Episode 8 "The $25,000 One Night Stand"

Episode 8 relates the true story of how violence almost erupted in Judge Small's chambers because casual sex has its consequences. Listeners will also hear about the cop killer's romantic side in True Justice.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

The Smoke and Gavel Podcast is now in session. I'm retired Judge Chip Small, who will preside over this podcast along with my bailiff Madeline Rose. We welcome you and ask you to join us as we take a look at our justice system from a unique, candid, and inside view. Maddie, what's on the docket today?

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Well, you're honored today. You're going to finally share the story of your $25,000 one-night stand. That's one way of putting it. Yeah. And then next you're going to talk about when your courtroom became a crime scene. And then we're going to continue to read True Justice. So, Judge, tell us about that $25,000 one-night stand. Must have been a real good looker there.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Okay. Before we do that, I need to tell our listeners that this could also be called the story of when my chambers almost became a crime scene.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

We'll follow that with when my courtroom actually was a chambers with the $25,000 one night stand in it? Yep. Okay. Like your chambers as in the courtroom chambers or your bedroom. Judges' chambers.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

No, judges chambers. Get me in trouble. So back in the day, I was judge in a two-county judicial district. And one of our courtrooms was in the county seat of a smaller county, and it was located about 25 miles from the sheriff's office. So we're doing what's called the paternity calendar. And the paternity calendar is when the state prosecuting attorney sues men for paternity because women will get pregnant and then they'll get welfare, and then the state wants to be reimbursed from the welfare they pay the mom by the father. And involves DNA tests and all that stuff. Well, in this particular case, because it's 25-mile drive, I thought, the prosecutor asked permission to appear by phone instead of in the courtroom. So we the only at that time, the only uh speaker phone we had was in the judges' chambers. So we're seated in the judges' chambers. Uh myself across my desk is the putative father and the court clerks over to my left. The prosecutors on the phone. And basically we have the hearing, we introduce the evidence uh that proves by DNA 99.9999% uh that this gentleman uh was the first time.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

This is the father of the child. You are the father of the child. What were you like, Maury? Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Well, he was a logger from Oregon and big guy, very big guy. And he's sitting there and he's listening to my ruling uh where he had visited our town on the weekend and had sex with a woman he picked up at a bar. Turned out she got pregnant that night, and I had to tell him that the evidence was undisputed, he's the father of the child, and because he was a logger making good money, he was probably gonna pay over an 18-year period about $25,000 in child support, maybe more.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

So he erupted. I mean, he just he jumped out of his chair, knocked the chair over, started screaming at me. The prosecutor, now I'm thinking, wanted to appear by phone because he had met this guy before.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Okay, yeah. He knew it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

In any event, he's still on the phone. The court clerk bolts out of the side door of my chambers to call the sheriff. I'm sitting there thinking, the sheriff's 25 miles away. That's not gonna do us much good. But I stay in my in my seat because I didn't want to escalate things. Uh again, remind him, no, that's the court's ruling. And so he spins around and goes out the the um entrance to my chambers that goes directly to the courtroom. And at that time it had a a storefront door that was two-thirds glass, and he s goes to slam the door behind him, which would have shattered the glass, but for the fact it caught the heel of his boot as he was doing it, so it just vibrated, but it didn't break the glass. Yeah. So that's that's the story of the $25,000 one that it stands.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Uh that I I feel for that guy a little bit. I really do. But at the same time, I mean, you know, if you're if you if you're out spreading that scene, sometimes it's a good thing. If you're gonna play the game, you gotta water them, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

