An Oscar-winning actor with an itchy back, a fact-challenged Long Island congressman and a cantankerous Florida man and former president were among the cast of characters who took the stage in New York courts this year.
And The Post was there to chronicle every gripping twist and turn.
Here are just 10 of the most dramatic moments to unfold in city and state courthouses during an action-packed 2023.
10. A not ‘Shah-mazing’ moment for reality star
“The only thing I’m guilty of is being Shah-mazing,” Jen Shah quipped in the second season of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” the reality show that made her famous.
Well, that and wire fraud.
The distinction between Shah’s TV persona and her real-life crimes as an admitted fraudster was on full display during her sentencing hearing inside a packed Manhattan courtroom in January.
Shah, 50, delivered a tearful speech before US District Judge Sidney Stein ordered her to serve six-and-a-half-years in prison for running a years-long telemarketing scam that targeted elderly Americans.
“People should not confuse the character she played on an entertainment show with the person I have before me,” Stein said, as Shah’s friends, family and fans filled the federal courtroom’s gallery.
“The other is acting, and this is reality.”
Shah was ordered to shell out about $6.6 million in restitution — and vowed to pay back the money she swindled from her victims.
Yet just months later, Shah’s own lawyer added herself to the list of people the reality star allegedly ripped off — accusing her client of refusing to pay a six-figure bill for legal fees and other expenses.
9. Ed Sheeran wins copyright trial after strumming ‘Out Loud’ for Manhattan jurors
Ed Sheeran took matters into his own hands — literally — inside a Manhattan courtroom in April, where he successfully swatted away a federal lawsuit claiming that his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” copied parts of Marvin Gaye’s famous “Let’s Get it On” single.
Bringing a tan, wooden acoustic guitar to the witness stand, the British Grammy-winner performed a snippet of his chart-topper, refuting claims that its four-chord progression too closely mirrored the beginning of Gaye’s song.
Days later, Sheeran, 32, hugged his lawyers and smiled and nodded at members of the jury who deliberated for just three hours before clearing him on all of the claims he’d faced.
“It is devastating to be accused of stealing other people’s songs when we have put so much work into our livelihoods,” Sheeran said outside the courthouse.
“I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy,” he added. “I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”
8. ‘You Scratchin’ to me?’ De Niro gives all-time performance in boss from hell case
“This is nonsense!” Robert De Niro declared in October shortly after taking the witness stand in a Manhattan federal court showdown with his longtime ex-assistant.
Yet the Oscar-winning thespian admitted that his former employee Chase Robinson did tell the truth in part of her lawsuit accusing him of being a terrible boss who subjected her to years of unwanted touching, abusive language and demeaning misogynistic tasks.
The “Raging Bull’’ star, 80, confessed that he did in fact force Robinson, likely twice, to scratch his back instead of using a back-scratcher — but only when he had an itch in a spot he couldn’t reach.
“OK, twice? You got me!” fumed De Niro, who was dressed in a dark gray polo shirt and navy blazer.
“It was never done with any disrespect,” the ornery actor added.
De Niro’s testimony also revealed some of the ways the legendary actor’s life is slightly different than that of the average New Yorker.
He admitted it was possible he once asked Robinson to Uber him a “particular martini” from the upscale Nobu sushi lounge — which he co-owns — at 11 p.m.
He also insisted that he was “never abusive” toward Robinson – but conceded he may have called her a “f–king spoiled brat” after he missed an appointment because she didn’t wake him up.
“I was upset,” he said. “She didn’t wake me up and made me miss this thing in Malibu.”
Jurors ultimately ordered De Niro’s company to shell out $1.2 million after finding his company liable for gender discrimination and retaliation.
7. ‘Donald Trump raped me,’ E. Jean Carroll tells jurors
E. Jean Carroll can “still feel” the pain nearly three decades after a sexual encounter with Donald Trump inside a changing room in a posh Midtown department store, she told jurors in Manhattan federal court in April.
