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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Cops: Taylor Admitted to Sex; Amber Alert Issued for Missing Austin Girl

Aired May 07, 2010 - 19:00   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, fast-breaking twists and turns in the Lawrence Taylor rape case. The football legend is accused of raping a 16-year-old girl allegedly forced into prostitution. Tonight, new questions emerge. Did the Hall of Famer admit to having sex with this girl? What happened inside that hotel room? Cops say this girl was beaten by her pimp before the rape. We`ll go into the hells of human trafficking.

Plus, the war on women escalating in Texas, a 13-year-old girl abducted right in front of her school. Tonight, the race against time. Karen Anastacio is in immediate danger. Now, cops are hunting down this man, Angel Rojas. Family members say and he`s committed a violent crime against Karen in the past. Are these two headed for the border?

Also, shocking new insight into the UVA lacrosse murder. Cops say Yeardley Love was beaten to death by her wealthy boyfriend. Now, friends are speaking out, telling the "New York Daily News" lacrosse star George Huguely was obsessed with Love. And the night she was killed, the couple got into a huge fight, and an angry, drunken Huguely said he was going to Love`s apartment to get her back.

ISSUES starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, stunning new developments in the Lawrence Taylor rape scandal. The NFL superstar is charged with having sex with a 16-year-old girl. That`s a girl under the age of consent.

The police report contends Taylor admitted to police that he engaged in sex acts with a woman inside his New York hotel room and then paid her 300 bucks. So how do you explain this comment from Lawrence Taylor`s defense attorney?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR AIDALA, ATTORNEY FOR LAWRENCE TAYLOR: My client did not have sex with anybody, no, period, amen. Is that enough? Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The alleged pimp, who police say delivered the girl to Taylor, after giving her a black eye allegedly, is now charged with child sex trafficking. Suspect Rashied Davis is an ex-con who served 14 years for manslaughter.

We will explore the sick, seedy world of human sex trafficking. It`s happening right under our noses. You`re going to see, this is a classic case, the one we have right here.

Also, will this sports legend get off easy? His attorney implied a plea bargain could be in the works. But will the D.A. Play ball in this high-profile case?

Straight out to my fantastic expert panel: Sonya Osorio, executive director of New York`s chapter of the National Organization for Women; Ryan Smith, host of "In Session" on TruTV; Burt Grossman, former NFL player and columnist. Look, look at me, dude. Hey, we`re right here. We`re talking to you now! All right. Darren Prince, CEO of Prince Marketing Group, who rep sports stars. But I want to start to B.J. Schecter, assistant managing editor of "Sports Illustrated."

B.J., what is the very latest in this fast-breaking investigation?

B.J. SCHECTER, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Well, the details are still murky, but we know that Lawrence Taylor was in a hotel room, and we believe he had sex with an underage girl that we now believe to be 16 years old.

And as you pointed out in the opening, his lawyer initially said it was consensual sex. Then he said he didn`t have sex at all. But from what we know, Lawrence Taylor did engage in a sex act with an underage girl. He paid $300. He`s been released on $75,000 bail, and his trial is in early June.

So we`re still working to find out more details. But we know he`s charged with third-degree rape, and that something sordid definitely happened inside that hotel room.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ryan Smith, host of "In Session," how do you explain that his lawyer says he did not rape anybody, he didn`t have consensual sex with anybody, and then you hear that the police report says that Lawrence Taylor admitted to having sex with a woman.

RYAN SMITH, HOST, "IN SESSION": That is going to be the big issue in this case, Jane. You hit it right on the nose. Because you know what? His lawyer is defending his client straightway. Maybe his client told him, "I didn`t touch her. I didn`t have sex with her. I didn`t have any connection to her." But when police say that, it leads me to believe that they`ve got some evidence from that room. It`s been -- there have been reports that say that they`ve got some evidence from that room.

