The confrontation this past July 7 between Lena Hess and the family of her deceased husband, Dennis Hess, was an alternately awkward and

heartbreaking scene.

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The hearing, which took place before Circuit Judge Abe Shafer, was to determine whether to grant orders of protection filed by Lena against Dennis' daughters, Michelle Cerruti and Audra Wyatt, and his grandson, Kris Lane. Lena came with her attorney, Robert Arnold. Cerruti, Wyatt and Lane had no legal representation and chose to wing it, with mixed results.

The source of the dispute was a commotion that occurred at Dennis' funeral, which according to Arnold caused Lena to "fear for her safety." Arnold also cited a veiled threat, attributed to Lane and directed toward Lena, that appeared on a message board that exploded with comments shortly after Dennis' death.

Lena took the stand in a black skirt, sandals and a zebra-print top. Her hair looked unwashed, provoking unkind whispers from Dennis' supporters in attendance. Prompted by Arnold, she spoke about finding her husband dead on June 15, and about the day of his funeral.

Lena said she'd set up a display at the White Chapel Funeral Home in Dennis' honor: his $500 cowboy boots, a bottle of Crown Royal Special Reserve and a pack of Camel cigarettes. "These three," she said, motioning to the respondents' table, where Cerruti, Wyatt and Lane sat, "drank all the liquor and took all of Dennis' belongings." But she was never able to provide any evidence to back up those accusations.

Lena left before the end of the funeral service but testified that she heard that Lane tore down a poster depicting her and Dennis that was also on display. "He [Dennis] would not have been proud of how any of them acted that day," Lena said, provoking laughter from Dennis' supporters in the gallery.

"This is not a theater," Judge Shafer admonished.

Lena went on to say that nine Gladstone cops showed up to the funeral to calm the "riot." The funeral home director and his employees called the scene "the best form of white trash they'd seen displayed in their life," she said.

As for the internet thread regarding Dennis' death, Lena said it contained a message from Lane that read, "that he's a good shot and I'll see what's coming to me -- something to that effect." Lena said she'd turned over the printouts of the thread to the Platte County Sheriff's Department.

Judge Shafer asked why Lena was afraid of Lane. She was silent for several moments before answering, "His immaturity." She said that Lane's mother had recently died, he'd only just met his real, biological father, and now, with his grandfather's death, "he could possibly be a ticking time bomb."

Lena told the judge she wanted Lane to stay away from her house, but

Lane is employed at a business adjacent to her Platte City house. Shafer

told her that he would issue a protective order only to keep someone

from a private residence. "I don't issue protective orders against

anyone entering a public business," he said.

When asked why she feared Cerruti and Wyatt, Lena said that Cerruti had torn up her flower arrangements and she'd received "real critical" messages from the sisters. "One was, they wanted my husband's ashes. They said I should be human enough to give them some of the ashes," Lena said.

When it was Cerruti's turn to cross-examine Lena, Cerruti took a spot behind the courtroom's lectern and took a deep breath. The judge warned her to stick to asking questions. 

"You really feel fear from us, and for your child?" Cerruti asked Lena. The subtext was glaringly uncomfortable -- in lieu of the medical examiner's report that later determined Dennis' death to be suicide, here was a daughter confronting the woman who, as far as she was concerned, had killed her father.

"You claim you tried to reach us to plan the funeral," Cerruti went on. "I have telephone records that show you dodged us. We didn't receive a call from you."

She continued. "Don't you think the police would have arrested us at the funeral home if we started a riot? Where's the funeral home director's statement? In the record? Is there a statement from the police regarding this riot?"

Lena answered, "No, because no arrests were made."

Cerruti said, "You called the Gladstone police to be there to cause more drama."

Lena admitted she'd asked the police to be at the service.

"You have a fear of me?" Cerruti asked.

"Yes, and my daughter has been in counseling and told the counselor that she's very upset at how people acted [at the funeral]," Lena said.

"I don't believe that," Cerruti said. The judge reminded her to only ask questions.

"Did you see us take Dennis' belongings?" Cerruti asked. "Who are these other people who say they saw us do these things?"

Lena stammered, "There are enough people involved. They don't want to be involved anymore." Lena then asked the judge for one of her exhibits -- a bookmark passed out at the service, printed with a poem by Dennis' son, Brian Harris, written in memory of his father. "I have to say, this is his son who's sitting up in jail for child pornography," Lena said, with no small amount of satisfaction. She said she was embarrassed to have to explain Harris' identity to the mourners at the funeral, and to her daughter.

"Who'd you have to tell," Cerruti shot back, "when you have 10 people who like you?" With that, she sat down.

Wyatt took the stand, looking thin and careworn. She told the judge she had just one question for Lena: "Why do you fear me? What have I done?"

Lena answered, "When me and Dennis talked about reconciling, you said 'If you go back to that bitch' --"

Wyatt broke in. "What I told my father was that I was afraid for him ... because of the way you've torn him apart all these years." She got momentarily tearful, then recovered. "When I am calling you, as you say, what am I asking for?" Answering her own question, she said, "I asked for my daughter's memory box she made for him [Dennis]."

When it was Lane's turn to defend himself, he told the judge that the worst thing on his criminal record was a speeding ticket. "Now, my name is on Casenet and it looks like I'm a stalker," he said. "[Lena] has said I haven't called her or spoken to her. I work next door to her, yes. She's trying to detriment me so I can't go to work."

Judge Shafer asked Lane if he wrote the comments on the Topix thread about Lena. Lane admitted he had.

Arnold asked Lane, "Where are the boots from the funeral?"

Lane answered, "I have no idea."

Arnold asked, "Why did you write that stuff" on the internet?

Lane said, "Because I was angry and --" Arnold cut him off.

"You asked me a question," Lane protested.

"You answered," Arnold said curtly.

When it was Wyatt's turn to defend herself, she told the judge, "I'm a mother of four and a grandmother of five. I've never had anything on my record, and I'm so embarrassed. ... All I ever did at the funeral was to ask, please put us on the next-of-kin list [for the ashes]."

Arnold asked Wyatt, "You want your stuff back. Calling and constantly begging, isn't that harrassment?"

Emotion choking her voice, Wyatt said, "I'm begging for a piece of my father!"

"No further questions," Arnold said.


Cerruti told the judge that she didn't think he should grant the

protection orders and accused Lena of abusing the judicial system with

her frequent ex-parte filings. "We want nothing to do with this woman,"

Cerruti said. "Unfortunately, we had to be in her life because my

father chose her."

Lena's lawyer objected to Cerruti's speech, but the judge waved him down. "Let her go on," he said.

Cerruti went on to say that Lena had lied to her and to

Dennis, tried to keep Dennis' brothers and sisters from

the funeral, and barred the family from his home. "How could such a

bitter, hardcore woman do that to a man's family?" Cerruti asked. "Sir,

the funeral wasn't supposed to be about her that day."

At the hearing's end, the judge said that the accusations against Cerruti and Wyatt were without merit. Hearing this, the sisters thanked Shafer in unison. "We don't want anything to do with her," Cerruti assured the judge.

Shafer did grant Lena protection against Lane, however. "This lady has proved by your own words that you wrote [something which] she considers to be a threat, and so do I," the judge told Lane. He assured Lane that the order was only a civil charge, but warned that it could become criminal if he violates the terms. Lane was ordered to stay away from Lena's property at 19015 Humphrey Road, his grandfather's old house, until July 7, 2010.

After the hearing, the family and supporters cleared out of the courtroom and let their mixed emotions fill the hall, hugging and chattering, laughing and near-crying.

Inside the courtroom, Lena waited for the hall to clear. She looked very alone.