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ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Details Emerge about Lawrence Taylor Rape Allegations; Huckaby Pleads Guilty to Murdering Sandra Cantu

Aired May 10, 2010 - 19:00:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, horrifying new insight in the Lawrence Taylor rape case. We now have new details from the 16-year-old runaway. She claims she was viciously beaten by her alleged pimp, and she feared for her life if she didn`t have sex with the Hall of Fame football player. Tonight we`ll show you the frantic text messages she sent to her uncle.

And raging battles in the Casey Anthony case. We now know that the jury will not be from Orlando. Tonight, new questions. Where will the jurors be plucked from? Can the prosecution use Casey`s infamous party pics? And will she face the death penalty?

Also, a murderous mother makes a dramatic confession. Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu was killed and stuffed in a suitcase. Tonight, Melissa Huckaby enters a plea in the death of this beautiful little girl.

Plus, ISSUES goes inside an alcohol-fueled abusive relationship. A beautiful college lacrosse player murdered. Now her boyfriend is behind bars. Friends say he was obsessive, abusive, and had problems with alcohol. Tonight, we`ll go inside George Huguely`s dark, dangerous past.

ISSUES starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, shocking new allegations in the Lawrence Taylor rape case from the alleged victim herself. Police stay NFL legend admitted to paying for sex with the young teen. Alleged pimp Rasheed Davis allegedly beat -- beat -- the 16-year-old runaway before taking her to a New York hotel to meet the football great. Here is Davis`s mug shot from 2008.

Now, get this. This guy served 15 years for manslaughter.

The girl told "The New York Post" he forced her to have sex with Taylor. Quote, "He hit me in the face, so I covered my face." When she crouched down to protect herself, she says Davis, quote, "started kicking me and stomping on me. I told him I wasn`t going to the hotel, and he said, you`re F`ing this up. It is $300. If I didn`t go through with it, Taylor would have called Rasheed and there would have been consequences. God only knows what would have happened if I didn`t go through with it," end quote.

We`ll have more of the girl`s chilling disclosures in a moment.

Taylor is facing a statutory rape charge because the girl is just 16. But he told police the girl claimed to be 19. Will that have any impact on his case?

Give me a call: 1-877-JVM-SAYS. What do you think about all this: 877-586-7297?

Straight out to my fantastic expert panel: Burt Grossman, former NFL player and columnist for NationalFootballPost.com; Vinny Politan, host of "In Session" on TruTV. And we begin with Lisa Guerrero, sports reporter and special correspondent for "Inside Edition." what is the very latest?

LISA GUERRERO, SPORTS REPORT, "INSIDE EDITION": Well, you know, where to start, right? Apparently, this young lady who is now, we know 16 years old, claims that this pimp beat her up and forced her to say that she was 19 years old and that her name was Carmen and that when she entered the room of Lawrence Taylor, it was dark, which may explain why Lawrence Taylor didn`t notice that she was covered with bruises.

Her pimp allegedly hit her in the face, kicked her in the body, and stomped on her, as well. So she said that she had a swollen face and a big bruise. But Lawrence Taylor didn`t see it because supposedly it was dark.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, well, in my opinion, when I heard that, that the lights were off in the hotel room, the first thing I thought of, Burt Grossman, former NFL player, is that he didn`t want to be recognized. That`s why he kept the lights off in the room. Normally when somebody comes in, even if it is a date, and this wasn`t a date, you`re not going to have the lights off. The reason you`d have the lights off is because you don`t want to be recognized.

BURT GROSSMAN, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I would agree with you. You know, the thing I keep going back to, is this another story changing? Because before, his lawyer said he had absolutely no sex with her and he`s great family man and blah, blah, blah, whatever we heard.

Now it`s, she came and the lights were off. But is he saying he had sex now but he had sex and he didn`t know she was of that age? I mean, if I`m 16 and I try to get into a bar, and they serve me because I say I`m 19 or 20 or 21, does it not make them responsible?

I just don`t get how this story keeps changing and changing. Or more -- not the story. His excuse keeps changing, changing to something new? From "I didn`t have sex" to "I was set up" to "she came to my room" to -- you know, a 16-year-old that just turned 16 shows up in my room. And instead of calling the police, beat up, I break open a bottle of Corvasier, put on Teddy Pendergrass and give her $300. I mean, it`s absurd and every time he goes, it gets more absurd. I mean, I can`t get past this story.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you.