And you know what, Jane? This was all about if they had sex. If he had sex with her, the mere fact that she was under 17, doesn`t matter what she told him, what anybody told him, the mere fact that she`s under 17, he`s over 21, means he is guilty of third-degree rape.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Just last year, Taylor was competing in "Dancing with the Stars." Check this out. This is how millions of Americans know him, a waltzing, quick-stepping teddy bear. And he`s doing pretty good there. Look at him. Wow. It seemed like a successful attempt to rehab his image. Of course, he has a history of drug addiction and some criminal behavior.

What a difference just a few months makes. Here`s L.T. yesterday, walking out of court and into a sea of media. It`s no surprise that today, Nutrisystem dropped Taylor as a spokesman. The weight-loss company based its decision on, quote, "the severity of the allegations."

So Burt Grossman, what the heck happened? This guy was supposedly flying high. He was sober. Now he`s in a hotel room with a used condom and an open bottle of alcohol?

BURT GROSSMAN, FORMER NFL PLAYER/COLUMNIST: I was wondering the same question. My issue has always been the $300 issue. I mean, not to be blunt, but a Bronx hooker doesn`t cost $300 off the street. It`s almost as if, "Hey, I want an underage girl, and I`ll pay you a little more money."

I mean, it`s one of those things where nothing adds up with him. And if you order a girl and she comes beat up, who still has sex with her and then pays her money and sends her away? I don`t understand any of it. I mean, I kind of, you know, don`t deny it because it`s Lawrence Taylor, but I also don`t understand it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I just don`t like the whole notion of ordering a girl. You know, she`s not a takeout order. She`s a human being.

GROSSMAN: I -- I agree with you. And I don`t get the notion. It`s also a pimp that just served, like you said, 14 years in prison. How does Lawrence Taylor have his contact information? I mean, it`s not, you know, a Spitzer thing, or it`s a high-level escort service off the Internet. I mean, how -- how -- what grown 51-year-old married man at 1 in the morning sits around in the hotel and makes that call? And how do you have that contact information?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I understand there was a middleman.

GROSSMAN: Ah.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I want to go to -- does anybody know about this, B.J. Schecter? There were reports in all the papers today, and I`ll show you the headlines. You`ve got to check this out, guys. Go to a full shot. Look at this.

This is the "New York Post," "L.T. Rape Bust." And here is "Daily News," "Busted." But these papers say that there was a middleman involved.

SCHECTER: Was that Ben Roethlisberger? That was his middleman that he called to, I assume. I mean, either way, I mean, if you`re -- he`s preaching this, "I cleaned up my act. I`m married. I love my wife. I have kids." But most married men that love their kids that are away on business are asleep in their hotel at 1 a.m. in the morning, not trolling, you know, ex-cons for underage girls.

SMITH: You know what, Jane? He`s talking about this middleman he`s talking about is a guy named Rashied Davis. And apparently, this is a guy, and these are the allegations, that he picks young girls up -- or picked this young girl up at the bus station, put her up in a hotel. The allegations -- and by the way, he`s being charged with transporting a person by means of force, a person under 18, to engage in a commercial sex act. Sounds a lot like sex trafficking. Because the idea is, what they`re alleging is, he picks her up, puts her in the hotel.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t think that`s the middleman they`re referring to. That`s the alleged pimp. The article says there was another alleged middleman.

SCHECTER: That`s correct. There is. Excuse me, Jane. There was somebody that, for Lawrence Taylor, called this pimp that was trafficking these -- this young girl, that we know of.

And, you know, the thing I want to know is where are Lawrence Taylor`s people? You know, I mean, you don`t have to -- you don`t have to go to underage girls or prostitutes or what have you. He has -- he stands a lot to lose. And the people surrounding him, whoever made this call for him, whether it was his business managers or just an associate or friends, should know better because Lawrence Taylor...

GROSSMAN: You`re assuming -- you`re assuming he`s not -- maybe he wants an underage girl. That`s what I`m saying. You`re assuming he`s not a pedophile. I`m assuming right now he`s a pedophile, and he -- and he requested an underage girl.

