WEBVTT 00:00.512 --> 00:06.698 [SPEAKER_07]: This series deals with troubling topics, including suicide, drug overdosing, and dependent adult abuse. 00:07.439 --> 00:17.089 [SPEAKER_07]: If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, call or text 9-8-8 right now and speak with a counselor for free. 00:18.310 --> 00:20.513 [SPEAKER_07]: Previously on the Quarterback in the Conarnist. 00:24.259 --> 00:33.442 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric Kramer calls the sheriff's office in November of 2016 and tells the tech of Linkshite to drop the criminal case against Courtney Beard. 00:33.722 --> 00:44.145 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure she cried on a shoulder and did her best song and dance and convinced him here again, manipulating him to make that funckel. 00:45.866 --> 00:49.347 [SPEAKER_01]: Which is consistent with my read on the whole case. 00:49.847 --> 00:52.248 [SPEAKER_01]: He's cognitively impaired. 00:53.146 --> 00:55.648 [SPEAKER_01]: So it didn't stop in usual at something like that would happen. 00:56.308 --> 01:04.393 [SPEAKER_01]: There was strong evidence to suggest that he, in fact, had been victimized that money had been stolen. 01:05.285 --> 01:07.766 [SPEAKER_01]: and that Corny was responsible for going. 01:08.366 --> 01:19.528 [SPEAKER_07]: But then suddenly, in December of 2016, Corny whisks Eric away to Santa Barbara and secretly marries him behind the backs of his friends and family. 01:20.288 --> 01:22.849 [SPEAKER_06]: Pretty much all they said was like, yep, that's what people do when they alope. 01:24.149 --> 01:29.130 [SPEAKER_06]: That's pretty much what the explanation we got back from your dad said that or a Corny said that or 01:29.410 --> 01:35.995 [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, my dad said it and then Courtney said it and my dad was just repeating what Courtney said and my dad obviously wasn't with it. 01:37.036 --> 01:45.402 [SPEAKER_07]: So to safeguard Eric's life, his friends and family get him into a conservatorship, but then in a crazy, unforeseen twist. 01:46.002 --> 02:00.797 [SPEAKER_07]: The conservatorship attorney appointed to protect Erick actually appears to Erick's family and friends to take Courtney's side, squarely putting her in the driver's seat of Erick's life from illegal standpoint. 02:01.217 --> 02:09.145 [SPEAKER_07]: At a time when Erick basically just does exactly what he's told by anyone, especially his new wife. 02:10.048 --> 02:18.712 [SPEAKER_03]: Eric actually went to an attorney to sue me to sue you to sue me for what accessing his account. 02:18.752 --> 02:20.633 [SPEAKER_07]: So making you look like the criminal. 02:24.214 --> 02:31.117 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm Jonathan Walton and this is the quarterback and the con artist episode eight. 02:32.658 --> 02:34.599 [SPEAKER_07]: She was trying her darnedest. 02:45.357 --> 02:52.021 [SPEAKER_04]: So, I went, I visited the hospital, pretty regularly, trying to go every day. 02:52.982 --> 03:02.327 [SPEAKER_07]: Erick's aunt, Patrice Cameron, his mother's sister, has been there from the very beginning of Erick's years-long, arduous recovery. 03:03.007 --> 03:12.113 [SPEAKER_07]: Those first few weeks after the gunshot wound were really rough, and it looked like Erick would never be the same again, mentally and physically. 03:12.633 --> 03:15.354 [SPEAKER_04]: So the skull was concaved. 03:15.594 --> 03:17.295 [SPEAKER_04]: He had to wear a helmet all the time. 03:17.815 --> 03:19.036 [SPEAKER_04]: He looked scary. 03:19.276 --> 03:21.657 [SPEAKER_04]: But he didn't even realize it. 03:21.897 --> 03:26.219 [SPEAKER_04]: He didn't know if how he looked, you know. 03:27.159 --> 03:31.181 [SPEAKER_04]: He couldn't talk because he had had so much damage in his mouth. 03:31.601 --> 03:34.203 [SPEAKER_04]: But we were trying to ascertain his... 03:35.163 --> 03:36.984 [SPEAKER_04]: brain capacity. 03:37.484 --> 03:49.691 [SPEAKER_04]: He couldn't walk yet or any of that, but he was, he was bedridden, but we gave him a book, a spiral notebook, and we would ask him questions, and we'd say, what's your son's name? 03:51.532 --> 03:52.392 [SPEAKER_04]: We'd write it down. 03:53.553 --> 03:55.694 [SPEAKER_04]: And different questions, how old are you? 03:55.774 --> 03:56.594 [SPEAKER_04]: When were you born? 03:56.614 --> 03:57.535 [SPEAKER_04]: Dutter, dutter, dutter, dutter. 03:59.648 --> 04:07.154 [SPEAKER_04]: So all of the stuff he was able to write down the right answers and we were like, oh my gosh, that's great. 04:07.934 --> 04:13.899 [SPEAKER_04]: So we were very encouraged that he wasn't going to be a vegetable maybe. 04:15.278 --> 04:21.280 [SPEAKER_07]: And as Eric starts to recover, Patrice is thrilled by his steady physical progress. 