Return to Transcripts main page

LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Suge Knight Incident Discussed; One of the Taliban Members Traded for Bowe Bergdahl Reportedly Contacts Extremists

Aired January 30, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


MEL ROBBINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & LEGAL ANALYST: So in addition to witnesses, you will likely have one of the people that was actually involved in the actual incident itself and in the fight being able to testify.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGALY ANALYST: This happened at a restaurant, so I knew Mel Robbins would...

ROBBINS: ...Huge rap sheet guys, come on...

CALLAN: This happened in a restaurant and I knew Mel Robbins would have knowledge of the situation because it happened at a restaurant. So...

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm not sure I get that but I do...

CALLAN: It's a restaurant joke. She knows here restaurants but...

BANFIELD: I got it. Got it. I never on the inside of these jokes. Well I find this fascinating for so many reasons because, again, Suge Knight is his well known to law enforcement, he's been in and out of prison and he had...

ROBBINS: And corrections officer.

BANFIELD: Yes. Corrections officer as well.

CALLAN: But you can you use a truck as a weapon just as you can use a gun as weapon.

BANFIELD: Yes, you can.

CALLAN: It depends on whether they can show intent.

BANFIELD: So many more fact that have to come out in this and no one should pass any judgment until we hear from many of the people as there were many who witnessed what happens, surveillance video if there is some, God, I hope it is there as you said Danny. Guys thanks you so much. Sara Sidner thank you for your reporting as well.

We are on the sidelines of something else here, an athlete's trial. Aaron Hernandez, once the star of the New England Patriots who didn't spend a lot of time on the sidelines, he was on the field as a star. And by the way, his team they have slightly important game in just two days. We're going to take you live to Phoenix, we're going to talk Super Bowl. And we're going to talk about how much Super Bowl been talked about when there're so many other incredible distractions this week. And by the way there were some really cute kids just running around Super Bowl. You will find out what that was too, back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: With deflategate and Tom Brady being sick, Marshawn Lynch refusing to talk to the media, and the Aaron Hernandez trial underway. Man, is that ever a lift. Sort of seems like the actual Super Bowl is getting lost in the mix of all those other ugly headlines, and the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks is set to go head to head on Sunday for something we're waiting for every year. And the players are now on lock down. We are not going to hear much out of them until after the game. It doesn't mean you're not going to hear about it.

Joining me now live from Phoenix at the site of this year's Super Bowl is CNN's Rachel Nichols. I couldn't believe the list of all these things. I have to sort of think them up and they just came into me so quickly and it seems that they all in the last week alone. The latest being that Richard Sherman, the star of the Seahawks may not even make the game at this point. Can you expand on that?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well his more likely to make the game than not. We don't want to over dramatize it here, but he's got an interesting conundrum that a lot of Americans out there can relate too. His girlfriend is nine months pregnant with their first child, it's going to be a boy. And he is here in Phoenix because, Ashleigh, she could go into labor at anytime.

Now the kid is not due for another week or two, and Richard Sherman has been joking that he had a little chat with his future son, he's told him, you know, to stay in there for another at least...

BANFIELD: Hold on.

NICHOLS: ... until Monday. He said he told his son to do him a solid, "Hey little fetus do me a solid and then just stay in there." But the question is what happens if she goes into labor on Sunday. Is he going to go with her or is he going to go to the football game. Used to be, Ashleigh, that athletes always play. Now in the last 10 years, we've seen a real shift. A lot of athletes have missed big athletic competitions.

Joe Flacco, however, the quarter back for the Baltimore Ravens, he played in a game last year when the birth of one of his children. And there's really this perception if it so big like the Super Bowl, if you're such a key player, maybe you get an excuse card from the family. We'll see. The Seattle Seahawks has said it's Richard's choice, he can do whatever he wants.

BANFIELD: Well I get news for Richard, I was six weeks early so keep on your toes mister. I can't advice them either way because those are two once in a lifetime things for a lot of people obviously.

NICHOLS: Yeah. BANFIELD: Real quickly about Roger Goodell. Look the guy has been -- he's been taking a lot of heat in the media, certainly from some players who say he should be talking if the rest of us have to talk, especially Marshawn Lynch saying things like that or at least friends of Marshawn Lynch. Marshawn's not saying much at all. But he's expected (inaudible) 1:30 today, right? What are we getting out of this state of the state that he's supposed to deliver?

NICHOLS: Yeah, this is an annual address that he, the commissioner, does at the Super Bowl which dates back much longer than Roger Goodell. And he's going to sort of address the state of the league of course. And by a lot of metrics, the league has never been stronger. Television ratings are through the roof of the top 30 programs on T.V. this past fall 28 of them were football games. Last year's Super Bowl, the most watched television event in American history. This Sunday's Super Bowl is suppose to be even more watched than that.