GROSSMAN: I`m looking forward to what it`s going to be next week.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And to recap what you just said, according to the cops, Taylor admitted to sex acts with the girl in exchange for 300 bucks. So why on earth did his attorney make this claim so vehemently right after his arraignment?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR AIDALA, LAWRENCE TAYLOR`S ATTORNEY: Lawrence Taylor did not have consensual sex with anybody last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

AIDALA: He is charged with rape. Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody. Am I clear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the admission of $300?

AIDALA: I have no idea what that admission was. I don`t know what that money was. I don`t know who that admission was to, when it was, under what circumstances it was gotten under.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Vinny Politan, doesn`t this hurt the credibility of this attorney if he can`t get his story straight with his client and they`re telling different stories?

VINNY POLITAN, HOST, "IN SESSION": Well, I think one thing is he`s, I guess, talking about the presumption of innocence. And in his eyes, his client is innocent at this point.

But a couple things there. He said, "My client did not have consensual sex." Well, did your client have nonconsensual sex? Is that possible?

GROSSMAN: I heard that, too.

POLITAN: Yes. That`s a bit of a problem. But he did say he did not rape anyone. Well, what does he mean by that here? If, in fact, he had sexual intercourse with this girl and she`s 16 years old, that is rape in New York. That is a third-degree felony in New York. So it`s no excuse, Jane. No excuse that he didn`t know how old she was. If it was, you couldn`t enforce this law.

So at the end of the day, if she is 16, they had sex, they can prove it, it`s a problem for Lawrence Taylor.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, Burt Grossman, I have to ask you. You`re a former NFL player. What occurs to me when I look at this story is, there are so many sports groupies. Why does any football great feel the need to use a prostitute when, from what I`ve heard, and I`m sure Lisa can back me up on this because she`s been a sideline reporter, there`s women throwing themselves at these men all the time.

GROSSMAN: I think part of the problem...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: For free.

GROSSMAN: Yes. For free. Well, it`s never for free. It`s just monetarily.

But I mean, the problem with Lawrence Taylor was, and I don`t buy that he`s been clean for 12 years. And maybe he did trade his drug addiction for a drug addiction or just trade addictions. But the problem is he`s cleaned up his act, and his lawyer is portraying him as a 51-year-old loving family man with a loving family and everything else.

I think if you go into a groupie, I mean, sometimes you tag yourself that you can`t get rid of that person. Some guys just want the actual event and pay for the event and cut all ties and be done with it rather than to have a groupie that might be a relationship or I`m going to get a text message like Tiger Woods or my wife is going to find it, or if my wife is dumb enough already to think I`m being set up on this, who cares if she finds the text?

So everybody goes through a different thing in their mind. But I don`t -- like I said, this story baffles me and it changes every day. And I`m actually looking forward to tomorrow whether -- to see what the new angle is, or what is the excuse.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Lisa Guerrero, you`re a sideline -- you`ve been a sideline reporter for years. You`ve seen all these football greats and many other professional athletes. And from everything I`ve ever read, they are inundated with women who want to have sex with them. That`s a problem.

And so it doesn`t really make sense to me that it needs to go to this hotel and meet this girl under work a middle man who apparently is a friend from the music industry that arranged all this. Why do you think this happened?

GUERRERO: Because, Jane, I don`t think it was just about sex. I think for a lot of men, we`ve seen a parade of athletes in the news lately that treat women as if they are disposable objects.

And I think that Lawrence Taylor ordered this girl over the phone as if he was ordering a pizza from Domino`s. So I don`t think it was just about sex. I think for him it was about control.

I`ve worked with Lawrence Taylor before on a show called "Tough Man" several years ago. I was a ring side reporter. He was a commentator. He was very disrespectful to people and to women then, and he is today. He has not changed.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: In what way?

GUERRERO: You know, he...

GROSSMAN: Can I cut in? I was at -- I was at that tough man competition. I remember that, in Tampa Bay. And he -- for lack of a better word, I want to say douchebagger, but that`s what he is. I mean, he was never -- I couldn`t -- I can validate that point, because I went to a tough man competition, and I think he ended up fighting some other has been. And it was one of the lowest points of my life watching that, until I read about the rape charge. But I`m sorry to interrupt.

GUERRERO: No. I`m glad you did.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lisa, what did he do? Because I think that our viewers need to hear exactly, not generalities but when you say he was disrespectful toward women, what specifically?