04:21.981 --> 04:33.625 [SPEAKER_07]: And then when Courtney suddenly reappears in Eric's life, six months after that gunshot wound to the head, Patrice, along with everyone else thinks this could actually be a good thing. 04:34.365 --> 04:40.348 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric now has someone living with him and caring for him around the clock, but then on a 04:45.612 --> 04:50.661 [SPEAKER_04]: She was keeping track of the credit card transactions. 04:51.613 --> 05:18.830 [SPEAKER_07]: and Anna sounds the alarm and gets Erick's ant patrice and everyone else in Erick's life to launch a counter-offensive in an attempt to expel Courtney Beard from Erick's home and from Erick's finances and from Erick's life by getting him into a conservatorship, but Courtney always seems to stay one step ahead of this Herkilian effort to oust her. 05:19.697 --> 05:20.838 [SPEAKER_07]: And what was your reaction? 05:20.858 --> 05:23.640 [SPEAKER_07]: What was your feeling when you heard Courtney married Eric? 05:26.102 --> 05:29.265 [SPEAKER_04]: I wasn't surprised because we were getting close. 05:29.885 --> 05:31.707 [SPEAKER_04]: And so she knew her days were numbered. 05:32.587 --> 05:35.850 [SPEAKER_04]: So what would be her next option to get married, right? 05:35.930 --> 05:42.635 [SPEAKER_04]: And she had somebody that would follow her and very easily influenced my fear was 05:46.332 --> 05:49.493 [SPEAKER_04]: that she was going to, she had a daughter. 05:50.073 --> 05:55.554 [SPEAKER_04]: My fear was that she was going to get Eric to agree to adopt the daughter. 05:56.554 --> 05:58.775 [SPEAKER_04]: That would complicate things even more. 05:59.715 --> 06:03.256 [SPEAKER_04]: So I was always thinking, what does she does this or what does she does that? 06:03.316 --> 06:04.936 [SPEAKER_04]: So the marriage was bad enough. 06:05.336 --> 06:13.658 [SPEAKER_04]: So we were kind of on pins and needles with this other thing, which she didn't do, but she didn't act like, 06:14.942 --> 06:18.003 [SPEAKER_04]: I just got married and everything's happy, right? 06:18.083 --> 06:20.203 [SPEAKER_04]: She didn't make any announcements to us. 06:20.963 --> 06:23.824 [SPEAKER_04]: Nobody knew about it and she didn't have anything. 06:23.904 --> 06:26.444 [SPEAKER_04]: She had no job, no insurance. 06:26.785 --> 06:32.426 [SPEAKER_04]: I was just a play to get into Eric's stuff. 06:32.626 --> 06:42.428 [SPEAKER_04]: And then she ends up, I think they went to the estate planner guy and she tried to get in on the wheel to try and her darndest. 06:43.285 --> 06:45.125 [SPEAKER_04]: to get to the big stuff, so. 06:45.726 --> 06:49.387 [SPEAKER_07]: And make no mistake, there's a lot of big stuff to get to. 06:51.007 --> 06:57.109 [SPEAKER_07]: Millions and millions of dollars in cash and assets, but it was protected. 06:57.649 --> 06:58.829 [SPEAKER_07]: Courtney couldn't touch it. 06:59.429 --> 07:05.811 [SPEAKER_07]: And since she had already depleted Eric's checking account, I'm sorry, man, that account is overdrawn. 07:06.840 --> 07:12.702 [SPEAKER_07]: The only way Courtney could buy things for herself and her daughter was with Eric's credit cards. 07:13.423 --> 07:28.629 [SPEAKER_07]: Because of the meticulous and very detailed financial arrangements Eric puts into place when he plans his suicide he established an iron-clad trust with all his assets to take care of his family in the event of his death. 07:28.989 --> 07:38.538 [SPEAKER_03]: While he was in the hospital and getting treatment, I was taking care of the male, sending it off to the trust, and making sure they'd paid the bills. 07:39.579 --> 07:40.180 [SPEAKER_07]: Anna Durgen. 07:40.620 --> 07:47.467 [SPEAKER_03]: But prior to them paying the bills, I would verify with his health insurance to make sure that they process the medical bills. 07:48.882 --> 07:51.604 [SPEAKER_03]: and then the copage, I would have the trust pay. 07:51.905 --> 07:54.907 [SPEAKER_07]: And this is the trust Eric set up before he shot himself. 07:55.088 --> 07:56.209 [SPEAKER_03]: What he expected to be dead. 07:56.349 --> 07:57.810 [SPEAKER_07]: He didn't even though he didn't die. 07:57.830 --> 07:59.972 [SPEAKER_07]: The trust still kind of kicks in and takes care of it. 07:59.992 --> 08:01.553 [SPEAKER_03]: Because he was incapacitated. 08:01.573 --> 08:04.836 [SPEAKER_03]: The doctor had written that Dr. Kernard written that he was incapacitated. 08:04.876 --> 08:09.060 [SPEAKER_03]: So therefore, that was the only way that the trust could take control over his finances. 08:12.763 --> 08:32.115 [SPEAKER_07]: So, when the conservatorship for Eric Cramer goes into effect in January of 2017, his ant patrice is in charge, and that saves Eric a fortune by not having to hire a professional fiduciary, which can cost tens of thousands even hundreds of thousands of dollars over time. 08:33.010 --> 08:41.134 [SPEAKER_04]: I think initially it was done in the right way and it did limit the theft to some degree. 