The 79-year-old advice columnist choked up several times on the witness stand while recounting how Trump shoved and pinned her against a wall, pulled her tights down and forced his fingers inside her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996.
“I regretted this about a hundred times,” Carroll said, after her lawyer asked if she wished she hadn’t come forward with her claims.
“But in the end,” she continued, as tears streamed down her face, “being able to get my day in court finally is everything to me.”
Carroll testified that she has not had sex or been involved in any romantic relationships since her alleged encounter with Trump. She was then asked why her love life was non-existent.
“The short answer is because Donald Trump raped me,” she responded.
Jurors ultimately cleared Trump of the rape claim, but awarded Carroll $5 million after finding him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
The former president called the verdict a “disgrace” and claimed he has “no idea” who Carroll was.
6. Sam Bankman-Fried’s total ‘I Don’t Recall’ on the witness stand
Days before Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial was set to begin, one veteran financial crimes attorney issued the fallen crypto prince a word of caution — be wary of taking the stand.
Bankman-Fried’s “ego” could “lead him to unwisely make the choice to testify in his own defense,” ex-US Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Howard Fischer told the Post.
“If that happens, I think that will probably help the prosecution,” Fischer added.
Perhaps Bankman-Fried should have heeded that advice.
Testifying over four days, Bankman-Fried claimed more than 100 times that he could “not recall” aspects of his alleged heist of $10 billion in customer funds at his crypto exchange — or his repeated public pledges that his platform was “safe” to use.
The cocky math whiz was then confronted with a mountain of evidence revealing that he did in fact say dozens of things he claimed not to remember.
After a month-long-trial, a Manhattan federal jury deliberated for just four hours — securing a free pizza dinner for staying past their normal sitting time — before convicting the 32-year-old tech mogul on all seven fraud and conspiracy charges he’d faced.
He’s due to be sentenced next year and could spend the rest of his days behind bars.
5. ‘Surreal’ spectacle unfolds as Trump faces historic criminal indictment
“Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME,” Donald Trump posted from his motorcade in April as he made his way toward a lower Manhattan courthouse to face the first-ever criminal charges filed against a former US president.
“Can’t believe this is happening in America,” he added.
Hours later, a stone-faced Trump, 77, slouched at the defense table inside Manhattan Supreme Court where he was arraigned on state charges that he illegally orchestrated payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal so that the women would keep quiet about their alleged affairs with him in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
The usually vocal ex-president entered and exited the 15th-floor courtroom without uttering a word and kept silent during the hourlong hearing — except for one moment.
“Not guilty,” Trump told Judge Juan Merchan in a firm voice when asked to enter a plea to the falsifying business records charges.
4. Disgraced gynecologist’s victims confront him at sentencing hearing
As part of a three-day sentencing hearing in June and July, nearly a dozen of depraved doctor Robert Hadden’s victims described the toll his abuse took on their lives.
“Robert Hadden is a sexual predator disguised in a white coat,” said one woman, using the pseudonym Emily Anderson, in Manhattan federal court on June 28.
Hadden, 64, was convicted in January of luring women to travel across state lines so he could abuse them during his tenure at prestigious Big Apple hospitals associated with Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian.
Before doling out a 20-year sentence, Judge Richard Berman said he’s never before seen such an “outrageous, horrific, beyond extraordinary, depraved” case — noting that at least 245 women reported being abused by Hadden.
The disgraced doctor sobbed near the end of the sentencing hearing — telling the court there was “much I’d like to say” but that his attorneys had advised him to keep his statement short.
“I’m very sorry for all the pain that I have caused,” he said through tears.
3. Married Manhattan architect outed as alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer
The deaths of four women found wrapped in camouflaged burlap within days of each other in 2010 on Gilgo Beach, Long Island had remained cold cases until police made a stunning arrest in July.
Rex Heuermann, 59, a married architect at a Manhattan firm and a father-of-two, was charged with three of the grisly murders — and named as the prime suspect in a fourth — after police said that DNA from his discarded pizza crust matched a sample recovered from the hair of one of the victims.
