If ever there was a train wreck it’s Nikki Araguz. Friday, Araguz was set to plead guilty to stealing a woman’s Rolex watch…instead, she was jailed until January 25th for showing up late in court. Is anyone surprised? How many times does someone have to make mistakes before offering up excuses that just don’t fly…and aren’t accepted?
I live in the Houston area and have followed this case from the start. At first I was somewhat sympathetic. Initial reports were pretty straight forward. Nikki was a transgender woman who had married. Her firefighter husband was tragically killed in a raging blaze. The ex-wife learned that Araguz was born male, contested the marriage, contested the distribution of the dead husband’s benefits, and filed suit to declare the marriage void and for the death benefits to go to the biological children of the husband. The fact that a post operative TS had married and that marriage was now being questioned was important to me and, I thought, important to many post operative females who had entered into a heterosexual marriage everywhere in the United States. Nikki and her deceased husband Thomas were quite attractive and, from the first reports, the circumstances seemed perfect for a test case challenging the right of post operative transsexuals to enter into legitimate heterosexual marriages. But, as the facts surfaced, I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
Almost immediately the Araguz case became the standard not for heterosexual post ops marrying, but for same-sex marriage; the case became the first child of the GLBT and their marriage equality quest. For her part, the news first reported Nikki’s stance as being that of a heterosexual female…then her stance then became that of the transgender, some type of other female…then she stated categorically that she was not transgender and asked the GLBT to back off because they were hurting her case (and, of course, they didn’t)…and, then, she started taking part in GLBT parades and once again became the poster girl for the GLBT. The Dallas Voice, a gay newpaper, listed her as one of the ten most newsworthy events of 2011.
A local Houston transgender leader, Cristan Williams could then be seen accompanying Araguz every time she went to court. Every time I saw this huge person on the news reports I cringed. Williams quickly became her pundit, defending every aspect of Nikki Araguz, posting numerous YouTube videos in support, and appearing as an expert on everything Nikki Araguz and transgender. Predictably, and almost like clockwork, Araguz was then said to be intersex. I cringed more, hoping the GLBT and the Houston transgender scene would evaporate. But, things got worse.
Videos of Nikki on the sensational talk shows surfaced where she said she was a man. It was revealed that Nikki was a long term participant in the Houstan TG scene. Videos surfaced of her saying she was transsexual, with no mention of being intersex. But, worst of all, it turned out that when Nikki and Thomas got married she was preop. A few months after they were married, Nikki had GRS…her surgeon stated there was nothing remarkable about her bits…apparently, from an anatomical point of view, Nikki was male. Tactics changed to present the view that even if she was not legally married before her GRS due to Texas common law marriage recognition, she was now…and before Thomas died. Several issues that had no bearing on the case were hammered to death by Williams and the local TG community…did or didn’t Thomas know Nikki was transsexual and the opposing attorney was unethical, were just two. Williams just couldn’t seem to let the Araguz case go. Telephone conversations were recorded, she had a debate she was more than a little proud of, and the YouTube support videos continued…over thirty and counting.
Nikki also just couldn’t seem to stay out of the limelight. She granted multiple television interviews…every one more convoluted than the other. Every one of them doing nothing for her case. Nikki’s attorneys seemed unable or unwilling to stop either the interviews Araguz was giving or the YouTube videos Williams was posting. I choose to believe that the attorneys couldn’t possibly have sanctioned either…certainly they didn’t think either was helping in any way. Then it was announced that Araguz was to be filmed for a reality television show.
As the months went by, to an outsider it had to be hard to walk away with any other opinion of the case than it was all about Nikki. All I ever saw after the reports of the first week or two was one huge clusterfuck. The television interviews Nikki held were an embarrassment…and, the local transgender community support under Williams’ leadership…more so. The national transgender support for Nikki and their blogs seems to have never wavered. No matter how absurd the detail, the transgender community and the GLBT, as usual, supported her…complete with the customary shouts of homophobia, transphobia, republican boogie men, Religious Reich based anger. The fact that Nikki came across as a self serving, self centered person with a questionable integrity and legal position was beside the point. She was transgender…she was GLBT…and by God, they supported her. For me and many others, we wished her and her case would simply disappear and become the barely notable footnote of the year that only the transgender and the GLBT would remember in a few years. We couldn’t have been that lucky.