08:41.495 --> 08:55.402 [SPEAKER_07]: But Courtney is legally and freshly, Eric's wife for about a month at this point, so she still has a powerful influence over him and he is still very much mentally incapacitated 09:02.446 --> 09:08.068 [SPEAKER_04]: Well it became emotional because I could see the spending. 09:08.528 --> 09:14.970 [SPEAKER_04]: I was trying to figure out a way to limit the spending without upsetting Eric too much. 09:16.291 --> 09:27.815 [SPEAKER_04]: I didn't want to put a limit so low that if he pulled out his credit card and it was denied and then he would be very upset and well and he'd come after me about it. 09:28.095 --> 09:28.315 [SPEAKER_04]: So, 09:30.379 --> 09:47.411 [SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, we ended up getting a professional conservator, but then when I stepped away, Eric was agitating and I don't know if it was him or it wasn't Courtney, but we kept hearing from his attorney, oh he wants a professional fiduciary, not his aunt. 09:49.059 --> 10:00.825 [SPEAKER_04]: Okay fine, but it cost him a lot of money to do that because those fiduciaries don't come cheap and then when they need some legal advice they get their attorney involved. 10:01.025 --> 10:02.425 [SPEAKER_04]: So you got paid for that too. 10:03.026 --> 10:08.828 [SPEAKER_04]: So he went from paying nobody to this this big payment now. 10:18.693 --> 10:22.987 [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you don't need to be conserved, and he was being influenced by Courtney. 10:27.968 --> 10:36.850 [SPEAKER_04]: And unfortunately, Eric, by this time, he looked pretty good, and he spoke well, and his head was fixed. 10:36.890 --> 10:44.372 [SPEAKER_04]: So he didn't have that dip in his skull, right, and he seemed to understand what was going on. 10:44.552 --> 10:49.333 [SPEAKER_04]: So, and the lawyer's perspective, why was he being conserved? 10:50.874 --> 10:55.035 [SPEAKER_04]: So he fought against the Conservancy and said he didn't need it. 10:57.085 --> 10:58.466 [SPEAKER_04]: he didn't talk to a doctor. 10:59.487 --> 11:05.392 [SPEAKER_04]: He just was influenced by this Courtney because she was very good at manipulating. 11:05.812 --> 11:08.995 [SPEAKER_04]: She's very nice looking and she says all the right things. 11:09.275 --> 11:12.278 [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that was the frustrating part of this whole thing. 11:15.000 --> 11:16.442 [SPEAKER_03]: Now you as your attorney. 11:17.242 --> 11:17.843 [SPEAKER_07]: On a Durkin. 11:18.415 --> 11:29.483 [SPEAKER_03]: instead of advocating and protecting Eric, who's the victim, who's incapacitated, who you have medical records, that states he can't understand what's theft is happening to him. 11:29.943 --> 11:32.185 [SPEAKER_03]: Courtney Barrett is taking advantage of him. 11:33.666 --> 11:34.807 [SPEAKER_03]: You're going to go advocate. 11:35.675 --> 11:36.416 [SPEAKER_07]: for Courtney Beard. 11:37.056 --> 11:41.100 [SPEAKER_07]: But didn't he have the Sheriff's investigation and the doctor's note? 11:41.420 --> 11:45.063 [SPEAKER_07]: Like, didn't he know she confessed to stealing, to Link's site? 11:45.163 --> 11:49.987 [SPEAKER_07]: Didn't he know that a doctor had said he is not of capacity to handle his own affairs? 11:50.007 --> 11:51.248 [SPEAKER_03]: He had that information. 11:52.229 --> 11:53.010 [SPEAKER_07]: And he ignored it. 11:55.732 --> 11:59.215 [SPEAKER_03]: He said that Eric was competent. 12:00.356 --> 12:01.978 [SPEAKER_07]: He, but that's not his job. 12:02.723 --> 12:08.527 [SPEAKER_03]: He said Eric was competent after receiving medical records, five days earlier that saying Eric isn't compensated. 12:09.328 --> 12:27.401 [SPEAKER_07]: And this new legal narrative, this idea that Eric is just fine and a conservator ship is unnecessary, plays out in a series of meetings and court hearings over the course of 2017 and 2018, and Anna Durgan is pissed and present for a couple of the big ones. 12:28.022 --> 12:29.323 [SPEAKER_03]: And I have the transcript here. 12:31.697 --> 12:44.186 [SPEAKER_03]: the court appointed attorney, we're saying that Eric was not under any undue influence, that in order to be unduelly influence, you have to be aware that you're being influenced. 12:46.868 --> 12:47.708 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm not kidding you. 12:47.868 --> 12:50.170 [SPEAKER_07]: Wow, that's like a literal catch 22. 12:50.490 --> 12:50.710 [SPEAKER_07]: Right. 12:51.771 --> 13:00.257 [SPEAKER_07]: But then, in another stunning development, Eric's conservatorship attorney not only appears to Eric's family to side with Con artist Courtney Beard, 13:01.839 --> 13:02.700 [SPEAKER_07]: order in the court. 