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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Oscar Pistorius Murder Trial Continues; Deadly Fourth of July Weekend in Chicago

Aired July 7, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Police want to know more about the online habits of the man accused of leaving his toddler son inside that hot car. They also want a look at the child's medical records. And what about the mother?

The latest on the investigation straight ahead.

Oscar Pistorius re-enacts the moment that he fatally shot his girlfriend. And it is all on videotape. We're going to show you this disturbing video. And we'll tell you if it could affect the blade runner's murder trial.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All black males between 15 and 30 years old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a roll call?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they say anything in terms of why stop all black males --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Police in one Florida community accused of making tens of thousands of illegal stops targeting African-Americans. And now they are dealing with a whopper of a lawsuit.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Thanks for being with us today. It's Monday, July 7th. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Police are trying to get their hands on some brand new evidence as they investigate the death of that Georgia toddler who died after being left in a hot car. And we have just gotten our hands on some new search warrants in the case.

CNN's Nick Valencia reports on these law enforcement documents and just what they tell us about this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has obtained new search warrants this morning about the death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris. The new documents reveal little new information but include requests for the search and seizure of Cooper's medical records as well the DVD-R and external hard drive from the boy's father, Justin Ross Harris.

Harris sits in a Georgia jail charged with Cooper's murder. He denies the charges. Over the weekend, Georgia homicide detectives continue their work. Leanna Harris, the baby's mother, also part of the investigation according to police, though she has not been named as a suspect in the case.

It was just Thursday, the public learned bizarre details about the case, like the Internet searches on the father's work computer that included a visit to a Web page devoted to exploring a child-free lifestyle, as well as a search for how to survive in prison.

DETECTIVE PHIL STODDARD, COBB COUNTY POLICE: Evidence is showing us right now that he's got this whole second life that he's living with alternate personalities and alternate personas.

VALENCIA: Police said Harris sent lewd text messages while his son sat strapped in a car seat in the broiling Atlanta heat.

STODDARD: He's having up to six different conversations with different women. The most common term would be sexting.

VALENCIA: Police also testifying that the couple had money problems and that they had both done Internet searches on child deaths in hot cars. The defense objecting to much of Thursday's testimony and painting Ross as a loving father who made a mistake.

H. MADDOX KILGORE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's not criminal negligence. It's a horrible tragedy and accident.

VALENCIA: In court, the mother's face mostly stoic. Cobb County Police detective Phil Stoddard detailed her reaction on the day her only child was found dead.

STODDARD: In front of several witnesses, all of a sudden she states, Ross must have left him in the car. And they were like, what? There's no other reason. Ross must have -- no other explanation, excuse me, Ross must have left him in the car. And they tried to console her. And they're like, no, you know, there's a thousand reasons. You know, he could have taken him to lunch or something. We don't know yet. And she's like, no.

VALENCIA: Investigators say their work is far from over. Family and friends of the couple say judgment should be reserved until all of the facts surface.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And Nick Valencia joins me live now from Atlanta. Nick, so much of the focus of this entire case has been about

behavior, odd behavior, not just on the part of now the defendant but his wife. Do we know anything about Leanna Harris and whether the police are really zeroing in on her for anything?

VALENCIA: Yes, much has been made about her reaction, her behavior and her lack of emotion. But the facts are this, Ashleigh. She has not been officially named a suspect. She is part of the investigation but she is not under investigation. That's an important clarification there.

We do know that a lot of people are asking questions about her. You are looking at her there and her reaction in the courtroom during that probable cause hearing for her husband. We called the Cobb County magistrate earlier this morning and asked if there are search warrants or arrest warrants related to Leanna Harris. They said no, not at this time -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And what about the warrants that we have now? There are so many of them. Have many of them been executed or all of them?

VALENCIA: You know, that's a great question and one that we asked the magistrate. Have these search warrants been executed? The short answer is, we don't know. We assume that they wouldn't have been released unless they were executed. Things like the hard drive, the DVD, the SD card, the medical records. But according to the magistrate, they have yet to be returned to the court. And until they are, we just don't know if they have been executed.

But we heard investigators say that they've just scratched the surface in all of this, Ashleigh, we can only expect more details to come out in the coming days.

BANFIELD: You never know how much is on a hard drive and how long it takes, you know, forensic analysts to get through that stuff either.

