In Case of Hollywood Screenwriter Philip Levens Against His Wife, the Critical Witness Was Secretly Working With Husband

[Philip Levens contacted me about these stories  Smallville Screenwriter Got Wife Sent to Prison – But Was He a Wife-Beating Scoundrel and a Criminal?  and  Did Kamala Harris Help Alleged Wife Beater Philip Levens Put His Wife Unjustly in Jail?.  He said they were false and libelous. I invited him to speak on the record. He said he would get back to me after consulting with his lawyer. There is a standing offer for him to speak on the record about this case. Here is the third article in the series:]

Frank Report is looking into the case of Kassandra Levens, a woman convicted of soliciting a man to commit serious bodily harm on her well-known screenwriter husband, Philip Levens.

Kassandra said Philip beat her up to the point of her fleeing their home, but that she never solicited anyone to hurt Philip physically.

At her 2013 trial, the jury did not buy it. But the jury did not hear all the evidence either.  She may be guilty – or this may be a miscarriage of justice.

Philip and Kassandra had two children together – both pre-teens today. They were around 3 and 4 – a boy and a girl – when the events that led to Kassandra’s imprisonment occurred.

Today, the father, Philip, has full custody of both children. Kassandra is not permitted to visit them but does have the right to see them on Skype calls of 10 minutes duration, three times per week.

Is Kassandra the Villain?

Kassandra was convicted of soliciting a man named Gary Mazel to do serious bodily harm to her husband.  A jury convicted her of that but acquitted her of the more serious charge of solicitation of murder.  Kassandra claims she was set up by her husband Philip.

Did Kassandra solicit Mazel to injure Philip?

Or was Philip the master manipulator – who got Mazel to set up his wife – and keep his children?

The answer lies in Mazel – who got immunity in the trial against Kassandra.

He seems to have gotten a sweetheart plea deal in return for testifying against Kassandra.  It seems Mazel on his own [without prompting from Kassandra] threatened Philip’s life.

The District Attorney in the case chose not to hammer him for this.  Instead of being charged with a felony, and prison, Mazel got offered a short stint in drug rehab and, of course, the requirement to testify against Kassandra.

It troubles me that the police detective who handled Mazel and Kassandra’s cases was a good enough friend of Philip’s to attend his recent wedding to actress Carolyn Stotesbery.

And Philip’s friend, and long-time lawyer, Marci Levine, has a brother who works at the District Attorney’s office. This brother just happened to oversee the prosecution against Kassandra.

Then enter Philip’s friend, the famous James Duff, the writer of the Closer and Major Crimes, whose reputation for having friends in law enforcement in Hollywood is legendary. Duff figures into this somehow. Or maybe he doesn’t really.

Maybe Mazel just pulled Duff’s name out of his hat.

Did James Duff help Philip Levens get law enforcement to take action against Kassandra? Or was Gary Mazel lying? Whether true or not, Mazel, the man in the middle of this, the man pretending to be Kassandra’s friend and protector, when he was actually trying to set her up to solicit the murder of Philip, refers to Duff as the godfather of Philip’s children.

It is clear, by the way, that Mazel never had any intention of hurting Philip on Kassandra’s behalf. Though he threatened to hurt Philip on his own behalf.

As far as Kassandra is concerned, it is clear that Mazel was part of an entrapment effort.

Mazel was talking to Philip and Philip’s father before her arrest. There were discussions about who would pay him – Philip or his father.

Of course, Mazel did not let Kassandra know he was talking to Philip and his dad.

Mazel told Kassandra he was protecting her and her children from the savage beatings of Philip and from Philip’s child molestation of one of the children, which Kassandra alleged.

Who’s the liar, Philip or Kassandra?

***

Gary Mazel is the whole key to this case. Mazel clearly knew Philip.  He was in regular communication with Philip, planning and setting up this entrapment scheme.

It seems when Philip would not pay Mazel the fee he expected, Mazel was stupid enough to threaten him on the phone leaving a recorded voice message.

Mazel, the man who Kassandra supposedly solicited to kill her husband, seems to be angry that he has not been paid by Philip.  So he threatens him – not as Kassandra’s urging.

Kassandra does not even know that Mazel – her supposed protector – is talking to Philip. While she is hiding in a domestic abuse shelter and meeting with Mazel, he is not only speaking with Philip, he is being paid by Philip and evidently, he does not think he is being paid enough.

