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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

N.C. Officer Cleared in Deadly Shooting; More Details on Sherri Papini Kidnapping; Georgian Mom Attacked in Home by Strangers; A Tutor Slammed a 7-year-old Boy into a Wall; Taxpayers Paying for Accused Murderer`s Defense. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 30, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[20:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST: Charlotte, North Carolina, bracing for protests tonight after the DA decides not to file charges against that

officer who shot an African-American man who police say refused to drop his gun. The city is asking people to remain calm. But will they?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD (voice-over): The district attorney says a police officer acted lawfully and was justified in killing Keith Lamont Scott. They say Scott

was armed and that DNA on the gun proves it.

More sickening details tonight of what happened to Sherri Papini while in captivity for three weeks. The sheriff says her kidnappers branded her

with an ominous message.

A young mother beaten in a violent home invasion. Surveillance video saves the day, but what the mom did is even more astounding.

A mom says a school tutor threw her 7-year-old son against a wall. He`s in the hospital with a broken jaw and missing teeth. But the tutor tells a

very different story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. It was a decision two months in the making, but the district attorney in Charlotte,

North Carolina, faced the media today and listed all of the reasons why his office will not charge Officer Brentley Vinson with any crime. Officer

Vinson shot and killed an African-American man, much of it caught on this kind of a video, cell phone video, but also dashcam and bodycam.

And it is unforgettable video, Keith Lamont Scott surrounded by police while over and over they yell, Drop the gun, his wife pleading for calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun! Drop the gun!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He doesn`t have a gun! He has a TBI. He`s not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun! (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keith, don`t let them break the windows. Come on out of the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keith, don`t do it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith, don`t you do it! Don`t you do it. Keith! Keith! Keith, don`t you do it!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead. Officer Vinson, also African- American and a two-year veteran of the force, placed on administrative leave. The DA said all credible evidence, including DNA on the grip of the

gun found at the scene, showed that Mr. Scott was, indeed, armed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MURRAY, MECKLENBURG COUNTY DA: Fifteen career prosecutors, and their recommendation was unanimous. The laws that must be considered in

these cases revolve around self-defense. Under state law, an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm allows someone to respond in such a

way as to negate or stop the threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Keith Lamont Scott`s family said that he was simply in his car reading a book as the shooting unfolded. But the police dispute that.

They said they never found a book.

CNN correspondent Brian Todd joins me live now from Charlotte, North Carolina, where police said that they were bracing for protests. And it`s

hard to see behind you, but it looks like some people have turned out. Set the scene, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we will take you around this cordon of journalists here to give you a better look at the protests. There`s a

banner here at the forefront of this lawn (ph) here saying, How do you get away with murder? Become a cop.

I would count these protesters at about -- oh, between 80 and maybe -- I`m say maybe between 60 and 80. They started, Ashleigh, at the police

station, at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police station. They`ve since come a couple of blocks. They say they`re going to go a little bit longer, at

least. So we`re not sure exactly how long they`re going to go.

You know, they want to press their case for justice for Keith Lamont Scott, and they say they`re not going to give up their movement. We heard some of

them giving speeches, raising some doubts as to whether an African-American police officer actually shot Keith Lamont Scott. That was a point of

speculation in the weeks after the shooting.

But the DA says there is no evidence to support anything but the finding that Officer Brentley Vinson, an African-American, shot Keith Lamont Scott.

So they`ve turned around now, Ashleigh. We`re not quite where they`re going to, but we`re going to keep following them.

BANFIELD: So as you do that, Brian, I`m going to try to get a couple of questions in, if you can hear me. And I think the biggest question I have

is I understand how the people who are with you feel. What about the rest of the community? Did this come as a surprise to the greater Charlotte

community, or were people pretty much ready for this decision? What was the mood in the entire city?

[20:05:00]TODD: I get the sense, Ashleigh, that they were ready for this decision and that this was not a total surprise. It had been reported in

"The Charlotte Observer" and other news outlets that some legal analysts said it was unlikely that they were going to bring charges against Officer

Vinson. So you get a sense that this community and this city as a whole probably was ready for this, that it`s not a complete shock to them.

