03x120 - Dueling Assaults

[bunniefuu]

You seen these pictures?

- Yes, I have.
- Shocking, right?

Her face hit that floor, when she
jumped on me, she landed on her face.

- [dramatic music]
- There's no question she was assaulted.

Listen, I don't know your name,
you look like a nice lady.

You wanna get involved with that?
The guy is not a gem.

- [announcer] This is Judy Justice.
- [theme music]

[announcer] Desiree Francis
is suing her former friend, Ronnie Fairley

- for damages from an as*ault.
- [Kevin] Court, come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

- [Kevin] Judge.
- [Judy] Kevin?

Case 3181, Francis versus Fairley.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

[Judy] Okay. Each of you claimed
the other assaulted the other.

There are some other nonsense
things here on a counter claim

that I'll go into if I have to.

- Ms. Francis, you met Mr. Fairley online?
- Yes.

And that was in 2022
according to your complaint?

- Yes, October 2022.
- [Judy] Mhm.

- And am I correct that you are unmarried?
- Yes.

- [Judy] And you, sir?
- Unmarried.

[Judy] The complaint alleges that you met
each other online, started to communicate,

and became friends?

- Yes. Yes, ma'am.
- Yes.

[Judy]
That would that be a fair statement?

Just for giggles
and because I really like to understand,

you know, in my line of work,

it's always good to get to know
what's in people's heads.

What were you doing
talking to the lady online?

- Is that your wife?
- Fiancee, yes.

- [Judy] So you're no longer married?
- [Ronnie] No, this is my fiancee,

me and Ms. Francis were never married,
this is my fiancee.

[Judy] I want you to listen
carefully, Mr. Fairley.

I asked the plaintiff a simple question,
I said, "Are you married?" She said, "No."

I asked you a simple question, I said,
"Are you married?" You said, "Yes."

I said... I said unmarried, I'm sorry.

- I said unmarried.
- [Judy] Oh, did he say unmarried?

- [Whitney] He said unmarried.
- Unmarried, I've got to check this.

- Maybe I'm on restaurant mode. Hold on.
- [Whitney chuckles]

- [Ronnie] I thought that...
- [Judy] Television.

- [Judy] Restaurant. Normal. There we go.
- [courtroom chuckles]

- [Judy] Unmarried.
- [Ronnie] Yes.

[Judy] Unmarried. Okay. Then I can
get off this whole line of questioning.

So you got reacquainted.
And how long have you been engaged?

- Two years, Your Honor.
- [Judy] Okay.

I'll let them... I'm gonna ask you.
What are you doing online communicating?

Slowly, because as you see, I have...
may have at some point challenged hearing

and if someone is trying
to get their tie out of their mouth,

[chuckles] then it makes it
even more difficult.

So, you wanna tell me what you're
communicating with this lady online for,

if you're already involved
with somebody else?

[Ronnie] Me and Desiree,
we came across each other online,

- we started talking, got...
- [Judy] How did you come across online?

Yes, yeah, we came across
each other online.

We have... we have... we have a past
with each other.

[Judy]
Okay. So, you got reacquainted

- and you were friends?
- Yes.

[Judy]
Did you ever become more than friends?

- [Ronnie] Yes, ma'am, we did.
- And when was that?

From October of 2022
until January this year.

[Judy] Okay. Would you stay at her house?
Would she stay at your house?

Would you stay at a neutral house?

[Ronnie] There was nobody
staying at each other's houses,

- we would stay at hotels...
-[Judy] Okay, got it.

...but it wasn't a relationship,
it's turned into a business relationship

to where I started working
for her travel company.

Okay. While you were working
for her company...

- [Ronnie] I...
- Shh.

[Ronnie]
I'm sorry, you said...asked why?

[Judy] It's always kind of hard
to shut the barn door, sir.

While you were working for her company,
were you also intimate with her?

At the time, Your Honor, I didn't have a...

[Judy]
Forget fiancee,

at the time, you said it developed
and you started to work for her company.

I just want to know, at the time
you were working for her company,

were you still being intimate
with each other,

- that's either a yes or a no.
- [Ronnie] Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

So, that's a yes. Now, on January 10th
of 2024, where did you travel to?

I was currently living
in San Diego at the time

when he came to visit me on January 8th.

- I rented a Airbnb for us to stay at.
- [Judy] Why?

Because I have children
that I wasn't ready to introduce him to.

- [Judy] Okay. So you have kids?
- Yes.