GUERRERO: He was very dismissive of women. I worked with him so he was respectful of me. However, I saw him be very disrespectful of other women that showed up to the shows. You know, he called them rude names that I`m not going to repeat on television.

He has a history of domestic abuse. The cops have been called on his last two marriages several times. On "Inside Edition", we just interviewed today his second wife, who alleges that he was very brutal with her and that he threw her up against a wall, and this was as recently as just a few years ago.

So I think, you know, this cat has not changed his stripes at all. He goes -- you know, I`ve even seen him at charity golf tournaments where he cheats in golf for charities. This is just a bad guy. You know?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Anyone that cheats at golf. That says everything you need to know about him.

GROSSMAN: I cheat too, so yes, I won`t touch that one.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Everybody, stand by, because we`ve got phone lines lighting up. Kim, Tennessee, we`re get you on the other side of the break in just a moment. We`re going to have much more on this young woman`s nightmare, sucked into having prostitution and having sex with Lawrence Taylor.

Plus, a shocking confession in the Sandra Cantu murder. Melissa Huckaby enters her plea.

But first, a 16-year-old runaway forced into prostitution. She claims she was brutally beaten, kicked in the head, and forced to have sex with Lawrence Taylor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIDALA: My client was in town to work. He was going to play some golf with some friends, and he was going to work. And then this nightmare unfolded before him. Lawrence Taylor did not rape anyone. Am I clear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE TAYLOR, FORMER PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER: Sympathy is not what to look for -- you know, what I look for. You know, I don`t run from anything, you know. I play the game as hard as I could. I lived as hard as I could. The only thing I feel sorry for is what I put my family through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and you`re doing it again, dude. Lawrence Taylor back in 2003. He claims he`s been clean and sober for 12 years. Do you believe it?

Taylor spoke about his battle with coke and crack in an A&E documentary called "Fame and Recovery." Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR: Cocaine, man. The first time that I tried it, you thought, wow, this is something different. It just knocked me over. I had to lay down on the floor for about ten minutes. And all I remember when I got back up, like wow. Give me another hit of that. All right? Because that was like awesome.

There are stages you go through as an addict. The first stage is we`re all having a little party, so ain`t nobody`s hurting nobody. But the problem is people, when they start graduating, I graduated from that stage quick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Kim, Tennessee, your question or thought.

CALLER: Yes, Jane, I am -- excuse me. Yes, Jane, I am so sick and tired of the -- what is happening in the sports world. What we need to do is the women of this country need to band together, and every time one of these sports figures does something like this guy did, and I`ve never heard of him before, by the way, to band together. Refuse to go to any sports events. Don`t go with their husbands. Don`t go with their boyfriends. And don`t allow their children to go.

That will get the message out that, hey, we`ve got to straighten this out, or we`re not going to have any fans left. Because most -- a great deal of them are women or they`re influenced by women.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you so much, Kim. I want to give -- I think Lisa will join me in giving that caller a round of applause. Because I`ve got to tell you something. Whether it`s Ben Roethlisberger, whether it`s Michael Vick, if it`s about women or it`s about women or cruelty on any level, I think we as women and the men who love us should not subsidize violence. And so I think that`s an excellent, excellent idea.

Lisa Guerrero, is it practical? Can women, let`s say boycott a team - - I know this guy`s retired -- buy boycott a team if something untoward happens and they don`t like it?

GUERRERO: Yes. And in fact, Jane, I mentioned this on your show a while back when we were talking about Ben Roethlisberger. I suggested that, you know, fans of the Steelers simply boycott the games that he is scheduled to start in. Since then, of course, he has been suspended for six games.

But, you know, I think that we as fans can certainly speak with our pocket books, and we as women do need to band together and make it clear that we`re not going to stand for this kind of behavior.

But don`t forget that the vast majority of professional athletes, I believe, are good guys. So don`t let, you know, the good guys out there like the Grant Hills and the Steve Nashes and the Scott Ericksons. There`s a lot of good guys out there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The owners of the team -- and the owners of the team and professional sports in general, they`ve got to know that this is unacceptable.

Now Taylor is an admitted cocaine addict. He`s got a long rap sheet. Here`s what his attorney said about Taylor`s alleged sobriety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIDALA: Anything in the court`s mind about drugs or his use of drugs, the court should be made aware, and Mr. Taylor can be put under oath right now that he hasn`t touched a drug in over 12 years. He has been stone cold sober from that past life for 12 years. That`s behind him. That`s the old Lawrence Taylor. The new Lawrence Taylor is a caring and loving family man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GROSSMAN: I`ve got a question.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Taylor was arrested twice on drug charges. Once in `96, once again in` 98. He`s had a DUI. On and on and on.