But as for these hardy protesters -- who braved the rain earlier, I have to add, and a tornado warning -- they`re determined to come out here and voice

their displeasure with this decision.

BANFIELD: Yes, the weather looks terrible where you are, Brian, and I did see those tornado warnings so I do hope you`re all being, you know,

cautious. One other quick question before I let you go, and that is this. The DA went to great lengths today over the course of an entire hour to lay

out excruciating detail, moment by moment, of how the DA`s office saw this unfold.

And then the DA said that they met before that. They met this morning with Mr. Scott`s family and that the meeting was cordial and that the Scott

family was gracious. Is that how we get the sense now, or was that their verbiage and it`s a different story when it comes to the family?

TODD: You know, I was not at the family news conference after the DA spoke, but the family did come out and appeal for calm. They of course are

not pleased with this decision. But they also said -- and I heard for the first time a family attorney say, Yes, we can concede that he had a gun on

his person during this. So it seems like the family is at least willing to have a dialogue with the DA`s office, have a dialogue with the police here.

But they are determined to press their case for justice for Keith Scott. And they`re not happy with this. I talked to an NAACP leader tonight.

They`re not happy with this, either. They are going to press for an independent federal investigation of the shooting, and of the North

Carolina Bureau of Investigation, which conducted this investigation, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: OK, stand by, Brian. Keep us posted on what`s happening in Charlotte live as you walk with those protesters tonight.

I want to bring in Anwar Sanders, who`s a new Mexico police officer. He`s very knowledgeable about police procedures, about police shootings, the

investigative process.

Mr. Sanders, thanks so much for being with me. I want to get your take on what you saw play out today, two months of investigation, upwards of 60-

plus different SBI officers working on this, 15 career prosecutors revising all of the findings, and then ultimately this decision. Your feelings?

ANWAR SANDERS, NEW MEXICO POLICE OFFICER: My feelings? First, I want to extend my condolences out to the Scott family, of course. It`s a horrible

time for them.

My feelings are, I trust our democracy. It takes this long for you to get shot, for you to make a decision, are you going to shoot or not shoot, are

you going to go home to see your family, or are you going to wait to see if it`s a real gun or if he`s going to shoot.

So it`s a tough decision, but when you`re in a situation as law a enforcement officer and you`re telling someone to put a gun down and

they`re not doing it, you`re -- you`re stuck between a rock and a hard place, and you have to make a decision.

At the end of the day, I have to trust our democracy, and I do agree with the prosecutors. If you`re telling me that -- I mean, with the attorneys.

If you`re telling me 15, 13 attorneys came together and put their heads together, made this decision, I`m going to trust that decision. And after

seeing the video, the evidence is there.

BANFIELD: And I want to actually play for you, if I can, what the district attorney said about the number of SBI agents and the number of man-hours

that they put into this case. After all, it took two months, but there were a lot of man-hours within that two months. So here`s how the DA --

you know, how he phrased it for those who are watching today. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: I`m asking that as we move forward, we remind ourselves that in these cases, we should not jump to conclusions until we have all of the

facts. I want this community to know that I would not hesitate to prosecute an officer whom evidence showed acted outside the law. And in

fact, we have.

In this case, there were 63 SBI agents called in from around the state to do the investigation, with over 2,300 hours of their time to do this

investigation. That`s a quarter of the entire SBI. That`s how important this case was. That`s the time (ph) they put on. But that doesn`t happen

overnight. So that`s why I`m asking the community to take a collective pause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Mr. Sanders, really quickly, what is Officer Vinson supposed to expect now? Will he be back on the force within a matter of days? Will he

be back tomorrow? What`s his safety like? Is there some reintegration process for him? What happens to this officer now that he`s been cleared?

SANDERS: Well, first let me touch on what the agent said, or the -- in that statement just now. I have to agree with him. It`s time for us --

they told us about all these hours they put into this investigation. Let`s pause for a second and say, OK, our system is at work. They did their job.

[20:10:00]But I think more than anything else, what we`re seeing here is people using this verdict as a vehicle to drive home this momentum of the

Black Lives Matter movement and of this perceived threat of black men and of racism in America. I feel like it`s more that movement is what`s still

going on, is black people are more likely to be shot. That`s the movement, and that`s what I`m starting to really see more and more of in relation to

this.