13:03.700 --> 13:15.308 [SPEAKER_07]: But also appears to be going after them too, and Anna casting them as the scammers revealing in an email that he may pursue legal action against them. 13:16.209 --> 13:22.253 [SPEAKER_07]: Anna picks up a printout of that email that the conservatorship attorney sends to the lawyer representing Eric's family. 13:22.733 --> 13:26.996 [SPEAKER_07]: On January 11, 2017, keep in mind he refers to Eric 13:30.952 --> 13:53.037 [SPEAKER_03]: My client reserves the right to pursue legal remedies against anyone involved in identity theft, unauthorized access to his accounts, and now that he is under a personal conservatorship, anyone involved in putting him in this situation, all of which will constitute elder abuse. 13:54.310 --> 14:04.852 [SPEAKER_03]: And note that I'm not referring to the unauthorized withdrawals made by my client's wife, which are already under review by the district attorney. 14:05.432 --> 14:10.573 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm referring to actions by others such as your clients and their cohorts. 14:11.873 --> 14:14.134 [SPEAKER_03]: And you're the cohorts because I'm the one. 14:14.194 --> 14:20.295 [SPEAKER_03]: He had more issue with me monitoring his accounts. 14:22.032 --> 14:26.315 [SPEAKER_03]: then Courtney stealing for eight months on his account. 14:26.375 --> 14:28.237 [SPEAKER_07]: It just sounds like he was programmed by Courtney. 14:28.397 --> 14:29.738 [SPEAKER_03]: He was 1,000 percent progress. 14:29.878 --> 14:33.141 [SPEAKER_07]: Against you and against his aunt and against his sister. 14:34.162 --> 14:38.685 [SPEAKER_03]: When Haddy made one phone call to Linkshake, right? 14:38.885 --> 14:40.667 [SPEAKER_03]: He would have gotten the real story. 14:41.672 --> 14:43.652 [SPEAKER_03]: not the made up story by the con artist. 14:43.952 --> 14:49.554 [SPEAKER_07]: So at this point, it appears as if, not only is Courtney getting away, she's not gonna be charged. 14:49.894 --> 14:52.254 [SPEAKER_07]: Her marrying Eric was a genius move. 14:52.354 --> 14:52.814 [SPEAKER_07]: Absolutely. 14:52.834 --> 14:57.755 [SPEAKER_07]: But now she circling the wagons to come after you, his aunt and his sister. 14:58.415 --> 15:02.876 [SPEAKER_03]: Eric actually went to an attorney to sue me after that hearing. 15:03.476 --> 15:08.237 [SPEAKER_03]: At the advice of my understanding, the court appointed attorney and Courtney Barrett. 15:08.577 --> 15:09.298 [SPEAKER_03]: To sue you. 15:12.558 --> 15:13.678 [SPEAKER_03]: Accessing is a cow. 15:13.718 --> 15:15.779 [SPEAKER_07]: Oh, so making you look like the criminal. 15:16.559 --> 15:17.959 [SPEAKER_07]: God, she's bold. 15:19.019 --> 15:31.022 [SPEAKER_03]: The court appointed attorney was asking the court for 10 to 15 thousand dollars a month to pay for groceries and clothing. 15:31.762 --> 15:32.162 [SPEAKER_03]: Jesus. 15:33.082 --> 15:39.143 [SPEAKER_03]: Now who the hell has 10 to 15 thousand dollars a month on food and clothing? 15:43.225 --> 15:44.866 [SPEAKER_07]: But here's what makes no sense to me. 15:45.547 --> 15:55.935 [SPEAKER_07]: It's not like this conservatorship attorney doesn't know about Courtney's history of stealing from Eric and doesn't know about the criminal investigation that theft spawned. 15:57.296 --> 16:01.119 [SPEAKER_03]: Courtney wrote a 304 page history of her an Eric's relationship. 16:02.520 --> 16:12.228 [SPEAKER_03]: And in that document, she admits to the court appointed attorney that she was stealing money from Eric's account without his permission, without his knowledge, 16:13.603 --> 16:18.088 [SPEAKER_03]: but that they discussed it and that he was okay with it, but that she won't do it again. 16:19.409 --> 16:28.038 [SPEAKER_07]: And now, because she's Eric's wife in the eyes of that court appointed attorney, all the money she's taking isn't considered stealing. 16:28.639 --> 16:35.086 [SPEAKER_07]: And all the people in Eric's life, like his childhood friend Anna Durgan, are the one spruing Eric over. 16:37.278 --> 16:52.648 [SPEAKER_07]: Anna reads now from a transcript of one of these bizarre court appearances, it appears this conservatorship attorney is trying to deflect from court news actions of stealing from Eric, making Anna look like the scammer here, not Courtney. 16:53.388 --> 17:03.915 [SPEAKER_03]: So apparently this Anna Durgen or Durgen, I don't know how she does it, but she's able to access all of what's going on with my client, which is troubling. 17:04.758 --> 17:06.379 [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm not sure how she knows. 17:06.959 --> 17:10.562 [SPEAKER_03]: It's fair that if there's binabuse, that's correct. 17:10.742 --> 17:13.724 [SPEAKER_03]: But this constant monitoring is troubling. 17:14.784 --> 17:16.405 [SPEAKER_07]: I mean, that sounds like he is defending Courtney. 17:17.366 --> 17:18.987 [SPEAKER_03]: What he did defend Courtney. 17:19.567 --> 17:22.069 [SPEAKER_03]: He was asking for the $10,000 to $15,000 a month. 