Dr. Reef Karim, in the hotel room they found a bottle of alcohol. He is in this hotel room by himself with the alleged -- I mean, what do you think about this so-called sobriety?

REEF KARIM, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Yes, I mean, sobriety is you don`t use any drugs. You don`t use alcohol. And you limit crazy, out-of-control behaviors. And you`re massaging the same area of the brain, the same neurobiology, with acting out sexually, like the reports of $1,000 a day for escorts and all the rest of it that have come up. That`s engaging in out-of--control behaviors. You`re massaging that same reward circuitry with those behaviors as you do with cocaine.

And when you`re sober, that means you don`t touch alcohol. And we all know when you drink, you get disinhibited. When you drink, you might have really poor judgment. And if you have a history of addiction, and you`re acting out and then you`re drinking, man, that`s a recipe for disaster.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Vinny Politan, I think any time they arrest somebody, they should do a drug test to see if they are high on drugs or alcohol. Because it would teach us so much about why people do things. I think most of the time you would find there`s something in their system.

POLITAN: Absolutely, Jane. And you know, you talk about Lawrence Taylor and his history. Twelve years ago, I was at his door step in New Jersey when Bergen County sheriffs came knocking at his door on a deadbeat dad warrant and arrested him. Who opened the door wearing nothing because smile? Lawrence Taylor, 3 a.m. in the morning. Butt naked from head to toe. And guess what was on in the background, Jane, on his big-screen TV? Porn!

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh-oh! Burt, you wanted to say something? Ten seconds.

GROSSMAN: I`m just saying, listen, his lawyer always has these little tidbits. Lawrence Taylor will go under oath and say he`s not on any drugs. What about Lawrence Taylor will submit to a blood test to see if there are any drugs?

Everything is about, I`m going to take -- he`s a drug addict. Listen to the A&E thing. I mean, he sounded stoned in that. He`s still -- he`s still there. And he talks about cocaine like on an eHarmony commercial. If I close my eyes, I can hear the nine levels of compatibility.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

GROSSMAN: I mean, he`s talking about it like it`s a woman.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It is not a funny story because a girl got beaten up and humiliated. And we`ve got some brand-new questions...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Fast-breaking developments tonight in the horrific murder of an 8-year-old girl found dead, stuffed into a suitcase. What made this case so very sickening, incomprehensible, really, a mother, a Sunday-School teacher was accused of raping and killing the little girl, who was also a friend of her little daughter`s.

Twenty-nine-year-old Melissa Huckaby pleaded guilty today to first- degree murder and kidnapping. In exchange, prosecutors dropped rape- related charges and the death penalty.

Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu disappeared in March of last year in Tracy, California. She was found dead 10 days later, stuffed into a suitcase, floating in an irrigation pond.

Now, here she is on surveillance video the very day she disappeared. You can see the little girl coming into the frame. There she is skipping. No idea what was waiting for her at her friend`s house. This story makes me nauseous.

Straight out to "In Session" correspondent Jean Casarez from our sister network TruTV.

Jean, I think this case is so particularly disturbing because the killer is a woman, somebody that everybody in the neighborhood trusted.

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": That`s exactly right. Her grandfather was the pastor. She was the Sunday-School teacher. You know, this was the West Coast death penalty case involving a young mother, not of her own child but of the child, as you just saw, that was skipping to her house to play with her own daughter.

Also, here in mind Orlando for the Casey Anthony case that we`re going to talk about in just a second. But now she is pleading guilty. You know, she`s 29 years old. And the term she`s going to plead to is 25 years to life. She could get out in her mid-50s, and that may have motivated her to plead guilty. That`s better than the death penalty.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So she can`t just get life without the possibility of parole? Because that`s what I`m hoping for.

CASAREZ: It`s according to statute. Now, 25 years to life does not mean she`ll get out in 25 years. In 25 years, she can appear before the parole board. They will then determine. When you look at the facts and what she`s pleading guilty to, I think it will be very difficult for them to say, "Yes, you can get out."

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This case was so sick and demented. An entire town searched for this little girl for ten days before she was discovered inside that suitcase. Look at this beautiful little girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CHAVEZ, MOTHER OF SANDRA CANTU: A beautiful little girl. That`s how she was. Happy. Smiling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tortured parents. You know, Jean, this woman is extraordinarily bizarre. Wasn`t she also accused of drugging another child, like a 7-year-old, and an older man or an adult man months earlier?