As far as the officer returning to work, I have no idea. I couldn`t speak on what his department`s SOPs are, their policies, or when he is fit back

to go to work. Obviously, he still has to be cleared through his department`s internal affairs to make sure he didn`t do anything to violate

his policies and procedures within his department.

And then, you know, you have that whole other factor of retaliation. Now, am I going to be safe on the streets? Is there -- you know, we`re seeing

these ambushes on officers happening more and more and more. And obviously, that`s a fear of all the officers in the country.

So now that`s something that he has to -- he needs to question himself. Like, Hey, am I ready to go back to work in this area?

BANFIELD: Anwar Sanders, thank you for your input. We`re going to continue to watch as Brian Todd continues to cover what`s happening live on

the streets of Charlotte tonight, as well. Bad weather there, yet we did have that warning that they do expect to have a lot of protests.

I want to get to some other stories that we`re following tonight. Some new information about two knives that were bought by that Ohio State University

attacker, Abdul Razak Al Artan. Investigators say Artan bought one of them at a local Walmart before Monday`s attack, and he bought a different knife

the day after Thanksgiving at a D.C.-area Home Depot. Investigators have not confirmed if either of those knives were the ones that he used on

Monday.

The death toll from Gatlinburg`s wildfires, the pictures just astounding, now has climbed to seven victims after three more people were discovered in

the rubble today. There are also house-by-house searches that are under way right now for several other people who are still listed as missing.

Officials say rain today certainly did help the effort to put out the fires after hundreds and hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed in the

Smoky Mountain tourist town.

Three people are dead and many others are injured in Alabama after tornadoes tore through that state early this morning, severe storms, part

of a system that killed two other people in Tennessee and had much of metro Atlanta under a tornado alert all afternoon. And that, by the way, if

you`re wondering, is very unusual for this time of the year.

And we also have this followup to a story we told you about last night. Remember these two nasty folks caught on camera robbing a Las Vegas home

while the homeowner was on vacation in Thailand, and while she was watching it all unfold live on her iPad. We also let you see it up close and

personal because cameras and audio were rolling. Take a look.

After the jingling keys to the Mercedes were grabbed and the keypad started alerting this woman that she was about to be found out, she still was

pretty unclear that she was full-on on camera and tried to cover her fingerprints while she tried to mess with the keypad.

Once again, young woman, you`re on the air. You`re across the country. And anyone who knows who you are should call police.

By the way, that Mercedes that they ran off with -- they found it, today. So at least we`re that far into solving this crime. But you see those two

faces? If you know them, call that number, 702-385-5555. Let`s help to bring some justice to the people who were robbed while they were on

vacation.

The mystery is deepening in the case of that mother, the jogger who vanished three weeks ago and resurfaced on Thanksgiving morning, the

details coming in that she`d been terribly beaten, chained, branded, thrown from a car, and now even more disturbing details about what happened to

Sherri Papini during those three weeks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:18:16]BANFIELD: Shasta County, California, sheriff Tom Bosenko says that Sherri Papini`s captors, wherever they are tonight, whoever they are,

did some pretty awful things to her. They branded her. They cut off her hair. And they wanted to send a message. They also wanted to wear her

down while she was in captivity. This is one of those crime stories that unfolds one dramatic element at a time, and it just keeps getting more

suspenseful, it seems.

Steve Gibson is the news director for KQMS radio, and he`s live with me right now. Steve, you were at the sheriff`s news conference. It`s pretty

intense how we`re just getting dribs and drabs of these details. But the most recent detail is the most disturbing one, in my estimation, that she

was branded. But what would the sheriff say and not say about this branding?

STEVE GIBSON, KQMS (via telephone): Well, he did confirm, Ashleigh, that she was branded, but he did not say where on her body the brand was located

or what words were branded. But it was some sort of message.

