June 26, 2023
Fabio Sementilli
Source: HairTalk.com
It has been three-and-a-half years since I've stepped inside a courtroom. The original reason I stepped away from covering high-profile murder trials was economical. I was newly divorced and I had to find a way to support myself after being a semi-retired housewife for 17 years.
For quite some time now, I've been wanting to get back inside a courtroom, but my cancer treatments have kept me close to home. I've missed listening to lawyers argue nuanced points of law, hearing witnesses testify, and observing the jury as well as who shows up to sit in the courtroom gallery. I do love the law. Everything about it is interesting to me. Even though I could not attend, I kept track of the next pretrial and post trial hearings in two cases I covered extensively, the Baker/Sementilli case and Michael Gargiulo until he was sentenced.
Lately, I've been reading news reports and keeping up with a case that will be tried in a courthouse closer to where I live, the Van Nuys West Courthouse. This is the same courthouse where I attended much of the Robert Blake murder trial, long before I started T&T. The new case is the murder trial of Rebecca Grossman, a tragedy for all parties involved. Grossman is charged with two counts of second degree murder in the deaths of two children, Mark (11) and Jacob (8) Iskander. (I will say, that the only other child murder case I covered was one of the most emotionally draining cases I've ever experienced.)
Grossman is alleged to have hit the Iskander boys with her Mercedes in a Westlake Village crosswalk and fleeing the scene. (From news reporting on the preliminary hearing, it is my understanding that Grossman's air-bag deployed and the Mercedes shut down because of that deployment.) Jury selection in Grossman's trial was originally slated to start July 5, 2023. However, at a June pre-trial hearing the trial date was moved to January 16, 2024. I really wanted to try to attend this trial.
I had promised my dear friend Alene who doesn't drive, that for a belated birthday gift, I would take her to the LA County Natural History Museum located just southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Alene loves history and we've gone to several museums together. Alene has been helping me with gardening projects as I've become physically weaker from my treatments. Since Monday is the day she usually has free, I thought I could combine the museum trip with a trip to the downtown criminal courthouse. I don't believe Alene has ever read T&T. She tells me she has never been inside a courtroom. I thought it might give her another new experience. She was game, so I started planning.
Since I am immune compromised, the new normal of my life is, I wear a mask the minute I step out of the house and I don't eat in restaurants. I told Alene to have a lunch packed for the cooler and we would probably eat in the car soon after we get to the museum. I also did not know how long I might be able to walk around the museum so as a precaution, I packed a walker. I've had a walker ever since I tripped and fell in that Target parking lot cracking my left patella, soon after I started chemo, but I've never used it. Lately however, my energy level has started to tank from the drug I've been on since February. Most of my time the past six weeks has been reading and resting on the sofa with my kitty, Butter Biscuit, lying on my chest or legs.
I also gave Alene a quick course on what she could and could not do inside a courtroom. Since we were going to the 9th floor, a security floor, I told her that our phones would be put in a Yondr security bag, so she wouldn't be able to use her phone while on the 9th floor.
Around 2018, the Los Angeles Superior Court transferred the control of the public's phone privileges on the 9th floor over to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept. To be recognized as a journalist, with phone privileges on the 9th floor, you had to apply for a media pass with the LASD. LASD does not recognize independent journalists that are not affiliated with a mainstream outlet or have not been published by accredited media. So even though I have been recognized by the LA County Superior Ct as being a member of the media since January 2011, I am like every other member of the public with no phone privileges on the 9th floor.
The 9th Floor
We parked at the Catholic Church on Temple and walked the two blocks to the Clara Shortridge-Foltz Criminal Justice Center. We breezed through the first floor security and arrived on the 9th floor before 8am. Unlike the ground floor to get into the building, this security station does not open until 8am.
Already on the 9th floor off to the side of the security station was a large family group with a woman sitting on a walker that had a seat. Alene and I lined up right behind the security scanner. There was one deputy sheriff already there getting things set up. However, I knew that it would not open until a second sheriff arrived and they ran their regular tests on the security scanner. We waited. More people arrived on the 9th floor, including a media crew with a camera. I wondered which courtroom they got a judge to sign off on filming. From my experience, there are not a lot of Judges on the 9th floor that would allow cameras, but maybe things have changed. I thought I recognized a reporter but I wasn't sure. After the second sheriff arrived I motioned to the family with the chair assisted woman to go ahead of me. She shook her head but I insisted.
After we cleared security I turned right into the corridor and made a beeline to the bench that sits at the very end of the long hallway. I had been standing too long already. This bench is right beside Dept 101, Judge Coen's courtroom. Soon the media crew came down and I recognized Pat LaLama, currently with ABC. I listened to Pat talk to her crew for a bit before I said her name. "Pat LaLama, I don't think you recognize me." Pat squinted in my direction and replied that she didn't have her glasses on and added, "And besides, you're wearing a mask." I replied, "I'm Betsy Ross." Pat was visibly surprised. "Betsy!" she exclaimed, "I'm so happy to see you!" She immediately introduced me to her ABC producer, Elissa Stohler, and said, "You've read Trials & Tribulations!" Elissa said something to the effect of, "Of course!" She was familiar with my prior trial reporting.
