In a case where the defense has complained about Jose “Chille” DeCastro doing everything possible to delay or obstruct proceedings even after sanctions and warnings by the Judge, DeCastro made the unusual choice not to file an opposition motion required for Friday’s sanctions hearing, delaying the case yet again.
Friday’s sanctions hearing in the never-ending lawsuit involving Jose “Chille” DeCastro, Kate Peter, Team Skeptic, Daniel Clement and Michael “Blue Bacon” Pierattini saw another extension of the case as DeCastro’s lawyer, Steven T. Gebelin, failed to serve both the court and the defense with his opposition to the motion for sanctions that was the basis for the hearing.
According to the minute notes released by the court, DeCastro’s attorney failed to file any opposition to the current sanctions, including a call for termination of the case as part of the sanctions against DeCastro for submitting gibberish at the eleventh hour before the last scheduled hearing.
He was ordered to immediately file said response with the Court and sent a copy to the defense counsel, with the allowance to the defense for a supplemental reply. The hearing itself was then moved from Friday to April 23, 2025, at 8:30AM in the Santa Monica Courthouse.
The Minute order of the proceedings reads:
NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS: Hearing on Motion for Sanctions; Trial Setting Conference
The matters are called for hearing.
The declaration of DeCastro in support the of the motion was not received by defense counsel or the Court. Plaintiff’s counsel is ordered to file and serve forthwith the declaration on defense counsel via email, and deliver a courtesy copy to the courtroom.
A supplemental reply may be filed per code.
On the Court’s own motion, the Hearing on Motion for Sanctions scheduled for 02/21/2025, and Trial Setting Conference scheduled for 02/21/2025 are continued to 04/23/2025 at 08:30 AM in Department O at Santa Monica Courthouse.
Notice is waived.
Friday’s unusual court hearing all but confirms the belief that attorney Steven T. Gebelin is on the case not to actually serve as a fully functioning attorney for DeCastro, but to rubber stamp items given to him by DeCastro and then submitting them to the Court.
While this is the first time Gebelin appeared empty handed at the court, the January 23, 2025, proceedings were also delayed as Gebelin had received and filed nearly 100 pages of gibberish in the Discovery process the night before the hearing.
While he did file a brief motion essentially protecting himself from sanctions when the defense objected to his submissions, he otherwise seemed to vouch for whatever he was handed by DeCastro to file in the case.
DeCastro had previously announced that his strategy was to do everything in his power to delay the case. His refusal to provide actual answers to discovery questions and interrogatories, despite having been sanctioned and ordered by the court to do so, has hindered Pierattini’s ability to have the lawsuit completely thrown out.
Pierattini was indeed granted a summary judgment last year with all of DeCastro’s charges against him dismissed except for the question of DeCastro’s status as a public figure. There was not enough information to determine his status as again, DeCastro had not submitted answers in the discovery process to help render a verdict on that charge.
Attorney Raymond Paul Katrinak, representing Pierattini, has previously filed a motion for more financial sanctions against DeCastro with the option to terminate the proceedings based on DeCastro’s behavior. If allowed, the financial sanctions against DeCastro would now total roughly $15,000.00. DeCastro has refused to pay previous sanctions dating to the start of 2024.
DeCastro’s apparent failure to provide a response to the motions hearing comes as DeCastro has been increasingly erratic as he has been obsessively creating his “Constitution Headquarters” board game.
While his apparent release of the game has been delayed “ninety days,” DeCastro’s work on the project has come at the expense of his YouTube channels, his commercial business and his friendships and relationships with his followers. He has a livestream set for this afternoon where he may address these issues.
Gebelin has yet to file DeCastro’s response to the motions as ordered by the judge. We will update once that response has been released to the public.