BANFIELD: So Sheriff Tom Bosenko put it this way, as reporters were desperate to get any kind of information they could. And you can see for

yourself if he was trying to couch the information. Have a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TOM BOSENKO, SHASTA COUNTY: I will confirm that the suspects did brand her. I will not get into the details of where the brand is located

on her body, nor what was branded on her, for again, the integrity of the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The integrity of the investigation, Steve Gibson. He said something else to the press today regarding the integrity of the

investigation, specifically what the husband has released in terms of the nature of the injuries that his wife sustained. Have a listen to what he

said. I`m going to ask you about it in a minute. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:20:10]BOSENKO: I did not know that he was going to release this until a short time before I did a media interview. And yes, I do think that with

some of the details that he has provided, it could affect the integrity of the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So Steve, the stuff that the husband was willing to share with the press included the fact that she was 87 pounds, she had bruises

everywhere, her nose was broken, her hair was chopped off, she was scabbed, she was beaten, that she had burn marks and brands.

But what about the integrity of this investigation? Why? Why are they keeping it so close when there are apparently two women out there who are

extraordinarily dangerous and they could sure use the help of you and me and the public at large to know more about who we`re looking for?

GIBSON: Well, my suspicion -- and again, this is just speculation -- is that he was referring to the branding, that Keith Papini had revealed that

his wife was branded, and that may point to a possible motive, perhaps -- perhaps trafficking.

BANFIELD: Whatever the message is that they are not revealing, whatever the message was that was branded on this woman`s body and where it was

branded.

I also want you to listen to Sheriff Tom Bosenko as he talks about after three full interviews, three separate days of Sherri Papini in whatever

condition she`s been in as she heals or tries to heal from these injuries - - he talked about what she knows about her captors and why she doesn`t know much. Have a listen to how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOSENKO: Suspect number one was the younger of the two suspects. She had long, curly hair. She had a thick accent. She had pierced ears. She had

thin eyebrows. Suspect number two was the older of the two suspects. She had straight black hair, with some green color. She had thick eyebrows.

Sherri did her best that she could in providing the descriptions, but was not able to provide a detailed description due to the suspects covering

their faces, and at times, Sherri`s head was covered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Alan Ripka, former prosecutor, and Monique Pressley, defense attorney, join me live now. Guys, when I read that of detail and I hear

that prosecutor give that kind of a description, I don`t know what to read into this. Why would anybody grab a young woman like this and torture her,

try to, quote, "wear her down," brand a message on her and throw her out of the side of the vehicle? Is that a random crime?

MONIQUE PRESSLEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, it`s not necessarily a random crime, and that it does fit a certain pattern of types of crimes. And I

think what they`re being extra cautious about is accusing the Mexican cartel being responsible of this or accusing...

BANFIELD: Why?

PRESSLEY: Because until we know that that is what it is, until they`ve got credible leads for it, it makes for the kind of controversy that`s been

taking place on social media on the Internet, on the (INAUDIBLE) for the past few days.

BANFIELD: I see your point.

PRESSLEY: And I think that`s what led the family member to do something that was wrong.

BANFIELD: I see your point. But Alan Ripka, don`t you want to poke at the beast to get the beast to squeak, if you`re looking for the beast?

ALAN RIPKA, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You do. In this particular case, though, it could have been a random crime because they picked up someone they

thought was an attractive woman, right? They bring her in, they try to break her down, if this is, in fact, trafficking, and they hoped they could

and maybe they determined she wasn`t right for the job. However, the reason you don`t always give the details...

BANFIELD: Wait. You`re suggesting they grab a random woman like this and they`re going to make her into their mule?

RIPKA: That`s right. I do say that.

BANFIELD: Break her down by torturing her and make her into their mule.

RIPKA: And they`re going to determine whether or not she fits the role, whether they...

BANFIELD: This happens?

RIPKA: Well, that`s about trafficking, right? You got to break down these people and get them to do what you want, you know, them to do. But in this

case, you also don`t want people to release details because when you catch people that you believe did it, you want to see if they know the details,

not because they heard them on the news.

BANFIELD: Oh, I hear you. And listen, let`s be real clear we don`t know anything yet. Wait for the facts. As police will always tell you, wait

for the facts. But this is one of those stories where people are just completely flummoxed as to why on earth something like this could happen.

We also need your help tonight. We want you if you can, to help us find these guys. That one right there in particular, you can see his face.

