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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

New Details of Hannah Kidnapping, Family Murder; Bradley Manning Apologizes for Leaking Info; Miss Teen USA "Sextorted" With Own Computer; Doctor Accused of Chemo Scam.

Aired August 15, 2013 - 11:30   ET

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


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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities are revealing some pretty grisly new details about the kidnapping of the California teenager named Hannah Anderson, including how that family friend, James DiMaggio, tortured Hannah's mother and brother before killing them. And that's the language of the police, "tortured."

Casey Wian has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details are surfacing. According to these newly released search warrants, DiMaggio tortured and killed his best friend's wife and 8-year-old son and shot and killed the family dog. Police also say they found a crow bar and what appeared to be blood on the ground next to Christina Anderson's body. The 40-year-old DiMaggio then allegedly set his house on fire and kidnapped the couple's 16-year-old daughter Hannah. The documents say he spoke with her 13 times on the phone earlier that day. The FBI rescued Anderson on Saturday and killed DiMaggio during the confrontation. A coroner said he was shot at least five times.

BRETT ANDERSON, HANNAH'S FATHER: As for my daughter, the healing process will be slow. She has been through a tremendous horrific ordeal.

WIAN: Now home, Anderson has quickly taken to social media to cope with her pain, mostly posting these pictures to her Instagram profile. The first glimpse we're getting of her after the harrowing ordeal. She writes, God gives his toughest tasks to the strongest soldiers. She also posted this picture of her mother and brother writing my two beautiful angels. She dedicated this post, in the clouds I'll meet you again, rest in peace.

The posts hit the social media-sphere three days after her rescue leading some experts to question her public catharsis.

WENDI WALSH, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: This is a 16-year old who is totally traumatized so she's not thinking. Sometimes in a numb state, you're doing things that you don't really -- really consider the consequences.

WIAN: But others say social media is in fact a good outlet for Anderson.

STACY KAISER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: There is a ton of research that says that when someone has been through a traumatic experience, it's helpful to talk and share their story.

WIAN: Anderson has also shared her story on ASK.FM, answering anonymous users' questions. A user asked, why didn't you run? He would have killed me. Are you glad he's dead? Absolutely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And Casey Wian joins me live now from Los Angeles.

We have our hands on the search warrants that you were quoting in your story. And what I found really interesting is that not everything in the warrant matches up with the public statements that Hannah's been making online. And I'm curious if the police have addressed that at all, if they're looking into that.

WIAN: They have addressed it. We reached out to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department this morning and they would not provide us any particular details about their investigation. They say they may provide some more of a clearer time line and said at some point in the near future. But I did ask whether any of this information that has come out in terms of Hannah's online postings and her interactions on social media has in any way changed the sheriff's characterization of her as nothing more than a victim in this case and the answer was quick and emphatic, it was positively not -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: I'm glad you asked that question because some of the people involved in that chat were very pointed and very accusatory towards Hannah. So thank you for that. If anything changes, do let us know.

Casey Wian, live for us, thank you, from Los Angeles.

Also want to remind that you this weekend you can watch Anderson Cooper, a special report, "Kidnapped, the Rescue of Hannah Anderson," Saturday night, 6:30 p.m. eastern and pacific.

So that confidential e-mail that you may have just sent may not be so confidential after all. Google says it has the right to be party to your private communications. We'll explain just how close they can be, coming up next.

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BANFIELD: Welcome back to "Legal View".

If you use Gmail, guess what is this, don't assume Google is honoring your privacy. Google insists it is doing nothing illegal, but it is a heated controversy and it appears to be pretty similar to the NSA monitoring our phone calls and e-mails.

If it sounds confusing, that's why we bring in the big guns.

Christine Romans joins me, and alongside her, Jean Casarez, great lawyer and legal correspondent; and Danny Cevallos, another great defense lawyer.

First I want to start with you, because you are in the business of business. I thought this has to be bad for business, but I'm not sure. What's going on?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is business, right. You've got Google processing your e-mail and they are scanning, using algorithms to look at what you're looking at and designing and what you're getting online, and targeting and targeting ads, also getting rid of viruses and moving your spam e-mail into the right folder. So that's what --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: And we agreed to that.

ROMANS: We agreed to that. But some groups say this sounds like you're peeking and reading. Google said that it's like an assistant who opens the boss' mail. It says, "People who use e-mail cannot be surprised if indeed they their communications are processed by the e- mail provider." It quotes another court case, which ruled a person has, quote, "no legitimate expectation of privacy in information that that person turns over to a third party." This is all based on their quoting Smith v Maryland, 1979, in this other legal proceeding. It's Google's response to the class action lawsuit. The company says it's an automated system processing the e-mails. It's not a bunch of humans reading your e-mails. Google says several courts have held this is widely understood. It scans your e-mail to detect spam, to detect viruses and to design ads. But in the age of privacy, this is a concern. And privacy critics, of course, jump right on top of this.