CASAREZ: Exactly. You know, we heard about that early on. Right? And originally, it wasn`t part of the charges of Sandra Cantu. But it was alleged that another little girl in that very same subdivision, that she had taken her to a Wendy`s, I believe, and given her a beverage from Wendy`s, and that allegedly had had a substance in it that when the little girl went home, she was just so out of it. Her parents took her to the hospital, and it was found that she had a type of drug in her system.

Well, ultimately, those charges became part of the indictment of first-degree murder for Sandra Cantu.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This woman is seriously, seriously disturbed. And that`s why she was living with her grandfather, the pastor, in the first place, because she had such a tough time navigating through life. What a sicko.

And our thoughts go out to the family of Sandra Cantu.

Thank you, Jean.

Tonight, fast-breaking developments in the Casey Anthony case. The jury will not be from Orlando. So is this a victory for the defense, or could it backfire big time and bite them?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) * VELEZ-MITCHELL: Raging battles in the Casey Anthony case. We now know that the jury will not be from Orlando. Tonight, new questions: where will the jurors be plucked from? Can the prosecution use Casey`s infamous party pics? And will she face the death penalty?

Plus, ISSUES goes inside an alcohol-fueled abusive relationship. A beautiful college lacrosse player murdered. Now her boyfriend is behind bars. Friends say he was obsessive, abusive, and had problems with alcohol. Tonight we`ll go inside George Huguely`s dark, dangerous past.

Tonight: a slew of fiery arguments and big issues in the Casey Anthony courtroom. If you live in Florida, outside of Orlando, you just might end up packing your bags with almost two months worth of clothing. Because you could become a juror deciding whether Casey killed her baby daughter Caylee.

The judge agreed with Casey`s lawyers that jurors in Orlando would be far too tainted by all the pretrial publicity. The plan is to (INAUDIBLE) jurors in from another county and to sequester them in Orlando. Which county? They haven`t decided that yet.

Also today: heated arguments over the sexy party pictures of Casey. The photos in question: Casey in the blue mini dress. They were snapped on June 20th, 2008, just four days after little Caylee was last seen. Are those steamy photos incriminating or are they just meaningless? And will they get into the trial?

Meanwhile, Casey, who could face the death penalty, was visibly stressing out. Check this out. Check how she clenches her jaw. You have to look at it very carefully. There it is -- jaw clenching.

So much to cover and I want to hear what you think, 1-877-JVM SAYS.

Straight out to my fantastic panel: Mark Eiglarsh, Florida criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor; Jean Casarez, correspondent for "In Session" on TruTV; Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst; and I am delighted to have famed -- and I mean famed, one of the most famous jury consultants in the country -- Jo Ellan Dimitrius joining us by phone.

Jean, tell us, how is this going to work? Shipping 12 jurors and six alternates to Orlando to live in a hotel?

JEAN CASAREZ, TRUTV CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": That`s right because it is less costly than moving all of the witnesses that are primarily based here in Orlando and the attorneys to another county to have the expense of the hotel and the meals. So costly it is; but it will be less costly on the state to have it done this way.

Now Jose Baez argued very strong today --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. You know what? I think that those jurors might be taking a train to Orlando sometime in the future because we can`t hear anything you`re saying with that whoo-hoo. I`m going to come back to you.

Jo Ellan Dimitrius, you`re this famous jury consultant. Of course we worked together when you were -- during the Michael Jackson case. We`ve seen each other at that case and others.

Let me ask you this. What kind of quality jurors are they going to get if they have to find 12 jurors and six alternates who will agree to leave their homes and their jobs, and take a train to Orlando to live in a hotel for two months or longer? I mean who in their right minds is going to sign up for that?

JO ELLAN DIMITRIUS, JURY CONSULTANT (via telephone): Hi, Jane. That is obviously the question of the day. And any time you take anyone out of their comfort zone, their home and require them to go to another county, much less to live in a hotel, where their every move is going to be monitored by deputies, you`re going to place people in a very unique situation that not too many people are going to volunteer for.

And the problem as we`ve seen in some of the high profile trials, O.J. Simpson, for example, where for nine months, those folks were locked up. You could write a book on the stories about what happened behind the scenes in the hotel where those folks were. So it`s going to be very problematic.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s called sex.