That is a lie.

Okay. So you rented an Airbnb
because he was coming to visit?

- Yes.
- And that was on the 8th?

Yes, he landed on the 8th in San Diego.

And did you and Mr. Fairley
begin staying in the Airbnb?

- Yes.
- [Judy] So far...

- [Ronnie] Your Honor?
- [Judy] What?

I've had met her kids,
I actually have video and pictures,

pictures with her kids,

so the fact that she said I don't know
her kids, I didn't meet her kids...

[Judy]
No, she didn't say...

I'm sorry, I... it just sounded
like she said I don't know...

- [Judy] She said introduce.
- Introduce. I'm sorry.

[Judy]
There's a difference between introducing

and having you there for breakfast
when her kids wake up in the morning.

I've been... I've been there for breakfast,
lunch, and dinner, so I have been there.

- [Judy] Really?
- Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] Okay. This is what I don't
understand, Mr. Fairley.

I thought maybe I had misread it.
The first line of your sworn answer says,

"Desiree and I have known
each other since 2022.

Desiree and I have never been
in a relationship.

I always made it clear
that we were just friends."

Then you go on to tell a story
about what happened

that is totally inconsistent
with what I'm hearing today.

So, I'm just gonna remind you,
Mr. Fairley,

that if you tell the truth right on top,
you don't have to have a good memory

because according to your answer,
there was no intimacy involved,

you were friends, and then you went
to work for her. Well, that's not true.

You wanna show me pictures of you there

for breakfast in the morning with her
three kids, now you're going to Airbnbs.

Do you understand?
Okay. So let's try to keep it straight.

What were you supposed to be doing
the 8th, the 9th, the 10th,

because you were there at least
until the 10th, what was your...

take a deep breath,
what was your plan for that week?

My plan was to only be there
for a few days,

the things that we... that we had agreed on
to handle while I was in town.

[Judy] Like what?
- For... for school, for work,

those are the two main things,
for school and for work.

- What school?
- San Diego City College.

[Judy] Well, what were you doing
with San Diego City College?

I was going to school there,
doing online classes.

- [Judy] What?
- [Ronnie] Yes.

You were going to online school
so you had to go there?

Well, I was there to... because things
for financial aid I'd take care of,

there's things for financial
aid that I had to take care of,

that's the reason
why I had to fly out there as well.

- Yeah, I had this whole...
- [Judy laughs]

- had this whole thing going on.
- [laughs] Your nose is starting to grow.

- Is it?
- [theme music]

He started getting in my face and yelling.
I remember seeing his fist next to my face

and I remember him grabbing my shirt
and my shirt ripping.

After I remember seeing his fist,
I was knocked unconscious.

[Judy]
Don't speak. Just listen.

[theme music]

[announcer] Desiree Francis
claims her former friend, Ronnie Fairley,

owes for damages from an as*ault.

Ronnie is countersuing
for car expenses and travel costs.

Okay. So you had absolutely no need
to be in San Diego to get a scholarship.

As everyone knows, you do that online,
and you go to school online.

Going to school online means
that you don't have to be in school.

Don't say anything, madam.
I want you to just listen. Okay?

Then you're armed with information,
then you can make a rational choice,

otherwise, he talks very fast.

I'm gonna introduce him to the truth,
probably, at the end of this trial.

Now, I'm trying to find out

how you both ended up
in the same Airbnb for three days.

The plan for him coming there originally

was for him to come
and see his girlfriend.

- That would be you?
- [Desiree] Me, yes.

[Judy]
Now, I'm going to get into January 10th

when Ms. Francis, you say, that this man
who came down to be with his girlfriend,

you spent January 8th, January 9th.
Now, January 10th, there was an incident,

and I want you to start out by telling me

what time on January 10th
did this incident start?

The incident started after returning
from dinner that night.

Tell me where you went for dinner.

It was a Gaslamp District in San Diego,
just like a pizza place.

- [Judy] Everybody drink?
- [Desiree] Yes.

- What was the drink of choice for him?
- [Desiree] Hennessey.

- [Judy] Hennessey?
- [Desiree] Yes.

- [Judy] And you?
- Wine.

[Judy] What time did you get back
to the Airbnb from the restaurant?

- Around 10:00 PM.
- [Judy] Okay.

Now, we're gonna pick it up from there.

[Desiree] So after we returned to the
Airbnb, we started getting ready for bed.