Here is a voice message Mazel left on Friday, February 22^nd, 2013 at 2:43 pm [from 310-531-6570]

Gary Mazel says:

Philip, since you don’t give a shit about my life or anything or my son’s life, ya know what, I’m gonna go ahead and give those people that have been talking to me. If I give them your address, what times you work, who you work with, your partner, I’m gonna give them your mother’s name, your father’s name. I’m gonna give them everything and then you can say, ‘Oh my gosh, what do I do?”

Maybe I can file an injunction on (unintelligible ) You know that? That’s the kind of fucking rap. I’m giving them all your information, everything I know about you. Every (unintelligible) your friend the (tv show) the Closer [James Duff] that called Parker Center for you. You little bitch. We’ll see, if you don’t give a shit about my life then. Don’t call me for help.

***

A little later, Mazel calls again and leaves this voicedmail:

[Unintelligible] fucking wife-beating child molesting mother fucker. Oh yeah. I got it all fucking [unintelligible] your little fucking idiots and your buddy over at the Closer [tv show]. Fuck him too, cause you know what, you’re on his fucking program with the detectives and all the favors that are called in.

Ya know, remember what you told me (unintelligible) that I recorded. ‘Oh, so … their [the children’s] godfather’s the creator of the Closer and he’s my best friend.’  Ya know, I did my fucking homework too, you fucking mullet. You’re a fucking nothing, and you’re gonna be nothing when I’m done.

Okay, so fucking what the fuck. You want to deal – your father’s a fucking (unintelligible) fucking piece of shit also. And everybody you fucking know are (unintelligible) good piece of shit also. I know how LA works now. Your father will be free, your children are (unintelligible) You’re drinking while your kids are fucking missing. You’re at a birthday party drinking fucking alcohol while they were missing. You don’t think I have that recorded. The $100 you paid me per fucking day to come to family court. The only reason you wanted them (unintelligible) so you don’t have to pay child support or alimony, and just so you can rub it in her face. You don’t give two shits about your kids (unintelligible)

Well, guess what, I don’t give two shit about you. I care about nothing. I hope you die a slow fucking death because you know what, if not I’ll make sure you fucking do one way or another, okay. You get cancer, you know people get beat all the fucking time mother fucker.

People don’t know how they get AID but they get AIDS. (Unintelligible) suck their cock or take it in the ass. Maybe that’s how you’re gonna get AIDS.

One way or another you will (unintelligible) die a slow fucking death – if I have any heightened way with God that he can put that on you. That’s (unintelligible) fucking happen. Trust and believe motherfucker you are dying and your father’s dying too. Okay. And your little fucking writer buddy friends and all the shit you pulled in family court. I saw how you really fucked her. Later, bitch.

***

So, Mazel is angry. He did not get the money he wanted from Philip. He seems to say that Philip used his friendship with Duff to get influence with law enforcement. Mazel claims Philip said Duff was the children’s ‘godfather.’

In addition, he says Philip is a child molester and he really “fucked” his wife over.  And he threatens [sort of] to kill Philip – perhaps by giving him AIDS.

Of course, Mazel sounds like a lunatic. He sounds like he is on drugs. If I got a call like that, I would know I was dealing with an imbecilic weakling lunatic and would probably do what Philip did – have him arrested.

But Philip also used Mazel to testify against his wife. This same maniac who threatened to kill him.

For some reason, Mazel’s death threats against Philip were forgiven. He did not go to prison for this threat or any other thing he did.

Instead, Mazel was dressed up nicely and presented at court as the star witness against Kassandra. He was granted immunity. He was spared prison. In return, he testified that Kassandra wanted him to kill Philip.  He did not admit how closely he was working with Philip.

Mazel testified that when he told Kassandra [falsely] that Philip was dead, she gave him a blow job as a reward, then went off to Disney Land to celebrate with her children.

Kassandra said this was a lie. She said she fled from the house with her children and was living in a domestic abuse home. Kassandra claimed Philip beat her savagely and repeatedly.

She said she never asked Mazel to kill Philip and when she learned about it [Mazel lied and told her Philip was dead], she was in shock.

Philip denied ever beating her.  Although he was arrested once for allegedly beating one wife, Urzula [he’s had at least four wives] and, again, he was almost arrested for allegedly beating Kassandra.

There are police reports that show Kassandra called police on him for allegedly beating her. He left the house. She did not press charges.

Kassandra sustained an injury to her eye that caused physicians to have to remove it and replace it back in the socket.

