Cleveland Kidnapper Castro's Sentencing

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

"life without parole plus an additional 1,000 years"

A former school bus driver being sentenced Thursday for kidnapping three women and subjecting them to years of sexual and physical abuse left behind a letter that said "I'm a sexual predator," an FBI agent testified.

Prosecutors detailed Ariel Castro's assaults and law enforcement witnesses described the jury-rigged prison he built in his ramshackle home. With the possibility of the death penalty for a forced miscarriage taken off the table, Castro stands to get life in prison plus 1,000 years.

FBI agent Andrew Burke said Castro turned his house into a prison by creating a makeshift alarm system and chaining them inside bolted bedrooms.

Bedroom windows were boarded shut from the inside with heavy closet doors and doorknobs had been removed and replaced with multiple locks, he said. The house was divided in ways to make it more secure and to hide the existence of rooms, he said.

Burke also testified that Castro would occasionally pay his victims after raping them. But he then would require them to pay him if they wanted something special from the store.

A police officer who helped rescue the women said one was reluctant to come out of her room even when she saw the officers. They were scared even after they were taken out of the house and quickly began sharing details about the horrors they went through, saying that they had been starved and beaten.

Responding to questions from prosecutors, Cleveland police detective Andrew Harasimchuk said that the women all described a pattern of being physically, sexually and emotionally assaulted for years. He said all three women were abducted after Castro offered them a ride and that each was chained in his basement and sexually assaulted within a few hours of being kidnapped.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday that Castro, who fed his captives only one meal a day, "admits his disgusting and inhuman conduct" but "remains remorseless for his actions."

The memorandum described a diary kept by one of the women.
                        "The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war ... of being treated like an animal," it says.

The sentencing could take up to four hours, court officials said, with Castro, his attorneys, his victims and prosecution witnesses getting a chance to speak. The legal team representing the women's interests declined to comment on whether they would testify or send statements to the court.

Prosecutors used a model of the house where Castro, 53, imprisoned the women to present their case. They also showed photos taken from inside the disheveled home.

The women quickly escaped after Amanda Berry kicked out the door panel on May 6 and Castro was arrested within hours. The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

Some horrific details of the women's ordeal had already emerged, including tales of being chained to poles in the basement or a bedroom heater or inside a van, with one woman forced to wear a motorcycle helmet while chained in the basement and, after she tried to escape, having a vacuum cord wrapped around her neck.

Castro repeatedly starved and beat one of the victims each time she was pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times.

He forced the same woman on threat of death to safely deliver the child he fathered with another victim on Christmas Day 2006. The same day, prosecutors say, Castro raped the woman who helped deliver his daughter.

As part of his plea deal, Castro was to receive a sentence of life with no chance of parole for aggravated murder in the forced miscarriage. He would then receive 1,000 years for the kidnapping, rape, assault and other charges.

Sentenced to life without parole on charge - Castro argues with Judge about charges.  Ariel Casto to 10 years for each count of rape - sentencing still ongoing for remaining charges.  937 in all, including kidnapping, rape, assault and aggravated murder. 

See Video and Read More.... http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/crime/sentencing-set-in-cleveland-kidnap-rape-case/nY9h8/

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Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
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Call Us Now (310) 273-9600   
 http://www.jonathanfranklinlaw.com

Catherine Scorsese, Martin's Daughter Being Sued for Ruining the Success of "Campus Life"

Catherine Scorsese is being sued for ruining the success of "Campus Life" by, among other things, saying bad things to her father about the film's other producers.

Of all the strange ways to get sued, bad-mouthing your work colleagues to your father has got to be up there. Then again, if you're working in the film industry and your father is Martin Scorsese, these things can happen.

In late April, Catherine Scorsese filed a lawsuit that drew widespread notice thanks to her famous last name. In New York federal court, she alleged that she had provided co-producing and co-directing services on a movie entitled Campus Life. She says the defendant -- Jumpview Entertainment -- fraudulently promised her 25 percent of the company's profits and then backed away from an oral agreement, even after she had arranged for her father and actor Ray Liotta to play small parts in the film.

The other side gathered little attention.

Jumpview filed its own lawsuit against Ms. Scorsese in a Pennsylvania county court. The film company slammed her for all sorts of allegedly erratic behavior during the production of Campus Life and threw in some curious legal claims. For instance, getting her daddy to not promote the film allegedly equates to tortious interference. And telling her father that she was deprived of profits allegedly rises to defamation.

Now, both sides are jockeying for position in the lawsuits.

Scorsese is being represented by the same firm -- Lavely & Singer -- that handles her father's litigation. Her complaint against Jumpview starts off with a trademark Martin Singer flourish:

                              "If you want to do business with people who commit fraud, then Defendants are the perfect business partners for you. Similarly, if you want to render valuable services for free despite being promised that you would receive fair compensation, then you should render those services for Defendants. And if you have ever dreamed of working with people who will do anything to benefit themselves at your expense, than Defendants are your dream come true."

Jumpview and its co-founders Michael Simon and Kenneth Waddell have their own nasty characterization of what occurred and may have even topped what Singer's firm had to say. Their attorneys say they originally filed the lawsuit in last February. In June, after the case was removed to a federal court, an amended complaint was filed.

Read Complaint Here... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/custom/Documents/ESQ/catherinescorsese.pdf

Waddell admits offering the younger Scorsese -- the two met at New York Film School -- a role as a producer for Campus Life and representing that she'd receive a percentage of profits on the film. But Jumpview also asserts all sorts of alleged promises that Scorsese made on her end but didn't deliver. For example, she offered free studio space, according to an amended complaint filed in mid-June, as well as a free stunt coordinator, free grip and lighting equipment and a free  Liotta. These things weren't free. Liotta, for example, charged $500 a day.

The lawsuit against Scorsese follows with more instances of how she allegedly forced the production to incur expenses and how her "behavior became increasingly erratic and threatening as she felt her contributions were not being appreciated."

Read More.... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/martin-scorsese-plays-odd-role-581781

Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
Open Evenings and Weekends this Summer
Call Us Now (310) 273-9600   
 http://www.jonathanfranklinlaw.com