This is Couples Court With the Cutlers.
This is the case of Ellison V Johnson.
Y'all have been together a total of seven years
and you're recently married. Is that correct?
Yes, your honor.
Yes.
All right, Miss Ellison, why have you brought your new husband to court today?
Because I'm tired of him cheating on me with these BBW women.
Really, body, BMW women, body made wrong.
Um, he's been lying.
And I'm just... I mean, I'm trying to be a good wife and I'm sick of it.
So how does it feel to know that you've been accused of cheating?
It feels really hurtful, sir.
I love my wife, my kids, you know.
I'm here to prove my innocence today.
(AUDIENCE) Aww.
Okay, how long have y'all been married?
About three months.
So, this is... Y'all should be honeymooning at this point.
Right, ma'am
Take me through when you first met.
This little case happened in July.
It was hot. I had a bad day at work. We were in the grocery store.
Um, I was frowning, of course.
He walked up to me and he said, hey, miss lady, let me put a smile on your face.
And I said--
Oh, that's a player.
(SIMULTANEOUSLY TALKING)
Did it put a smile on your face?
It did. It did.
Okay. There you go. Yeah. He ain't bad at it.
You know, he said, take you out to eat, watching movies or something.
About a week later, we did that.
After that, we were inseparable.
And we used to have, you know, host couple's nights.
We'd play Spades and Dominoes. We won.
We always dominoed.
Yes.
Always. Always dominoes.
Always dominoes.
Always dominoes.
You are truck tight.
We always, we always stood out.
Yeah. We did, you know.
Actually, I want to admit, we'd been together maybe two months,
and mama said, I think that's the man you're gonna marry.
So you went to old school route and got the mama on your side.
He did. He did.
So you know.
DANA: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Because he was the only guy my mother wasn't like this...
When she met him, she was like, hmm.
That was huge. My mother was like,
she smiled and she liked him
and even my dad didn't pull out his gun on him.
So I knew.
That's 'cause I had it going on.
Okay. I... Sure, Mr. Cutler. We'll go ahead with that.
Okay.
Okay.
So, Mr. Johnson, what do you like about her.
I like everything about my wife, sir.
Uh, you know, she's a good mother to my kids.
She's a great wife. You know, she's a, she's a friend.
Best friend.
Uh, smart mouth.
Uh--
But you like that.
I liked it though, you know.
Okay.
Little fire.
it's feisty.
Uh, things I don't like about her
you know, I hate being accused...
What's you don't like?
...of certain things.
All right, so why
do you have a basis to accuse this man who seems to love and adore you?
So, about two weeks ago,
Uh, we were just, you know, chilling, having date night. The kids were gone,
he receives this phone call and messages
and he jumps up, you have the wrong number.
Nobody had said anything.
So, I'm seeing him like, hmmm,
who's that? (MUMBLING) I got the wrong number.
Okay. He
I went and called the number back. They picked up,
and they were mouthing...
And blowing kisses and stuff like that, so...
Then she noticed, you know, 'cause I was in a dark lighting.
Then she saw it was me, hung up.
You were looking at the--
Yeah. It was a video chat.
ALL: Oh!
Okay, your honor, wasn't that.
That's not me, you know. That wasn't for me. That was for my brother.
(INDISTINCT) everybody's lying.
Which, your honor,
which, your honor,
it was for my brother.
There was no cover up from both of them.
(STAMMERING) Okay. Cover up? Fast?
So is this the only time your brother had a video chat on your phone?
Yes.
Oh, it's the only time?
All right. Is that your understanding that that's the only time--
No. I have call outs and I have brought those for the4 court today.
Okay. Ron, would you please get those?
Thank you, ma'am.
And Miss Ellison, could you please step to the monitor
and describe what we're looking at please.
Okay, as you can see, on March tenth,
at 9:55 p.m.,
there was a call, they can't say call , lasted on the phone for 29 seconds.
And today, it was three minutes and 41 seconds.
Then Trent called them for 53 seconds.
Then he called them, they didn't answer. It was a missed call
at 11:17 p.m.
Okay then, he missed the video chat at 1:18.
And then they called right back at 1:19.
Then, he called them back. And they were on there for 47 seconds.
Uh, as you can see, they're kinda trying to keep it short.
DANA: Very.
Very short.
Um, then he called them twice
back to back at the same time.
Okay, Mr. Johnson,
why are you calling this person back and forth and having these short chats?
She's sitting in the room with me. I was outside,
calls back with a video chat,
in her hand saying why are you video chatting this girl?
I said, you just left me, how can I be video chatting this girl, I'm saying
I mean, you're having a conversation, you know I'm saying,
the whole night, the whole time.
So, is your testimony that
that's not you who's doing the video chat.
That's right.
You responded.
That's right. Yes, Your Honor.
So, Miss Ellison, what else did you do to investigate?
Well, as you can see, I called her back,
she said, she said this. Your husband calls me all the time.
Your husband called me that night.
This ain't accurate, Your Honor.