17:22.449 --> 17:24.090 [SPEAKER_03]: That's what she was stealing every month. 17:25.131 --> 17:27.012 [SPEAKER_03]: How did Eric get no of what he was spending? 17:28.258 --> 17:34.511 [SPEAKER_07]: but the ultimate slap in the face for justice comes when an email from Erick's conservatorship attorney 17:36.287 --> 17:41.229 [SPEAKER_07]: ends up persuading detective Linkshite to Edmonish on a Durgan. 17:41.829 --> 17:52.794 [SPEAKER_07]: He tells her to stop logging into Eric's bank accounts, which is how she figured out that Courtney was stealing from Eric in the first place and how she monitored that theft over months. 17:53.714 --> 17:55.595 [SPEAKER_03]: This is why I don't like attorneys. 17:56.395 --> 17:59.797 [SPEAKER_03]: They get in the way of doing the right thing to protect people. 18:03.736 --> 18:15.123 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm in my car now, contemplating this crazy legal system of ours that allows a conwoman complete control of a mentally incapacitated man's life. 18:16.104 --> 18:17.825 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm heading north on the one ten. 18:19.306 --> 18:30.473 [SPEAKER_07]: Out of downtown Los Angeles, to the suburb of La Canyada Flint Ridge, a sleepy part of Los Angeles County, chock full of tree-line streets and rolling hills. 18:34.263 --> 18:45.475 [SPEAKER_07]: I unpack all my recording equipment and set up at the dining room table of the woman on a jargon turns to for help. 18:46.571 --> 18:52.953 [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Lisa McCarley and I'm a probate and conservatorship attorney in Los Angeles County. 18:53.173 --> 18:54.814 [SPEAKER_00]: I work throughout Southern California. 18:54.854 --> 18:58.876 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll recognize my name in my face if you are following the free Brittany movement. 18:59.316 --> 19:04.998 [SPEAKER_00]: I was the attorney that helped unravel the scandalous conservatorship of Britney Spears. 19:05.712 --> 19:17.455 [SPEAKER_07]: Gosh, and that just went in and out forever, and it was a cause-dejure sort of that everyone got behind it appeared as if Brittany was being held against her well and had no control over her life or finances. 19:18.395 --> 19:29.578 [SPEAKER_07]: Pop icon Brittany Spears is famously put into a conservatorship against her well for years until a free Brittany movement erupts back in 2020. 19:32.454 --> 19:35.142 [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, you can start off with a ship pass out to go! 19:35.242 --> 19:35.924 [SPEAKER_05]: Hey, hey! 19:36.405 --> 19:36.907 [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, whoa! 19:42.360 --> 19:58.873 [SPEAKER_07]: across the country, thousands of protesters take to the streets, demanding the county of Los Angeles free Britney Spears from her conservatorship, and lawyers from all walks of life step in and step up and make it happen. 19:59.353 --> 20:03.737 [SPEAKER_07]: Lawyers like Lisa McCarley, so you help free Britney. 20:04.037 --> 20:10.562 [SPEAKER_00]: I certainly did the scandal of what happened to Britney Spears is actually a book that I'm working on right now. 20:11.023 --> 20:14.745 [SPEAKER_07]: Tiedled, alloyer for Britney, slated for release this year. 20:15.226 --> 20:25.694 [SPEAKER_00]: But Britney did not belong in the conservatorship, not for a day, and what the LA Crownee Pro-Bake Court did to her really should be reviewed by agencies. 20:26.074 --> 20:31.819 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm still going to pursue that even though technically Britney's conservatorship is over. 20:32.503 --> 20:36.847 [SPEAKER_07]: When Anna Durgan seeks out Lisa McCarley's help, years have gone by. 20:37.408 --> 20:43.013 [SPEAKER_07]: And Conardis Courtney Beard has stolen a fortune from Eric, and she's still getting away with it. 20:43.514 --> 20:56.687 [SPEAKER_00]: Anna Durgan explains that the family had discovered Eric had been exploited by a woman girlfriend turned wife, and she's asking me, we can't believe that it got worse. 20:57.167 --> 20:58.488 [SPEAKER_00]: when we went to probate court. 20:58.608 --> 21:01.891 [SPEAKER_00]: We had been robbed, he had been stolen from. 21:02.291 --> 21:11.919 [SPEAKER_00]: We had the documentation, we had a detective, we had the medical records, but the court appointed attorney sided with the bad lady, and she couldn't believe it. 21:12.040 --> 21:16.243 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had to sit there and say, yeah, it's pretty much what they do all the time. 21:16.884 --> 21:23.990 [SPEAKER_00]: Attorneys are not motivated to speak out about this broken system because the judges that we have to criticize 21:26.211 --> 21:28.173 [SPEAKER_00]: make decisions about compensation. 