Nick Valencia, thank you for that. Keep us posted if you hear anything.

I also want to bring in now to talk about this investigation into the toddler's death, CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos and former Atlanta prosecutor, Phillip Holloway.

Philip, as you might know from watching the show before has actually worked with the judge and the attorneys in this case. And he knows this jurisdiction pretty darn well.

So, Philip, let me start with you. It sure smells like something's afoot. And I only say that because my spidey senses have always tingled when I've seen unusual behavior. Not to say that that prevails in trial. I've seen plenty of weird people very innocent in the end. But it does get police acting differently.

PHILIP HOLLOWAY, FORMER ATLANTA PROSECUTOR: That it does. And from the testimony that we heard in court, it certainly has raised questions in many people's minds about whether or not Mrs. Harris has any involvement in this case and it certainly is clear from the search warrants that we've been learning about today and we heard about previously in the case that the police are tracking down every possible lead. They are leaving no stone unturned.

They are going to try to find out exactly where this evidence is going. And if it points to the mother, then it points to the mother. And they will do what they have to do.

BANFIELD: So, Danny, there might be something here that would surprise people in terms of how police go about their work. People might not understand this. But police are allowed to lie. They are allowed to lie to you during an investigation. They are allowed to say things to you like your husband just told me you are involved in this. They can do things to squeeze you and make you terrified and ultimately spill your guts. Is it possible that this is one of the tactics that could play out in this case?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Is it possible? It's absolutely happening. We've already heard a conversation that the police observed between husband and wife. That wasn't accidental. Police are masters of deciding when to allow two defendants to talk to each other while they are listening, of course. And when to separate them and really put the pressure on.

You better believe that numerous investigators are having closed-door discussions to decide how to maximize this strategy. It's going to be a very effective tool. Because for the most part, civilians are just not used to that kind of pressure, that kind of subtle fear being imposed upon them.

You know, when you see on TV the police officer throwing the chair and pounding his fist, you know, that's great for television movie.

BANFIELD: Drama.

CEVALLOS: For drama.

BANFIELD: Sure.

CEVALLOS: But the reality is most of these investigators are affable. very likeable people, because they get more information by being friendly and being a --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE)

CEVALLOS: Right. And humanizing themselves to the defendant or the suspect than they ever would by strong-arm tactics.

BANFIELD: And isn't that the reason that the number one piece of advice is get a lawyer and shut your mouth? No matter what, the most innocent people need that advice, because you can say all sorts of things as an innocent person as well.

CEVALLOS: Yes. And they have a hard time following it. BANFIELD: Do they ever. It certainly makes for lots of material for

these programs. That's for sure.

Philip Holloway, thank you. Danny Cevallos, thank you. Stay put if you would. Got a murder case in which the accused re-enacts the crime scene. Let me repeat that. The accused in a murder case re-enacts the actual incident in which the victim dies. And the cameras are rolling, videotaping how the victim died.

And that's the guy I'm talking about, the Olympic star, Oscar Pistorius. Why did he do this? And surprisingly, is it possible it could actually help him in his defense? You will find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A stunning new development in the murder case of Olympian Oscar Pistorius. A video has come to surface of the double-amputee without his prosthetic legs, re-enacting the shooting with his sister as a stand-in for his now dead girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius' defense could rest its case as early as tomorrow. But the video that we're about to show you may never even make it into this trial.

Robin Curnow is live in Pretoria, South Africa.

So tell us what this is about. It seems awfully curious.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what is important about this is that it's probably unlikely to make it on to the court record this new footage. That's because as you rightly say, the defense says they are likely to wrap up their case on Tuesday. The last defense witness has been excused. And also today, there really wasn't any opportunity for the prosecution to try and squeeze this new evidence by some sort of legal backdoor.

So what you're seeing now is going to be just I think for public consumption for all those armchair opinion makers. And really it is the first time we are seeing Oscar Pistorius demonstrate what he says he did that night and how Reeva died. Just take a listen and look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW (voice-over): For the first time you're listening to Oscar Pistorius reenact the chilling screams many neighbors testified to hearing the night the athlete discovered he'd shot and killed his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Seven Network in Australia airing audio and footage shot months after Reeva's death. In a play-by-play of Pistorius' version of events he reenacted how he ran to the bathroom door he shot through four times.

