The Rise and Fall of the Monster

The next and final meeting with Brandon took place on his next court date of Sept. 26, a cloudless Friday. Brandon and Monzon had just come from McDonald's, where Brandon again ordered the Southern-style chicken biscuits. "My last meal," he joked without smiling.

In dark sunglasses and a woolly beard, he gave a quick hug hello, revealing a still-skeletal frame beneath his long-sleeved white button-down shirt. He hadn't received any of the reporter's communications, he said with a shrug.

As for where he'd been, he said he was still using, and that he'd been "running around, running away from myself, I guess." He had seen Monzon just three times since the last court date, and never spent the night at their home.

Brandon looked fresher than he had a month ago and seemed slightly more relaxed. "I'm not nearly as spun out as I was last month," he said. "I've slowed down, but I'm still nervous." Because he again believed he might be taken into custody after the hearing, he had organized his belongings and taken care of last items of business. "It sucks. It sucks being where I'm at," he said. "Looking in the mirror, I tell myself, Just put the needle down. Walk away and walk over to Marcos. It doesn't happen."

Brandon's legal problems seemed only to exacerbate his addiction. "With so much turmoil, it gives me relief from my head," he said. Then he said he had to go, and started up the concrete staircase to the courthouse.

The former porn star walked inside and over to a garbage can, where he discarded his iced tea. What he didn't know was that an undercover cop in a Hawaiian shirt was lying in wait.

As Brandon headed for the security line, the cop made his move. Over just a few short seconds, the officer whipped out a pair of cuffs, closed in, pushed Brandon up against the wall, and bound his wrists. Brandon's jaw was tensed in panic as the cop dragged him past the security check and out an emergency door, setting off a loud alarm.

Upstairs in the courthouse, the judge called for Brandon, and Monzon — who had wandered up in the hope that his partner might still make his hearing — called out from his seat. "They took him," he told the judge. "He was on his way here and they took him."

The judge considered issuing a bench warrant, then laughed: "He's in custody here, so what do I have to bench warrant him for?" He rescheduled the hearing for Tuesday, Sept. 30.

When Monzon learned Brandon would be locked up for the weekend, he quickly left the courthouse, made some calls, and learned that Brandon had been arrested on a new drug possession charge. The SFPD released no other details, though it's conceivable that Brandon will now face four felony charges.

If Monzon wants to get his partner out of jail, he'll have to come up with $5,000 of Brandon's $50,000 bail. He isn't sure he's ready to do that just yet. "I might leave him in there for a week or so," he said. "How do I know this won't happen again?"

Though Michael Brandon won't like it, jail may be the only place where he can battle the monster within.

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