Then why would she lie and tell your husband?
This ain't accurate, Your Honor.
Okay, wait, wait, wait. What did you say to him after you had this conversation?
ELLISON: What is this? What's going on?
Oh, that was, that was my brother.
Why, I mean, why would she lie on you?
Okay, you can step back to your podium. Thank you.
Okay. Can I speak?
All right, Mr. Johnson, did you ever call her?
No, I did not.
You've never had contact with her?
I've never had contact with her, your honor.
Look. I mean, look at the monitor.
"Your husband calls me all the time."
Yes, Your Honor.
"He called that night."
So, she's referencing that particular night,
where your wife answered the phone.
TRENT: Okay.
DANA: Exactly.
Okay.
So, she's rephrasing that particular night and is saying
"Your husband called me that night and he calls me all the time."
I never called nobody.
TRENT: I never called--
Did you know who this woman was?
Oh, come to find out. That's why she hung up.
It was our former neighbor. We had just moved.
AUDIENCE: (EXCLAIMING)
Me and him, we had a fight that night, you know, he left, he didn't come back.
So, I was worried, me and my friend we went looking for him, right in around.
So, that night, after this call,
you had a big fight. He leaves.
Mm-mm.
He's gone all night. And this is the next day you're looking for him?
Yeah.
And then your friend sees him, what happens?
They got full up on, you know, he himself got running.
He had a box of chicken.
He had a box of chicken and threw it down, like why would you spend your money
and just throw you food when you ain't doing anything guilty.
And, you know, so I went down to the other street,
you know, I kind of blocked me in and I'm like, wassup?
Wait, wait, wait. You did a Starsky and Hutch...
Yes.
DANA: All right. All right.
He know I'm not--
I'm like, where've you been?
I be with no woman. I be with no woman.
I have not said that. I asked you where have you been?
That was the first thing he says so...
I mean you just thought it's just like a three-year old saying
I didn't eat the ice cream when if fell with a mouthful of ice cream, you know.
All right, go.
Okay, Your Honor. As I'm walking home, I see her.
And her car revs up.
So, yes. I proceed to take off running.
You see, Your Honor, you know.
I hopped the fence.
You know what I'm saying, which I dropped my box of chicken.
Aww.
She said, you betrayed no me.
I didn't say that.
I said no, you know.
I said, babe, I love you. I'm not cheating on you babe, you know.
So, where were you that night?
Right.
I mean, I was gone with some friends, you know.
Just out in those parties, you know.
Male friends or female friends?
Male, you know.
No females involved.
Well, you know...
my friends have female friends but I wasn't with anyone
You're the only one without a female.
So there were females there?
Yes, there were.
But there was no female associated with you.
That's right.
That's what you're telling her.
That's right, Your Honor.
That was hard to believe it.
Okay, why didn't you tell her I'm out?
Me and her just had dispute, you know.
I was really kind of mad about it, so I just left.
You call back and say, "Okay, I'm cooling out with my fellows."
You don't let her stay up all night worrying. That wasn't very considerate.
TRENT: Well, yes--
They just had an argument.
We just had an argument.
You know, I'm not wrapped too tight.
When you get into argument, people leave, you cool off.
You don't call someone to say, "Hey, I'm cooling off."
You just cool off. That's not realistic.
TRENT: That's all.
Mr. Cutler...
ELLISON: Right.
...let me just be very clear.
Be clear and realistic.
If you and me have a cooling off period and you stay out all night,
and you don't call me, there's gonna be real problems.
Well...
Okay, first of all, don't do anything to make me leave.
But that's the first thing.
And secondly, if I'm cooling off,
the last thing I wanna do is engage you,
because I might say something that I don't wanna say.
DANA: I understand. I think you're right. I think you're right.
But you have to come back with a box of chicken.
All right. Yeah.
I'll come back with a box of chicken.
All right.
I didn't eat the ice cream with a mouthful of ice cream, you know.
If you found out he's cheating, then you're done.
If he's cheating on me, I'm gonna, today's the end. I'm tired of it.
I'm just too sick and tired.
Well, hold off one second.
Your Honor, I love my wife. You know, and
I'm not cheating on her, Your Honor.
Or you know, certain things that I do, you know what I'm saying...
is because of certain things that she do, you know,
whatever I say is wrong, you know,
uh, that's why I'm really hurt, you know what I'm saying,
we have a family, you know, we've been together seven years. you know,
have two kids, you know
I just wanna make everything all right.
KEITH: All right. Well,
you think there's something going on, he's using his phone to cheat.
Yes.
We brought in cyber security expert, Mr. Gregory Evans, to do
a full forensic examination of Mr. Johnson's phone.
Uh, Ron, would you please escort Mr. Evans to the court?
Yes, Your Honor.
How are you?
I'm fine. Yourself?
Good. Now, you've done a full forensic investigation of
Mr. Johnson's phone, is that correct?
Yes, I did.
All right. What did you uncover?
Well, the first thing I uncovered
was I went through his phone, it was looking kinda clean.
