Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney’s (Turtleboy) much vaunted “undefeated” streak in having protection orders turned into restraining orders came to an end on Monday as the alleged victim of a recent assault by Kearney was granted a one-year restraining order against the blogger.
The victim alleged that Kearney shoved her during a dispute hours after he was released on his own recognizance for multiple felony charges last month. Turtleboy had allegedly taken notes from her phone in regard to a new grand jury that was being held to investigate his connection to Karen Read and the victim’s conversations with YouTuber Kate Peter.
Under cross examination, the victim admitted to having sex with Turtleboy on the day of the incident before taking abortion pills at his request. She had also explained that she wanted to talk to Turtleboy in person as she felt she had betrayed his confidence by talking to Turtleboy nemesis Kate Peter about her relationship with Turtleboy.
The victim said she was seeking the protection order because she was afraid that Turtleboy would distribute revenge porn and release information about her children obtained using a lawyer’s login access to the MassCourts system. She was also in fear of further unspecified retribution from Turtleboy.
Under oath, Turtleboy admitted to distributing revenge porn in the past and did not deny using the MassCourts system to obtain information about the victim’s children. He stated that a planned “Netflix documentary” about his life story was canceled due to his recent arrests and that he had blamed the victim for the cancellation.
Turtleboy admitted using the woman’s phone to take notes about the new grand jury and further admitted that he knew that the grand jury was looking into payments made by Karen Read’s brother to Kearney to cover various things including his car payments.
The hearing was delayed as Turtleboy’s attorney, Tim Brandl, promised a surprise witness who was a fan of Kearney’s and would testify that she told Kearney that the witness told her that Turtleboy never struck her. The witness did not appear in court after receiving a subpoena, though her attorney was there and explained that the witness had nothing to do with the case.
Eventually the victim was brought to the court room via a Zoom call and explained that she currently had COVID and could not leave the house. She claimed to have babysat for the victim three times but refused to engage with the victim when the case came up. The witness also explained that she did not know who Turtleboy was and that she had never listened to his online content.
After deliberating for approximately five minutes, the Judge granted the victim’s request for a one-year protection order. Brandl objected to the order’s provision that blocked Turtleboy from releasing the MassCourt documents or any other damaging material about the victim or her children. The Judge denied Brandl’s request, indicating that releasing such material would not be covered under Turtleboy’s “journalistic” duties.
The court room was packed with Turtleboy supporters who at one point unsuccessfully attempted to have reporter Grant Smith Ellis, who was the designated still photographer for the Court on Monday, removed from the court room for allegedly taking pictures of “confidential information” on Brandl’s laptop.
Brandl’s twitter notes from the Court can be read here: https://twitter.com/GrantSmithEllis/status/1744347792103920006
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