Episodes

  • Breaking Justice Trailer

    Breaking Justice Trailer
    Dec 1 2022
    Breaking Justice is a narrative documentary series that covers an unfolding current criminal case that has exploded into the public consciousness. Sports journalist Jenn Brown and former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes host the series and guide the listener through the complicated criminal cases of two men whose stories interlock. Harry Goularte, Jr., was accused of sexually abusing the four-year-old son of former MMA World Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez over a period of months at a day care in San Jose, California owned by Goularte’s mother. Goularte was arrested but let out on bond almost immediately, with no notice to the Velasquez family. Cain Velasquez found out Goularte was released and pursued Goularte by car in what appears to be an act of vigilante justice. He shot at the vehicle Goularte was in and forced it off the road. Goularte’s stepfather was the only wounded, and Velasquez was arrested. But unlike Goularte, Velasquez was denied bond.

    Jenn and Francey cover these two cases as they unfold, with inside access to Velasquez (in an interview from his jail cell), his family, and his closest friends, who walk us through the events that led up to his shocking vigilante-style attack. Jenn and Francey also get experts’ perspectives on brain injuries, vigilantism, and California justice, and even record the first-hand perspective of an abuse survivor whose father killed the abuser on live television.
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    1 min
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  • Episode 1: Is This Justice?

    Episode 1: Is This Justice?
    Dec 1 2022
    On February 28, 2022, a shocking crime rocked California and the sports world. MMA Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez was arrested after chasing a car around San Jose and firing his handgun at that car multiple times. According to Velasquez’s shocked friends and family members, this act of violence was wildly out of character. Velasquez is beloved in the MMA community, and described by various people as “a teddy bear”. But when they found out that a man inside the vehicle had just been arrested on allegations of sexually abusing Cain’s four-year-old son, they began to connect the dots.
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    39 mins
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  • Episode 2: A Child’s Outcry

    Episode 2: A Child’s Outcry
    Dec 1 2022
    Days earlier, a normal bedtime in the Velasquez household was disrupted when four-year-old Cain Jr. revealed to his father, Cain Velasquez, that Harry Goularte, a son of the owner of the day care Cain Jr. attended, had taken him into a bathroom and molested him. The little boy told his MMA champ father that this had happened many times at Patty’s day care. Velasquez and his wife Michelle didn’t know that Goularte lived on the day care property. What followed was an ordeal of police interviews and a forensic interview of little Cain Jr.
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    35 mins
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  • Episode 3: #FreeCain

    Episode 3: #FreeCain
    Dec 1 2022
    After Cain Valasquez’s son revealed to him that Harry Goularte sexually abused him at Patty’s day care, Velasquez and Michelle called police and were relieved when Goularte was arrested and charged. They told their son that Goularte couldn’t hurt him anymore. But hours later, a judge released Goularte without bond and nobody told the Velasquez family. In what police say was a vigilante act, Velasquez then chased a car with Goularte inside, ran it off the road, and fired several shots into it. Velasquez was arrested shortly afterward. This was when the MMA and local community learned about the child abuse allegations against Goularte and the history of violations at his mother’s day care.
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    40 mins
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  • Episode 4: The American Dream

    Episode 4: The American Dream
    Dec 1 2022
    Cain Velasquez went from being the son of immigrants, to the heavyweight MMA champion of the world, to a jail inmate. But his origin story is the epitome of the American dream. Velasquez’s parents were farm workers across the western US when he was a boy, and sometimes he helped them in the fields. Their work ethic and sacrifices inspired Velasquez to strive harder than anyone in everything he did. He went from being a decorated high school wrestler, to a college champion, and on to the MMA where he was lauded for his own work ethic and endurance. When he married Michelle Barquez, his focus turned to her and their growing family. According to everyone who knows him, he became widely known as “a teddy bear”.
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    34 mins
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  • Episode 5: California Justice

    Episode 5: California Justice
    Dec 1 2022
    The day care where Cain Jr. was alleged to have been sexually abused has a troubling history, which includes California’s Department of Social Services at one point revoking its license. When licensing agents approached for random visits, the children said they were hidden in closets or made to run next door so the day care wouldn’t be fined for violating limits on the number of children in its care. Jenn and Francey go to court in San Jose, CA, and observe that Goularte and Velasquez seem to be treated differently: Velasquez is shackled and in jailhouse orange clothing; Goularte is allowed to “appear” for his hearing via Zoom.
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    26 mins
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  • Episode 6: The Law Versus the Child

    Episode 6: The Law Versus the Child
    Dec 1 2022
    Jenn and Francey attend Harry Goularte’s hearing with Michelle Velasquez and meet the Assistant DA prosecuting him. According to Francey, the ADA doesn’t seem particularly familiar with the facts of the case, or even basic investigative techniques in child abuse cases. Francey challenges the idea that little Cain Jr.’s testimony is necessary for the upcoming preliminary hearing, but the prosecutor seems determined to make him testify. Michelle Velasquez is shocked and upset when at his hearing Goularte appears as a faceless, voiceless black cube on Zoom. She wants him to know she will attend every hearing to stand up for her son.
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    42 mins
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  • Episode 7: Vigilante Justice

    Episode 7: Vigilante Justice
    Dec 1 2022
    Cain Velasquez’s alleged act of chasing down and shooting at Goularte for allegedly abusing his son, Cain Jr., seems like a clear case of vigilante justice. American legal history is replete with such cases. One of the most notorious is the case of Jody Plauche. Jody had a normal childhood in Louisiana until he started taking karate lessons from a man named Jeff Doucet. Doucet became obsessed with Jody, sexually assaulted him, and kidnapped him all the way to California. Fortunately, Jody was rescued, and Doucet was arrested. Days later, police transported Doucet back to Baton Rouge in handcuffs. Then, as live TV cameras followed Doucet through the airport terminal, Jody’s father rushed forward with a gun, and shot and killed his son’s abuser in cold blood. In the video footage, police officers are heard shouting, “Why, Gary? Why?!”
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    41 mins
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