Then Pat proceeded to go more than a bit overboard in her praises of my trial coverage and implying that I was better than any other journalist who covers trials. Almost rolling my eyes I skeptically replied, "Pat is too kind. I wouldn't go that far." I tell Pat about my Stage IV diagnosis. Pat asks which trial I'm here for. I tell her Sementilli. Her crew is also here for Sementilli.
About 8:20am, the first counsel to arrive on the 9th Floor is Michael Simmrin, Robert Baker's attorney. I believe I hear Pat ask Mr. Simmrin what the hearing is about. It appears Simmrin doesn't know why this pretrial hearing was called. About five minutes later, Monica Sementili's defense team arrives. I remember Leonard Levine and Blair Berk, but I don't recognize anyone else in their group. Last to arrive on the 9th Floor is Deputy DA Beth Silverman and a new co-counsel, DDA Ryan Erlich. Beth did not recognize me in the hallway, but to me, over all these years, Beth hasn't aged a single day. She looked just as I last remembered her, sharply dressed with classic heels. From what I'm overhearing, Beth and her team don't know why this hearing was called either.
Inside Dept 101 8:27am
I scan the courtroom. Pat LaLama's crew sets up their camera in the back right corner of the courtroom. Normally I would sit with the other media but I sit on the edge of the second row so it's easier for me to hear what's being said when the court goes on the record. I point out the court reporter and the Judge's court clerk to Alene and try to listen to conversations going on all around me. I'm not able to hear much. My latest infusion drug has been making my tinnitus worse. Alene tells me she's surprised at how small the courtroom is. TV shows make it look like all courtrooms are large rooms. Most courtrooms in the criminal courthouse have only four long bench rows for seats. (I can't wait until I take her to the largest civil courthouse in the nation, with most courtrooms having fold-down gallery seats only available for about 35-to 40 people.) Beth and Ryan are sitting in the first row chatting. Pat makes the rounds of counsel and court staff, introducing her producer Eilssa to them. I hear Beth and Ryan discuss dogs with Pat and Elissa. Levine, Berk and Simmrin enter the courtroom and Pat introduces Elissa to Sementilli's counsel.
8:30am
CBS 48 Hours Producer Greg Fisher enters the court room carrying a backpack. He heads directly over to the media crew and greets Pat LaLama. Greg didn't recognize me when he walked behind where I was sitting. I look over for a bit and he's deep in conversation. I get up from where I'm sitting -which is a big mistake because I take my eyes off of the well of the court- and go over to say hello to Greg. I address him and tell him I don't think he recognizes me. It's not until I'm right in front of him when he replies, "Of course I do." I don't remember much of what we said, but I do remember him specifically asking, "What are you doing?" I replied that I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. It was like my reply didn't even register with him because he asked again, "What are you doing?" Was he asking me what I was doing for work? Did he think I was still working while undergoing treatment for Stage IV? I explain that after my divorce, I went back to school and trained to be a
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). He seemed surprised by my answer. I told him that this was not an out-of-left-field
choice for me. Most people who followed my trial coverage don't know
that for over 30 years, I have been a self-employed then semi-retired
"bodyworker". I tell him it was nice to see him and headed back to sit with Alene. It's then I see DDA Beth Silverman coming out of the back chambers area behind the clerk's desk and realize I've missed some activity in the well of the court.
As a bodyworker, I trained with one of the top body modality teachers in
the field, William "Dub" Leigh. Dub was one of two individuals in the world certified by both Ida Rolf and Moshe Feldenkrais. He later trained with Zen Master Tanouye Tenshin Rotaishi. After
I passed the California State exam, I worked as a CNA in a respiratory
hospital. I then got my additional HHA certification and switched to working in
home-health hospice care. After a full year in this new career, I was diagnosed with Stage IV Urothelial Carcinoma, also known simply as "Bladder Cancer". If caught early, bladder cancer can be cured. Unfortunately, my cancer was not caught early.
With seeing Beth come out of the back area, I should never have taken my eyes off the well of the court. I see Beth either handing over a disc or receiving a disc. Pat LaLama was briefly speaking to Judge Coen in the well of the court and I believe at this point it's when she tells her crew something to the effect of, they're not going to bring the defendants out, they're just going to continue. I'm disappointed. I was hoping Alene could see what happens when defendants are brought into court. I don't see Sementilli's defense counsel anywhere. My best guess is they are back in the custody area, advising their client. I make sure to point out to Alene who the Judge is when he is out of his robes chatting with his staff and counsel.
8:42am Judge Coen Takes the Bench
Michael Simmrin is at the defense table. Beth and Ryan are at the prosecution table. Everyone is waiting on Levine and Berk. Two deputy sheriff's enter and check in with the two deputy bailiffs already in the courtroom. Right after, they turn around and leave. It appears they won't be needed in the courtroom since the defendants will not be brought out. Judge Coen chats with his bailiff.
