Day 15 of the Alexander Brothers trial moved between two very different kinds of evidence. The morning focused on the continued cross-examination of the FBI’s forensic accountant. Defense attorneys pressed the agent over the way the government presented the brothers’ communications, arguing that the charts shown to the jury left out messages that reflected a friendly dynamic. They pointed specifically to a May 2008 email in which the accuser sent Oren Alexander a link to “The Four Hour Workweek,” a well-known lifestyle and productivity blog by Tim Ferriss. The defense suggested that by omitting exchanges like that, the government created a selective narrative and concealed evidence they say points to a consensual relationship.
In the afternoon, the jury heard from “Chloe Hudson,” who described what she said was a 2009 encounter in Aspen in which she was drugged and assaulted by Oren Alexander. Her testimony detailed the events of that night and its aftermath. During cross-examination, the defense began challenging her credibility, drawing attention to what they characterized as an initially flirtatious relationship with Oren and the fact that she waited eleven years before coming forward with her allegations.
What the Witnesses Said
Deleassa Penland (FBI Forensic Accountant): The defense attorneys for all three brothers took turns dismantling the government’s summary charts, arguing that they were deliberately curated to exclude exculpatory evidence. They pointed to numerous instances where friendly, non-incriminating messages were omitted, and where the government’s timeline was based on witness testimony rather than hard metadata. The defense argued that this selective presentation created a false narrative of conspiracy.
Chloe Hudson (Pseudonym): Hudson testified that she met Oren Alexander in Acapulco in 2008 (she was 24 and he was 19), and was immediately attracted to him, engaging in flirtatious online banter for over a year. She then described meeting him in Aspen in December 2009, where she claimed she became unusually intoxicated after just two drinks. Her memory of the night, she said, exists only in “flashes,” including Oren kissing her aggressively, slapping her hand away as she tried to shield her body, being “vigorously washed” in a shower, and finally, being dressed in a “clown costume” and pushed out into the cold.
Anthony Ciccolo (Pseudonym): Hudson’s ex-boyfriend testified that she told him about the Aspen incident in 2020, years after it occurred. He said she described it as a “really traumatic experience” and that she was “crying and very emotional” as she recounted it. On cross-examination, however, he admitted that he didn’t recall her ever using the word “rape” and that she only told him about it after they had broken up.
The ‘Bitches Blog’ and the Judge’s ‘Manifesto’ Comment
A significant portion of the day was dedicated to arguments over the admissibility of a blog titled “Vent On Bitches.” The prosecution sought to introduce the blog as evidence, arguing it was analogous to a “manifesto” that revealed the defendants’ misogynistic mindset and intent. The judge, in a striking comparison, likened the blog to “jihadist literature” that would be admitted in a terrorism case to show the defendants’ ideology.
The defense vehemently objected, arguing that the blog’s inflammatory and prejudicial content, including post titles like “Gay son or dike daughter” and “When it’s proper to kill your baby,” would unfairly bias the jury. The judge ultimately ruled that some of the more inflammatory content should be redacted, but allowed the blog to be admitted as evidence of the conspiracy.
The jury was shown several exhibits from the “Vent on Bitches” blog, starting with the “About Me” section. This section described the site as being “written by a collection of 10 of the gnarliest guys you’ve ever seen from both coasts” and pledged to “keep it as real as possible.” The stated purpose was to provide advice to men on “dealing with women” and to women on “when to shut the fuck up and how to dress and how to groom your sausage wallets.” The section ended with a vulgar and misogynistic tirade directed at any readers who might object to the content.
Two specific blog posts were read aloud in court. The first, titled “cum dumping,” graphically described a sexual act and was linked to an email exchange between Alon and Oren Alexander. The second post, titled “How they wake up,” contrasted the feelings of the men and women the morning after a sexual encounter, stating the women would feel “violated, used, low self-esteem, the works,” while the men would be “laughing all the way into the night, repeating quotes from the night like ‘spread em bitch spread em’.” This quote was significant as it was also heard in a video that was part of the evidence presented to the jury.
