TV Chef Cooks Up Trouble
TV Chef Juan Carlos Cruz has more than a successful TV show. He has a marriage he wants out of. His wife is 47 and unable to reproduce. This was a cause of dissension in the marriage since both are pretty staunch Catholics. Normally a situation like this would be resolved by a divorce of even an annulment. Juan Carlos had other ideas. He thought that he might save lawyer fees and alimony if his wife died. Since he was too much of a gentleman to do the deed himself he thought that he could take care of the situation by recruiting some accomplices, and in the process throw some money to the less fortunate. It should've been a win win situation, but the police through differently.JC went over to the wrong side of the tracks to recruit some guys. These homeless types really ought'a get off of their ass and pull their weight. JC even had an assignment that wouldn't require an update resume full of current job experience. He found some likely prospects soon enough and a working arrangement was reached.
Things went wrong when one of the guys got busted for vagrancy. While he was being rousted by a friendly neighborhood cop, who was also an acquaintance of his, the homeless dude thought he could make an even better deal for himself. He told the cop about the dirty deal and offered to do the right thing, for some consideration in return. The police put the trio up in a hotel for a week, while the deal with Cruz was ironed out. Meanwhile the Trailer Park Boys dined on naught but pizza and beer, and enjoyed unaccustomed amenities like cable TV and indoor plumbing. Who says that the homeless have no hustle? Cruz went through with the pay off all unsuspecting. Since the cops were in on the act that meant he was quickly arrested and the whole case became public knowledge. There's also a court case developing, something to due with conspiracy to commit murder.
So that leaves the principles in the case where they are now: The Trailer Park Boys are approaching TMZ to see what they can get out of this. The wife has avoided getting murdered. Plus she get's to keep everything now, instead of the property and asset division that would've resulted from a divorcee. The lawyers haven't been left out; they got something really meaty to get their fangs into now. There's one less annoying cooking show on TV so the public should be happy. If they're not happy about that then at least they have a trial and scandal to follow on TV, and through sites such as this! Now how could a bad situation have worked out better? If it's not win win, then it's practically a happy ending - minus that fairy tale bullshit. So even the cynics are happy!
There are some interesting twists int his case that put it beyond the usual 48 Hours Mystery. For one thing Mrs Cruz, alias Jennifer Campell, had been depressed about her infertility for years. She even wanted to kill herself. This leads to Juan Carlos defense, which is just as cunning as his murder plan. JC says that he wanted to help his wife and honor her wishes. Since suicide is a mortal sin he though that he could get her through this ordeal with her immortal soul in tact. He even promised to kill himself immediately after, and follow her off of the mortal coil - to encourage her. That kind of moral support is admirable, except that then he'd have committed the mortal sin and I don't know what kind of consolation it could be for Ms. Campell to know that so concerned a husband was in hell while she was only in purgatory. That is unless he just said that, perhaps to make her feel better. Juan Carlos has better hope that his lawyer is better at his job than Mr Cruz was at picking out bargain basement hit men.