SCHECTER: We -- certainly, thus far we have no -- we have no evidence of that. You know, Lawrence Taylor hasn`t discriminated before. And for all we know, he just wanted a willing woman or a prostitute, you know, and that`s what he got.

GROSSMAN: A bloodied, black-eyed willing woman.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ll tell you one thing. This was not a willing woman. Police say that she was coerced. She just turned 16. The alleged pimp beat her and left her with a black eye. She was terrified, according to authorities, and she showed up there at that hotel terrified. So my question is why isn`t this just statutory rape?

But we`re just getting started. Everybody, stay right where you are. We are going inside the hell of human sex trafficking.

Plus, 13-year-old girl abducted at school. Now cops are in a race against time.

But first, we`re talking about a 16-year-old girl allegedly sold for sex to, allegedly, Lawrence Taylor, the football great who was just on "Dancing with the Stars." What happened inside that hotel room? Did Lawrence Taylor admit to having sex with this girl?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIDALA: Anything about drugs or his use of drugs, the court should be aware and Mr. Taylor can be put under oath right now, he hasn`t touched a drug for 12 years. That`s behind him. The old Lawrence Taylor. The new Lawrence Taylor is a loving and caring family man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez Mitchell, and here`s my issue. Can you get away with just about anything in this country if you`re wearing a pair of khakis and have a silver spoon in your mouth? A promising college athlete is dead, and our two-tiered criminal justice system is to blame.

Yeardley Love was days away from graduation when her well-to-do boyfriend allegedly kicked her door in and brutally beat her to death. But this isn`t George Huguely`s first run-in with the law. Oh, no.

In 2008, she was accused of shouting racial and sexual obscenities at a female cop and threatening the officers` life, but Huguely did not spend one night in jail. Can you imagine if some kid from the other side of the tracks threatened a cop`s life? He`d likely be facing serious felonies.

The point is, a promising senior is dead. And if our justice system wasn`t blinded by chinos and blazers, she might still be alive.

I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, and that`s my issue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIDALA: Lawrence Taylor did not have consensual sex with anybody last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:

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 money -- 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: That was Lawrence Taylor`s fiery attorney, apparently contradicting what`s right in the police report. That report says Taylor admitted that he engaged in sex acts with a woman in a New York hotel room. Police say it`s not a woman. It`s a 16-year-old girl. In fact, who just turned 16. The alleged pimp now charged with child sex trafficking.

Phone lines lighting up.

Edie in Oregon, your thoughts?

CALLER: Hi, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.

CALLER: I am absolutely furious with this whole story. Every single day, in the news, there`s some sports figure who`s messing around with a young person or messing around with somebody`s wife or they`re screwing on their wife. It`s like these guys think that they can buy or get anything they want.

I am tired of women being abused and used in the media. You hear it all the time. It`s got to stop. I don`t know what`s going on in these guys` brains that they think they can take advantage of women, throw a few dollars their way, and that`s going to make it all better.

I was harmed as a child by a family friend, and I never overcame that. These guys need to serve some serious jail time. Hit them in the fat pocketbooks and make them work in a rape crisis center and see what this does.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you, Edie. Darren Prince, you represent famous clients, sports figures. What is going on in the sports world? Every day, like the caller said, it`s Ben Roethlisberger. It`s somebody else in big trouble.

PRINCE: One of your panelists before said, which I totally believe, is you really need the bodyguards, the assistant, the business manager, just to be around the celebrity when they`re doing whatever they`re doing in their personal lives, even if they`re not breaking the law, and just, you know, being who they are, this could happen to anybody.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why do they need a baby-sitter? Why would any grown man -- this guy is 51 years old, pretends to be 12 years sober, which I have my doubts about because they found an open bottle of alcohol in his hotel room, allegedly. But why does he need to have babysitters? Why do all these guys need to have all their handlers to keep them from exercising their worst impulses?