- We got in bed and became intimate.
- [Ronnie, quietly] No, we did not.

When that happened, the defendant
noticed that I had started bleeding.

He told me to get the bleeding fixed.

- Lie.
- I told him...

- [Judy] I don't... just a second.
- Sorry, Your Honor.

[Judy]
You have to understand something.

Look at me, women do not
talk about that unless it's true.

There are far more sexy things
to talk about.

Do you understand that, Mr. Fairley?
So stop grinning.

Understand, just as the same way
a man wouldn't talk about the fact

that he was having difficulty
romantically and testify to that

unless somebody
was putting nails up his feet.

That's not a story you make up.
Don't speak. Just listen. Go.

[Desiree] So, when he told me
that I needed to get it fixed,

I explained that I had priorly
been diagnosed with cancer

and I had been in remission,

and I was scared that the blood
that I was seeing was it coming back.

When I told him that, he got angry
and started packing his belongings.

He packed a jersey
that I had purchased for him

that I told him I was going
to have framed and mounted.

He wanted to put that in his suitcase,

I told him he was free to leave
as long as he left that item.

[Judy]
Was it expensive?

It was a $600 jersey that I already
had paid $800 to have framed.

[Judy]
Okay. Go ahead.

[Desiree]
I told him he was welcome to leave,

long as you leave that
so that I can get it framed.

He didn't wanna leave it.
He started getting in my face and yelling.

I remember seeing his fist next to my face

and I remember him grabbing my shirt
and my shirt ripping.

After I remember seeing his fist,
I was knocked unconscious.

I don't remember falling to the ground.

When I came to,
he was leaving out of the door.

- I moved...
- [Judy] How much later?

[Desiree]
I'm not sure how long I was unconscious.

I don't believe it was very long.

- Maybe a couple of minutes.
- Okay. Okay. Go ahead.

[Desiree]
So when I came to, he was trying to leave.

I remember him taking his phone out
while I was up against the door bleeding,

showing his phone like this and telling me
that I was being a drama queen.

I have photos of that incident.

It was definitely not a drama queen,
Your Honor.

I currently have make-up
to cover the scar that I have,

but I have permanent nerve damage
in my lip from this incident.

I'm also missing a tooth and chipped...
broke another one in half.

I also had a closed head injury
and a concussion.

Okay. So I'm gonna take a look now of your
photographs and your medical record.

You did go to the hospital?

- [Desiree] Yes, I did.
-You did say you went to the hospital.

[Desiree]
So these are the photos,

and then these are from
the hospital and the dentist.

Okay. Mr. Fairley, let's start with...
your there, you're back from dinner.

- [Ronnie] Yes.
- It's about ten o'clock at night.

Ten o'clock at night of January 10th,
I'm lying there in the bed.

She was entering the bed
to try to be intimate with me.

I refused her multiple times already
prior to that.

[Judy] Is what you're saying,
you refused on January 10th...

- [Ronnie] Yes.
- ...not on the 9th?

- No, on the 10th. I...
- [Judy] Just! Not on the 9th?

- We didn't do anything on the 9th.
- [Judy] You weren't intimate on the 9th.

No, on the... no, we wasn't.

- [laughs] What about the 8th?
- The 8th, yes.

[Judy laughs]
You're thinking it up as you're going.

And then you went off
for this romantic dinner on the 10th.

- [Ronnie] I don't think...
- You went out together...

...it's a romantic dinner,
it was a pizzeria, but okay.

It was... it wasn't really
a romantic dinner.

[Judy] No, no, no. Why, all of a sudden,
on January 10th, after dinner,

did you decide that you didn't want
to be intimate with her?

Because this wasn't the first time
that this has happened with the...

[Judy]
What had happened?

With the... with the incident
with her bleeding.

I told her I understand the fact that you
have cancer, you have everything going on.

But at the same time,
I do not wanna be intimate with you.

So now the reason that you chose
not to be intimate

was because of her physical condition.

So I'm gonna ask you
this question, Mr. Fairley.

But for that situation, with her bleeding,
you would've continued as you had

since you came to the Airbnb
to be intimate.

The reason you just gave me is because of
her physical condition. Is that correct?

Want her to read it back?

- [Ronnie stammers]
- No, no, no.

- [Ronnie] No.
- Or you wanna tell me again?

[Ronnie] They were...
they were just what I told you,

that I... that was one of the reasons why.

[Judy] Not one of the reasons,
not one of the reasons.

