on August 8th at the gas station?
She pulled up to me. It was--it was another lady parked.
She blocked both of us in.
She blocked me and the lady.
And the lady just told me, "Just listen to her. Just listen to her."
She get out the car. She said, "I'm sorry.
This [bleep] I'm sorry. I scratched your car.
I'm sorry. What can I do? What can I do?"
I said, "You need to leave me alone. You just need to leave me alone.
Please leave me alone."
I told her, "Just leave me alone, man."
You're messing up my life.
I loved you and I tried to do everything I could for you, man.
And you're just--you're just punking me.
She talk to me like I'm a sucker.
She--her mouth is just so bad, man.
But then she want me to love on her?
I'mma love on you and you talk to me like I'm--like I'm--like I'm some infidel.
You know? And I tried to do my best.
I even went out and got two jobs so I could help her.
She go out and buy a car without my permission,
go buy this Lexus.
Now, she got bills that she can't even take care,
then she wanna put it all on me.
- It was just so much. Just so much. - [Judge Acker] Okay. Sir. Sir...
- Just so much. [sobbing] - [Judge Acker] All right. All right.
[Lareese] He cried in the last hearing, too.
You know what? You know what? Control yourself.
- [Cassandra] Take a--take a deep breath. - [Kenneth sighs]
Take a deep breath.
I wanna get your version of what happened on August 8th.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice...
The crying is as phony as your sitting there calmly.
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Kenneth Hunt Jr. is suing ex-wife Lareese Stitts for damages
after he says she vandalized his car.
But Lareese claims Kenneth will say
and do anything to get her back.
I wanna get your version of what happened on August 8th.
There was no gas station. There was none of that. No.
[Judge Acker] Why should I believe you?
Because in your answer, you said, "I was only behind him
because we happened to live in the same area."
- [Lareese] Yeah. I want this... - Then in court--let me finish.
In court, you said, "No, I was actually following him."
Because I was really mad."
And that testimony came in the context of your explaining why you were so mad.
You were so mad because he got a restraining order.
- [Lareese] Uh-hmm. - So your reaction to a court order
that required you to stay away from him was to chase him on the freeway.
- Poor choice. - [Judge Acker] Poor choice.
What were you doing on July 11th?
Well, I was sleep at two o'clock in the morning.
It was a Monday, or a Tuesday, or something.
I was not there.
She really did, man.
Really know you was this bad, man.
- I would've just left you alone. - [Judge Acker] Thank you.
- I don't have anything further. - I do. I'd love to believe two things.
One, I'd love to believe your tears are real
and I'd love believe that you didn't scratch the car.
- I did not scratch the car. - [Judge DiMango] You see?
I think the two of you are so not who you present yourselves to be
in this courtroom.
And believe me, the crying is as phony as your sitting there calmly.
That's exactly how I feel.
This could have been anybody.
[Judge DiMango] Yes, I know. And that's a great defense.
- [Lareese] Yeah. - [Judge DiMango] Because, obviously,
once you throw in the possible suspicion of another person,
that could cast question or doubt on the actual case itself.
I don't have any other questions.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. We'll be back shortly.
Court is now in recess. Parties may exit.
[dramatic musical sting]
So, who done it?
[laughs]
We know he didn't do it himself.
So the only real issue for us is whether or not the evidence has been presented
to establish, and again, it's by preponderance,
that the defendant did it. You know?
There are gonna be a lot of people looking at this, uh, court case
and saying, "Yeah. She absolutely did it."
But unfortunately, the evidence just doesn't make it out.
Did she have motive? Yeah. She had motive. She was upset with him.
I will say, however, putting it all in a timeline,
she was real angry on August 8th when she followed him.
Do I believe that the incident happened at the gas station? Yeah, I do.
But that was after he had filed
that domestic violence restraining order application.
He did that I think it was like on the 13th of July or something.
So here she is.
She's getting this domestic violence restraining order.
She's getting dragged into court.
And could that have been the reason why she took it so personally?
Yeah, I think that that's consistent with common sense.
But there was nothing that we heard prior to July 11th
that would have ticked her off
to the point that she would've damaged the vehicle.
So as far as the proof goes,
I don't think that he's made out his burden.
So I would dismiss his lawsuit.
[Judge Acker] I am sure she did it.
And I just don't see the legal path.
I also believe the interaction at the gas station.
I can even understand frankly why he doesn't have the Ring video.
I think he--maybe he never did.
You know, when you know somebody did something, what do you do?
You act like you have more evidence of them doing it than you actually do.
I think that was a bluff.
But I just can't see the evidentiary path
to justify my gut feeling.
So it actually is with some reluctance that I would dismiss.
I'm a hundred percent with that.
And I said it. She keyed the car.
It is just my gut feeling. It's based on my life experience.
But the Ring camera, I didn't believe was truthful.
I didn't believe anything that the coworker said
who cared enough about him to be here,
the inconsistency with the police report--
all of these things that he told that were lies.
I can't let my gut rule this decision
and I'm gonna have to say that I think we made a fair decision
even though it may not be the just decision in the end.
- So I think that, uh, that's it. - It's based on the evidence.
With the lack of evidence in this particular case...
- Well said. - ... is really what it is.
All right. Thank you.
[dramatic musical sting]
Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded that you're still under oath.
[Judge Levy] What's our gut?
I'll tell you what our gut is.
All three of us, our gut is that you did it.
But court cases are not decided on gut feelings.
They're decided on evidence or lack of evidence.
The problem, Mr. Hunt, is that there were several prior statements that were made
that were inconsistent with your in-court testimony.
There has to be some evidence
whether it's direct or circumstantial
that establishes the defendant's guilt in a civil case
which is preponderant to the evidence,
which is, is it more likely than not that she did it?
And Mr. Hunt, it just did not.
And for that reason, your small claims case, sir, is dismissed.
- Thank you. - [gavel bangs]
This case has concluded. All parties are excused.
[theme music plays]
If y'all ever see Lareese Stitts, run far away from her.
Had I done something like that?
It might've been something similar to that.
But this just wasn't me.
Just mad. She's just a mad individual because she wants things her way.
If they not her way, she goes berserk.
Uh-hmm. He's a compulsive liar and cheater.
I still love her but I'mma still stay so far away from her
that if you look to the moon, you might see me up there.
I'm just ready to move on and put this all behind me.
I never ever wanna see you again.
[laughs]
It's over.
[announcer] Got family drama?
Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
Find us on social media at Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]