He`s one of two people caught on camera violently, viciously attacking a Georgia mother right after she came home from dropping her little kids off

at the school bus.

I`m going to show you the rest of this video, and a couple of things that really stand out that might make it real easy for Americans to, you know,

chip in and help find these guys before they do it to someone else.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:29:14]BANFIELD: OK, I`m about to show you a home invasion series of videos. And can I just say for all of you people out there who have

decided to put cameras in your homes, thank you because we are going to catch terrible people who do terrible things.

Yesterday, I showed you somebody who was robbing a home when no one was there. Today, I`m going to show you a robbery when the mom who just

dropped her kids off at the school bus did come home. And this is really frustrating. Two terrifying words that become all too real for an Atlanta-

area woman, two men breaking into her apartment through a kitchen window, proceeding to beat her, steal her valuables. The victim somehow manages to

fight off her assailants, possibly saving her life, given the fact that it was so unbearably violent.

So bear with me. Let`s roll the tape, and I`m going to walk you through what happens.

[20:30:00] You`re gonna first to see this apartment. And it`s empty. But on the right hand side of your screen there, you can see one of the robbers

peeking. Something spooks him though. Then he goes back behind that doorway.

Then he`s going to dart across, presumably getting a better position because he thinks she`s coming home. He darts across, but left behind in

that other entrance is his accomplice. He comes back and peeks and thinks better of it, hides again, and in the bottom right hand corner of your

screen she`s gonna come home. She`s wearing a gray hoodie.

Her T.V. is still on. There she is. She has no idea. She throws her keys or whatever she has down and walks towards this area where these two men are

waiting and, bam. They got her. All I can tell you at this point, that the Dunwoody Police Department have released this, but they have not released

it all, because what happened next was harrowing.

They beat her consistently with a pipe. They had a knife. They had a gun. They beat her for about ten minutes. One of them beating her while the

other robbed her. And I can show you something that is going to be very helpful in terms of finding these guys. First of all, this is the only

evidence I can show you of the beating.

You can see her sort of being dragged off to the left hand side of the screen by the one in the very distinctive pants, with stars all over the

bottom part of them. And then here it is more clearly. He`s stuffing something in his pants. I don`t know whether it`s all of the valuables that

they stole from her, in the thousands.

But you can see his pants and someone out there knows these pants. They`re very unique. Whether it`s shorts over a set of sweats or whether it`s a

strange design on his pants. They are covered in stars. He covered his face, but his friend didn`t. And so in one portion of the video, you

actually do get to see his pal in crime rushing through, and you can get a look at his face, at this point.

Joining me now, Sergeant Aaron Belt, public information officer for the Dunwoody Police Department. Sergeant, I just cringe when I think of this. I

can`t understand how someone to be so unbearably violent. This happened at 6:30 in the morning, right?

AARON BELT, SERGEANT, DUNWOODY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yeah, it actually happened about 6:45 in the morning. The victim, she took her kids out to go

to the bus stop. She was only out of her apartment for four or five minutes.

During that time frame, that`s when these two individuals, they broke in through a window in the kitchen, and that`s where that video picks up,

where they`re hiding behind the wall waiting for the victim to come back in.

BANFIELD: It sounds like she was a real target of opportunity. They knew what they were doing especially that time of day. Is she okay? Is she doing

all right now?

BELT: She`s recovering. She suffered some minor injuries. She had to go to the hospital to get treated for those. But she`s recovering well now.

BANFIELD: I hate to ask the question but because they were tearing at her clothes, that`s the reason we can`t release a lot more of this video. They

actually tore her clothes off. Was this an attempted rape as well?

BELT: There`s no indication right now that it was an attempted rape. From the very moment they started the assault on her, they were demanding money.

They were asking her where is the money. And that seems to be their main focus. Her clothing was torn because she was fighting back against these

attackers.

She fought for about ten minutes nonstop. That`s when her clothes were torn. So we don`t have indication it was an attempted rape or a sexual

assault. It appears to be they were there strictly for cash and valuables.

BANFIELD: Sergeant Belt, how did she get away? What exactly was her moment of opportunity?