What was the reason you got into bed,
she got into bed, she...

Because we were arguing prior...
before then, before we started intimate.

About what? About what?

[Ronnie] About us wanting to be
in a relationship with each other

and I told her I did not want
to be in a relationship with her.

It really irritates me that you think
you're smarter than I am.

I never said that.
I never...I never said that ever.

[Judy]
Okay. I'm gonna let you finish this.

So she got into bed and she was bleeding

and you said, "I don't wanna have
any part of this." And then?

[Ronnie] This is before I knew
about the bleeding. I pushed her off.

She tried to get back on,
I pushed her off again.

That's when she scraped my private part
and I pushed her off again.

Then she tried to get on top of me,
and I said to her,

"Des, we are not doing this."

Okay. So you said no,
and then what happened?

- It went left, completely left.
- [Judy] What?

It went left, where...

- What does that mean?
- It went left. Went off the rails.

[theme music]

You ever seen these photographs?

- [Christell] I have.
- [Judy] Where?

She sent them to him
and he sent them to me.

He called me immediately
when the situation happened. He called me.

You know why I'm looking at you, right?

[theme music]

[announcer] Desiree Francis has accused
her former friend, Ronnie Fairley,

of assaulting her,
causing permanent damage.

Ronnie is countersuing Desiree
for car expenses and travel cost.

Okay. I'm trying to create
a word picture for myself.

You were arguing with each other,
it was starting to get heated...

- Yes.
- [Judy] ...you decided to get out of bed.

- Right?
- [Ronnie] Yes.

- And to go and pack.
- [Ronnie] Yes.

- And then, what happened?
- I'm asking her, "Please let me leave

because this is going to go
not the way that we want it to go."

So when I tried to go to her,
to get her out of the way of the door,

she starts pushing me back,
starts pushing me.

I turn around. And as I turn around,
she's charging me from the back.

When she's charging from the back,
that's when I flipped her over,

because she jumped on my back,
so I flipped her over me.

And then when she scratched me
on the side of my face and everything

and that's when she fell to the floor,
like she landed head first on the floor,

- after she jumped on my back.
- How'd she get a split lip?

Her face hit that floor.
When she jumped on me, I flipped her, I...

[Judy] If she jumped on your back
and you flipped her over,

she would've landed
on the back of her head.

- [Ronnie] No, because like the way...
- Shh.

- Okay.
- [Judy] If she jumped on your back

and you flipped her over,
she would've landed here.

- How did she get the split lip?
- She landed on her face.

So her... she's like a scorpion,
basically like a scorpion.

When your face
is in the flip... in the ground,

your legs is up in the air towards your
behind, that's what... that's what it was.

- And then what happened, sir?
- I got my things, I left.

I went to a... local hotel
around the corner.

I had scratch marks and marks
on my hand and, like, my face. I...

[Judy]
Have any photographs of that?

- [Ronnie] Yes, I do.
- I'd like to take a look.

[Judy] Are you showing me
that you had skinned knuckle?

Is that what you're showing me?

I just wanna know, sir,
is what this picture is of,

of a knuckle with skin off it? That's
your knuckle and there's skin off it.

- Yeah.
- Okey-dokey.

Now, let me read you
what your answer was, sir.

You said, "Desiree decided
to sneak into bed with me.

She was drunk and I told her,
'No,' several times.

So she got angry and bit me."
Now, somehow you left that out.

Whitney, we don't have to go back
through the whole testimony,

you did not take anything down
that had anything to do with a bite.

- [Ronnie] I did mention that.
- Nothing, nothing about bite.

[Ronnie] I did mention that.
I did... I did... I did say,

like when she scraped my private part,
I did say that.

He did say
that she scraped his private parts.

[Judy]
Just a second.

- You said, "She bit me."
- I just...

[Judy] That's what you said in here,
"She bit me.

Desiree then proceeded to cry and beg
to enter a romantic relationship with her

to which I repeatedly declined." You had
been intimate with her since January 8th.

- Interesting news, right?
- I already know.

[Judy] Oh, you already know
and you're jumping in anyway.

Just wanted to make sure you know
that this was January 10th, 2024.

- [Christell] My issue is with her.
- Shh.

- I know about all of this.
- [Judy] Okay. I...

- Yeah.
- [Judy] Meh.

Walking in with your eyes wide open.

Then you say, "I got to the lobby
and realized I forgot one of my suitcases.

When I got back to the room,
I found blood on the walls.