21:28.794 --> 21:31.457 [SPEAKER_07]: Have you ever heard of the phrase Chivalry Theory? 21:32.615 --> 21:33.716 [SPEAKER_00]: not shivered but go ahead. 21:34.216 --> 21:56.034 [SPEAKER_07]: It was coined back in the 1950s by the sociologist who said law enforcement, the law, and the actors in the law, judges, police officers, lawyers, are predisposed to act in a chivalrous manner toward women because they're viewed as, you know, classically the weaker sex, so they need protecting or they should be believed or the damsel and distress. 21:56.074 --> 21:56.254 [SPEAKER_07]: So, 21:56.794 --> 22:02.456 [SPEAKER_07]: 9 out of 10 times, if it's between a woman and a man situation, they're going to side with the woman. 22:02.476 --> 22:08.258 [SPEAKER_07]: They're going to bend over backwards to accommodate the woman, women get lighter sentences for the same crime. 22:08.638 --> 22:14.040 [SPEAKER_07]: Women are treated with kickclubs by the legal system in a lot of respects the theory goes, shivalry theory. 22:14.280 --> 22:14.960 [SPEAKER_07]: And in this case, 22:15.720 --> 22:24.246 [SPEAKER_07]: it kind of riques of it because here you have evidence of what's happening in real life and yet she's able to convince this attorney. 22:24.266 --> 22:28.829 [SPEAKER_07]: No, no, no, this is our money and I'm doing I'm his wife and I love him and and he bought it. 22:29.189 --> 22:30.030 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, he bought it. 22:31.384 --> 22:37.205 [SPEAKER_07]: But Lisa McCarley, frankly, admits in her world, Chivalry Theory is not really applicable. 22:37.986 --> 22:49.349 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe true in the criminal courts that they try to treat women more gently, but I did, and I do often observe that women in probate court, the sister. 22:49.789 --> 22:50.909 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric Sister, Kelly. 22:51.189 --> 22:52.389 [SPEAKER_00]: The Ant. 22:52.950 --> 22:54.130 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric's Ant Patrice. 22:54.590 --> 22:57.391 [SPEAKER_00]: The, these beloved relatives, the best friend. 22:59.302 --> 23:14.139 [SPEAKER_00]: were completely ignored, and that is another pattern that I observe in probate court versus the white older man who comes, you know, the court appointed attorney, in spite of all of the evidence of 23:14.860 --> 23:28.425 [SPEAKER_00]: brain injury, the women were not considered to be as reliable witnesses and their requests were smearly maybe, but Eric doesn't really want that. 23:28.545 --> 23:31.006 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a pattern that I observe a lot 23:31.306 --> 23:32.146 [SPEAKER_07]: women are ignored. 23:32.266 --> 23:33.106 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly. 23:33.186 --> 23:35.107 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, badly so. 23:35.147 --> 23:49.770 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, you know, it's almost like, in probate court, if the, why older man, who is the court appointed attorney in most cases, versus all of your female relatives that you could line up, you know, they're saying the conservatorship is needed. 23:50.110 --> 23:53.651 [SPEAKER_00]: The court will generally do what the court appointed attorney. 23:53.691 --> 24:00.033 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, they feel they act as if they're mandated to do what the court appointed attorney tells them to do. 24:01.736 --> 24:02.577 [SPEAKER_00]: they're not mandated. 24:02.637 --> 24:04.700 [SPEAKER_00]: No, that would be the last person. 24:05.121 --> 24:13.894 [SPEAKER_00]: And this all goes to the super dysfunction of the court system and what these attorneys are told to do versus what they should be doing. 24:13.914 --> 24:16.297 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is exactly what I've been advocating for. 24:16.738 --> 24:17.639 [SPEAKER_00]: in terms of reform. 24:17.759 --> 24:36.598 [SPEAKER_00]: So the court appointed attorney is told that he is supposed to be the Zellos advocate and tell the court what Eric wants and of course Eric having been injured, having a traumatic brain injury is very easy to unduly influence and to persuade. 24:36.638 --> 24:40.582 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean he was persuaded to get married and in real life 24:41.283 --> 24:53.436 [SPEAKER_00]: very few people just disappear into Santa Barbara or go to the courthouse, very few people just suddenly decide to get married, especially very few affluent people. 24:54.438 --> 25:00.524 [SPEAKER_07]: What Lisa McCarley is getting out here is the fact that most wealthy people, people with millions of dollars in the bank. 25:01.794 --> 25:11.460 [SPEAKER_07]: people with multiple homes and assets only get married after weeks and even months of negotiating a pre-nup agreement with teams of attorneys. 