Transcript of Behind the Scenes in San Francisco | BONUS New

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Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fans, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tauntauns and Wampas on the ice planet Hoth, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at It podcast—

1979, that was a big moment for me. '84 was big to me.

I'm Sam Jay.

And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors, like Marc Lamont Hill on the '80s.

'84 was a wild— I mean, it was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for Black people. Listen to Look Back at It on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until karma made her pay for it.

All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story.

She moved in for 2 weeks, lasted 5 days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

You faked a medical emergency?

And spoiler, that was just the beginning. To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Stephanie, back with a bonus episode. I want to play you some behind-the-scenes tape from my two reporting trips to San Francisco. The first one is from the night of the continuance, after Laura filed an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation with the court, and Mike was told his hearing would be continued in 2 weeks. Spirits were low. People who had been following the case felt defeated, and so did Mike. The evening of the continuance, I met up with journalist Megan Fox to hear how the rest of her day unfolded.

Start recording if you're ready.

Yep.

All right, it was around 8:30 PM. Megan and I sound exhausted because we were. The first question I have for you is, what was your reaction to what happened today?

It was awful.

I couldn't process it until after I did some exit interviews. With Omar and Clayton, I couldn't process it for a while. I'm not even sure I still have. I'm not even sure that I have. But there was a moment when Omar and Mike walked out of the courtroom, and I could see that they were both crying. That was hard. Really hard. And my heart just fell to the floor. And after I heard what happened, I went to Danielle, who was sobbing, and I hugged her and she fell on my shoulders and sobbed. And that was awful, but there was something inside of me that was keeping me from having any emotion whatsoever. All I said to her was, "We're not going anywhere. We're not leaving you." And we'll be here. And she was just sobbing, and it was, it was awful.

We now know that after the alleged life-threatening circumstances that caused Laura to miss the hearing, she showed up at a horse competition that very same week where she was show jumping and winning ribbons. The online community banded together on live streams. They launched a fundraiser to help Mike with the expenses of having to come back to court again in 2 weeks.

It was insane. Like I said, I didn't intend for it to be a fundraising stream. I just wanted to tell them what happened. I wanted to have a better stream than yesterday because the Wi-Fi went down, the power went out, it was a nightmare. My computer died. It was just a shit show. And I wanted to have a smooth stream and just tell them what happened and prepare them for a fact that there would be a fundraising stream. 'cause I had already called Dave and like, we gotta do this. I didn't think we would raise any money today. I mean, I was gonna direct them to the fundraiser and I'd tell them, if you have it, give it, he's gonna need it. They started donating to the GoFundMe so fast and furious that in the first hour of the stream, it was like $4,000 was raised. In an hour. And that's when it started to hit me that, oh my God, we thought we weren't going to be able to raise $3,500 for the court reporter. We just passed $4,000 in one hour. The community is just going nuts. And it kept going. By the time I was done with 2 hours of streaming, they were at $10,000.

$10,000 more dollars.

Why do you think that, that, that what happened today sparked that with everyone?

Nobody's giving up here. This is not what she thinks it is. She didn't stop anybody.

Two weeks later, I went back to San Francisco for the continued hearing. Like I said in episode 11, it felt like déjà vu. The continuance threw a wrench into things for everyone. Most of all for Mike and his wife Danielle, but also for the court system. Space is limited, and that time could have gone to someone who would have actually shown up. Even Mike's attorney Omar Serrato had a family vacation planned that had to be rescheduled due to the continuance. Here's Omar.

So I had a vacation planned, and so I come home and I tell my wife that, um, yeah, it got continued. And hey, so bad news, Bad news. And then she's like, what? What? And you could imagine how that conversation went. She was very supportive. She was angry. She was really sad. She had some choice words for Laura, but she understood the mission. And she's like, if I'm going to miss my vacation, you better just fucking finish this. It costs us $3,300 for the cancelation fee or whatever. It's like, well, just gone to the wind, huh? I guess. And I just prom— look, look, we will go on a better vacation. I promise. Somehow we're going to make this right. We're going to make— I will make it up to you.

This example might sound small, but it just proves the ripple effect of Laura's actions. On my second reporting trip to San Francisco, the energy was markedly different. I was in the courtroom with everyone, when the domestic violence restraining order against Mike was dismissed. I left the courthouse that day with Mike's attorneys Omar Serrato and Rachel Juarez. We called a Waymo, one of those self-driving cars.

It's my first Waymo. It's like a celebration Waymo.

You can hear the energy and relief in Rachel's voice. We all piled in and debriefed the DVRO dismissal.

Tell me how it was.

Oh, it went as well as it possibly could have gone.

It was literally best case scenario.

Yes, in every respect.

Oh, I should start the van. Um, yeah, the fact that we didn't have to say anything was exactly what we were hoping for. Yeah. And what my fear was, and I was starting to get nervous, like, hey, it's like almost 9:30, we're still not in the courtroom. And I was telling Rachel, hey, they might be having like another in-camera thing. I'm having flashbacks. I'm telling them, I'm telling Mike, uh, don't get your hopes up, be prepared for everything. Because when they called us in and let everybody in and they basically started just conducting it as if they're going to start a trial, I started to feel better about it. Yes. And then they make note of the time. It is, it is 9:30. Yeah, we were scheduled for 9 o'clock. I don't see Laura Owens here in the lobby or even here on Zoom. Yeah, therefore I'm going to dismiss the case. But before that, she cracked a joke with the court reporter. Oh, I guess this is going to be a quick matter.