DIMITRIUS: Some of it is sex.

(CROSSTALK)

DIMITRIUS: Some of it is punching each other out. There`s all sorts of interesting things that happen in those situations. But if you ask the average person right now, particularly with the economy being the way that it is, "hey, would you mind giving up your job for two months and heading out to another county and not seeing your family but for maybe weekends when you`ve got deputies watching you?" I don`t think there is going to be too many people that volunteer for that.

The defense and the prosecution for that matter are going to have a tough time finding individuals. But I do understand certainly why the judge has changed the counties and usually --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you this Jo Ellan. How long do you think jury selection is going to take given this? Just a quick answer on that one.

DIMITRIUS: I would say jury selection is going to take at least a month between this, the pretrial publicity, everything that has come out; at least a month.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That is a long, long time -- jury selection.

Now, one big point of contention at today`s hearing were those photos of Casey partying it up at a nightclub just four days after little Caylee was last seen alive. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY`S ATTORNEY: Their theory is that Miss Anthony -- excuse me -- Caylee Anthony, died June 16th, 2008. That`s their theory. So what happened June 20th has absolutely no relevance to the state`s case in chief.

To assume that a person is a bad person because they go to a nightclub or they go to a party, and that they drink a beer is not, it is completely unconscionable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Mike Brooks, this is my big issue. What story do these pictures tell? They were taken on June 20th. Casey claimed she last saw Caylee on June 9th after dropping her off with Zanny and then going to work. That turned out to be false because video surfaced of the little girl with her great grandpa on June 16th. Then she said was conducting an investigation into the disappearance.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean these are relevant, these photos, are they not?

BROOKS: Absolutely Jane. She is saying that she was at the club looking for little Caylee? I don`t think we see her here in this dress looking for Caylee. Or maybe the story was she was looking for Zanny the nanny who doesn`t exist, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly. Now we`ve got so many -- I mean they covered so many issues today. So we`re going to get to the next thing.

Tomorrow the defense is going to argue against the death penalty which they say is unconstitutional.

Mark Eiglarsh, what is up with this? How many times are we going to have to debate this issue? Do you think that this motion has a snow ball`s chance in hell of being decided in Casey`s favor?

MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely not. Why is the defense doing it? Because winning is defined by doing everything that you possibly can to get the best possible outcome to raise issues on appeal if she is convicted, and or if she`s given the ultimate sanction.

That`s what Andrea Lyons is doing. That`s what you can expect. That`s why all I`s have to be dotted and all t`s have to be crossed.

BROOKS: But Mark how do they come in with the whole gender-bias issue, dealing with the death penalty? And today Jose Baez kind of laid the groundwork talking about these party pictures were sexist.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes. To explain that to the audience, one of the motions to try to get the death penalty off the table is the defense contention that prosecutors want to give Casey Anthony the death penalty because she is a woman. I don`t get the connection there.

EIGLARSH: That`s not what they`re arguing there. What they`re arguing is that if you go back and research all cases where people were given the death penalty, only a fraction of the percentage of people ever put to death have been women and those cases are different than the type of case that we`re dealing with. So statistically she shouldn`t get the death penalty. That`s the short version.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes. They`re arguing that it is because she is a woman that they`re trying to give her the death penalty.

Marci in New York, your question or thought, ma`am.

MARCI, NEW YORK (via telephone): Hi, Jane. I adore you and your wonderful panel and how outspoken and bold you all are.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.

MARCI: And how honest you are.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.

MARCI: I find this all ridiculous. I`m so sick of Casey Anthony being treated like a primadonna. I don`t think the media has tainted her. She has tainted herself by just being so cold and callous throughout this whole thing, showing no emotion.

I live in New York and I would gladly to go Florida for free to be on that jury and find her guilty because that`s what I think.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, Marci, I think you raised a very important point.

I want to bring in Jean Casarez --

EIGLARSH: That`s the problem. That`s the problem right there, Jane.

That`s a problem. The people who are going to want to serve are going to be those stealth jurors who say I can be fair but will take months off of their lives so they can then find her guilty, write a book about it, make a lot of money. And that really, no matter how you feel about Casey Anthony, would be a miscarriage of justice if that`s their mentality.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Jo Ellan Dimitrius on the phone, famed jury consultant, how do you filter those people out?

