Friday was another day at the Tarrant County, Texas, courthouse for Carolyn “Carolina in Fort Worth” Rodriguez as she was unsuccessful in her attempt to get a retrial for her conviction for interference in police duties in a case that drew national attention last summer.
The YouTuber was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the charge, while officer Matthew Kruger was dismissed from his position as a Forth Worth police officer following an investigation. Rodriguez would later be freed from jail in exchange for taking a bond with terms that she could not film within 25 feet of police officers for the next fifteen months.
Friday’s hearing was simply to hear arguments for a retrial in the case. Rodriguez and her attorney had a number of concerns about what had happened in the first trial, and this was their chance to express those concerns. As the hearing is part of the appeals process, Rodriguez still will have hearings related to the actual verdict and sentencing in the case as things progress.
Rodriguez was accompanied to the courthouse by Basil “BZWatchDog” Zangare and the pair playfully livestreamed before the hearing. Rodriguez claimed she had measured a line to 25 feet from security as she began streaming. She then joked about stopping her stream and attempting to trick the security guards into thinking she was streaming while standing next to them when her phone was turned off.
While she didn’t carry through with the impromptu joke on the security guards, she did spend an enormous amount of time complaining about workers who were returning from their lunch breaks being waved through the security checkpoint after displaying their employee badges.
The pair eventually ended their livestreams and made their way to the courtroom for Rodriguez’s hearing.
As an observer who does not agree with Rodriguez and Zangare on most things, this hearing should have gone 25-minutes tops. Rodriguez and her lawyer weren’t known to present winning arguments, especially with the current climate of the judicial system in the Fort Worth, Texas area, and we expected a quick follow-up livestream from the pair with Rodriguez’s new defeat.
Twenty-five minutes turned into an hour. And hour turned into ninety minutes, ninety minutes into two hours and there was no sign of the pair. We were honestly starting to search the Tarrant County, Texas, inmate lists to see if the pair were somehow arrested at the hearing.
We know it’s easy to turn auditors into cartoons with their outlandish actions and childish behavior. The reaction from our audience to any new arrest is typically, “good.” However, the crackdown on basic first amendment rights in the Fort Worth area, where even non-auditors are being punished for expressing their opposition to public policies at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting every two weeks is more than concerning.
Rodriguez, through her own impulsive decisions, has been an easy target for Fort Worth police. With her bond now sitting at $8,000.00 and set to double to $16,000.00 with her next arrest and the climate in Fort Worth police force, it was easy to see a scenario where she could be arrested for doing something outrageous at the hearing.
Once Zangare went live, he was angry, and his description of events was lacking due to his sheer anger and frustration at what had happened in court. While he and Rodriguez were fine, with no arrests for the day, he was angry and frustrated about the hearing.
According to his account, the original judge in the case had recused himself from hearings related to Rodriguez’s appeal. The replacement Judge was inclined to let stand whatever the original Judge had put in place. Even though Zangare described the prosecution as having a “bad day,” the Judge ultimately decided against the long shot argument for Rodriguez to receive a retrial.
Rodriguez’s case will now go to an appeals hearing, where she can appeal both the verdict and the confusing sentencing in the case.
The outcome of Rodriguez’s hearing did nothing to spur the market as Zangare’s GoFundMe was among the losers at the end of the week, taking in $0.00, as goose eggs again ruled the market for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
While there are signs of a spring thaw, not even an impromptu session of silliness by the pair could jump start the market as the end of the month is fast approaching.
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