BELT: Well, what happened is, one of these suspects, the suspect with the unique socks or pants there with the stars on them, he was actually

ransacking the house. He was looking for the items of value while the other suspect who had his face uncovered was trying to restrain the victim and

fighting with her and beating her.

And she just kept fighting. She never gave up. And eventually, she was able to get a couple of blows in on her attacker and create enough space and she

was able to ran out the front door and call 911.

BANFIELD: Ran out her front door. And they made off with a lot of money. Correct me if any of this is wrong, sergeant. $9400 in cash. Five gold

necklaces worth $7000. Three wristwatches worth $2100. Six earrings worth $2200. Five gold pendants worth $4200.

A diamond ring, which I believe either $1500 or $5500, I think it`s $1500. A diamond earrings again, $2300. Six gold pieces. This is unbelievable

booty for these guys. Do you suspect they knew what they were coming for?

BELT: Right now, that`s one of the angles that the detectives are looking at, but we can`t say for certain right now whether or not she was targeted

or like you said it might have been a crime of opportunity. Maybe they just saw her walk out the front door.

But they got all of those items that are actually in a safe. So they removed the safe, and they actually fled that scene carrying the safe. So

somebody possibly saw these two guys maybe in an adjacent complex carrying that safe.

BANFIELD: Anybody who recognizes the face of the guy up above on your screen or those very unique socks.

[20:35:00] Whether the socks or the bottom of a pair of sweatpants or shorts over a pair of pants, that is the unique pattern, those stripes.

It`s in the Georgia area, if you know anything, 404-577-8477.

There is nothing I like more than being able to run this and someone out there sees it, helps the cops to get these guys, and give them what`s

coming to them. And my guess is that it would be some time behind bars given how violent that was. Thanks so much to Sergeant Aaron Belt for his

help in this story.

A 7-year-old boy is in the hospital tonight, and you`re just not going to believe how these injuries happened. He was allegedly slammed into a wall

by a tutor at the school. But the tutor has a very different account of what happened. You`ll hear it, next.

[20:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Some images are hard to look at, but it sure doesn`t mean that they`re not important to see and to understand. In the search for justice,

this 7-year-old, 7-year-old little boy, has some very serious injuries. And police are investigating whether it was a tutor who threw Trayvon Grayson

against a wall at his Baltimore elementary school.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

T.J. SMITH, DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Was discussed in each and every one of us. Most of us in my press office are

parents, and to watch a child be basically manhandled like a sack of potatoes is incomprehensible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The tutor says that Trayvon "hit himself on the wall" when he was trying to remove the boy from class from acting out. But you think just try

telling that to a little boy with a fractured jaw and missing teeth and a mom whose little boy was taken away from school in an ambulance.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TRAYVON GRAYSON, VICTIM: He grabbed my leg and swung me to the wall and I fell down on the floor and I started bleeding, and it hurt. And I was

crying. When he threw me into the wall, I blanked out.

LATEEKQUA JACKSON, TRAYVON GRAYSON`S MOTHER: My son was sitting right there, his face big, mouth bloody, everything. And I turned around to the

man like, what happened to him? He can`t throw himself into the wall and push his gums and teeth and fracture his jaw by himself. He`s only 7 years

old. He`s so small. He`s not going to do all that damage to himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, what`s next? Because this is one hell of a story. Alan Ripka and Monique Pressley join me live again. So, you guys are lawyers. And you

are the language that the police were using, despicable, that they cringed multiple times while they were watching the video. This guy was a 225-pound

man and they said it was hard to actually call him a man. Hard to defend.

PRESSLEY: Exceedingly hard to defend. And what makes it even worse is that you had so many children who were witnesses in there who are going to be

further traumatized if they have to go through the process of not just being interviewed, but having to testify at trial.

This is someone who needs to hope that he`s got a really great lawyer who can get him the best possible plea as early as possible, because there`s

nothing to do but plea here.

It would be different if it was just his adult word against the word of a child. But there are other children who were saying the same thing happen.

And there is no way to explain this level of injury to a child.

BANFIELD: Missing teeth! Missing teeth! By the way, Alan, he`s been in the hospital for two nights and just about three days, and he still has more

surgery to go through. I mean, this kid was really badly injured.

