An online detective has revealed how he cracked a crucial piece of evidence in Gwyneth Paltrow’s skiing accident trial and presented it to her lawyers.
Michael Fletcher uncovered news confirming plaintiff Terry Sanderson knew Paltrow was involved in the collision, which he claims suffered brain damage that dramatically altered his personality.
The exchange throws cold water on Sanderson’s earlier claim that he had no idea the ‘Shakespeare in Love’ actress was the other party at the time of the crash.
Fletcher says he was able to infiltrate the lyrics in about “two minutes” after learning of their existence while watching CourtTV.
Paltrow and Sanderson’s attorneys will no doubt be embarrassed as they were both unable to log into the news themselves.
Michael Fletcher told the court how he was able to log into a crucial link, which he then submitted to Paltrow’s legal team
The messages between plaintiff Terry Sanderson and eyewitness Craig Ramon throw Sanderson’s claim that he had no idea who Paltrow was when she met him down the drain
The legal team had asked Sanderson’s daughter about missing GoPro camera footage from the 2016 collision, with attorneys repeatedly calling it the “key piece of evidence.”
She said he emailed her a link to his ski discussion forum on the Meetup website, which is suspected to contain the footage.
Paltrow’s legal team had attempted to open the link but claimed it was intentionally flawed and speculated that the footage would clearly disprove his case.
But Fletcher figured out how to access the link simply by creating an account on the site.
He couldn’t find the GoPro footage from there, but he uncovered an exchange between Sanderson and the only known eyewitness to the accident, Craig Ramon.
“You can’t make that up, Gwyneth dumped Terry last week,” Ramon wrote in the Meet Up chat.
He continued, “Last Saturday her son broke his arm skiing in Park City. Gwyneth lived at Montage. She took her plane from Millionaire Airport. What pisses me off is that Gwyneth did Terry and then took off.
Ramon and Sanderson repeatedly denied knowing it was Paltrow in a ski suit.
The chat also made it clear that Ramon believed Paltrow hit Sanderson long before the lawsuit was filed.
Fletcher said he was stunned that Paltrow’s attorneys couldn’t access the news themselves.
“It’s funny how easy it was,” he told Court TV.
Gwyneth Paltrow exits Park City Circuit Courthouse in Park City, Utah on Tuesday, March 28
Paltrow is being sued for more than $300,000 over the crash at Deer Valley Resort in Utah
Paltrow watches as the trial continues today and her children’s ski instructor testifies
“They kept repeating that this was the most important piece of evidence and they couldn’t figure it out. They had no idea how to open the link.”
He added: “I can’t believe they haven’t already done so. It’s almost a joke,’ he added.
“I just created a login for the website. If it’s a site that requires a login, you can’t access anything without a login…then the link will work. It’s easy.’
Fletcher works as a technical investigator but insisted his hack didn’t require any special skills, adding he just had “a little common sense”.
Sanderson, 76, is suing Paltrow for more than $300,000 over the crash at Utah’s Deer Valley resort. He was initially looking for $3.1 million.
Paltrow is suing him for $1, claiming he bumped into her.
He claims the movie star skied recklessly and the incident left him with permanent brain damage and four broken ribs.
On Tuesday, the trial continued and saw a ski instructor who was teaching Paltrow’s children on the day of the crash take the witness stand.
Keri Oaks denied Sanderson’s claims that Paltrow left him alone after the crash without checking to see if he was okay.
“The first time she got up because she was very surprised and shocked, he hit her,” Oaks told the court.
“As she stood up, she looked at him, then he looked at her. I think she was there most of the time.”
Terry Sanderson, 76, claims the accident left him with permanent brain damage that dramatically altered his personality. He is pictured in court on Tuesday
Oaks also revealed that Paltrow’s children asked her to watch them ski in the moments leading up to the collision.
She said: “Moses and Apple wanted their mother to watch them. The run was clear so we crossed the run. We were crossing, making two turns, and that’s when I heard the noise and looked over and saw they had collided.”
She added: “It was, ‘Mom, watch me, we want you to see this.’