She did.

Yes, that, that was when I felt much better. I took a sigh of relief. Um, yeah, and this really was— as, as gratifying as it would have been to, you know, present her with all the evidence that Laura was at a horse show and she's done all these other things to other courts before like this, any additional evidence that got presented just creates more possibility for chaos, which is, I think, what Laura thrives on. So the fact that the judge kept it so simple— she was ordered to be here, she did not appear, I told her the consequences, it's dismissed— is really the best result, I think, in terms of trying to minimize the work and chaos going forward.

What are her options after this?

Appeal. She can appeal. I don't think she has a good appeal, but she can appeal. She can also— she can seek another restraining order. She has lots of options to make sure this doesn't end.

Do you think she will continue on with that knowing that there's the criminal case going on in Arizona?

Yes.

Because if that was a deterrent, there was no hesitation.

Yeah, we could not.

Yes, she would have. She would have never brought this if that was going to be a deterrent.

Yeah. The only thing Laura seems to have any fear of is testifying in person.

Yeah.

And being subject to cross-examination, which is not smart because in many ways submitting a written declaration is more potentially dangerous than having in-person testimony. But she does not seem to be fully aware of, I guess, the consequences. Submitting a written declaration that's a lie.

What grounds would she even have to file a new one?

Uh, well, that I have no idea.

Yeah, yep. She would say that Mike is behind the JFC account. She would say that Mike walked by her house, but she can't prove it. Or she could just say she wants one for all the stuff that's already happened. I mean, she won't win that way, but she can say whatever she wants, right? Um, yeah. And so I really think she'll go the appellate route, frankly.

Yeah.

And then only if that— I think she wants to maximize how long this goes, how involved she can be. So I think she'll pursue the appellate route, and then after that doesn't work, I think we'll see another restraining order saying like, Mike's stalking me. I think that's what's going to happen.

If that happens, good luck. Yeah, I can't see them even granting a temporary.

Not if she files in this county.

Yeah, I mean, it would have to be in Arizona, but they know about her up there too.

That's true.

Anything else that you guys want to say about today, how you're feeling? Did anybody else think it was crazy that it was raining all morning and then the moment we walked out of the courtroom there was sun?

Yes, we saw the sun.

That's exactly how I felt.

Yeah. No, I think it's really— seeing Mike and his family there, it really reminds you that this has been his life. It's been so debilitating in so many ways over the last however many years for him. Seeing him so relieved and seeing his family so relieved, I think, was worth everything that's been put into it because he didn't deserve this.

Another thing is, like, we've experienced it, like, 2 weeks ago when we were back here. And we thought that we had a mutual dismissal. Oh, that whole thing. And they were celebrating and Mike is in tears and everybody was in tears. And then I'm sitting there and my phone is buzzing in my pocket. I'm like, what is this? Oh, Laura is asking for remote links or whatever, but she said she was going to be there to whatever. And then I got another one saying she asked for a link for David Jangris.

That's right.

And I'm like, what is going on? And then I email Laura. Hey, I thought we had an agreement. Is that still the case? And then she says, no, we don't have an agreement. Just like that. I'm like, and just the devastation in that moment. Mike wasn't devastated in that moment. He wasn't. I was pissed.

Yeah.

I was genuinely pissed. We were up until like 2 AM that night. I went back to working on my cross. People were putting together the trial notebooks. You know, people were documenting stuff. That whole night was just a— this weird blur.

You can only imagine how it feels for Mike. This is not nothing to him, you know. This has been his life. And the emotional roller coaster for us, just because we're invested legally and also because Mike has become a friend, you know, who we care about— yeah, the, the emotional roller coaster for us and you and the people that have been following this is so much that even 2 weeks of last-minute back and forth, it's not like a regular trial where you're still kind of like, oh my gosh, I've I was ready, now I'm not. That's a lot of adrenaline. This is like devastation and then elation and then, you know, it's circling through those emotions so quickly. It takes a toll on you.

That's 100% the truth. Like, you have trials and they get continued and, you know, it's like, whatever, I guess we'll do it in a month.

Yeah.

But there's never like an audience or like this groundswell of support for somebody. That just adds in a variable that I did not account for. Because just seeing the devastation, I could handle it. I was pissed, right? But then seeing everybody else being pissed, it just further sinks you into this place. It's like when you ask me, what do you feel? I feel nothing. Yeah, I'm not going to acknowledge any negative. I can't get too low. It's, look, we'll be back in 2 weeks. That was the only thing to say.

So time to celebrate now? Yes.

Yes.

Now it's time to celebrate. Let's go celebrate.

Now I feel all of the things, right?

Yep, let's go celebrate, and we're gonna toast to Judge Gold, I think.

Yes, toast to Judge Gold!

Thank you so much for listening. Stay tuned for new episodes and bonus content on the Love Trapped feed.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fans, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntauns and wampas on the ice planet Hoth, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at It podcast.

1979, that was a big moment for me. '84 was big to me.

I'm Sam Jay.

And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Marc Lamont Hill on the '80s.

'84 was a wild— I mean, it was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for Black people. Listen to Look Back at It on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until karma made her pay for it.

All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story.

She moved in for 2 weeks, lasted 5 days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

She faked a medical emergency!

And spoiler, that was just the beginning. To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an iHeartRadio podcast. Guaranteed Human.