DIMITRIUS: Well, that truly is the biggest task that the defense will have because I totally agree with the other panelists, the hidden agenda that is there is going to be tremendous. And then how do you go about creating the questions and let`s say, a juror questionnaire or (INAUDIBLE) that are going to highlight those individuals? And that`s tough.

Because if you want to lie, if people -- I`ve seen it before in high profile cases. People get very clever about how they get on jury panel. So that truly is going to be one of the biggest challenges that the defense will face.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Jean Casarez, I know the train is gone so thanks for your patience. What can we expect tomorrow because there`s a big hearing tomorrow that we`re going to cover here on ISSUES as well?

CASAREZ: Yes. It is the death penalty. And I think some of the motions are to preserve the record as you call it. But I think the defense actively wants to get the death penalty off the table. They`ve got a lot of motions on it and I don`t think they want a death-qualified jury going into this first-degree murder case, a jury that can vote for death if necessary. They don`t want that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. And you just saw Casey walking away and her ankles are shackled. Something I didn`t know until just this moment.

Fantastic guests, thank you so much.

ISSUES goes inside the dark path of an accused killer. Lacrosse star George Huguely seemed to have it all but friends paint a very different picture. What happened the night Yeardley Love was murdered? We`re taking your calls on this one too, 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shocking new revelations tonight in the horrific and senseless murder of University of Virginia Lacrosse player Yeardley Love. While thousands said goodbye to Yeardley at her funeral on Saturday, we have to wonder, what is UVA`s reputation when it comes to fighting violence against women on campus?

Twenty-two-year-old Yeardley Love died one week ago today. She was found in her apartment in a pool of blood lying face down on her bed.

Court documents show her ex-boyfriend, George Huguely, told police, he shook her violently, beating her head against the wall. Huguely had reportedly been drinking all day long. He has a history of alcohol- related offenses, including public intoxication and resisting arrest.

On Saturday, about 2,000 people wiping away tears, gathered to celebrate Yeardley`s life.

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STEPHANIE COLBY, YEARDLEY LOVE`S FRIEND: I was in her sorority and she was an incredibly sweet girl and just kind to everyone and made everyone feel special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Police say they`re questioning Yeardley and Huguely`s friends about their relationship but some of the friends won`t talk unless they can be kept anonymous. It`s a sign that people are scared to talk about dating violence let alone report it.

You know these awareness programs, they won`t work unless students, female students, especially, speak up.

I am taking your calls on this. 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

Straight out to my fantastic expert panel: addiction specialist, Dr. Reef Karim; and we`re also joined by former prosecutor, Wendy Murphy.

Wendy, you maintain that the University of Virginia has a reputation for being ineffective at dealing with violence against women on campus? Why?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes, I don`t even know where to begin, Jane, because it`s been a reputation for a very long time. And I`m not going to say that somehow they caused her death. But I`ll tell you this. I hope folks will check out what`s being said by the women students on campus. The anti-rape groups, for example, they`re the ones who matter most.

I happen to have a case right now involving UVA. I can`t talk too much about it yet but it`s all about their systematic failure to regress targeted violence against women on campus. And the women there are saying things like, we have so many rapes on campus year after year after year, particularly under the administration of the current president who they say has been arrogant in his refusal to fix the law -- to fix rules at UVA to abide federal law.

(INAUDIBLE) line has certain basic minimum standards; UVA is not in compliance and that`s one of the reasons the rules are so horrific that the students never ever get redress; they don`t get justice on campus. And so rapes happen with impunity. Students who commit rapes and acts of violence against women never get punished. So really is it any surprise that there would be a culture of silence?

I mean, my experience there in terms of the current case that I have is pretty telling but it`s -- but it`s a couple of cases that I`m aware of that students on campus have written a public statement -- I hope your audience will check it out -- Detailing extraordinary, extraordinary subjugation of women on campus under this particular administration --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow.

MURPHY: -- that they believe has something to do with why this poor girl is dead.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this, we reached out to the University of Virginia today to get their response to your published comments, Wendy. We did not hear back. But the University has a standing invitation to appear here on ISSUES and explain their side of the story.

Now, we`d like to welcome in Dina Tush, the mother of 19-year-old Jessica, who understands what Yeardley Love`s family is going through. In 2008, her precious daughter was killed and dumped in a shallow grave in New Jersey. Look at that beautiful young lady. Eventually, this young woman`s boyfriend, Thomas Paulino (ph), pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to more than 23 years in prison.

The couple broke up just a week before the young lady died. There had been a history of violence in their relationship.