RIPKA: He was badly injured because of the force against the wall. So I think -- as the child said, he was thrown against the wall by this tutor.

But it wasn`t incomprehensible that if in fact you do trip or fall and land defenseless without your arms against the wall that this injury could

occur.

That`s what the tutor tried to claim. If you have the credibility of the child and you believe the child in this particular case and of course, you

can be able to prosecute the guy without a problem.

BANFIELD: By the way, you`ve got the video, video that police themselves said they could barely watch, that it was despicable. So that little boy

talked. You don`t often get a 7-year-old doing an interview to talk about what happened to him. The first thing I thought was, that`s a hell of a

witness on the stand.

PRESSLEY: That`s an incredible witness. But again, that`s re-traumatizing a victim and you talked about that so many times in different contexts. But

here, it`s especially critical, because what if this had been a special needs child? What if this is a child who wasn`t verbal and wasn`t able to

say what happened to him or her, will be in much different position.

BANFIELD: And Alan, what if there had been no video?

RIPKA: If there had been no video, they would have done an analysis of the child`s credibility. They would have seen whether or not this guy had a

background. If this tutor never had a background in violence, they would have to question what really happened here.

BANFIELD: I just keep looking at the pictures of this little sweetheart, crying. You`re right, re-traumatizing, every little moment of this is going

to be re-traumatizing. He`s seven, second grade.

PRESSLEY: So what a defense attorney is going to try to do now is get rid of this.

BANFIELD: Get rid of it, yeah, no kidding. So, we had told you this story, and it just keeps getting ickier. Todd Kohlhepp, you know the name by now.

Realtor, property owner, and alleged serial killer.

But for some reason, the guy who owns all that land and property and presumably lots and lots of money, he`s getting you to pay for his defense.

That`s right, a public defender. How does that happen, you say? I`m going to try to answer that in a minute.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I have a quick update for you on the story of that 13-year-old boy who was bullied, that Alabama student that we showed you. His name is

Drew Breton. We interviewed the mom in the show. He went back to school today. He was going to go back on Wednesday. Here it is Wednesday.

And after this video went viral and upwards of 5 million plus people saw it, he decided that`s it, I`m going to go back, I`m going to do the right

thing. Mom says that he`s doing great. And that`s good, because it doesn`t always turn out that way.

Drew did not fight back against the kids in this video. Ultimately, he really took it on the chin. They chased him through the school, cornered

him, and kept hitting him. He got suspended. But then ultimately when the video surfaced, the school realized that there was a lot more to it.

They rescinded his suspension, and the other children have been apparently punished. So anyway, it`s nice to know that Drew went back to school. We`re

going to continue to watch it that he`s doing okay. All right. So I got my panel of attorneys back with me.

[20:50:00] Alex Sanchez is kind enough to join us on this one. Thank you, Alex.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Great to be here.

BANFIELD: Alan Ripka and Monique Pressley are still with me. Couple of stories I want to go over because sometimes, I don`t get it. And Todd

Kohlhepp is one of those times that I don`t get it. He is the suspected serial killer, seven charges of murder against him.

He is that guy, there he is, on whose very nice big patch of property was found a shipping container inside, which was a shark cage inside, which was

a chained woman who had been there for three months in the dark. Oh, and there were buried people on his land. And now, apparently guys, I don`t

understand. How does he get a public defender? How does that work? Tell me.

PRESSLEY: It`s not the egregiousness of the crime that matters when it comes to whether you can actually afford to defend against the case or not.

BANFIELD: Remember he has that big plot of land.

PRESSLEY: And he may, but when you are looking at the number of felonies that are charged here and the amount of money that it is going to cost,

ultimately they have to provide him a lawyer initially and then determine down the road whether he`s actually going to still be able to get one at

trial. They have to go through that process.

BANFIELD: So, okay, I love you, but I`m going to fight you on this one, because he made a deal to transfer an undisclosed amount of money to a pal

so that a child could get some education. And this was something that the authorities agreed to, to get him to cooperate in this death investigation.

Can someone please give me off the ledge?

RIPKA: You love that someone cooperate and get as many facts as you can and worry about the public versus private defender any day of the week. So if

he`s going to transfer some money to a friend.

BANFIELD: Is this normal?