OSCAR PISTORIUS, FORMER OLYMPIAN: That's probably the speed, the fastest speed that I could have been able to go.

CURNOW: Pistorius on his stumps with his hand out stretched as if he's holding a gun. After finding Steenkamp the athlete describes what he did next.

The role of Steenkamp played by Pistorius' sister, Emmy, who was hunched over the toilet just like Steenkamp allegedly was that fateful night.

Pistorius' spokesperson issued a statement explaining that in the run- up to the trial they'd hired a company to help the defense team visually map the events of that night, with the intention of assisting his legal team to prepare for the case.

Airing the material, Pistorius' spokesperson says, constitutes a staggering breach of trust and an invasion of the family's privacy.

It's unclear if this newly uncovered footage will impact Pistorius' ongoing murder trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He, with intention to kill, shot the person behind the door.

CURNOW: The special also re-airing surveillance video of Pistorius and Steenkamp kissing at a local convenience store, footage captured 10 days before she died.

And on the eve of her death on Valentine's Day 2013, the Australian network showed surveillance videos of the athlete's girlfriend smiling when she arrived at the main gate of Pistorius' estate before she was killed that night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Oscar Pistorius has all along said the death of Reeva Steenkamp was a terrible accident, a terrible mistake. Now, as for this dispute over the footage, the special program, Pistorius' spokesperson saying it was obtained illegally, but the broadcaster's saying, no, no. They are defending their right to use this video.

Back to you guys.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So odd. Robyn Curnow, thank you so much for that.

I want to bring in for the LEGAL VIEW now CNN's senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin and back with me CNN legal analyst and defense attorney Danny Cevallos.

So, Jeff, I'm going to being with you. Odd, if it makes it into the case or if it doesn't, do you see any difference given the fact there's no jury in that courtroom?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I actually think it is somewhat helpful in the defense to act out with real people or with an animation how this could have unfolded as he said it did.

I don't think it's going to make a big difference. Obviously, as you have pointed out many times, this is not a jury trial, so you don't have an emotional impact that you might with a jury. But I actually think it is helpful to the defense, and that's why they did it.

BANFIELD: Danny, one thing that people might not know unless they work in your business, day in, day out, is that defense attorneys and their clients work as hard, if not harder, at presenting their case, putting forth their case, as the prosecutors do all leading up to trial. And that's effectively what this was supposed to be.

They hired a company to come in, shoot this and create the graphics package to make this more understandable. At its surface, it seems weird. But when you think about it, it sounds like a very smart move.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No, every litigator, whether civil or criminal, is taught early on and often, go to the scene. See it with your own eyes.

When do you that, your brain can process things that you may never have noticed if you were just reading police reports, documents, so the rule for litigators is always -- civil or criminal -- go to where this happened.

Creating a video like this is just a very diligent extension of that rule. I have no doubt that the attorneys did this so they can get an idea of what Pistorius' story was, identify any holes, identify any problems.

But ultimately, the real problem here is for the company that commissioned to do this video. There are companies like this. They make their bread and butter solely on this kind of business. And with this kind of bad publicity, I would be shocked if anyone hires them again.

TOOBIN: There's a big difference between defense and prosecution, usually, in the real world. The defense rarely has the resources to conduct this, to hire consultants, experts, animators.

BANFIELD: Unless you are O.J.

TOOBIN: Or Pistorius, who is wealthy. So, yes, in theory, defense attorneys would like to be able to devote this kind of attention to preparing their cases. Usually, they can't.

BANFIELD: We just saw a really very fast flash of Oscar Pistorius running without his prosthetic legs. In court, they call it his stumps. And it's a really key element of this trial, if he is vulnerable, when he is on his stumps, because that's his entire story is that I was on my stumps. I was vulnerable. I acted out of fear.

Do you think the judge is going to be swayed at all -- and just quickly, Jeff, whether that's going to make a difference, seeing that.

TOOBIN: It's certainly a part of it. I actually thought he moved pretty well on his stumps, which may actually redound to his detriment, because it may help the prosecution theory that, look, he gets around pretty well.

BANFIELD: And I thought he didn't. Isn't that funny? You thought did. Danny, did you see him waiver at the end and have to hold onto something when he stopped running?