This has nothing to do with my understanding with the University of Virginia. But Dina is here with us tonight on ISSUES and I want to thank you so much and our condolences over your loss.

DINA TUSH, DAUGHTER KILLED BY BOYFRIEND: Thank you, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us about what you learned about their relationship after your daughter died.

TUSH: I learned that there were many people around who knew about the abuse and didn`t say anything. I knew that, I found out that my daughter didn`t want people to know about it or her parents, so of course she swore them to secrecy. But this is not something that you should keep secret. And that`s why --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And apparently there were a lot of text messages. Tell us about that.

TUSH: When we finally got her bill after she had -- she had been murdered we found out that there were thousands and thousands of text messages from Thomas`s cell phone. He had talked her into in the beginning of the relationship, to getting a cell phone plan with her. So he could keep track of her cell phone messages.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. Now, was there alcohol involved at all? Was he a drinker?

TUSH: Not that I know of. I don`t know if there was any alcohol involved. My daughter was not a drinker and she wasn`t found with any drugs or any alcohol in her system.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is such a horrific case. And again, we`re talking about dating violence. And what every parent has to know who has a daughter, whether that daughter is in college or in the workplace. If the dating situation seems out of control, it probably is. Trust your gut.

Everybody, stay right where you are. We`ll have more on the tragic murder of this young lady`s daughter as well as Yeardley Love.

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HAYLEY PETERSON, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON JOURNAL": George Huguely Senior, his father, called for help and that`s when the police came out and responded. Another vessel picked up his son in the water.

The police report said that there were no -- there was no evidence of physical blows. It was all just a lot of screaming and yelling, according to the police report.

OFFICER R.L. MOSS, ARRESTED GEORGE HUGUELY IN 2008: He became more aggressive and more physical towards me; started to call me several other terms that I`m not going to state now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: George Huguely had a series of run-ins with the law. That female cop had to taser him. And he was allegedly in a blackout when he got into a huge altercation with that officer.

And of course, Huguely`s relationship with Yeardley love is has been described as obsessive, full of alcohol-fueled fights.

Friends say he attacked her at a frat party two months before she was murdered. It took three other lacrosse players to separate them. That was the last straw; Yeardley reportedly broke up with Huguely for good when he didn`t even remember that he had done that.

On the night of her death, they reportedly got into a fight in a restaurant. He was breaking bottles after she went home. He said he was going to go to her apartment to get her back. Friends say he had been drinking all day.

Doctor Reef, this is at least two alcohol-related blackouts. What does it tell you about this individual?

DR. REEF KARIM, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Yes. You know, a lot of people will say alcohol is the truth serum. I don`t think it`s a truth serum. I think what it does is that it heightens emotionality. If you`re sitting there with a lot of rage, a lot of aggression or a lot of passion or you have kind of an insecure obsessive way about you and you drink, it`s going to heighten those emotions. It`s going to heighten that response.

And nothing good ever comes out of a blackout. A blackout is a time period when the alcohol kind of takes over your brain. And your brain kind of -- it doesn`t allow you to make rational decisions during that time period.

So yes, what this tells me --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead. Bottom line.

KARIM: What this tells me is the biggest predictor of violence is a history of violence. And then when you add alcohol on board, again, this was very sad.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Diana, anonymous location, you`re a caller; your question or thoughts?

DIANA (via telephone): I wanted to share that I have been a victim of rape and sexual assault on college campuses. And I want to say that alcohol does definitely have a huge effect on a way a person is.

One of the offenses that happened to me was, two boys that lived across the hall from me my freshman year in the dormitory, they were really, really drunk and I was under the influence of alcohol as well. And I had actually partied with them.

And what they ended up doing was one of them started to rip off - - tried to rip off my clothes while the other one grabbed a video camera. And I told them, don`t do it. Finally I was able to get free and went across the hall back to my room. And they somehow got back into my room and it was just a really bad experience.

The police came the next day, confiscated the video camera and the boys begged me not to press charges because one of them was going into law. He also came from a very high respectable family --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok, I`ve got to leave it right there. Excellent thank you for your courageous statement.

Wendy Murphy, 20 seconds, your reaction?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I bet the end of the story was so I didn`t testify and they both graduated and they are both completely unaffected. That`s the problem. Across the country colleges ignore violence against women.

It is unconscionable, it is unconstitutional and it`s time we have the guys take responsibility instead of telling girls to be careful.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely right.

You`re watching ISSUES on HLN.

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