In May of last year Araguz was arrested and charged with felony theft for stealing a Rolex watch from a woman back in February of that same year. Araguz apparently denied the charges until a pawn shop owner testified that she tried to pawn the watch. At this point, Nikki became sort of the laughing stock of everyone…even the GLBT. One well known GLBT blog, Queerty, had this to say:
“Apparently some woman has accused Nikki of drugging her, taking her $2,850 Rolex watch, and trying to sell it at a Houston pawn shop. Nikki lost her inheritance case, but she’s appealing the ruling which means she now has two court cases going on simultaneously! Ooooh, two-timing courtroom drama. We wonder which Texas gentleman will be crazy brave enough to step into her legal maelstrom as her [reality] show’s romantic suitor—whoever it is, bring a good lawyer, buddy.”
Crazy…they got that right.
So, Nikki got caught stealing a watch. She said she didn’t do it, but accepts a plea agreement that would put her in jail for thirty days…because, well, she did do it. And, then, still unable to get her act together enough to even show up on time for her plea agreement and sentencing…Araguz once again shows up in the news. She is now behind bars for showing up late for her court sentence, the second time she’s been late for court. Nikki said, “I’m sorry.” The Judge, who didn’t even allow her to sit down once she did show up said, “It’s too late for sorry.”
What a mess.
9 Comments
Be careful going after Cristan Williams. She will no doubt respond with a 10,000 word treatise complete with 10 or 20 images of old newspaper articles on microfiche, strawman accusations, and challenges to you to produce 10 real-world examples of something or other. She’s a piece of work. Which, no doubt, is why the whole Nikki Araguz clusterfuck is so appealing to her.
LOL…your point is well taken, but I’m not going after Cristan Williams. She frequently post essays linking to this blog, generally trying to prove one point or the other related to the transgender and their fear of the evil transsexual separatists. I don’t care. Her role in the Nikki Araguz debacle is well documented.
I am so not into Nikki and never was …
Hm, where is Cristan Williams now that her cause célèbre is in jail? I’m sure she is nowhere to be found now.
Sara …
FWIW, the practice of a client accepting a plea offer even in the face of a claim of innocence is not at all uncommon in the realm of criminal defense. Nikki had very real exposure to pen time in this case if she were convicted largely because of the past criminal history (if not the notoriety that the case attracted). She also could not testify on her own behalf without the past history coming into evidence, which makes it difficult to offer the defense that would have illustrated that this should have been a civil matter, not a criminal charge. In such a case, you HAVE to weigh the options and sometimes, that means sucking it up and pleading out. I had someone with a similar situation in a different County not long ago and we spoke at long length about whether to take an offer that amounted to time-served or risk going to trial on a case that carried a potential ten-year sentence to prison.
The tardiness is something that made me cringe. I had warned her on several occasions not to piss off Vanessa. I know the sentencing practices that come out of that court and while she is generally fair, she is NOT someone to mess with. It is also clearly posted on the courtroom doors (or at least it was during the first few appearances in this case) of the 183rd that defendants are expected to be in the courtroom by 8:30AM.
There are many facts to the incident that the general public (and certainly the Cristans of the world) will never know because of the fact that they did not have access to the full file and were not involved in any manner of THIS case. I can tell you generally that there were a lot of misconceptions that floated around the interwebz and even in the mainstream media about the case. Now that the case has been closed out, I can only hope that everyone lets the case rest and I can only hope that the time in custody persuades Nikki to re-evaluate the party lifestyle that contributed to the conduct in the first place. If she and the other three parties had not been under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol, none of this ever would have happened.
I don’t fault Nikki in accepting a plea agreement at all.