CEVALLOS: I think it can cut both ways. Certainly, he moves pretty well for someone in that condition, but he also has that condition, which obviously places him at a disadvantage.

And I think, even seeing him move somewhat quickly, you hear him talking about how, well, I can't make it much further. I really think could potentially cut both ways. He's a person with a disability who moves pretty well, considering that disability.

BANFIELD: For a trial where there is little that you can see on the witness stand, it certainly does give some insight at least into the players in this case and who knows? Who knows where it will go?

Thank you both. Appreciate the insight, as always. Danny Cevallos, Jeff Toobin, want you to stick around too as well. We've got some other news that we are covering.

A lot of people spent the Fourth of July weekend, watching fireworks, enjoying family and barbecues. But in Chicago, it seems like a lot of bangs were from guns. The toll this latest bloody weekend took, we're going to you right after this break. And you will not believe it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A violent and deadly few days in Chicago, multiple shootings over the weekend marred the Fourth of July celebrations there. At least 11 people are dead today. About 50 are injured, all of that according to our CNN affiliate.

The Windy City is no stranger to gun violence. They have been cracking down on gangs and shootings since they recorded more than 500 homicides in 2012. It was the highest in the nation that year.

George Howell is live right now in Chicago. I had to reread that statistic this morning when I saw this, George. What happened? What was it about this weekend in Chicago?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, living here, understanding the city, it seems that when it gets warm, this sort of thing is expected. During a holiday weekend, this sort of thing becomes expected, unfortunately. And this weekend seemed to have no exception to that. The numbers, the statistics, are disturbing, and they are all over the map. I want to read a couple of these to you.

The "Chicago Tribune" reporting that 82 people were shot. Fourteen people were killed. The "Sun Times," different numbers, but saying that 60 people were shot and 13 people were killed. And then affiliate WLS, the ABC station here, reporting that 60 people shot and wounded, at least 60 people, and 11 people are dead.

CNN has been able to confirm with these numbers that at least five of those shootings are officer-involved shootings. At least two of those officer-involved shootings resulted in fatalities.

So, the numbers, look, are high. They are disturbing. They are all over the map. But the one thing we do know is that, later today, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is expected to talk about violence, about gun seizures.

And you know we're going to ask him these questions because these numbers are just out of the roof. It's unbelievable how many people were shot and killed over this weekend.

BANFIELD: Here is what it doesn't equate. We were running on CNN this series about Chicago, and much of the thread throughout was that things were getting better. Yes, they were bad, but that they were getting better, all this community policing, et cetera. And then you get a weekend like this. Is this a blip, or is there a trend downward again?

HOWELL: It is important to point out that police do like to point to the fact that the numbers are, in fact, going down. When you look at the crime numbers last year, they are down compared to the numbers to the year before that.

I remember talking to the superintendent about this. He said he understands. If he were to tell a person, hey, there's been a reduction in crime by 30 percent, does a person on the south side feel 30 percent safer? The answer to that is no.

So he understands that it's a problem, and certainly he is working to try to deal with it and address it. We know they have more police officers on the streets this summer trying to deal with the problem.

But, look, this really is the first summer weekend where it was pretty warm here in Chicago, and, unfortunately, this sort of thing just seems to become expected. You know we will be following the story. We will have cameras there and ask plenty of questions of the superintendent.

BANFIELD: All right, George. Be careful of yourself as well. I know you and your family are there, so George Howell reporting live for us from Chicago.

HOWELL: Great city, otherwise.

BANFIELD: It is, and you're absolutely right. That's why this is just such a sad, sad set of statistics, this morning.

And I'm going to stay with the crime theme, George, if you let me head off here. Yes, it's on the theme, but, no, it's not what a lot of people want to hear, stop and frisk. Those policies are pretty controversial, but if you add in allegations of racial profiling, you find yourself with a lawsuit on your hands.

I'm going to take you to one particular city in Florida that is being sued for that exact reason, and before you weigh in with a personal feeling about it, wait until you hear the statistics. What we found out about police officers allegedly being told to stop all black men, and what those officials are saying about those claims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BANFIELD: Welcome back to LEGAL VIEW. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

A six-month-long investigation conducted by Fusion TV reveals tens of thousands of people were stopped, in many cases unnecessarily, by the Miami Gardens Police Department over the past five years. The controversial stop-and-frisk policies actually included checks of small children.