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i remember that episode
Apparently, there's a criminal case pending against Greco, a producer and a security guard. Some others involved had charges dropped today.
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Posted on Thu, Nov. 09, 2006
Judge drops charges against three of four on 'Cheaters' crew
By DEANNA BOYD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH - Who says Cheaters never win?
On Wednesday, County Criminal Court Judge Mike Mitc agreed to toss out misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury against three of four crew members of the Cheaters reality show, finding that prosecutors' evidence against them was "legally and factually insufficient" to present to the jury.
The six jurors will still consider whether Joey Greco, the show's host, assistant director Hunter Carson and contract security guard Thomas Gibbons unlawfully restrained Maria Gutierrez during a confrontation with her estranged husband, which was set up and taped for the TV show last year outside an Arlington fitness club.
Mitc also denied defense attorneys' motions to toss out charges of hindering apprehension against Carson and Greco, who are accused of helping the husband, Rafael Gutierrez, leave the scene before police arrived after learning that Maria Gutierrez had taken out a protective order against her husband.
Prosecutors had argued that the three defendants were parties to an assault by Walter Woods, a contract security guard for Cheaters, who is accused of hitting Maria Gutierrez in the leg with his leg while attempting to restrain her.
Mitc disagreed and granted defense motions to throw out assault charges against the three defendants; however, he refused to dismiss the assault charge against Woods, who is also charged with unlawful restraint.
On May 4, 2005, Rafael Gutierrez and the Cheaters crew confronted Maria Gutierrez outside Bally Total Fitness at 2306 S. Collins St. in Arlington and demanded to know about trysts she had had with Duane Paul, then a Fort Worth police captain, in an Arlington park. An investigator working for Cheaters had videotaped the couple.
Bobby Goldstein, Cheaters executive producer and the last witness called by the state Wednesday, testified that he was not aware that Maria Gutierrez had filed for divorce or obtained a protective order against her husband until after the filmed confrontation. Such information "would have been helpful," he said.
But Goldstein said the divorce pe ion would not have affected the producers' decision to pursue the case because, he said, investigators had obtained evidence that Maria Gutierrez had given Rafael Gutierrez an "expectation of monogamy."
"Would you agree with this statement: 'Nothing says it's over like a protective order?' " prosecutor Sean Colston asked Goldstein.
"No, I wouldn't agree," Goldstein answered.
He later acknowledged that he would not have taken Rafael Gutierrez to his wife's workplace had he known about the protective order.
In his questioning, Colston suggested that the show had defamed Maria Gutierrez by misleading viewers about the status of her relationship with her husband. Goldstein denied defaming Maria Gutierrez, saying he felt the show presented her in a "fair light."
After being excused, Goldstein stepped down from the witness stand and bellowed, "God bless Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the judgment of this jury," eliciting confused looks and some laughter from jurors and people in the courtroom.
Colston read to jurors a portion of Walter Woods' grand jury testimony, in which Woods testified that he had been given instructions to keep everyone, including Maria Gutierrez, from entering the fitness club during the taping of the confrontation.
Jurors also saw behind-the-scenes footage of the incident. Among the scenes recorded by Cheaters cameramen immediately before and after the confrontation were shots showing that:
-- Private investigator Danny Gomez coached Rafael Gutierrez in what to say when confronting his wife, including asking her the name of a man she was talking to outside the club and whether it was Duane Paul. Gomez was the one who had videotaped Maria Gutierrez and Paul together earlier. Prosecutors contended during their questioning that the man outside the club was a Cheaters employee who was similar in appearance to Paul.
-- He was used by the show to mislead viewers into believing that Paul was present at the scene.
-- Greco and Carson discussed how to handle the newly discovered information that Maria Gutierrez had an emergency protective order against Rafael Gutierrez. After Carson said they couldn't undo what had been done and would have to work it into the show, Greco advised Rafael Gutierrez how to explain the protective order on camera.
-- During a follow-up interview in the van about the protective order, Greco said the crew left the scene because they were aware that police had been called and "we didn't want you to be there when the police arrived." Carson can be heard asking Greco whether Greco's remarks made it seem like the crew was "acting responsible." Jurors later saw the episode that aired on local TV. It never mentions the protective order.
-- After the confrontation and the crew and Rafael Gutierrez were driving away in a van, Greco, at Carson's request, restaged a phone call with the investigator in which he was told that Maria Gutierrez was outside the fitness club and was talking to a man who might or might not be Paul.
Defense attorneys began presenting their side Wednesday evening by calling Arlington police officer Michael Rodriguez, one of several officers who responded to the call from Bally. Rodriguez testified that he did not see any visible injuries on Maria Gutierrez.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor JoAnn Pearce, Rodriguez acknowledged that he never asked Gutierrez to pull up her sleeves or lower her pants to examine her for injuries and said it is not unusual for some injuries to show up later.
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'Cheaters' host takes stand
By DEANNA BOYD
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - The host of Cheaters, a Dallas-based reality TV show that exposes extramarital affairs, took the stand Thursday in his own defense, saying that he never ordered a crew member to prevent a woman from re-entering her workplace and never saw her struck by anyone.
Joey Greco testified that he was upset with the woman’s husband, Rafael Gutierrez, after learning in the middle of a filmed confrontation that Maria Gutierrez had a protective order against him.
The Cheaters crew immediately left the scene with Rafael Gutierrez, Greco testified. He wasn’t trying to help Rafael Gutierrez avoid arrest and did not know that police had been called to the scene, he said.
“We found out that he wasn’t supposed to be there,” Greco said. “I think we acted appropriately by getting him away from there.”
Four members of a Cheaters crew are on trial on misdemeanor charges stemming from the confrontation in May 2005 outside Bally Total Fitness in Arlington where Maria Gutierrez worked.
The crew had brought Rafael Gutierrez to the fitness club with the intention of confronting her about videotape shot by a private investigator that showed her with a Fort Worth police captain.
The defendants have testified that they did not know that Maria Gutierrez had filed for divorce and had obtained a protective order against her husband after accusing him of assault.
Greco and assistant director Hunter Carson are charged with unlawfully restraining Maria Gutierrez and with hindering police from apprehending Rafael Gutierrez. Contract security guard Thomas Gibbons is charged with unlawful restraint.
Walter Woods, another contract security guard, is accused of hitting Maria Gutierrez in the leg with his leg while attempting to restrain her. Woods is charged with assault causing bodily injury and unlawful restraint.
Prosecutor Sean Colston pointed out Thursday during his cross- examination of Greco that the host could be seen on videotape saying that the police had been called and that the crew left Bally so that Gutierrez would not be arrested.
Greco explained away those remarks as “better television.”
Greco was the last witness called by defense attorneys before they rested.
Both sides were giving final arguments late Thursday afternoon.
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From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
http://www.dfw.com
i remember that episode
Lying little prick Greco.
I hope they nail his ass.
Not the 1st episode he has violated other rights in pursuit of ratings.
So wait, she's complaining about getting kicked in the leg in the middle of a scuffle?Gimme a break.
Shes complaining about having a protective order against him and the Cheaters jackasses bringing him to her then attempting a coverup by helping him escape once they become aware of their screwup.So wait, she's complaining about getting kicked in the leg in the middle of a scuffle?
I hope Greco gets stabbed...................again.
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