Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s efforts to raise $48,000.00 to fund Garrett “Press with Rancor” Van Nett’s legal defense were in vain as Van Nett was found guilty of obstruction and resisting on Thursday in Michigan state court.
Van Nett took up auditing on the recommendation of DeCastro, as he watched a few of DeCastro’s videos before going out on his own, often stopping his car to approach police officers involved in traffic stops late at night.
The imposing Van Nett, standing over well 6’ tall and possessing a low but gravely voice that some have described as frightening, would appear out of the dark and refuse to cede ground to the police officers as he filmed, claiming that obstruction was a physical act, and the police had no rights to stop him from recording their actions.
Van Nett always followed the instructions and procedures taught to him by DeCastro’s videos. He was aggressive, he stood his ground, and he would attempt to dominate the police officers, even after his arrest, parroting DeCastro’s questionable beliefs in the law to the officers.
In the arrest that was the basis of Thursday’s trial, Van Nett refused a direct order by the arresting officer to back away from the crime scene 15 times before taking a perceived step forward which resulted in his arrest.
DeCastro interviewed Jim Makowski, the lawyer he hired to represent Van Nett, and YouTuber Big Mike Audits, who he provided gas money to cover the case, during the live stream. DeCastro did not feature Van Nett on the live stream as he described “drama” between the two but did not specify what was going on other than Van Nett would not be appearing.
Makowski said that because of the makeup of the jury pool in the heavily “blue” area, the outcome was “stacked” against Van Nett. “Blue” is DeCastro’s latest term for heavily conservative or police supporting communities. The racial, social or political backgrounds of the residents no longer matter, if they back the police, they are simply “blue.”
The attorney indicated that he thought he had two jurors who would side with Van Nett, but it did not play out that way as the jury unanimously found him guilty. He said that he would represent Van Nett at the sentencing hearing and Van Nett currently faces up to two years in State prison.
Makowski cannot represent Van Nett in the appeal as he was not an appellate lawyer. As DeCastro decided that he would be appealing the case, without apparently consulting Van Nett, Makowski said he would be putting DeCastro in touch with a lawyer friend who handles all of Makowski’s appeals cases.
DeCastro then said he would be looking at attorneys.superlawyers.com to find Van Nett an appeals lawyer.
Once Makowski had left the stream, DeCastro questioned Big Mike if he thought that Makowski threw the case or was just in it for the money. Big Mike vouched for Makowski and said that he seemed like he was trying his best to represent Van Nett during the trial, pointing out that Makowski drove over 400 miles each way to represent Van Nett.
DeCastro seemed satisfied with Big Mike’s answers about Makowski’s competency and renewed his pledge to pay the $24,000.00 he still owes the attorney for Van Nett’s defense.
On that note, DeCastro now claims that he has not touched the $4,000.00 in Van Nett’s GoFundMe account. He recently paid $3,000.00 to Makowski out of donations sent to him directly to his CashApp, PayPal and Venmo accounts, and would be able to fund the $1,000.00 needed for Makowski to get the transcript of the proceedings to move forward with the appeal.
Van Nett’s case will be reviewed by the department of corrections, and he will be interviewed by the department to determine what sentence they will recommend. Van Nett’s past felony conviction will be a factor in determining that sentence.
DeCastro urged his fans to petition the judge in the case for leniency as it was a “victimless crime” with “no damages” and just “annoyed police officers.” Ignoring the felony status of the crime, DeCastro was determined that Makowski would find a way to keep Van Nett out of jail.
