Treatment instead of trial. A sealed record if you comply. It's California's most empathetic criminal justice law — and possibly its most exploitable one. We investigate who it's helping, who's gaming it, and whether AB 46 can fix it.

On March 11, 2026, ZeroDarkTony revived a familiar threat: subpoenas to unmask anonymous critics. He framed it as his “Sixth Amendment right” and claimed only guilty people would fear it. But the courts already tested that theory. In this episode of Hero Not Zero, Zoey and Cody rewind to the 2025 subpoena battle in Willens v. D’Amato, where sweeping information demands targeted non-party commentators and ZDT critics including Dodge Landesman, True Crime with Nora, Scientology Audit and HeroLightCody. With Mindy Willens and attorney Merritt McKeon pushing back, a motion to quash turned into a legal woodchipper—chewing up the subpoenas, exposing Tony’s own livestream threats, and ending in sanctions for ZDT's attorney Steven Tamer.

What happens when a criminal case results in a conviction — and later vanishes from public search?

In this episode, we review Los Angeles court records related to a 2018 domestic violence prosecution involving Anthony D’Amato, known online as ZeroDarkTony. Using sworn declarations and docket entries, we walk through the timeline of the case, the plea, the sentence, and the eventual dismissal under California law.

We also examine how expungement works, what remains visible to law enforcement, and what may not appear in common background checks.

This episode is based entirely on verified sources, court filings, and public records.