But of course a lot of image problems through the NFL, the domestic violence issues that they've had and deflategate, there will be a lot of questions about that investigation as well. So it's going to be interesting and you'll see it here on CNN.

BANFIELD: Yeah. It's good thing there's no court on Sundays because Bill Belichick is on the witness list for that little trial in Massachusetts as well. So we'll watch for that. And so, hey Rachel have a good time down there and thanks for all your good work.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Rachel still on the clock too because next hour, the commissioner, Roger Goodell's going to do that. He's going to deliver that state of the NFL and CNN's going to bring that to you live. And then we're not going to give her a break at that point either because tomorrow you can go inside football's biggest game with Rachel. And she's going to be joined by Hall of Famer, Dan Marino. So make sure you tune in tomorrow 4:30 P.M. Eastern time for that.

Lawyers for a Vanderbilt football player convicted of rape are saying not so fast. They say they have some new information that could make the judge throw the guilty verdicts out. And get this, it involves a juror who said that young man on your screen, did it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Dartmouth College, the school that inspired this ruckus comedy Animal House. Well now, Dartmouth is taking a very hard stand on what appeared on that movie all the time, hard liquor. On Thursday Dartmouth announced some sweeping changes to curve dangerous behavior on campus. Those changes, liquor will be banned, banned, no more pledging fraternities, no more pledging sororities. And all students will be required to undergo an extensive sexual violence prevention program.

Speaking of sexual violence on campus, remember that story we've been telling you about for over a week now. You may have thought the trial of those two Vanderbilt football players who were convicted earlier this week of that filthy, sadistic and disgusting rape of a fellow student who was comatose because she been drugged, and then she was video tapped and photographed while she was being raped, well now it turns that there might be a really big problem with the case.

Brandon Vandenburg's attorney want the verdict against him, the guilty verdict against him, thrown out. They say one of the jurors did not disclose before the trial that he or she, we don't know who it is, was a victim of sexual abuse. It is important to understand that at this stage, we don't know if the juror did anything wrong or answered any questions erroneously. It's not clear whether the juror was ever even asked if he or she had a history with sexual violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLETCHER LONG, BRANDON VANDENBURG'S ATTORNEY: It might have been an information that would have been useful in a case that had some of the same type of scenarios and allegations to which - had been a victim. I mean that's just the information, it is incredible to me that didn't think that that information in light of this case and these charges was warranted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I want to bring back in our legal experts on this one, Mel Robinson and Paul Callan. Mel first to you, you never ever have a juror (inaudible) without having a question asked, "Have you ever been a victim of a crime?" I have never heard of it, perhaps I'm mistaken, but I think I'm pretty on the money with this one.

ROBBINS: Yeah, I mean I would -- I'd be shocked if she wasn't asked it. But again you said this in the opening, Ashleigh of the segment. We're not sure if she was asked or he was asked directly and lied or whether there was no mission. And if you noticed one of the defendant's attorney said if would have been helpful, it would have been interesting information.

He didn't say that it would have been critical information that would have changed the outcome and went a court looks at this on appeal. They wave the interest of justice and frankly when you have a case with such damning evidence and you've got jurors that are already out now talking in the media about how they were all convinced and the video sealed the deal. Then I don't think in the interest of justice one juror that had something happen two decades ago with no evidence of him or her swaying the rest of the jury is going to make a bit a difference.

BANFIELD: So -- And that's actually something that has been voiced at this point as well. We are all informed but what happens to us in society and jurors are no different. However, and Paul get -- weigh in on this one. I'm going to reiterate this. We don't know if that juror perjured him or herself, lied or omitted information.

We don't know if that juror was ever asked, have you ever been the victim of sexual violence, or a sexual crime, or have you ever been raped. We don't know. And maybe that juror, just maybe that juror might not have ever reported it. It wasn't a crime in their opinion because they never went to the criminal justice systems.

So with that, what about that, Paul informed you of your notion of society. Would that have made a difference on a panel? If someone had actually been the victim of sexual assault, would they have been stricken right away because of it?

CALLAN: No, they wouldn't be stricken because it's not an automatic disqualification. But certainly defense attorneys if they knew that there was a rape victim on the jury would be questioning her very carefully about, "Can you be fair in this situation? Can you evaluate the evidence in this case and not transpose your own personal experience here?" Those questions would be asked of the case.

But I will tell you this. A lot of defense attorneys in rape cases like to have women on the jury because and particularly women who maybe have had incidence of their own because they think that there is -- they bring a certain skepticism to claims sometimes. So I wouldn't be absolutely clear.

BANFIELD: I would say that if he or a she and again we don't know the gender of this juror had been a victim of rape or sexual violence of that skepticism might not be. One quick question though.

CALLAN: Well, don't be so sure and, you know...

BANFIELD: All right, all right.

