Ok, thanks.
That had been one of the theories I had believed from the beginning. Some people will do anything to make someone else look bad. Getting shot has the bonus of being able to play victim and have all kinds of people swooning over you.
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There is a thread in the technical help section about it. Mod 1 has reported it to the development team.
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There are a myriad reasons why a poster is suspended or banned. Almost always it is due to poor behavior and not abiding by the rules of The Chronicle Forums.
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I am disappointed that the defense was not allowed to explore further the testimony of witnesses who were providing testimony to his character as MB is facing a lengthy prison sentence if convicted. Showing his character goes a long way that this is not his normal behavior.
As for the prosecution mentioning the fire at PD barn, I think the defense could bring up a valid point that fire is one among many concerns for horse people and that is why barn rules, even if thought of as strict, are necessary for everyone’s safety.
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Has the defense rested it’s case?
You do not have to issue a subpoena if a party is willing to testify. However, most will issue one even if the party is willing to make sure that they are compelled and don’t decide at the last minute not to be involved (happens a lot).
In my state you have until 48 hours before the witness will need to appear to apply for a subpoena.
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someone posted above that there are more witnesses scheduled for tomorrow.
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It also spent seems like they spent a lot, and I mean a LOT less time on sidebars today. I don’t know if that was related to the different lawyer who asked things in a different way, or just the general subject matter of the testimony, or what.
But at least today, the sidebar drinking game probably would not have killed anyone. It might not have been good for you, exactly, but much less likely to be fatal.
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It wasn’t really clear why LK was banned when she was, after allowing her to stay on through behavior that would have gotten anyone else banned. I think she was COTH posting up to the eve of the trial and I Remeber wondering if she was being banned to keep her from posting about the trial and involving COTH in violating Court orders. Or perhaps one of her minders asked for her to be banned. Or maybe she had a behond the scenes meltdown again in PM or to COTH staff. We were not given a reason. Perhaps she was using fake alters.
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I’m wondering if there was request from her legal representation to suspend her from the forums during the trial as she has proven that she is unable to control her outbursts.
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No, they still have two very important expert witnesses.
I doubt it.
If you’re suspended here, can you still read, just not post?
I think the new lawyer was just much smoother. He seemed better prepared to me but maybe that was just a difference in style.
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I believe so.
I remember the last time they changed servers (or whatever it’s called) and I kept getting kicked off after I signed in, I could still read the forums. I just had to sign in yet again if I wanted to post anything.
I do think if you’re not signed in there are maybe certain forums you can’t see. Maybe off-topic, perhaps? I don’t know if that is still the case, since they finally fixed that glitch, so it has not been an issue for me for quite a while. Knock wood!!
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Huge thanks, as usual, for the legal information.
Scheduling note for anyone who missed it.
The judge said that they will start at the usual time tomorrow morning and go all day. Then he said that on Thursday morning, one of the lawyers has a prior legal commitment, so this trial will not start until 1:30 PM on Thursday.
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I wanted to back up and address this point after todays testimony.
I 100% agree with this take - that MB cut some sort of deal with LK and RG to exchange work for board… because LK couldn’t afford it otherwise, and it was a possible way to make it all work for multiple parties.
My guess is that JK had LK on some sort of monthly allowance with respect to ongoing expenses, and that meant she only got to have 2 horses in full board, at the negotiated $2500 a pop. But she wanted more. So they came up with this deal. But today we heard MM’s testimony that he was the one actually leading the tiling work. And MM did between 70-80 % of that work. And RG didn’t even show up at times.
We know RG wasn’t licensed. Whatever electrical work he did in the house and barn apparently wasn’t to code, and everyone had to vacate.
Then there is the fact that RG admitted to doing drugs (supposedly off property) at some time during summer of 2019.
That all paints a bad picture. But let’s combine that picture with LK’s claims that RG had done between 30k and 50k worth of work for MB during spring/summer of 2019, and was somehow uncompensated.
I hope we can all agree, that seems like TOTAL BS. I say this after having hired contractors to do extensive renovations on multiple homes and barns over the course of the last decade. And I used fully licensed people for every bit of it. Had electrical, plumbing, drywalling, tiling, etc etc done over the course of various projects, as well as building one entire barn from the ground up and acting as my own GC and paying all subs. I’m in the midst of more barn renos now. Which include substantial electrical work.
Knowing the bare details of this case so far, knowing that RG was unlicensed and really little more than a general handyman… knowing that he wasn’t working with a crew… I don’t see how 30-50k worth of work was ever done. It’s a straight up bizarre lie or some sort of delusion… or a coarse attempt on RG’s part to shakedown MB.
So fast forward to August of 2019. LK was speaking publicly on social media then (or shortly thereafter) about how her boyfriend was “owed” thousands and thousands by MB for work he had gone. I vaguely remember one of the FB posts that even made its way onto little old me’s timeline, via a friend of a friend (I have next to nothing to do with the dressage world and am a low key ammy)… this whole situation and some of LKs posts had just gone VIRAL. Anyway, after today’s testimony… and that of the lawyer from yesterday (ED), we know that JK was negotiating an off ramp situation for LK and all her horses to leave MBs property and go somewhere else close by (possibly to CPS place). And she refused as of 8/05. ED (the real estate lawyer) also was apparently involved in direct talks with MBs lawyer on 8/6 and 8/7, and thought that HE had also come up with a solution for LK and all her horses so they could move…
But you know what was never mentioned? The alleged 30k-50k worth of work RG had done, that LK claimed he was owed payment by MB for. Heck - ED says that JK only hired him to represent LK. MBs lawyer only sent letters regarding the negotiated ‘go ahead and move already’ deal to JK and LK.
So I am going to read between a few lines… and say I think RG was more of a serious problem than we might have given him credit for so far. And that at some point, maybe in late July, he decided to leverage this whole messy situation with LK and MB to try and squeeze MB for straight up cash, at the same time that LK was upping other pressure on MB. RG wanted a personal pay off from this situation, and just having LK and her horses move down the road to a new facility financed by JK? Well… that didn’t work for RG. Because he wouldn’t be able to extort MB for more money once they had actually left MBs property…
Anyway… just wanted to lay out how I see things now, after listening to more testimony.
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Yes that was my impression. Validating concern over dryer not turning off/not unplugged scenario.
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Plus there was the part where RG said in his testimony that he wanted to submit a bill for his construction “work” directly to MB, but LK would not let him. Which to me also sounded pretty darn fuzzy.
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