PRINCE: At the end of the day, if you look at all the charges and the allegations over the years. I`d like to believe 75, 80 percent, possibly more go away. They`re either set up. They`re in a situation...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go away because they`re paid to go away.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Set up, I don`t know, I don`t know.

Sonya Osorio, executive director, NOW, New York City. This, according to authorities, is a classic case of sex trafficking. This girl, OK, ran away from home. She left her aunt and uncle where she lived, moved, in with another relative. That didn`t work out. On the way back, she meets an alleged pimp who first makes her start doing lap dances and then forces her to allegedly have sex with Lawrence Taylor.

SONYA OSORIO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NOW, NEW YORK CITY: It is very much a classic case of what happens to so many of our young girls who are sex trafficked. Today, pimps, we`re starting to talk about them in terms of them being human traffickers. And that is what they are.

What we need to realize is there are an estimated 200 to 300,000 young people, who at any given time, are being commercially sexually exploited right now in the United States. And what we`ve got to take a look at is the system that is out there that is not protecting them.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We are not done with this subject. We are going to come back it to later in our broadcast.

Thank you, fantastic panel. We`re going to have more on Lawrence Taylor`s arrest later in the show.

But first...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: Happy Mother`s Day, Mom. I wish you a very happy Mother`s Day. You are a wonderful woman, and you`re a wonderful mother, but you`re an even better grandmother. So on behalf of my children, happy Mother`s Day, too, as well. We all love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We will have more on Lawrence Taylor in just a moment. But first tonight, a frantic urgent search for a young teenage girl. An Amber Alert has now been issued in Austin, Texas, for 13-year-old Karen Anastacio. Karen`s family is scared to death. They fear Karen was kidnapped by a violent man they say has hurt her before.

A teacher`s aide at Karen`s middle school saw Karen standing by the curb. Then Karen got into a strange man`s car. Austin police fear Karen has been abducted by this man, 25-year-old Angel Rojas, a former friend of Karen`s family. The clock is ticking as we speak. Police say Karen is in grave and immediate danger and her captor could be speeding to the Mexican border as we speak.

Straight out to my fantastic panel: Commander Julie O`Brien with the Austin Police Department joins us by phone. And HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks with us.

There seem to be some odd aspects of this case lurking outside the school. She also seems to get into a car willingly. We`re going to ask Commander O`Brien.

You have new information, Commander, about the vehicle. Tell us.

COMMANDER JULIE O`BRIEN, AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT (via phone): We received information from a citizen this morning that helped us verify the -- what we believe to be the exact vehicle he was in as of yesterday morning. It`s a brown over brown 1987, GMC Jimmy SUV with Texas license plate 8-4, "T" as in Tom, "F" as in frank, "L" as in Lincoln, 4.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, does that mean that this citizen saw him and could pinpoint his location as of this morning?

O`BRIEN: No. What the citizen was able to do was show that this was the vehicle that he had recently purchased. We believe that this was the vehicle that he was in yesterday morning because the original description that it was a brown vehicle that he was in, an SUV.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Good information. Angel Rojas, 5`3", about 135 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. Karen got into the vehicle you just heard the officer describe. Police say Rojas may also use a variety of other names.

Mike Brooks, we have a ton of information in this case, which is why they were thankfully able to issue an Amber Alert. That`s going to be very helpful, isn`t it, in finding this precious child? The clock is ticking.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely. And also, his friends and associates, they believe he has a criminal background. So everything that Commander O`Brien, and then her folks are going to be looking at from the APD. Very good information you can always glean from former prior arrest reports, all these kinds of things that investigators are looking at right now.

Hopefully, they`re not heading for the Texas border and this girl is still alive and has not been harmed.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So Commander, what kind of roadblocks are being set up to prevent this guy from getting to the border?

O`BRIEN: Well, there are no actual road blocks. What we`ve done is alert all our law enforcement authorities from here to the border. We get a great deal of cooperation and help from the Border Patrol, from the FBI, from the U.S. Marshals` Service. It`s a great deal of help, but there are no actual roadblocks between here and...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Brooks, as they go through any kind of, let`s say a weigh station, are there areas where there will be surveillance video that will fix them up?