CALLAN: (inaudible) has been trying these cases in New York the same thing. A lot of times...

BANFIELD: Right.

CALLAN: ... women are skeptical of other women.

BANFIELD: Mel, would the defense attorneys have presented their evidence differently if they had known that there was this person on the jury, would it have made a difference in the way they actually went about their case?

ROBBINS: Absolutely. And I also think to Paul's point, they would've (inaudible) the living daylights and depending upon out of this potential juror, depending upon what they learned, they might want her or him on the panel because they think that she'll-- he or she will bring a level of skepticism or they might want to do everything they possibly can.

BANFIELD: To get to off of the panel.

ROBBINS: To get this juror off. And if they got the juror off. That means they could have gotten a different juror that might have led to a different outcome a hung jury, you know, in this instance. So you're going to see them fight tooth and nail on this because frankly it's all they got.

BANFIELD: OK, Mel and Paul we got to leave it there. Thank you both, I do appreciate it. Got to go to break, back right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Still no word on the fate of the hostages that ISIS is threatening to kill unless Jordan frees the terrorists who is sitting on death row in that country. But, we do have a troubling update to a prisoner swap that you just might remember from the spring of last year.

Multiple sources are telling CNN that one of the five Taliban prisoners from the United States released from Guantanamo Bay, in exchange for U.S Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has attempted to reconnect with militants.

Our Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr broke that news. We're also joined by CNN Terrorism Analyst, Paul Cruickshank. You know, I can hear a cacophony of people across the country saying, "Yes. I could have told you so." But at the same time, I can hear a lot of people saying "Wouldn't we have been following him?"

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, you know, let's kind of unpack this a little bit. There are detainees who returned to the battle in the past about 12 to 15 percent of them. This case very unique, very much politically charged because it was a fight for one transfer to get Bowe Bergdahl back.

What happened here is the U.S. actually does ran a classified surveillance program on all of their communications in Qatar, e-mail, cellphone, all of it, and they found very quickly when it happened essentially in real time that one of them have made phone calls to Taliban associates back in Afghanistan.

So they picked it up really almost instantly that this had happened is one of the benefits you might think of this classified surveillance program of their communications.

Inside the intelligence community a bit of difference of opinion perhaps. Some people say not so serious. But I have to tell you, I've talked to several sources who tell me, they are taking this very seriously. They do have concerns about it. And, you know, the Qataris are supposed to keep physical control over them. There's a travel ban on them for one year, so come to spring we'll see if they stay there or they go somewhere else.

BANFIELD: I'm not going to suggest that I know how the CIA applies its trade, but I certainly I want to ask if it's not a great idea strangely and ironically, and Paul, maybe you can weigh in on this.

That if he did actually returned to militant activities, doesn't that bring you right to the source? Doesn't that bring your intelligence right to the source of where the others are? Meaning, isn't it strangely a good thing?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I mean it's a phone call at this point that they've monitored, that they have intercepted. There's no suggestion that he's left Qatar and gone back to Afghanistan or anything like that. But of course, any phone call that can be intercepted can be useful.

BANFIELD: Yields a lot more intelligence.

CRUICKSHANK: These guys were senior figures in the Taliban, Ashleigh, right at the top of the organization. And so, of course, if they can intercept these kind of calls that can be useful, but this is very embarrassing for the Qataris.

I think one of the reasons...

BANFIELD: For the Qataris? Not for the American?

CRUICKSHANK: For the Qataris absolutely. And I think one of the...

BANFIELD: No, no. You don't think it's embarrassing for the Americans that they've released...

CRUICKSHANK: Well, I mean, the Qataris were the ones who gave the assurances to the Untied States.

BANFIELD: And the Americans believed it?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, the United States said yes, they took those at face value. I think the released of this information maybe to try to get the Qataris to do more when it comes to monitoring these five that are now in Qatar.

BANFIELD: But does that mean that the relationship with the Qataris is forever changed?

CRUICKSHANK: No. I don't think...

BANFIELD: OK.

CRUICKSHANK: .... it sort of transform the relationship with the Qataros that -- it's a pretty deep relationship between the United States and Qatar, not always a particularly good relationship. There are disagreements and some of the sort of regional...

BANFIELD: Yes.

CRUICKSHANK: ... sort of politics. But I don't think this will transform about relationship.

BANFIELD: All right. I have to leave it there, Paul Cruickshank and Barbara Starr. Thank you for your input. Do appreciate it. We'll continue to watch that story to see if it changes any of it's nuances because it's all about the details. Thanks to both of you.

And thank you everyone for watching. It's been nice to have you with us. I hope you have a great weekend and a great Super Bowl.

In the meantime, my colleague Wolf Blitzer is going to take over the helm and he's got a lot of breaking news not the least of which that whole Romney thing, did you hear? Yeah. He's not running. Or is he? Have a great weekend. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)