Desiree had staged a crime scene.
I quickly grabbed my stuff and left."

You left out that fact, sir.
You said you went to a hotel.

- Have you seen these pictures?
- [Ronnie] Yes, I have.

- [Judy] Shocking, right?
- [hums noncommittally]

Have you ever seen these photographs?

- I have.
- [Judy] Where?

She sent them to him
and he sent them to me.

- [Judy] Okay.
- [Christell] He called me immediately

when the situation happened, he called me.

You know why I'm looking at you, right?

Okay. Just wanna make sure
that the two girls are in sync.

It's a whole lot behind it.

- There's a whole lot behind it.
- [Judy] Ah, yeah.

Nothing behind January 8th?

- [Christell] I knew about it.
- [Judy] Good.

Okay. I have her hospital record, sir.

There's no question she was assaulted
on the night of January 10th.

I've heard your side of the story.

The only injury that I see
in the photographs that you gave me

are injuries consistent
with her being punched in the face.

You have a counterclaim
that she assaulted you,

that part of your counterclaim
is dismissed.

I saw no physical injury
other than the physical injury

that probably resulted in your
punching her in the face

when you got your knuckles scraped.

You have some other nonsense
in this countersuit.

"Desiree let me use her company car.

Our agreement was that any maintenance
would be covered by her.

I had to pay for new tires
and oil change."

- How often did you use the car?
- [Ronnie] About a year.

[Judy]
Is that because you didn't have a car?

At the time, I didn't.

What did you do
with the car after the year?

The car actually got repossessed.

- When?
- [Ronnie] Car got repossessed,

I would like to say in...
I'm sorry. October?

What are you looking at her for?

I'm trying to remember the time
that it got repossessed...

- [Judy] Well, so they were...
- ...and the month.

It was... it was in 2024.

- It was early in 2024... early, uh...
- [Judy] After January.

- [Ronnie] No, uh, no, no.
- After this incident.

[Ronnie]
No, no, no, it was before the incident.

[Judy] Oh. You have
a counterclaim for car expenses.

That part of your claim is dismissed.

Now, talk to me about a plane ticket.
What plane ticket are you talking about?

She promised me verbally that she would
pay for my plane ticket to go back home.

- And she didn't for a year. Right?
- [Ronnie] And... no, no, no.

- No.
- [Judy] Forget about it.

Listen, I don't know your name,
you look like a nice lady.

This man wouldn't know the truth

if it came up and introduced himself right
to his face. Just look at his face.

He's used to getting over.
You wanna get involved with that?

- You look like a nice lady. Do you work?
- I do.

I somehow knew
that you had a responsible job.

- Does he work?
- [Christell] Not at the moment.

- [Judy] The answer is no.
- No.

[Judy] He doesn't work. He really
doesn't know a lot about working.

- [Desiree] No.
- You think that that's gonna change?

It's not gonna change. Go into it
eyes wide open, eyes wide open.

The guy is not a gem.

Judgment for the plaintiff for as*ault
in the amount of $10,000.

This is an outrageous picture, sir.

And the knuckle that has no skin on it
supports this injury.

You're an outrage and I'm actually
surprised you're not incarcerated.

- [Desiree] Hopefully.
- That's all. We're done.

- [Kevin] This court is adjourned.
- [theme music]

Kind of just glad the situation is over.

I can put this behind me and move on
with my life and just forget about this.

- It's embarrassing what he's done.
- No, I did not as*ault that woman at all.

I didn't know that he had a fiancee.
I thought he was completely single.

Well, I pretty much laughed because
I knew that she set up the whole thing

to make it look more than it was.

It wasn't staged. It was from me being
pushed backwards after being punched.

Close this chapter, move on my life
and put her behind me.

I don't want it to happen to anybody else.

If that girlfriend,
fiancee, of the defendant,

doesn't heed your advice
about getting out while she still can,

the fact that she said
that she laughed off the photographs

that she saw of the plaintiff's injuries,

I'm just scared that she's gonna be next
if she hasn't been already.

And that's a dangerous guy. If he's not
working, he's not supporting you,

he's not supportive emotionally,
financially,

there... there's absolutely
no redeeming qualities about him.

- [Judy] That we can see.
- [Sarah] Sure. That we can see...

- That you can see.
- [Sarah] ...or that are worth it...

- [Judy] Or... Well, that's even better.
- ...for your life.

So, you know,
I hope she gets out. [laughs]

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[theme music]