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11-08-2006, 10:06 AM
'Cheaters' assault trial begins
By DEANNA BOYD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH -- It's reality television meets Law & Order.
On one side, prosecutors outlined accusations of assault, unlawful restraint and hindering apprehension against four employees of Cheaters, a Dallas-based reality show aimed at exposing infidelity.
They say crew members went too far when they and Rafael Gutierrez confronted Gutierrez's wife outside an Arlington fitness center about videotape that indicated she was having an affair with Duane Paul, then a Fort Worth police captain.
"When the crew swoops in, you're going to see that Rafael Gutierrez is on the scene harassing Mrs. Gutierrez mercilessly. You're going to see these men are directing the action," prosecutor Sean Colston, who is trying the case with JoAnn Pearce, told jurors on the first day of testimony Tuesday.
Defense attorneys labeled the criminal charges "ridiculous" and "fiction."
"I suggest to you this is some plot on her part to sue Cheaters," said defense attorney Douglas Mulder, who represents the show's host, Joey Greco. "I think evidence will also show this is a ploy on the part of the prosecutors to get the focus off this police captain."
The employees -- Greco, director Hunter Carson and contract security guards Thomas Gibbons and Walter Woods -- are on trial together this week in County Criminal Court 2. The defendants, each represented by a different defense attorney, are accused of unlawful restraint and of being a party to an assault on Maria Gutierrez when Woods hit her in the leg with his leg while trying to restrain her.
In addition, Greco and Carson are accused of hindering apprehension by helping Rafael Gutierrez leave the scene before police arrived, despite learning that there was a restraining order against him. All the charges are Class A misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Maria Gutierrez told jurors that she and her husband were separated and that she had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against him after he assaulted her in February 2005. She said she was frightened on the afternoon of May 4, 2005, when he and the television crew swarmed her outside her workplace, Ballys Total Fitness Club in Arlington, as she talked on the phone to a Grand Prairie investigator about her husband's harassment.
"I tried to move in any direction, in every direction, but I couldn't go because they made a circle around me," Maria Gutierrez testified.
She said she tried to escape back into Ballys but was blocked by a security guard. On her second try, she said, Woods struck her leg with his leg.
Jurors were shown a DVD of the encounter taken from several camera angles. The footage shows Rafael Gutierrez hovering over his wife, speaking in Spanish and English, saying, "Your lies are over" and "We've got you on tape" and urging her to speak. Maria Gutierrez calls her husband and later Greco "stupid" in Spanish as she attempts to scream into the phone that she needs police and gives her location to the police investigator.
With each effort to get away, Maria Gutierrez is closely followed by Rafael Gutierrez and the television crew. She sometimes tries to shrug her husband away and shouts at him: "Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"
On the DVD, Greco tells Rafael Gutierrez in a calm voice to give Maria Gutierrez some room and tells the crew not to touch her. But elsewhere on the DVD, a man shouts, "Don't let her go inside!" Maria Gutierrez identified the speaker as Greco.
In their opening arguments and cross-examination of Maria Gutierrez, defense attorneys pointed out that her injuries weren't documented until the day after the confrontation, when she met with Grand Prairie investigators.
"I know she didn't have those injuries when Arlington police came out there and investigated this case initially," Douglas Mulder told jurors.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that Maria Gutierrez gave conflicting statements, telling Grand Prairie investigators May 5 that she had been injured by the crew members and then, the following day, telling staff members at John Peter Smith Hospital that her husband had caused the injuries with his fist. Defense attorney Jill Davis, who represents Carson, suggested that Paul, the police captain, told Maria Gutierrez what to tell the hospital staff, an assertion that Gutierrez denied.
Other defense attorneys include Chris Mulder, representing Woods, and Robert Jenkins, representing Gibbons.
Rosa Caldwell, Maria Gutierrez's supervisor at Ballys, testified that she was at the fitness center's front desk when she saw several people swarming in front of the business. She said she tried to go outside to see what was going on but could not get out because security guards, including Woods, blocked the door. She said the guards also impeded Maria Gutierrez's attempts to go in.
Caldwell said Maria Gutierrez walked away from the door followed by the crew, and Caldwell was able to walk outside and ask Woods what was going on. She testified that she informed Woods that Maria Gutierrez had a protective order against her husband. She said that the security guard told other members of the crew and that they left soon after.