Kassandra said Philip punched her.  Philip said her eye ran into a doorknob.

In either event, Philip’s alleged beatings of Kassandra were not admissible in court in her trial.

And, somehow, Philip’s true relationship with Mazel was not admitted into evidence at court either.

Any way you slice this – and Kassandra might be guilty or innocent – Gary Mazel was the star witness for the prosecution. A woman and mother went to jail for solicitation based on his testimony – and she lost her children.

The jury did not know – even if the DA and the police did – that Mazel was a drug addict who threatened Philip – and was charged, then told that if he testified against Kassandra, he would go free.

A woman lost her kids, went to jail, and had her life ruined – all based on Gary Mazel’s testimony.

Still, even if Mazel is a scoundrel, Kassandra might be guilty. Maybe she did seek out Mazel and wanted him to kill Philip.

Maybe Mazel ingratiated himself into this desperate women’s life and kept suggesting she do something to get Philip out of the way.  He made the suggestion knowing all along he was going to tell Philip and Philip’s friendly detective.

Maybe she did agree.

Or maybe it was all a setup.  A total lie by Mazel.  Maybe once he got caught threatening Philip, he had to say whatever he was told to say to convict Kassandra – the target.

Maybe Kassandra is the victim. No one else seems to see it this way. The jury didn’t.  But then again, the jury didn’t see the full evidence concerning Mazel.  They didn’t see the real Mazel. The guy who worked with Philip for money to destroy his wife, and mother of his children. The Mazel who turned against Philip, but seems to have been brought back again to Philip’s side, not with money, but with the threat of prison.

To be fair, if Mazel urged Kassandra 1,000 times to let him kill her husband [as part of the entrapment scheme paid for by Philip with helpful friendly detectives and a friendly DA standing by] – and if even once she said “it would be good if Philip disappeared” – so she and her children would be free – if she even agreed to it once – she is guilty.

Even if Philip paid a thug to entrap Kassandra into agreeing to put a [fake] hit on Philip – there is no excuse for that.

But what if Mazel just plain lied?

Kassandra claims she was brutalized by Philip for years and ran to hide from his beatings. She had no money. She stayed at a domestic abuse shelter. She had no family either.

Along comes Mazel, a tough guy, who says he’ll protect her from Philip’s fists, she claims.

Meantime, unknown to her, Mazel is secretly working with Philip. And their plan is to get her to say anything remotely connected to “I want him hurt.”

Even if she did not say it, even if she never said she wanted Philip hurt, Mazel, who was being paid by Philip, might have made up something.

Either way, it worked.

Mazel might lie to get out of trouble for his own crime.  Knowing he had immunity, he said Kassandra gave him a blow job after she got the news.

Perhaps Mazel is too ethical a person to lie to save himself if it meant putting an innocent and battered woman in prison. But what if Mazel [and Philip too] is not that ethical?

If so, Kassandra Leven’s life was destroyed based on a lie.

She lost her children. She said her husband beat the fuck out of her.  One time she said he punched her so hard that two weeks later she had a miscarriage. [They would have had three children, not two].

But now she does not have any children – except for three times a week for 10 minutes on Skype.

It may have been Kassandra who first met Mazel.  But it is clear Philip coopted this gent to destroy her once and for all and get the children, while she languished in jail.

In the end, the trial made Kassandra Levens a convicted felon.

Mazel went free after his testimony.

Philip went on to more success as a screenwriter, has full custody of his children, and just last week, he married a beautiful and rich actress from a wealthy family.

Kassandra served 13 months in jail and is now free. She can view her children for 10 minutes on Skype three times a week.  Perhaps that’s all she deserves.

One question I have is why wasn’t the jury fully informed about the true relationship between Philip and Mazel? Would that have changed their view about Mazel’s veracity on the stand?

If they had known how closely Philip and Mazel worked to set up Kassandra, would that have changed the outcome?

Perhaps the answer lies in Gary Mazel.

Even if he does know, would a man like him tell the truth?

Most people – especially those who know Mazel – would be doubtful.

Yet, he was the man who sent Kassandra Levens to prison and deprived of her children.

He and her husband, Philip – they sent her to prison.

Now, the only question that remains is did Kassandra fall for the setup? Did she actually solicit Mazel in the entrapment scheme?

Or is she a total patsy, who lost all by the deft lying and powerful connections of a scheming husband and a dirtbag scum bucket – in Los Angeles, California?

Time may tell.

Frank Parlato