You gotta face the consequences.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Um how about you tell us that that seems more like your courtroom being a Jerry Springer scene, but how about you tell us about when your courtroom became a crime scene?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Okay, well, this one uh was a criminal case, and again, it's in the same courtroom, 25 miles from the sheriff. The defendant uh is not in custody, but uh deputy or excuse me, a detective is there present throughout the trial. He's one of the main witnesses. I don't even remember what the charge was. And the defendant's mother is in the courtroom as well. Fairly short trial. I think it only took a couple days, and the jury came back with a verdict of guilty. So they render the verdict, I I read it to the defendant, uh, and then he has to go into custody. I didn't sentence him immediately, uh, I can't remember why, but he had to go into custody right after they found the guilty verdict. He was no longer presumed innocent. Well, in my uh time on the bench, I like to debrief the jury. Uh so after we ordered the defendant into custody, the the jury had exited into the jury deliberation room, and then I follow them uh off the bench through the door that goes to the jury uh deliberation room, and I'm debriefing them and talking about the case, and and they're asking me questions when literally all hell breaks loose. I'd seen fights on TV and in the movies, but when you hear a real fight with furniture flying around and screaming and punches and everything else in real time, I mean, yeah, it's scary. So I'm poker face. The door from the courtroom goes down a hallway, and just a few feet down the hallway is the jury deliberation room, and the door is wide open. And if the defendant wins the fight against the detective, he's gonna run right by where the jurors are. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the defendant's mother was also attacking the detective, and both of them were trying to get the detective's gun. While that's going on, I just very mildly and coolly walk over and close the door to the jury room so he doesn't see where the jury is, it just convicted him and try to reassure uh the jury that everything's okay. Once the dust settled, and we didn't hear anything for a while. Then I opened the door and went into the courtroom uh to find the defendant in custody, his mother in custody, and not too many minutes later, the sheriff had come up the 25 miles at very quick speed, and they were uh putting the crime scene tape across the entrance to my courtroom. Uh-huh. So that that was the day uh my courtroom was actually a crime scene.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

It did turn it into a crime scene, okay. Well, I'm gonna have to interrupt with uh our sponsor break here. The Smoke and Gabble podcast is sponsored by Judge Small Books and Gatekeeper Press, a full service publishing company empowering authors with complete creative control, professional guidance, and a hundred percent royalties. Whether you're publishing your first book or your tenth, their team makes the process simple, transparent, and truly author friendly. Listeners of the show can receive ten percent off any publishing package with Gatekeeper Press. Just to mention code Chip Small when requesting a quote or during your free consultation at gatekeeperpress.com. Well, Judge, time we continue reading True Justice.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Chapter five. Three days earlier. Guadalupe Rodillo smiles as Arturo Azul approaches her at the Lakeview Drive-In. She and Arturo first met at a dance at Westview, the alternative high school in Eagleton. They both attend. It was love at first sight. Lupe is a junior and Arturo is a senior, and he is also a star soccer player on Eagleton High School's team. Now they see each other every day at school and secretly date. Lupe is afraid her parents won't approve because Arturo has a reputation for associating with the Norte Melicitos gang. But she knows Arturo wants nothing to do with the gang culture. Despite her advances, he is always the perfect gentleman, which makes her love him all the more. Handing Lupe a bouquet of flowers, they smile sheepishly at one another. They embrace and sit down alongside each other. After they order their food, Arturo anxiously tells her the good news. My parents said it's okay for me to move in with my uncle Tito and Whitby.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

In Whitby? But that's more than fifty miles away.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

She frowns. But I told you, I must get away from the Norteños. We can go there together when school gets out.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Why can't you move here to Lakeview?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

It's too close to Eagleton. They'd find me. Besides, we'll be married by then. He smiles. Look at your flowers, Carita. Lupe then notices a small box attached to the flowers with a ribbon. Looking up at Arturo, her eyes light up.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

That's not Open it.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Quickly, she removes the ribbon and mo opens it. Inside is a small, brilliant-cut simulated diamond ring.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Dios mío, she declares.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Listeners, now we learn that just days before Arturo kills Deputy Sheriff Hernandez, he proposed to Lupe. Tomorrow we'll get to know more about Kate, one of Attorney Arnie Adams' girlfriends.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

At our next episode, we'll hear why the title to the judge's book on how to be a judge is You're Not a Lawyer Anymore. And we'll continue reading True Justice.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Thanks for listening today. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Smoke and Gavel Podcast. To learn more, visit judgesmallbooks.com. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share to stay connected. Until next time, God bless.