Saturday April 9, 2022 - Approximately 9am.
My plane is rumbling down the runway of LAX headed cross country to Washington DC. The journey that lies ahead can only be described as the adventure of a lifetime.
I land in DC around 4pm local time, hop in my rental car and head to check into my Air BnB apartment that will become ground zero for me over the next 6 weeks. After settling in, I’m off to dinner with three lovely ladies I’ve come to know through the war that has been waging for innocence online. Milena, Brooke, and Laura B. We meet up at The Auld Shebeen, a pub in the middle of Fairfax very near to the courthouse that will soon become our stomping ground.
Meeting people in real life that you’ve been speaking to across the world for 6 years is a bit surreal. Even though Laura and I had done a podcast series we had never met in person. Being able to finally sit down, have a drink, talk, and laugh with each other brings things into an entirely new perspective. Brooke and Milena flew all the way from London to be here and, as I would soon learn, there would be many others coming from all across the country and world to show their support.
Sunday comes and goes as a day of rest and unpacking. On Monday morning I wake up naturally around 6am thanks to some jet lag. As I’m scrolling Twitter I come across a tweet from Nick Wallis. He’s begun reporting from outside the courthouse where jury selection is to take place and there are a handful of supporters standing by, waiting to get in for the day’s activity.
As I’m looking through his tweets a large feeling of FOMO comes over me. We had not planned to attend this day, as it was just procedural, but I’m getting antsy to go to the courthouse to get the lay of the land. I send off a quick message to the group text with the ladies to see if anyone is up and wants to venture over. Laura responds so I quickly get dressed and head to pick her up. There is no problem getting inside today. Wristbands are plentiful and we head up to the 5th floor to get acquainted with the two courtrooms, 5J and 5D, that will unravel this horrible tale of lies and violence over the coming weeks.
Walking the hallways we meet plenty of other familiar names and faces from Twitter; Nick Wallis, Bekka, Izze, Teresa, to name a few. Seeing everyone converge on this town for this enormous moment is quite a sight to behold. We’re eventually told today’s attendees will all be sitting in courtroom 5D. This will later be used as an overflow room and 5J will be the main room where the proceedings take place. Courtroom 5D holds 50 people and we settle in to watch the jury selection on a number of TVs hung around the room.
It’s certainly a process, with over 80 people having been selected as potential jurors to choose from. One by one they are vetted through a number of questions ranging from the familiarity with the parties, to their knowledge about the UK case, and any connections or personal experience to the subject matter in the trial. Shortly after lunch we decide we’ve had enough for the day and decide to get some rest before heading to see Doug Stanhope that evening.
Just after 3pm word comes that the jury has been seated and the trial will officially begin the following day. Nerves and excitement definitely set in but we’ve come here to go through the rapids and through them we shall go.
Doug’s show is a great jumping off point to get things started. He only spends a few minutes joking about Johnny and the trial then launches into his regular routine which is, of course, hysterical. In the middle of the set Brian finally arrives from the airport and I run out to greet him and get him acquainted with our crew. When a plan comes together it really comes together. This was certainly months if not years in the making. Planning, reserving, flawlessly executing in concert with people from all over the planet to meet in one town, in the middle of Virginia, and write the ending to a story started six years prior.
The next day was the first of many that would find us sitting outside in the chilly wee hours with mega pints of coffee. Immediately we were approached by a number of reporters asking why we were there and if we would go on the record with them. All were politely turned away. From 4-7am we would wait outside until the sheriffs set up their table to hand out wristbands. As the trial went on the arrival time would get earlier and earlier.
Once inside everyone would head straight the 5th floor to claim another spot in line to enter the courtroom at 9:45am. I became very adept at sleeping on the floor and had my favorite building column to lie against. The first three weeks went by with relatively few problems or crowd issues. As time went on there would be more rules implemented though. People started trying to sell wristbands, so we had to show ID and it would be connected to our wristband number. Marks were made on them that would show if they had been broken and replaced.
The turning point of the trial, crowd wise, would happen when Amber began her time on the stand. The whole event had exploded on the internet and as more people came it became personally too burdensome for me to attempt getting in. I had already gotten sick once and I knew that standing outside from midnight on would likely result in another cold and a general demeanor of grouch.
Things are not always perfect. Unfortunately Brooke would be escorted out on day 3 of the trial for a previously deleted tweet. Gina Deuters would be dismissed from the stand for what can only be called fuckery from the opposing side. Justice would be served with a certain person winding up banned by court order. I wound up missing two days of Johnny’s testimony due to said cold. These things all add to the adventure though. If everything always went exactly as you wanted there would be no wonder or surprise to be had. One random phone call to spend a day at a friend’s house would change the course of the whole back half of the trip in incredible ways.
Over the weeks, two very different storylines unfolded simultaneously. One would be the trial itself, what everyone across the world would wind up watching on their TVs and computers as evidence and witnesses were paraded forward. The other would be of friendships made and strengthened through this process. The fun and magic that would happen behind the scenes. The amazing people and places that would be met and visited. Bonds that are now solidified into friendships for a lifetime.
Even a day that may have seemed difficult on screen would wind up in fits of hysterical laughter after hours. When I said I had never laughed so hard in my entire life as I had on this trip with the one known as “That Brian Fella”, it was no exaggeration. All the inside jokes and “you had to be there” moments that were born on this journey will be referenced into eternity.
All the nights that Laura spent outside the courthouse from 1am on to make sure correct information was coming forward from the courtroom. The exile and return of Izze, who was dismissed from court for an errant tweet and fought her way back to attend again. Bekka, the local support, who doled out restaurant recommendations and friendliness to one and all. Teresa came all the way from Portugal twice, Jessy from Chicago for the last three days. The sheer volume of Dunkin’ Donuts consumed, freestyle raps while making eggs, dinners at the Cheesecake Factory, mornings that started at 3am, nights that ended at 3am. All of it perfectly and forever etched into my memory as both the end of one story and beginning of another.
And the best part of all is that it ended last week with Justice for Johnny Depp.
Awwww, thanks for the insights! It was reassuring for me in Australia to know that you guys were on the ground. I knew that you would decimate any rubbish coming out and we had trusted feet in the courtroom.
This is a better story than most screenplays I've read!