But then I noticed he had a drop box on there. All right.
And in his Dropbox, only thing that was in there was a video.
All right. This is that video.
So, when was this video put in there?
That was approximately eight weeks ago, at 1:51 a.m.
ALL: (EXCLAIMING)
KEITH: Okay.
DANA: Wow.
KEITH: This video
shows a woman appears to be twerking.
At a very close-up video of her derriere.
ELLISON: Good.
DANA: I mean, real close.
Who was this?
A real close-up picture of her derriere.
Could you identify who that woman was?
No, I could not. No, I could not.
All right, Mr. Johnson.
I can explain that.
All right. Let's hear it.
So, Mr. Johnson, what do you say?
That's the same time as the call was.
That's my wife, Your Honor, you know, she sent it to me.
No.
Did you send the twerking video that he has?
Yes, she did.
I mean, I'm not mad at you if you did.
I mean, I have. But that wasn't me.
Yes, she did, Your Honor.
Okay. So, you have sent twerking videos to your husband before?
That's her. That's her definitely.
But you're telling the court that that's not you in the video.
Yes, it is.
That's around the same time as the call, though.
It's definitely her.
Okay, here's the thing.
I know my own twerking.
TRENT: That's right.
ELLISON: Okay.
And I know my own behind.
TRENT: That's right, Your Honor.
If your wife is saying it's not hers,
I got to believe it's not her.
It's her.
I know my own derriere too.
It's her.
So, Mr. Evans, did you find anything else?
Oh, yes, I did.
I brought in these four photos here.
All righty. This is a photo of a woman,
nude from the waist up,
and this is definitely not your wife.
This is a photo of a woman in the bathroom nude,
a side, back pose.
And then we have two pictures of a woman's privates.
Very close up.
Very close up.
Very close up.
Can you expla--
That was your brother's too?
And when were these recovered?
They range from April to June.
That they were see, received?
On to the phone.
Around the time of those calls.
All right, so, Mr. Johnson, do you know these women?
These?
Yes, I do.
DANA: Okay. How do you know--
How many different women are there?
You say only one.
It's one woman?
Yes.
Okay:
TRENT: It's my wife.
That is not...
Which is my wife.
Okay.
Would you hand these to Miss Ellison?
Yes, ma'am.
Are these yours?
Is that you in those photos?
No, no.
Yes, it is, Your Honor.
No.
Thank you.
I paid for these nails.
Not mine. Not on my hand.
All right. Mr. Johnson, who is the woman in those photographs?
It's my wife.
Okay, Mr. Johnson, this is your opportunity. And let me tell you this.
It is better for you to tell your story than one of our experts.
That's right.
So, I'm gonna say it to you, and ask you one more time.
Do you have something you need to tell your bride
and literally your bride 'cause y'all been married for about a few months.
No, ma'am, Your Honor.
(SIGHING AFFIRMATIVELY)
The good news is, we ordered a polygraph examination for Mr. Johnson.
Ron, would you please escort
into the court room Mr. Kendall Shull of Kendall Investigation?
(CROWD CLAPPING)
(CROWD CLAPPING)
(CLEARING THROAT)
You conducted a polygraph examination o f Mr. Johnson?
I did.
Mr. Shull, you asked Mr. Johnson
from 2016 up until now.
Did you have sexual intercourse with your former neighbor?
What was his response?
SHULL: He said no.
What did the lie detector determine?
The lie detector determined he was deceptive.
ELLISON: Mmm.
Mr. Johnson,
the truth is gonna set you free, one way or the other.
Ms. Johnson, you've got your hands on your hip.
I'm trying to keep them from going with...
AUDIENCE: (EXCLAIMING)
Mr. Johnson, indicates you've been deceptive with that response.
Mr. Johnson, what do you wanna say to your wife?
I want to say my wife I love her.
Let me be loved.
Uh, I just want to work things that will settle my family.
How can you work things out when you aren't being truthful?
You're being deceptive.
I'm being truthful.
How can you stand there and say you haven't done anything.
Well, Your Honor, you know,
ELLISON: (EXHALES)
I say, I did see someone else, sir.
Did, you know, mingle with other people, or you know,
talk to someone else, sir, you know.
All right. You used the word see somebody else, mingle, talk to someone.
What about the sexual intercourse?
Well, yes, sir. You know, I did have sexual intercourse with someone.
Okay, so, you saw, you mingled, you talked,
and you had sexual intercourse with someone.
Yes, sir.
I'm betrayed.
I do want to tell my wife that you know, I love you.
And I apologize for those things.
And it won't happen again.
I know.
Miss Ellison, you should feel you're in a relationship that is trustworthy,
where you'll feel secure, where your heart is secure,
and I don't know if this is that place.
But I can't say to you that if you want to work it out,
we have resources to help you do that.
If you don't want to work it out, we have resources to help you
cope very effectively together.
Don't deny yourself an opportunity
to have a happy, healthy relationship.
Court is adjourned.
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