25:13.161 --> 25:20.425 [SPEAKER_07]: So the fact that Eric gets married, liquidy split, under a shroud of secrecy, is very suspect. 25:20.937 --> 25:24.680 [SPEAKER_00]: So that absolutely was a red flag for the rest of the world. 25:25.080 --> 25:36.449 [SPEAKER_00]: But in probate court, when this happens and it does, and this is to me, one of the red flags of elder abuse, in this case, they just bought off like Eric says, he wanted to do this. 25:36.549 --> 25:42.934 [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the other red flag is just prior to this elotement slash kidnapping. 25:44.395 --> 25:47.137 [SPEAKER_00]: I would see it more, like a kidnapping and then an elotement. 25:48.238 --> 25:55.463 [SPEAKER_00]: She was made aware that they were going to be allegations of financial elder abuse or abuse of a dependent adult. 25:55.783 --> 26:02.768 [SPEAKER_00]: So she knows everyone knows that if you're the spouse, then you know, and your spouse says, oh no, this is fine. 26:03.108 --> 26:05.830 [SPEAKER_00]: Then that's a way of kind of getting away with the crime. 26:06.310 --> 26:09.752 [SPEAKER_00]: And I see that pattern over and over again. 26:09.912 --> 26:12.694 [SPEAKER_00]: Eric expressed, I don't want Courtney prosecuted, 26:17.277 --> 26:30.503 [SPEAKER_00]: the result of fraud and undue influence, the quota-pointed attorney interpreted his job as being protective of Eric's wishes instead of the reality of what was being done to Eric. 26:31.063 --> 26:32.984 [SPEAKER_07]: I mean, she was telling him what to wish. 26:33.912 --> 26:35.714 [SPEAKER_00]: 100% that's the undue influence. 26:35.834 --> 26:37.515 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've screamed about this. 26:38.135 --> 26:47.002 [SPEAKER_00]: So we have a vulnerable person who is parading the language, the vernacular of his or her abuser. 26:47.402 --> 26:55.728 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the quote of point to the attorney takes down the language of the vulnerable person and reparits that to the judge. 26:56.129 --> 27:00.452 [SPEAKER_00]: So basically what the judge is listening to as the primary message is 27:00.992 --> 27:05.419 [SPEAKER_00]: the wishes and the language of the abuser in the justice. 27:05.620 --> 27:09.486 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he doesn't want a conservatorship, unbelievable. 27:09.566 --> 27:11.550 [SPEAKER_07]: It's like a con artist game of telephone. 27:12.223 --> 27:14.964 [SPEAKER_00]: exactly, and the judges are in on it. 27:15.544 --> 27:28.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Judicial officers, instead of, as you and I immediately picked up on the red flag of, she's facing accusations of financial abuse in a criminal context, and they run off in a low-pick-knop. 27:29.166 --> 27:29.806 [SPEAKER_00]: She kidnapped him. 27:30.326 --> 27:32.587 [SPEAKER_00]: You and I recognize that right away. 27:33.167 --> 27:33.927 [SPEAKER_00]: A judge doesn't. 27:34.527 --> 27:35.807 [SPEAKER_00]: It's insane. 27:36.367 --> 27:37.268 [SPEAKER_00]: It's insane. 27:37.348 --> 27:39.448 [SPEAKER_07]: It seems like such a broken corrupt system. 27:39.868 --> 27:41.489 [SPEAKER_00]: be, yes, and it still is. 27:41.709 --> 28:00.422 [SPEAKER_00]: And I still have to tell people when they are worried about mom or dad and say, well, if they're unduly influenced, I said, there is a chance that the court of pointed attorney is going to write a report telling the judge what to do and they will basically be adopting the position of the abuser. 28:00.902 --> 28:01.943 [SPEAKER_07]: Who's like programming them? 28:01.963 --> 28:03.224 [SPEAKER_07]: Well, how to feel what to say? 28:03.244 --> 28:03.524 [SPEAKER_07]: 100%. 28:03.544 --> 28:03.684 [SPEAKER_00]: Wow. 28:06.792 --> 28:10.674 [SPEAKER_07]: but life is a truly funny and fascinating thing. 28:11.094 --> 28:16.516 [SPEAKER_07]: And just because things seem to be heading in one direction doesn't mean they can't turn on a dime. 28:17.296 --> 28:24.639 [SPEAKER_07]: While Con artist Courtney Beard appears to be getting away with everything, ironically, she's running out of Eric's money. 28:25.319 --> 28:27.500 [SPEAKER_07]: The money she has access to, anyway. 28:28.201 --> 28:32.702 [SPEAKER_03]: Now at this point, there's no more money that Courtney can get to. 28:35.203 --> 28:50.775 [SPEAKER_03]: All the other money's in the trust, the credit cards maxed out, then she was going for the other credit card that had a $40,000 limit, and she was just charging up there, so there was no more cash to get, no more physical money to get other than credit card cash advances. 28:51.803 --> 29:04.571 [SPEAKER_03]: The only way that Eric can get access to his trust money is by getting evaluated by a doctor to say that he has capacity on Benon's to me, but I found out that he was getting evaluated and it's a long process. 