BANFIELD: We love the fact that the ads actually do pertain to things that we want may me want instead of --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: -- Big Brother.

BANFIELD: Big Brother. But -- the algorithms, let's get to what the algorithms mean. Google says it's a bunch of algorithms, it's not human eyes. Legally, is there any difference?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: It's scanning. It's automatic. And it is reading the content in a sense because then the ads go along with what the e-mail is. I have the Motion to Dismiss right here. But the plaintiffs are suing based on the federal wiretap law, the state wiretap law and invasion of privacy. But Google is saying this is the ordinary course of business. They cite privacy consent. You have to consent to allowing this. You check the box.

ROMANS: For all the people arguing about privacy, have you read your privacy policy? Here it is.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: And read the fine print before you check, yes, I'm in. So, Danny, what's the answer? If you're a g-mail user, do you have to just swallow it or is there some merit, is there recourse?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Here is the exciting thing. Technology has always been about three laps ahead of the law. The law struggles to catch up. That case Smith v Maryland, that didn't deal with Gmail, it was 1979. It dealt with what we call pen registers. If you're not a criminal defense attorney, you may not know what those are. When you made a phone call, you told the phone company what number you were dialing and that's the only information it captured. That case was not equipped -- those old case are not equipped for technology changing every single day. We need to read the fine print --

BANFIELD: And the content.

CEVALLOS: And the content. But then again, you can argue the content of what number you dialed is part of the content of your phone call. Back then, there was no technology to speak of. Now you have to redefine privacy every day and the law will always be behind technology.

BANFIELD: Is there a difference between me dialing, Danny, me, say, dialing Whitey Bulger?

CEVALLOS: Sure.

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALLOS: Very about difference. They want to talk to you if you're dialing Whitey Bulger. And there are questions they're going to ask you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: It's all fascinating and I know this conversation will evolve.

Thank you to you all.

So Bradley Manning, he's now facing, oh, I don't know, almost 100 years in prison, and doing more than just apologizing now before he actually hears how many years. All of it because of leaking tens of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. But who is this person? Guess what, that is Bradley Manning. Why does that matter? You're about to find out when Chris Lawrence joins us in the NEWSROOM next.

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BANFIELD: Bradley Manning is apparently a cross dresser. At least that's what we can assume based on this photo that was released by his attorneys at his court martial yesterday. Manning is the Army private who is convicted now of leaking 750,000 government files to WikiLeaks. He spoke for the first time about all of it, and he was sorry. He apologized for the leak. He told the judge his action was due, in large part, to the fact that he has been dealing with a lot of issues.

Chris Lawrence has been following these developments. He joins me live from the Pentagon.

So give me some context. It just seems like an unusual thing to do after the connection to bring this photo into court, especially his attorneys doing so. You can give me context why they did it?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Ashleigh, basically, this has nothing to do with trying to prove his innocence. That ship has sailed. He's guilty. He'll go away for a lot of time. This has everything to do with determining how much time. And the defense is bringing that into try to get that number down. They're trying to show the judge that Bradley Manning was a misunderstood, very confused young man who had some serious psychological issues that the Army could not and would not help him deal with while he was deployed in Iraq.

That photo was actually part of an e-mail that Bradley Manning sent to his master sergeant. The master sergeant never passed it up the chain of command. Defense trying to show not only was he confused, not only did he feel isolated and couldn't get help, but the Army missed a lot of red flags along the way and kept him around classified material when he should have been removed before then.

Of course, he also apologized to the court saying, I'm sorry I hurt people, I'm sorry I hurt the United States. But the contrition again is coming at the 11th hour. This is a man who boasted about what he had done and, of course, he's doing it at the point where he's facing up to 90 years in prison -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: We'll see if the contrition or the photo has any effect.

Chris Lawrence, live at the Pentagon for us. Thank you, sir.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

BANFIELD: So this is a little bit of black electricians tape. You've probably seen it. This might help you in more ways than you know. Because there is a story that I'll tell that you involves Miss Teen USA coming up and being "sextorted." Yes, the word "sextortion." It all has to do with her personal computer at home. Somebody just hacking in to it and using her camera to snap pictures of her. Remember that electricians tape and how I told you it could help you? Stay tuned.

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BANFIELD: So here's a pretty disturbing thought. You're at home, quietly on your computer doing your own thing and somebody hacks into your webcam. You don't know, the light doesn't go on, but that somebody, a freak, is watching your every move and maybe even recording it. The woman just recently crowned Miss Teen USA says that is exactly what has happened to her. This is 19-year-old Cassidy Wolf. She says she got a weird e-mail from a stranger one day claiming that he had hacked into her personal webcam and then taken photos of her in her bedroom. He then told her he'd be kind enough not to release them if she just coughed up a bunch of money. This is something that's now being called sextortion, and Cassidy is by no means the first victim of it. The FBI is investigating hundreds of cases just like Cassidy's.