BROOKS: Well, there are surveillance videos along some of the interstates in Texas that are monitored, probably not live but say they can go back and take a look and review that. But again, what the commander said, the cooperation between local law enforcement, state officials, the Texas Department of Safety, and the FBI and the Border Patrol, once you get closer to the border, very, very important right there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got to leave it right there. Chilling, new details in the UVA lacrosse murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shocking new insight into the UVA lacrosse murder. Cops say Yeardley Love was beaten to death by her wealthy boyfriend. Now friends are speaking out telling the "New York Daily News" lacrosse star George Huguely was obsessed with Love. And the night she was killed, the couple got into a huge fight. And angry drunken Huguely said he was going to Love`s apartment to get her back.

More now on the shocking rape allegations against football great, Lawrence Taylor. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER ST. LAWRENCE, RAMAPO POLICE COMMISSIONER: This morning, we arrested Lawrence Taylor. He will shortly be arraigned on a felony E, felony rape in the third degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Taylor is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl inside a New York hotel room. The police report says that Lawrence Taylor admitted to engaging in sex acts with the girl. The man accused of pimping her out, allegedly told the girl to lie about her age and tell Lawrence Taylor she was 19.

Straight out to my fantastic panel; Ryan Smith, if Lawrence Taylor -- let`s say this goes to trial -- takes the stand and says, "I thought she was 19," not 16, not under-age, would that help him in any way, shape or form?

RYAN SMITH, TRUTV HOST, "IN SESSION": Jane, three words, not at all because it`s what we call a strict liability crime, which means if he`s over 21 and she`s under 17 and they engage in sex, it doesn`t matter if she wanted to do it. None of that matters. All that matters is they had sex and that means guilt.

That`s why they charged third degree rape here which is statutory rape in New York. Because you might be saying, hey, why not charge second degree or first degree, maybe there was force involved? They want to charge what they can prove.

And I guess what I`m seeing here is by the evidence the police are saying that they have or at least we`re hearing that they have, that they think can prove that case, the actual sexual intercourse, which means they can get him on that charge.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Sonia Osorio, executive director of New York City NOW, there was force involved, according to the police. She didn`t want to do this and her alleged pimp beat her and gave her a black eye.

This is a girl who just turned 16, showing up at a hotel room at 1:00 in the morning with a black eye. She says she`s terrified. Obviously, the person who`s having sex with her is going to have to get some kind of feeling that she doesn`t want to do this.

SONIA OSORIO, NY CHAPTER NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN: Well, of course. I mean you know, the problem in this country, there`s such a demand for paid sex that we`re having to turn out girls younger and younger to be able to meet that supply. So there`s a lot of things that are important about this case for us to look at.

Sometimes it takes a celebrity to be able to put a spotlight on something that frankly is happening every single day in communities across this country, major cities, suburban areas. Anywhere, 200,000 to 300,000 underage people, mostly girls, are being commercially exploited right now as we`re on this show.

Something has to be done about it. We have to put the spotlight on the men who are driving the demand. We have to put the spotlight on police, who look at these girls as criminal, not victims. We have to put the spotlight on our legislatures to put money into services for these girls.

Clearly, a lot of them are coming from homes where they have been abused. And they need a lot of help to get over the trauma that they`re experiencing from being sexual slaves. Can you imagine?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: They are sexual slaves. And I have to say this. I think the headlines that say he had a sex with a prostitute are misleading because she was an unwilling prostitute. She was forced into this so she`s not a willing participant in this. I don`t think you can call her a prostitute. You can call her a sex slave forced to service somebody because she was beaten.

Now Lawrence Taylor divulged details of his years-long battle with cocaine and crack addiction in a documentary called "Fame and Recovery", which aired on A&E.

Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE TAYLOR, FOOTBALL PLAYER: Cocaine, man the first time I tried it you know, you pop, wow, this is something different. It just like knocked me over. I had to lay down on the floor about 10 minutes.

All I remember when I got back up, wow, give me another hit of that, all right? And I said that was like awesome.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: B.J. Schecter, assistant managing editor of "Sports Illustrated", he has a long criminal history of drug addiction and abuse. But supposedly, 12 years ago, he got sober.

What the heck happened? Because even his attorney yesterday is saying he`s stone-cold sober. I don`t believe it because there is an open bottle in his room.

B.J. SCHECTER, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Well, the problem is Lawrence Taylor never grew up. He was enabled years and years and years. The New York Giants enabled him over years and years, friends, family. He`s been able to get away with this.

And now, unfortunately we`re seeing this tragedy, the tragedy of a 16-year-old girl being involved. And this is really a wake-up call to all athletes. Because the fact of the matter is, you look at Ben Roethlisberger, who narrowly escaped a sexual assault charge, look at Pacman Jones, who was signed today by Cincinnati Bengals, that has a long history with the law. And these guys have been given chance and chance time and time again.

It`s time we put our foot down, put a stop to it.

And hopefully this case will show that you can`t break the law, you`re not above the law. And athletes, they just have to grow up.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Burt Grossman, you were a former NFL player. What is the culture inside the sports world or world of sports superstardom that gives people an idea that they could do this and get away with it?

BURT GROSSMAN, COLUMNIST, NATIONALFOOTBALLPOST.COM: You know part of the problem is, listening to Lawrence Taylor on that last piece you just played, if you listen to him he was talking about cocaine as if it was his first great love or a past lover. I mean, he was reminiscing like with love in his voice.

I think that starts -- when you get in the NFL -- they start with pain pills pretty much and you just start taking pain pills, pain pills, pain pills that are given by the NFL. People become hooked and then -- it`s not always every NFL player. You might have 10 percent that go out there and they look for girls and girls look for them and it turns bad and everybody gets a bad name.

But your previous guest had said 90 percent are set up and are cleared at the end, that`s lunacy. That`s not the case; I mean 9 times out of 10, they`re guilty. If they get of the one time or they clear the case up, it`s because they pay somebody out of court under the table.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, I agree with you 100 percent. I don`t think it -- it goes away because they`re powerful and they can afford the best legal representation that money can buy.

Look at this attorney that Lawrence Taylor has. He`s practically out of "The Sopranos".

GROSSMAN: If you listen to him -- he loses credibility just for the fact that, "Hey, Lawrence is a great family man. He loves his wife, he loves his kids, he loves everything."

He`s 1:00 in the morning, getting a hooker, paying her money, she`s beat up.

He`ll follow the standard NFL script. I mean, you always see it. He`ll trade in his glass pipe for a crucifix and a bible and say he`s born- again Christian. That will be his thing because God is above reproach and that`s how it`ll work. His wife will probably buy it and he`ll go on.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, speaking of wife, here`s my big issue, a setup? Really?

GROSSMAN: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Taylor`s attorney and his wife say he`s just the victim of a big setup.

Listen to his attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR AIDALA, LAWRENCE TAYLOR`S ATTORNEY: 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 anybody. Am I clear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Taylor`s wife, Lynette, says the timing of his arrest is suspicious. Taylor was just featured in that A&E documentary we just heard a clip from called "Fame and Addiction".

Lynette claims the show, quote, "made him out to be a monster and made him a target".

Ryan Smith, is that going to hold up? I have a bridge I want to sell you, too.

SMITH: You know, it may. And I`ll tell you what. First thing about lawyers -- and you and I know this Jane -- lawyers are paid to be zealous advocates for their clients. I thought his statements were a little bit extreme.

But this is a very well-known lawyer in New York. I have to tell you guys, he is well-known. He has defended lots of famous clients. So he`s been through this before.

Now, in terms of being setup, I agree with a lot of your other guests. The question you have to ask here and the question that`s going to come up in court is why were you in this situation in the first place? What were you doing in the hotel room and how did you come in contact with these people?

