LR Direct

PROSECUTOR: Good evening, Ms. Ravensburger. Can you please introduce yourself to the court?

• Lennon Ravensburger

• 40 Years Old

• Grew up and reside in Pinebrook Missouri

PROSECUTOR: Could you tell us a bit about your background?

• Graduated from Pinebrook High School (2003)

• Bachelor’s degree in U.S. History from University of South Carolina

• Law School from Alabama School of Law (2010)

PROSECUTOR: And after law school, what did you do?

• Practiced law for a few years

  • mainly family and general civil litigation

• Lifestyle not for me

• Return to Pinebrook and teach

PROSECUTOR: And during your time at Pinebrook, did you become involved with any school organizations?

• Approached by social studies teacher to take over MT program

• Agreed to coach, great decision

• Head coach for 7 years

PROSECUTOR: Now, can you tell us about your relationship with Julius Jones?

• Worked with Juius on MT program(stumble— sorry)

  • He was attorney coach for team (so kind and loved by students)

PROSECUTOR: How long did you work together with Julius?

• Couple of years at least

• Got to know each other very well (tear up)

PROSECUTOR: Now, Ms. Ravensburger, as a fellow coach, did you ever become aware of any problems concerning Mr. Jones and your mock trial team?

• Never between Julius and the students

• Couple of years ago. significant tensions between Julius and James Wild (rival coach at College City High School)

• Rivalry was intense, James often took it way too seriously

PROSECUTOR: Do you recall any specific instances of this “rivalry”? 

• Recall specific incident in 2017 or 2018

• James confronted Julius in MT lobby

• made aggressive remarks about how his team would destroy ours

• Came off as petty and unprofessional

PROSECUTOR: And how did Julius respond to James during that confrontation?

• Julius told me James is someone who lets his temper cloud his judgment

• Julius dismissed him, trying to stop any escalation

• Julius always tried to keep peace, just who he was :(

PROSECUTOR: Do you know of any further interactions between Julius and James?

• Over the years, interactions became increasingly hostile

• James made rude gestures towards Julius during competitions

• Even accused our team of cheating after we beat them in 2021

  • Had to physically restrain him during that incident

PROSECUTOR: You had to physically restrain the defendant from attacking the now-deceased victim?

• Yeah, not any surprise

• Especially after James berated us, created wild and false accusations and given us the finger

• Constant barrage of insults and threats

• Just trying to celebrate win, guess he wouldn’t let us

PROSECUTOR: What do you mean by that?

• Screaming about how we cheated, how we were a bunch of losers, and how he was going to make us pay

• Out of control and i had to grab him before he could get to anyone

• Thought he was going to hit someone

• Mess, all shaken up, took a while for everyone to calm down

PROSECUTOR: Did anything else happen after that confrontation?

• After match, James came up to me and threatened to escalate situation by contacting tournament directors

• Julius and I met with directors

  • Concluded Pinebrook’s team has done nothing wrong

• James then sent threatening emails to Julius, which I forwarded to our administration

PROSECUTOR: And how did you get ahold of these emails?

• Julius accidentally cc’ed me on them

  • as he often did with all the emails we get— used to get, sorry— about the club

• when read what james threatened, had to send to boss

  • just appalling

PROSECUTOR: If I were to hand you a printed out copy of those emails, would you recognize them?

• yes, definitely couldn’t forget shudder

PROSECUTOR: Ms. Ravensburger, do you recognize this photo?

• yes, emails defendant threatened julius in

PROSECUTOR: Is this a fair and accurate copy of those emails?

• yes

PROSECUTOR: Now, Ms. Ravensburger, could you please read aloud the last two lines of defendant’s email to Julius Jones from February 17, 2021 at 4:38 AM

“No matter how long it takes, I will make sure that you are held responsible for this behavior. You will not get away with this, no matter what it takes.”

PROSECUTOR: Could you also read aloud the defendant’s email to email to Julius Jones at 8:21 AM?

“Nothing about last night was “fair and square” You better hope you and I do not meet in some dark alley, because I’d love to give you a piece of my mind.”

PROSECUTOR: Did those tensions you just read about ever resolve?

• not sure, seemed to somewhat dissipate when CCHS beat PBHS in finals of 2022 state championships

• animosity between two was intense

• definitely not all lighthearted after so many years apart imo

PROSECUTOR: In your years of working alongside the two coaches, what did you notice about James's actions towards Julius?

• james clearly had a strong dislike for julius

  • hostile emails and behavior clearly indicated that

• that didn’t even capture full weight of actions

  • crossed a line

• i mean, thats why we’re all here today

  • a line was crossed and julius isnt here because of it (regret sorrow)

PROSECUTOR: And Ms. Ravensburger, did you have any conversations with Julius that might make you think otherwise about why you're here today?

• never heard anything from him

• definitely close with him

• wish he could be here with us today sad face