Heuermann showed no signs of emotion at his arraignment in a Riverhead, Long Island courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and other charges.
At another court appearance in September, he sported a comb-over that he received in jail while speaking briefly to confirm that he had been able to review certain evidence turned over by prosecutors in custody.
No trial date has been set for the alleged serial killer, but he’s due back in court on Feb. 6.
2. Santos holds court as only he can after Long Island fraud bust
“All right! We made it here. Look at this!” then-Rep. George Santos said in May after traversing a crush of news cameras to reach a podium set up outside the Central Islip federal courthouse where he’d just pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges.
“I know that everyone has questions. I know that everyone has been waiting for the moment for me to come out and talk to you guys,” continued the Long Island Republican, wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses and a navy blue jacket over a sweater.
Santos, 35, then declared that charges he used $50,000 in campaign money to buy designer suits and other goodies — and that he bilked the government out of nearly $25,000 in COVID unemployment benefits despite earning a $120,000 salary — were part of a “witch hunt” against him.
“I’m going to fight my battle, I’m going to deliver….I’m going to fight the witch hunt, I’m going to take care of clearing my name and I look forward to doing that,” he said.
The fact-challenged pol then took questions for the next eight minutes — denying that he was “stressed” by the allegations and at one point noting aloud that, “This has been an experience, you know, for a book, or something like that.”
He flung his hands in the air when a reporter asked him whether he thought he’d win re-election in the Long Island district where as of that time he planned to stay on the ballot.
“That’s not for me to know,” Santos said. “That’s up to the people, and I trust them to decide what’s best.”
Alas, we’ll never know. Santos abandoned plans to run again after a damning House Ethics Committee report was released in November, and was expelled from Congress weeks later.
1. Trump’s ‘Perry Mason’ moment goes off the rails
Donald Trump, an apparent fan of courtroom dramas, claimed in October that his attorneys had unearthed a “Perry Mason” moment during his $250 million civil fraud trial — in a reference to the famous TV show where a lawyer theatrically frees the wrongfully accused.
But after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron didn’t throw out the case, and downplayed the importance of the moment, Trump stormed out of the courtroom — in a move that seemed to surprise even his own lawyers.
The dramatic afternoon kicked off with Trump being called to the witness stand for a surprise hearing over whether he’d breached a court order preventing him from disparaging the judge’s lead law clerk.
Trump denied he was speaking about Engoron’s clerk Allison Greenfield when he griped to reporters earlier in the day that “a person who is very partisan” was sitting “alongside” the judge.
Trump claimed instead that he was talking about his ex-fixer Michael Cohen, who had been testifying at the time.
But Cohen had been sitting farther away from the judge and separated by a wooden barrier, while Greenfield was sitting right next to Engoron.
“I find the witness is not credible,” Engoron declared shortly after the 45th president left the stand — imposing a $10,000 fine for breaching the order.
Trump stormed out of the room an hour later and shortly after Cohen admitted on the stand that his former boss had not explicitly “directed” him to inflate the value of his assets at the core of the suit.
Instead, Cohen clarified later, Trump was like a “mob boss” who “tells you what he wants without specifically telling you.”
Trump’s lawyers cut off Cohen’s testimony to make a motion for Engoron to toss the case.
When that effort was rejected, Trump muttered “unbelievable, unbelievable” to himself, stood up and walked out of the room — as US Secret Service agents and his son Eric Trump scurried after him.
But Trump was back in the room for a closed-door meeting with the judge and attorneys in the case around an hour later — after Engoron explained why he found that Trump’s bid to toss the case was “absolutely denied.”
Cohen is not considered a “key witness” in the suit, which includes lots of other files and testimony as evidence, Engoron argued.
“This case has evidence, credible or not, all over the place,” the judge said, adding: “There’s enough evidence to fill this courtroom.”
Closing arguments are set for January.
Happy New Year — and see you back in court in 2024.