You don’t allude to whether the unknown facts of this case would have more or less damaging to the Araguz theft case, though it doesn’t make any difference to me one way or the other. Surely the fact that perhaps all involved had too much to drink may have influenced things. On the other hand, unless almost none of what I’ve read on all things Nikki is true, she appears to have a very long lists of fairly serious mistakes in her history. Those mistakes and lack of judgement begs the question of when do the excuses for them run out and the fact that she is just dishonest and insincere start…it seems to me that Ms. Araguz has long since gone past that line.
A showing could have been made at trial that there was no intent to deprive at the time of the exchange (and it was a mutual exchange of the watches), thus negating the essential elements of the theft charge. This was nothing more than a civil matter where people drunk beyond reason made poor decisions and one expressed regrets sometime after sobering up. Trial would also have demonstrated the mutual exchange of the watches and that there was no drugging such as had originally been alleged in the Complaint and Information (but never again mentioned in open court even at arraignment, an event for which I was present). It also could have gotten interesting on cross had steps been taken to show the animus that existed on the part of the charging officer that could be illustrated through some of the officer’s own documented history.
The problem with going to trial is that, despite the known evidence, one never knows how a jury may view the same material. There was also the fact that jury could never have heard from Nikki due to the other attendant issues that come with taking the stand in her own defense. Juries are always left to wonder WHY a defendant did not take the stand.
The past criminal history is an unfortunate artifact of her past that will never go away, but much of it occurred when Nikki was much younger. Many of the earlier charges were really relatively benign, but there is an additive component as the history built. There were some substance-related issues as an adult that resulted in prosecution (matter of public record) but I don’t view those in any different light than I do my other clients who have had drug-related arrests. Should they happen? No. But it isn’t solely a Nikki thing and, as a result, I have qualms with those who have sought to castigate her for those transgressions- if her civil counsel had not tried to relitigate Littleton on the back of what should have been a simple estate matter, Nikki never becomes the cause celebre that had cameras on her every step of the way. But I have spoken my piece in the past on how civil counsel screwed the case up and made the appellate efforts incredibly difficult…this is not the time or place to rehash the mistakes of that case.
Your choice of words and tone is that of someone quite close to this case. But, you lost me completely when you categorize the Araguz marriage case as a “simple estate matter.” How can you take that position? Nikki was married when she was pre op…legally a male…period. Same-sex marriage is not allowed in Texas…period. Even assuming that she and Thomas had a valid common law marriage after GRS doesn’t at all make this case “a simple estate matter”…her GRS after her church “wedding”, validating that common law marriage, and being recognized as female by Texas after GRS alone guarantees that.
I appreciate your points, I do. I understand that the young can make mistakes. You evidently have an interest in this case that exceeds even that of those of us who follow it closely. I respect your opinion, but I ask you again, at what point for you does look like a duck, talk like a duck, and walk like a duck finally become the proverbial duck? Excuses and rationale only go so far before one has to take responsibility for their actions and illustrate a path that makes clear past mistakes are a distant memory. From everything I’ve read, and there is a whole lot out there to read about her past, near past, and present, even up until two weeks ago when she was late for court, there appears nothing to indicate that is the case.
At its most basic level, it WAS a simple estate matter. The Texas Family Code does not allow a third-party to seek to void a marriage after the death of a party except in a very narrow circumstance (one which Nikki’s situation did not fit). Her original civil team completely fucked up that issue and punted it by omission because they wanted to re-litigate an earlier case they had botched a decade prior. Everything else, properly briefed, would have been irrelevant.
At this point, just for the sake of adding to the comedy of errors, I would almost love to see an action brought to dissolve the original marriage she had prior to Thomas since. It would make for strange bedfellows to see that marriage (and subsequent divorce) side by side with the amicus brief filed by the homophobe Chisum in the Naylor case currently pending before the State Supreme Court.
But…we have far digressed beyond the point of your original blog entry on the criminal case. You’ve got the email addy if you wanted to discuss it further outside of the public view.