RIPKA: Sometimes it is. If that is what has to be done.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: You`re just dumbfounded over there.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: This is the type of a case that drives the general public crazy.

BANFIELD: Me included.

SANCHEZ: Because you have a guy that`s a serial killer, he`s a sex offender.

BANFIELD: Well, alleged.

SANCHEZ: Right? And the public is being billed for this as they want experts, they want doctors, they want psychiatrists, and all they`re doing

is writing out a check to pay for all these. And sometimes they even have to raise taxes in a local town to pay for this. So this is not gonna be.

BANFIELD: I asked you to get me off the ledge. I`m far to wrap a building now. I want to show you a picture of a fellow named David Alberto Garcia.

Hi, David! You`re not the kind of image a jury likes to look at. And yet a jury is going to look at you. He is -- this is unbelievable actually

because I can see myself in this position.

He`s charged with shooting a motorist dead in a road rage incident. Apparently the motorist flipped him off because there was something at the

red light. I guess the motorist wasn`t going fast enough.

He says he tried to shoot over the car. Is that a good thing to say? Or like I was trying to shoot over the car but ended up shooting into the car.

He got away with it.

SANCHEZ: I don`t think that`s going to be a good defense in this case. You know something? I got to get a good makeup artist to cover all those

tattoos because, you know, he`s gonna get convicted just based on his looks.

PRESSLEY: He`s not going to get convicted for first degree murder, though, that`s why he`s saying he shot over the car because they got to prove that

he intended to do what he did and he did not intend on supporting testimony to kill someone when he.

BANFIELD: You are so good at your job. You are just so good being a defense lawyer. I mean, God bless America. Look at you. Okay. So, I saw this thing

on T.V. today. And so I wanted to have it on my T.V. show, because it`s hilarious. Although if I was the company I would be really angry.

So I am just going to show the video as we go to break. This fellow walking down a street in New York sees his moment of opportunity. It really, truly

is hysterical. He just reaches into an armored car, puts his hand around a pot of gold and makes off with it. Come back after the break and I`ll tell

you all about it.

[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: One of my favorite movies "Groundhog Day" helping himself to the riches in the back of the armored vehicle. Now, let`s watch it happen in

real life in New York City. A giant bucket in that armored van, and this guy sees it, and I guess he`s wondering oh, look, a bucket, I wonder what`s

in the bucket.

It was a five-gallon pail filled with gold flakes. It weighed 86 pounds, folks, and yet he just walked up, picked up the bucket, and he walked away.

And it`s like, a lot of money. Like $1.6 million worth of gold flakes.

Pot of gold. No one watching. No armored guards watching that. Bye. So they`re looking for him. If you know who he is, you know what to do,

there`s your tip line. $1.6 million bucks. You probably have heard something about it if you`re a friend of his.

I want to go to McDonald`s now. Most days I want to go to McDonald`s, but this is in Topeka. Some guy in McDonald`s served a cup, a Dr. Pepper, and

puts mustard in it. I would say that`s a prank. Is that a prank?

RIPKA: Something in the cup for sure. That`s more than a prank.

BANFIELD: More than a prank, Alan?

RIPKA: You really -- your health is at risk.

BANFIELD: From mustard?

RIPKA: Who knows how much is going down his throat? Who knows what he`s gonna feel?

BANFIELD: Apparently it`s not the first time it`s happened. Another highway patrol officer had the same thing happened to him at the same McDonald`s.

McDonald`s has put out a statement that franchisees are mortified by this. They`re very apologetic about it.

SANCHEZ: The district attorney is gonna be a laughing stock trying to prosecute this case.

BANFIELD: They said they`re looking at it. They said they`re looking at it.

SANCHEZ: The mustard and the dash of pepper and the glass where they came from and the DNA and the fingerprints. I mean, come on, give me a break.

PRESSLEY: If you`re allergic to mustard and go into shock, then it`s a really serious situation, and for that reason.

BANFIELD: And there`s Monique with the final word. Thanks, Monique. Thanks, Alan. Thanks, Alex. Thank you for watching, everyone. See you back here

tomorrow night. Stay tuned now. FORENSIC FILES starts right now.

[21:00:00]

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