Naresh Bhatt Trial Day 17: Cross-Examination

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Today was a very long and emotional day in court and my video of the first half of the day is already up. It's the one before this but my video for what happened the second half of the day is gonna have to wait till tomorrow because I don't have it in me. But I want to take this opportunity tonight before I go to bed to talk about the masterful way prosecutor Matthew Sweet started the cross-examination. The best word I can use to describe it is cathartic. This community has been waiting for answers for two years and I did not believe they would ever get any of them because I didn't believe that Naresh would ever take the stand. I didn't believe that he would ever answer the questions that people have been asking for so long. But I was wrong and while I don't think we're ever going to know the entire truth, he did answer a lot of the questions today. But you also can't take what he says at face value and Prosecutor Sweet did an amazing job of putting that right out at the forefront. And when he started his cross-examination, it felt like the entire community who had been holding their breath for two years finally got to exhale. And he gave them the opportunity to finally do that. I'll talk way more about it tomorrow, but for now let's just watch together the very beginning of this cross-examination. Are you ready? [00:01:38] Matthew Sweet: Ready? Yes. You're a liar. Yes. You lied to... [00:01:45] Speaker 1: Order. Not doing that. [00:01:51] Matthew Sweet: I want to identify everybody that you lied to. And if I forget somebody, tell us. You lied to Gita Coughley. Right? Yes. You lied to her, to Manta's brother, Mahesh. Yes. [00:02:10] Naresh: That's for stars, who you lied to. Would you mind to repeat that one more time? I'll ask a different [00:02:18] Matthew Sweet: question. You're an admitted liar to this entire jury. Everybody in this room knows now that you are a liar. That is the only one thing I lied. That's the one? What's the one thing you lied about? About that case at that time? About the Manta case? That's the case you lied about? Right? Didn't you say to the police that you never lie? Never. Those are your words? You never lie? Yes. Yes. You lied to Sarita Nupani. [00:03:13] Speaker ?: Yes. [00:03:14] Matthew Sweet: You lied to Officer Pellet. [00:03:18] Naresh: I don't remember that. [00:03:20] Matthew Sweet: When you finally decided to make your fake call for the fine Manta on August, on that Sunday, Monday, August 5th. Yes. You finally decided to report her body missing. [00:03:38] Naresh: Yes. [00:03:38] Matthew Sweet: The officer that responded, you lied to him too. [00:03:43] Naresh: Yes. [00:03:44] Matthew Sweet: The two officers that came for the health and safety check, you lied to them. And the health and safety check, you lied to them. Yes. You lied to Detective Claudia Ventura. Yes. You lied to Manta's friend, who lives in New York, Sunita Bandari. You lied to Sachi Manali, that professional journalist who recorded your interview for the whole Nepali community. Yes. So the whole world now knows you're a liar in the United States, Nepal, and in this courtroom. [00:04:47] Naresh: I don't know that. [00:04:48] Matthew Sweet: Let's think about it. Did you talk to Sachi Manali? [00:04:54] Naresh: Yes. [00:04:54] Matthew Sweet: And she broadcasted your interview to the entire country of Nepal? I don't know. When you talked to Sachi Manali, who did you think you were talking to? [00:05:12] Naresh: At that time? [00:05:13] Speaker ?: At that time? [00:05:13] Matthew Sweet: At any time. [00:05:15] Naresh: I talked only one time. [00:05:17] Matthew Sweet: And she was broadcasting your lies live, correct? This was a live interview. I'll move on. You lied to Sachi, correct? [00:05:40] Naresh: Yes. [00:05:42] Speaker 1: I'll have more for you tomorrow, but I feel like everybody needed to see that tonight.