What The Heart Wants

A Call To Judgment (Part III)

The trial of Philadelphia Hearts v. Orlandini resumed on Tuesday morning with Steph Labbe taking the stand.

Brian: Explain to the court the breadth of your interactions with the defendant.

Steph: My first confrontation with Mr. Orlandini was on November 15th in downtown Philadelphia following a sightseeing tour with some of my teammates. He chose to ask myself and others, particularly Ali Krieger, about our knowledge of Alex Morgan's separation from her husband and whether the rumors concerning her and Ashlyn Harris were true. Ali refused to answer and walked away with part of our group, with Steph McCaffrey and I staying behind. He insulted us with a homophobic slur and then pressed the issue regarding our private lives and those of our teammates. We crossed paths again at Hearts United the following evening. Greg got into a bit of a verbal scuffle with a number of us, including more accusations about my private life and how I came to change partners following the Rio games. As Steph McCaffrey described in earlier testimony, we came across Greg on the 20th at the airport where he once again insulted us as professional athletes, this time claiming that we sought one another out because we were "too good" to date a non-athlete.

Brian: Were any of his claims true at the time they were made?

Steph: No. Some of them may have become true in the three months since then, but at the time they were nothing more than supposition and wishful thinking on his part.

Brian: Did the defendant cause any damage to you as a result of his actions?

Steph: I suffered an anxiety attack not long after my confrontation with him on November 15th and a near-fainting spell the following evening after leaving Hearts United.

Brian: Thank you. No further questions.

David Jay chose not to cross-examine this witness, which led Brian to call Kristie to the stand.

Brian: Tell the court about the effect of the defendant's actions on you and your partner.

Kristie: It caused her to eventually be physically harmed in defense of our team and myself, and it created a slight bit of disharmony in our home while she recovered from the injury.

Brian: We heard in previous testimony how you acted as a conduit to protect others from his attacks and got them to safety. How would you describe the emotional toll those actions placed upon you?

Kristie: Being that my sister and probable sister-in-law along with my fiancee were harassed in one way, shape, or form by the defendant, it placed a huge weight on my psyche that took a few weeks to eventually lift. Seeing my future wife be decked by the defendant hurt me just as much if not more than it did her.

Brian: No further questions.

Again, David Jay chose not to question the current witness.

Brian: Our next witness is not on the list we submitted, because we were unsure of his availability. With that, I call Jonathan Tannenwald to the stand.

Jonathan came forward and took the witness stand.

Brian: What is your relationship to the defendant?

Jonathan: We are both members of the Philadelphia soccer media.

Brian: Would you say that the two of you are close?

Jonathan: Not particularly. We both have common beats, so we interact on a regular basis but I wouldn't say that we're friends.

Brian: What is the defendant's general reputation in the soccer world?