October 1989

Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker trial.

Stuart S. Huseby is the court reporter.

Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker created The PTL Club in the 1970's. By the early 1980s, the Bakkers had built Heritage USA in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which at the time was the third most successful theme park in the US, and a satellite system to distribute their network 24 hours a day across the country. Contributions requested from viewers were estimated to exceed $1 million each week. PTL's fund raising activities between 1984–1987 underwent scrutiny by The Charlotte Observer newspaper, eventually leading to criminal charges against Jim Bakker.

Following a 16-month Federal grand jury probe, Bakker was indicted in 1988 on eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Robert Potter sentenced Jim Bakker to 45 years in prison, saying, "Those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests."

December 1990

Jim and Tammy Bakker civil trial.

Jim Bakker was found liable for over $129 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by contributors to his former religious organization, PTL Ministry. The civil suit, which had sought $757 million when it was filed in 1987, charged that Mr. Bakker conspired with other PTL officials and accountants to set up secret bank accounts to give Mr. Bakker, his wife, Tammy, and other PTL leaders huge bonuses. Mr. Bakker, who did not appear at the civil trial, was convicted of fraud in connection with the bankrupt PTL organization and served a 45-year prison sentence. The plaintiffs in the suit were 145,000 major contributors to PTL, known as lifetime partners, who were told that for their donations they would be entitled to spend some vacations once a year at PTL's Heritage USA religious theme park at Fort Mill, S.C. But court evidence showed that Mr. Bakker sold far more of these partnerships than the park's accommodations could have fulfilled.

1996

Huseby forms Net Court, a transcript agent designed to facilitate the distribution of transcripts in high profile trials to the media.

Net Court became famous during the OJ Simpson trial in September of 1996. Other high profile trials include Ted Kaczynski, also known as the "Unabomber", and Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.

January 1996

Murder trial in the death of Michael Jordan's father.

Steve Huseby is the court reporter.

Daniel Andre Green and Larry Martin Demery didn't realize who lay dead in the passenger seat of the car they had just stolen until a half-hour after they shot the man. Green was driving the stolen vehicle, a cherry-red Lexus, and Demery was in the back seat behind the body. They pulled off a rural highway onto a dirt road and stopped so they could rummage through the glove compartment and the driver's personal belongings. Green reached for the wallet of the dead man and pulled out his driver's license. He turned to Demery and said, "I believe we killed Michael Jordan's dad."

James Jordan, driving home to Charlotte from a funeral, pulled off the road to sleep and became the victim of "a random act of violence" by two local men who "conspired to commit armed robbery," the prosecutor said.

After they realized who their victim was, Green and Demery considered dumping the body in a vat at a waste-treatment plant so it would dissolve, but the facility was locked. They eventually dumped Jordan's body in a swamp just over the South Carolina border, where it was found two weeks later by a fisherman, the prosecutor said.

Both were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

August 1998

Broussard vs. Meineke trial.

Joye Huseby is the court reporter.

Ten owners of Meineke Discount Muffler franchises sued franchisor Meineke Discount Muffler Shops, Inc. ("Meineke"), claiming that Meineke's handling of franchise advertising breached the Franchise and Trademark Agreements that Meineke had entered into with every franchisee. Plaintiffs also sought tort and statutory unfair trade practices claims arising out of the same conduct. The plaintiff-franchisees purported to advance these claims on behalf of a nationwide class of current and former Meineke dealers. Plaintiffs won a $390 million judgment against Meineke and its affiliated parties.

January 1999

Loomis Fargo Bank heist.

The Loomis Fargo Bank heist was a $20 million robbery of the Charlotte, North Carolina, regional office vault of Loomis Fargo & Company on October 4, 1997, by armored car driver and vault supervisor David Scott Ghantt. An FBI criminal investigation (which became international in scope) ultimately resulted in the arrest and conviction of eight people directly involved in the heist. All but one of the defendants plead guilty. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation for several relatives to 11 years and three months in federal prison for Steve Chambers. The only defendant to not plead guilty, Chambers' attorney Jeff Guller, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to eight years in prison. The defendants became the targets of jokes in Charlotte and across the country, in part because of their extravagant spending. For a time, it was nicknamed "the hillbilly heist" because nearly all of the major players in the case came from small towns around Charlotte.

June 1999

Swann vs. Board of Education.

Scott A. Huseby, Sr. is the court reporter. He was an Official Court Reporter for United States District Court Western District of North Carolina.

In 1997, a parent, William Capacchione, sued the school system when his daughter was denied entrance into a magnet school for the second time based on her race. Judge Robert D. Potter declared the mandate of a unitary system had been met and lifted the court order on mandatory busing by race or ethnicity, even though the school system opposed the end of busing. Judge Potter's ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia in 2000. After the final appeal was declined to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, federal order of busing was ended in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and it was left in the hands of the city school board to decide how to redo the assignment policy for school attendance.