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Deanna Boyd, 817-390-7655 dboyd@star-telegram.com
By DEANNA BOYD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH -- It's reality television meets Law & Order.
On one side, prosecutors outlined accusations of assault, unlawful restraint and hindering apprehension against four employees of Cheaters, a Dallas-based reality show aimed at exposing infidelity.
They say crew members went too far when they and Rafael Gutierrez confronted Gutierrez's wife outside an Arlington fitness center about videotape that indicated she was having an affair with Duane Paul, then a Fort Worth police captain.
"When the crew swoops in, you're going to see that Rafael Gutierrez is on the scene harassing Mrs. Gutierrez mercilessly. You're going to see these men are directing the action," prosecutor Sean Colston, who is trying the case with JoAnn Pearce, told jurors on the first day of testimony Tuesday.
Defense attorneys labeled the criminal charges "ridiculous" and "fiction."
"I suggest to you this is some plot on her part to sue Cheaters," said defense attorney Douglas Mulder, who represents the show's host, Joey Greco. "I think evidence will also show this is a ploy on the part of the prosecutors to get the focus off this police captain."
The employees -- Greco, director Hunter Carson and contract security guards Thomas Gibbons and Walter Woods -- are on trial together this week in County Criminal Court 2. The defendants, each represented by a different defense attorney, are accused of unlawful restraint and of being a party to an assault on Maria Gutierrez when Woods hit her in the leg with his leg while trying to restrain her.
In addition, Greco and Carson are accused of hindering apprehension by helping Rafael Gutierrez leave the scene before police arrived, despite learning that there was a restraining order against him. All the charges are Class A misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Maria Gutierrez told jurors that she and her husband were separated and that she had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against him after he assaulted her in February 2005. She said she was frightened on the afternoon of May 4, 2005, when he and the television crew swarmed her outside her workplace, Ballys Total Fitness Club in Arlington, as she talked on the phone to a Grand Prairie investigator about her husband's harassment.
"I tried to move in any direction, in every direction, but I couldn't go because they made a circle around me," Maria Gutierrez testified.
She said she tried to escape back into Ballys but was blocked by a security guard. On her second try, she said, Woods struck her leg with his leg.
Jurors were shown a DVD of the encounter taken from several camera angles. The footage shows Rafael Gutierrez hovering over his wife, speaking in Spanish and English, saying, "Your lies are over" and "We've got you on tape" and urging her to speak. Maria Gutierrez calls her husband and later Greco "stupid" in Spanish as she attempts to scream into the phone that she needs police and gives her location to the police investigator.
With each effort to get away, Maria Gutierrez is closely followed by Rafael Gutierrez and the television crew. She sometimes tries to shrug her husband away and shouts at him: "Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"
On the DVD, Greco tells Rafael Gutierrez in a calm voice to give Maria Gutierrez some room and tells the crew not to touch her. But elsewhere on the DVD, a man shouts, "Don't let her go inside!" Maria Gutierrez identified the speaker as Greco.
In their opening arguments and cross-examination of Maria Gutierrez, defense attorneys pointed out that her injuries weren't documented until the day after the confrontation, when she met with Grand Prairie investigators.
"I know she didn't have those injuries when Arlington police came out there and investigated this case initially," Douglas Mulder told jurors.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that Maria Gutierrez gave conflicting statements, telling Grand Prairie investigators May 5 that she had been injured by the crew members and then, the following day, telling staff members at John Peter Smith Hospital that her husband had caused the injuries with his fist. Defense attorney Jill Davis, who represents Carson, suggested that Paul, the police captain, told Maria Gutierrez what to tell the hospital staff, an assertion that Gutierrez denied.
Other defense attorneys include Chris Mulder, representing Woods, and Robert Jenkins, representing Gibbons.
Rosa Caldwell, Maria Gutierrez's supervisor at Ballys, testified that she was at the fitness center's front desk when she saw several people swarming in front of the business. She said she tried to go outside to see what was going on but could not get out because security guards, including Woods, blocked the door. She said the guards also impeded Maria Gutierrez's attempts to go in.
Caldwell said Maria Gutierrez walked away from the door followed by the crew, and Caldwell was able to walk outside and ask Woods what was going on. She testified that she informed Woods that Maria Gutierrez had a protective order against her husband. She said that the security guard told other members of the crew and that they left soon after.
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Deanna Boyd, 817-390-7655 dboyd@star-telegram.com