It seems everyone has lost interest in this case (couldn't imagine why) but I thought I'd try my hand at a postmortem as Dick Masterson had Riley's lawyers
on a recent episode of his show starting at the 1:01:00 mark and going for roughly 40 minutes (with some Libertarian discussion and Dick's crassness weaved in between). Some highlights that hopefully fill in some of the blanks (I apologize if I screwed up the legal jargon). There are two really big points that I will highlight:
-Apparently Riley-who gave these attorney's permission to speak-was charged under some older version of a harassment law the defense felt didn't apply. The prosecution claimed he violated the harrassment statute by making threats of bodily injury to Eric July and a "mishmash" of two sections consisting of repeated online communications. The defense claims they should have focused on Internet/social media posts as opposed to an older statute regarding texts and e-mails.
-After the Bunny Money incident Rippa called the police (apparently there is a 911 call available to confirm this) to report trespass. Rippa met police at a gas station and they escorted him to the Rippaverse warehouse for a statement. The detective (Farias or whatever) calls Rippa back (also recorded) and seems to be unimpressed. Rippa explains that he did not take Riley's shoulder shaving threat seriously but has to consider the welfare of his employees. Rippa cannot name other specific threats Riley has made.
-A quick recap of Rekieta vs. Rippa, where it's mentioned that Riley went to the warehouse at night when no one was there/interacted with no one and that Rippa's "private bidness" was in the middle of a public space.
-Rippaverse Chief of Security Brandon stays in touch with the detective and basically sends him Riley's daily Twitter feed.
-A warrant is issued for stalking and later downgraded to harassment. As previously mentioned earlier in the thread (and backed up by the arrest footage) Riley is unaware of this warrant when he goes to the G&G meetup.
-On the day of the meetup the owners make it clear to all parties that, while Riley is not welcome in the venue he cannot be removed from the parking lot. Again, this is backed up by footage previously provided in the thread.
-Despite numerous claims by Eric July, Rippaverse employees and known associates of The Fandom Menace (Nerdrotic, Geeks & Gamers, Side Scrollers, etc.) that they were too busy to call the police Rippa's "rockstar" security team either told the police or told the bar owner to tell the police that there was a warrant out for Riley's arrest and that was the only reason he was removed from the meetup that night.
-This case came to the lawyers attention via the Libertarian Party, who claim Eric July is not a real Libertarian.
-Once on board the defense wrote a motion to quash, which was granted. They claim the judge only got through a portion of the motion before signing off.
-The state could have refiled or amended. In the defense's opinion the filings from the prosecution were "atrocious".
-Once the ruling to quash was made there was no case moving forward but the state continued to prepare for trial despite no charging document. The defense surmised that the state kept things going on the assumption that Riley would eventually take a plea deal.
-The prosecutor that wrote the response to the motion to quash was reassigned and no longer works at that office. The new DA's assigned to the case were rookies and it was surmised by the defense that this was their first trial.
-The defense was looking forward to a trial and were counting on a jury in a conservative district to laugh off a "mean Tweet" debate. They insist that Eric July-being the victim of a crime-would have to testify under the Texas Constitution and the Sixth Amendment. As proof that only stupid people believed Rippa didn't have to testify Vikkiverse is specifically mentioned.
-The lawyers say the only reason the trial date remained on the schedule for so long was because the judge forgot to take the date off the calendar. Despite this (and a motion to dismiss) the prosecution continued to file paperwork in preparation for a trial.
-For some odd reason the original video where Rippa told people to "
pull up" is no longer available and had to be provided by someone on Twitter who archived it.
-Also previously mentioned in the thread, the state subpoenaed Rippa and some of his employees.
Per the prosecution Eric July did not return the state's phone calls and could not be found at his warehouse (the address on the supoena) when an officer attempted to serve him. This is odd because Rippa insists that he is always working and too busy to do other things.
-Assuming that a "private bidness" is a real thing the Rippaverse warehouse is no longer private because the address is plastered all over these court documents.
-The defense claims Riley was prepared to go to jail but felt a guilty verdict was unlikely let alone jail time.
