Not Over Yet | EP 15

**Clayton Echard** (0:02)
It's Friday, June 26th, and I am heading to the courthouse right now for a hearing on whether or not they extend this plea deal out again.

**Stephani Young** (0:15)
Clayton sent me this voice note as he headed to the Maricopa County Superior Courthouse. He was hoping for a resolution, one that included jail or prison as part of Laura's sentence. And Clayton is determined to go to all the pretrial hearings he can, so he can let the judge know that. At every hearing, he's been trying to catch Laura's gaze, to let her know he's not afraid of her.
She usually won't look him in the eye. But at this specific hearing, Clayton says she looked right at him.

**Clayton Echard** (0:49)
I made eye contact with Laura and she looked away and then looked right back, stared at me for a couple of seconds and did that about four times as I stared at her for a solid 20 seconds. Look, it felt different.
I almost saw in her eyes a sadness at what she's done. Maybe it's hit her that it's very real possibility she's going to get locked away. It really felt like she's defeated.

**Stephani Young** (1:19)
Clayton wasn't the only victim who showed up in court that day. Greg Gillespie was there too.
He's the one who went on a few dates with Laura back in 2021 and is now named as the state's other primary victim.

**Clayton Echard** (1:33)
I could have been that me and Greg showed up that she realized like, oh, fuck, these guys are not just going to move on. They're here to make sure that I face accountability.

**Stephani Young** (1:45)
I'm Stephani Young and this is Love Trapped.
Last week, on Monday, June 29th, Laura was back in court.
She's facing 14 felony charges, including fraud, forgery, perjury, tampering with physical evidence, and theft by extortion. She'd been offered a plea deal by the state, and we thought that on June 29th, she'd either have to accept the plea or begin the trial process. Instead, the deadline for her criminal plea was extended once again. I don't like to be the person who brings you this news. I feel like the boy who cried wolf. I believed, like a lot of my sources in this story, that we would finally have an answer on Monday. But we didn't. So I'm going to walk you through what happened. Let's go back to Friday, June 26th.
That's when there was a settlement conference in her case. It's basically a meeting where a defendant can have a more transparent conversation with a judge about how this case can be resolved without trial. We were told these meetings are typically private, behind closed doors. So I didn't plan to attend. But to our surprise, this one was open to the public. Two of the victims listed in this case, Clayton Echard and Greg Gillespie, were both in attendance. I caught up with Clayton and his attorney Woodnick right after the hearing. And you'll hear from them throughout this episode. Thankfully, the hearing was recorded and posted on YouTube.

**Jonathan Simon** (3:45)
And the court will call the matter on the calendar. State v Laura Owens, case number 0205-007905.
Can I have appearances please starting with the state? Good afternoon, Your Honor. Ed Lerner in the best state.

**Christian Lutters** (3:58)
Good afternoon, Your Honor. Christian Luters on behalf of Laura Owens, who is president of the defense table.

**Stephani Young** (4:02)
This hearing was presided over by a commissioner, not a judge.
And Commissioner Jonathan Simon was pretty thorough. Part of his job is to explain the criminal process to the defendant. In this case, that's Laura.

**Jonathan Simon** (4:17)
My name is Commissioner Simon and I've been asked to do the settlement conference in your case today. This is an informal setting where you'll have the opportunity to talk about your case if you want to and to see if you can get it resolved. We're going to discuss and you can ask questions about the plea agreement that you've been offered in this case and the options that you have in this case and the potential range of penalties.

**Stephani Young** (4:36)
Commissioner Simon made it clear that he won't be the one making a ruling on her criminal case. But it's important to have the commissioner explain all the options on the table for the defendant.
This has to be on the record. It's part of due process.

**Jonathan Simon** (4:50)
I'm just going to help you get as much information as you can about your case while you still have some options. And I know that there is a current plea offer on the table.