29:04.611 --> 29:07.413 [SPEAKER_03]: It's not like, oh, just go to the doctor's, oh, yeah, you have capacity. 29:07.473 --> 29:13.497 [SPEAKER_03]: It's you have to do eight hour testing and it's a really from a neural psychologist. 29:14.038 --> 29:17.360 [SPEAKER_03]: I found out who the name of the neuropsychologist that was testing him. 29:17.740 --> 29:21.306 [SPEAKER_03]: Dr. Tomashesky, I gave that information to the tech of Linkshite. 29:21.927 --> 29:26.514 [SPEAKER_03]: Linkshite calls that doctor and gives them everything that's been happening. 29:27.635 --> 29:32.223 [SPEAKER_03]: All that information is in the Dr. Tomashesky's report. 29:33.417 --> 29:35.377 [SPEAKER_07]: So he does not find Derek has capacity. 29:35.597 --> 29:35.758 [SPEAKER_03]: No. 29:36.058 --> 29:41.479 [SPEAKER_03]: Because he said it his report, Eric cannot comprehend the theft that is occurring. 29:41.759 --> 29:44.559 [SPEAKER_07]: And then he- And was this Courtney trying to get him evaluated? 29:44.699 --> 29:46.600 [SPEAKER_03]: Had to be because he had no more money. 29:46.640 --> 29:47.640 [SPEAKER_03]: Had he doesn't know. 29:48.360 --> 29:50.401 [SPEAKER_07]: He doesn't know that he didn't know how his bills are being paid. 29:50.421 --> 29:51.561 [SPEAKER_03]: He didn't know that he had bills. 29:51.721 --> 29:54.382 [SPEAKER_07]: So it had to be Courtney trying to get him evaluated. 29:54.402 --> 29:55.742 [SPEAKER_07]: So she could get her hands. 29:56.042 --> 29:59.723 [SPEAKER_07]: And now we're talking millions and millions of dollars in that trust. 29:59.883 --> 30:00.683 [SPEAKER_03]: That's what I'm saying. 30:04.147 --> 30:06.031 [SPEAKER_07]: And God, that doctor like did his job, right? 30:06.452 --> 30:09.057 [SPEAKER_03]: I love Dr. Thomas Sessky, such a brilliant guy. 30:11.312 --> 30:25.964 [SPEAKER_07]: But then, all of a sudden, while this back and forth about trusts and mental capacity and conservatorships is going on, Eric sort of comes to his brain suddenly starts working again. 30:26.685 --> 30:29.487 [SPEAKER_03]: Almost three years from the time that Eric shot himself. 30:30.307 --> 30:39.475 [SPEAKER_03]: So the brain is starting to rewire itself, starting to heal, starting to do whatever it needed to do in order to understand or get a little bit more comprehension. 30:40.413 --> 30:45.759 [SPEAKER_07]: And in that magical moment of increased comprehension, Eric has a realization. 30:46.580 --> 30:48.703 [SPEAKER_07]: He never wanted to marry Courtney Beard. 30:49.203 --> 30:51.866 [SPEAKER_07]: She took him to that courthouse and tricked him into it. 30:52.547 --> 30:57.312 [SPEAKER_07]: And the reasons he broke up with her in the first place years earlier come flooding back. 30:58.032 --> 31:01.773 [SPEAKER_07]: and Eric finally understands that she's been stealing from him. 31:02.513 --> 31:11.476 [SPEAKER_07]: So, Eric confronts Courtney and tells her he wants a divorce, and he wants her out of his house, and he never wants to see her ever again. 31:12.396 --> 31:23.499 [SPEAKER_07]: But instead of leaving... Courtney calls 911 and makes up a lie that Eric assaulted her. 31:24.179 --> 31:25.920 [SPEAKER_07]: And then, moments later, 31:28.698 --> 31:33.223 [SPEAKER_07]: have a cop show up, and Eric Kramer makes national headlines. 31:34.886 --> 31:41.654 [SPEAKER_02]: Former NFL quarterback Eric Kramer is in jail tonight, arrested at his Los Angeles area home on domestic violence charges. 31:51.019 --> 32:00.675 [SPEAKER_07]: If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 right now and speak with a counselor for free. 32:06.156 --> 32:14.504 [SPEAKER_07]: It's so important to get the Eric Kramer story out there and into the public sphere, because Conardis Courtney Beard is not an anomaly. 32:14.904 --> 32:22.131 [SPEAKER_07]: There are horrendous human beings just like her everywhere, scamming vulnerable people right now. 32:22.792 --> 32:29.977 [SPEAKER_07]: help me spread this important story by sharing it with your friends and family, and by leaving us a five-star review. 32:30.397 --> 32:39.042 [SPEAKER_07]: Because five-star reviews tell that magical podcast algorithm to include us at the top of search results and prioritize our placement. 32:40.163 --> 32:46.567 [SPEAKER_07]: But quarterback in the con artist is produced, written, and hosted by me, Jonathan Walton, for Jonathan Walton Media. 32:47.548 --> 32:50.570 [SPEAKER_07]: Executive producers, Eric Kramer and Anna Durgen. 32:51.735 --> 32:57.538 [SPEAKER_07]: audio engineering by Justin Longerbeam, editing and sound design by Hansdale Shee. 32:58.839 --> 33:02.361 [SPEAKER_07]: Legal counsel provided by Ken Sterling from Sterling Media Law. 33:03.221 --> 33:09.745 [SPEAKER_07]: We've got a lot of incredible stories in the works at Jonathan Walt Media so make sure you subscribe and keep an ear out.