Joining me now, defense attorney, Danny Cevallos, and CNN's legal correspondent, Jean Casarez.

First off, FBI, federal crime, why?

CASAREZ: Well, because it is over the internet, so it's via state versus state, and within the states and outside of states. But here's how it works. They hack into your computer, and they get on websites -- or your webcam, but it can be websites where they then can "forgot your password" and they act like they're you that they "forgot your password" and then they get personal information from you via internet, put that in, correspond with your friends, search with your pictures and all of a sudden you're in the middle of a sextortion scheme. It can be for various things -- for money, for sexual favors or more pictures. But we're talking about Miss Teenage USA, right?

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: You bring in a whole other element, don't you?

OK. Because I've often thought child pornography can pertain to so many of these issues when somebody's under 18. Is this one of those circumstances, Danny, where he or she thinks they may have been able to get away with this, if he or she gets caught it's a domino effect of other crimes too.

CEVALLOS: So many other crimes. As Jean said, as soon as you implicate interstate commerce, that's a magic word for federal jurisdiction, and that leaves open a jubilee of potential charges. The federal government has so many of them. So if the FBI's investigating. You better believe they not only will eventually track down whoever it is, because they do leave a trail, but that they will charge them with virtually everything they can under the sun, including federal child pornography charges if they can fit them into the statute.

BANFIELD: So then it becomes who's the better hacker? Is this the training, Jean, we need to give to our experts that they need to be as good as the snakes?

CASAREZ: But the FBI is saying you are not free from this. No one is free from this. If you put anything on your computer, webcam, anything, you are able to be hacked. So it's really a personal responsibility issue at this point.

BANFIELD: Your computer's up in your house -- that's why I did the tease with this thing, Danny. You can try the court system, or you can try the electrician's tape and put it over the lens.

CEVALLOS: That's not unusual. I see a lot of people doing that. I think it's a good idea.

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALLOS: It's not a bad idea to stick that on there. It's surprising no one's built in a trap door into one of these computers.

BANFIELD: Good idea.

CEVALLOS: Thank you. I'm full of them.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Did you say you're full of it?

(LAUGHTER)

CEVALLOS: Full of them. No, I'm full of them.

BANFIELD: But it is a really smart thing to do. Here's another great tip, change your password and make it a tricky one. Password, one, two, three is not a good one.

Jean Casarez, Danny Cevallos, thank you for that. Hold that thought for a moment.

We have an update on a story we've been following for you. The doctor accused of giving patients unnecessary chemotherapy to build up his own bank account by millions is being held now by authorities. And his "get out of jail" card is in the millions, high in the millions. Wait until you hear how many millions his bond is.

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BANFIELD: Welcome back to "Legal View." I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

Imagine having to go through chemotherapy, months of it -- it's pretty brutal -- then finding out that you didn't need it. It was a scam so a doctor could make a lot of money.

CNN's Pamela Brown reports that's what a Michigan doctor did and now he's being held on $9 million bond.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 25-year-old Dustin Kalie dropped out of college after being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

DUSTIN KALIE, DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER: I've never been so tired. Just exhausted.

BROWN: He was referred to Dr. Fareed Fatah, a Michigan cancer specialist, who began administering aggressive treatments to Kalie.

KALIE: To me, it was a lot and hard to go through. But when your doctor tells you that's what's going to cure your cancer, you don't argue.

BROWN: He joins scores of other patients who are shocked to learn Doctor Fatah was arrested last week on charges of not only falsely telling patients they had cancer, but also giving them unnecessary chemotherapy treatments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very upsetting because I really liked him.

BROWN: Motive? Pure greed according to federal prosecutors. He allegedly misdiagnosed his patients so he could submit false Medicare claims, stealing $35 million over a two-year period according to this federal complaint. Authorities also say he went as far as administering chemotherapy to dying patients who would not even benefit so he could make even more money.

But his attorney says the criminal complaint does not identify any patients who claim they were mistreated, and his client has proclaimed his innocence. Several patients are also coming to his defense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe a word of it. I have total faith.

BROWN: Still, more than 700 of Dr. Fatah's former patients are weighing in on this Facebook page sharing the physical and emotional pain they've endured with one patient saying, "What a monster if this all proves to be true."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: CNN's Pamela Brown reporting for us.

Thanks everyone for watching. AROUND THE WORLD starts right now.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Suzanne Malveaux.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company today.

First, we're getting word in just in the last few minutes, literally -- look at pictures -- coming from southern Beirut, Lebanon. Southern Beirut is a stronghold of Hezbollah, if you like. We don't know much about this explosion yet other than it has just happened. Bodies have been seen according to some reports from witnesses being quote on Arab media. You can see there a large fire burning --