Sementilli's counsel enter the courtroom from the custody area and Judge Coen quickly goes on the record. He states that the defendants were not brought out into the courtroom. The court states counsel has received new discovery. The next hearing date is set for July 14 and it's agreeable to all counsel.
Judge Coen continues with the matter that brought everyone into court. From what the court is saying and from what I've overheard, apparently there was a motion to sever or intention of a motion to sever by, I'm guessing, Sementilli's counsel, with no ruling today except the continuance. Before he leaves the bench, Judge Coen mentions a case on the record "... that just came down from the Superior Court ... this past Friday." I got the case number, 22-196 in my notes, but Judge Coen spoke so quickly I didn't catch the case name and my handwriting is garbled. However, I did find the ruling on SAMIA, AKA SAMIC v. UNITED STATES.
And that's it. It's over quite quickly. Judge Coen is off the bench. Afterwards, Judge Coen speaks to Simmrin at his clerks desk and most everyone else is packing up, headed for the exit.
Outside in the hallway, Alene and I stand back, just listening to DDA Silverman speaking to her clerking staff about researching this case and the points of law it covers. From reading the SCOTUS ruling later, it's a bit complicated regarding spoken statements by a co-defendant brought in at trial through other witnesses. However, my understanding is, in simple terms, SCOTUS ruled a co-defendant's sixth amendment rights are not violated at trial, by evidence brought through a government witness without naming the defendant who made them, as long as the jury receives a limiting instruction from the court on which defendant they can use that specific testimony against. Read the ruling and let me know if you have a better explanation on how the court ruled.
Beth is talking about a prior case (Tran? Traun? Trank?), that up until this latest SCOTUS ruling, the prosecution relied upon regarding specific evidence that could be brought in at trial against co-defendants. That case only covered non-verbal evidence of a co-defendant. SAMIA went even further and covered verbal statements. While listening to all this in the hallway, other counsel from the District Attorney's office are leaving hearings in courtrooms directly across the hall. Beth has a lengthy discussion with one Deputy DA who many years ago clerked with her before they were hired by the DA's office as a Deputy DA.
Afterwards Pat LaLama asks a question and Silverman replies, "... something is possibly coming out from the DA's media relations office..." Silverman would not be specific in this public arena, only to say that most likely, something is coming out from the press office in a week or so. DDA Ryan Erlich then explains to Pat LaLama what happened in court. Apparently, there was going to be a motion to sever, but the SCOTUS ruling pretty much shoots down any motion Sementilli's counsel was trying to bring. Pat then asks a question as to whether or not the DA's office has identified the unnamed third co-conspirator who was seen on a neighbor's surveillance video approaching the house with alleged defendant, Robert Baker. DDA Sliverman responds there are "several" (meaning, more than this single unnamed co-conspirator) who the DA's office believes knew about the murder plot and may have been involved in the planning. The DA's office doesn't have as of yet, enough evidence to bring charges.
After some other reporters ask Silverman and Erlich some questions, Beth looks towards Arlene and myself, having seen me writing as fast as I can on my notepad and asks, "Are you ladies journalists?" I reply, "Beth, I don't think you recognize me. I'm Betsy Ross." Beth replies something to the effect that she does recognize me. She adds, "Your hair's white!" In my mind, I'm thinking, what hair? There isn't enough to even cover my scalp and I have no eyelashes or eyebrows, but, I reply, "Stage IV cancer." Beth's reaction is immediate and understanding. She knows exactly what I'm talking about. She mentions a close friend and a law clerk having gone through the same thing.
Before they walk away, I introduce myself to Ryan and ask him for the correct spelling of his last name, which he politely gives. Then we head for the elevators.
Down in the lobby, I point out to Alene the several large historical displays honoring Clara Shortridge-Foltz, the first woman attorney accepted to the bar on the West Coast and who first proposed the idea of the public defender.
Heading back to the parking lot, I was winded walking up the two-block incline on Temple Street to where we parked. I was grateful I was able to stand as long as I did and didn't need to lean on Alene for support. When we made our first crossing on Temple, the ABC camera crew was on the corner setting up. It's my assumption they were trying to get camera shots of the defense counsel leaving the courthouse. I greeted Elissa and we exchanged business cards. I wanted to be sure I got the correct spelling of her name for my reporting.
On our walk, Alene agreed that no one recognized me. Much later, my close girlfriends admonished me about this. They reminded me that I do look vastly different than three years ago, when I had long dark hair past my waist. It's true. I look in the mirror and I don't recognize myself.
Today was a test to see how well I held up for a pretrial hearing. Not bad, overall, but I don't know if I will have the energy to cover the potentially month-long trial of Rebecca Grossman in Van Nuys. There would be much more walking than today if I took public transportation to save on parking costs. At this point, it's too far ahead in time to know.
The next report can be found HERE.
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