And Jane I think the biggest question is this: when you saw that young girl come in your room; when you saw her come in and she was bruised and beaten --

GROSSMAN: Call the police.

SMITH: -- what is it that you did -- exactly. You should have done something other than whatever it is that you`re claiming to do, whether it`s nothing, have sex, whatever, you should have done something. Your burden was that high. That`s where his problem lies.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right. Or you should do what most of us do when a door knocks at a hotel room and we don`t want to let people in, we go, "Come back later."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, don`t answer.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you put the "Do Not Disturb" sign outside.

Fabulous panel, thank you so much for your amazing insights.

Tonight next, we`re going inside Yeardley Love`s last night alive. Her friends now speaking out claiming an angry George Huguely, son of privilege, said he was going to, quote, "get her back". This wouldn`t be his first rage-fueled rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOSS: He became more aggressive, more physical toward me, started calling me several other terms that I`m not going to state now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Horrifying new details emerging tonight in the murder of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Friends say she and the suspect, wealthy lacrosse-playing ex-boyfriend George Huguely had a fight the very night she was murdered.

After Yeardley left, Huguely was allegedly so angry he was breaking bottles apparently and told people he was going go to her apartment to get Yeardley back. Love was found dead in a pool of blood in that apartment just hours later. Court document shows Huguely admitted busting into her bedroom and shaking Love so hard, her head hit the wall several times.

One teammate describes George Huguely as obsessed with Yeardley, saying he sent her text messages and called her constantly.

So what was the last straw? Friends say Love broke it off for good after Huguely admitted he couldn`t even remember that he had attacked her in a drunken stupor at a frat party months earlier.

And that`s black-out number two that we know of. He was also in a black-out when he allegedly fought with a female cop.

But there was another side of George Huguely shown on "Nightline" as athlete of the week in 2004, in a very, very short clip. Listen carefully to the suspect.

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GEORGE HUGUELY, ACCUSED OF MURDERING YEARDLEY LOVE: It`s more important that we won as a team today. We tried really hard to win.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Was it his stardom on the field that made people look the other way when he became violent. Yeardley Love might still be alive today if somebody had taken action against this elitist bully.

Straight out to my panel fantastic expert panel: HLN law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks; Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of "Seventeen" magazine.

And we begin with Hayley Peterson, reporter for "The Washington Examiner". Hayley, you have some new information on this argument between the suspect and the victim just hours before the murder. Tell us about it.

HAYLEY PETERSON, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Yes, it was allegedly at a restaurant where several lacrosse players from the men`s lacrosse and the women`s lacrosse team had been eating and drinking, spending the evening. And there was allegedly an altercation between George Huguely and Yeardley Love at this restaurant just hours before Yeardley was found, you know, face down in her own -- in a pool of her own blood.

But we actually have new information that "The Washington Examiner" has just learned, and that is Huguely apparently or allegedly attacked another UVA student, another male student because he suspected that there was something going on between Yeardley Love and this student.

We have just learned that the Charlottesville police are now investigating accounts of this incident we have -- we have just learned of.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. That is breaking news, Hayley. So when do we - - do we know when this happened? You`re saying that --

PETERSON: No. Charlottesville police have not yet been able to tell us when exactly it happened, but friends that are very close to Huguely told us that it was within the last two months and it was after the breakup.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And it did not involve him being charged with anything? In other words this guy who --

PETERSON: There were no police reports. But allegedly, he went into the student`s apartment while he was sleeping, attacked him while he was sleeping.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoa, whoa -- Mike Brooks, what do you make of that?

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: My question is, did the student make any kind of report? And you know Jane --

PETERSON: No. No reports.

BROOKS: Ok, so no report, it didn`t happen then, for the most part when it comes to police. But Jane --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, but that --

PETERSON: The police cannot verify or have not verified that it has happened yet. They`re in the process of investigating it.

BROOKS: So there you go. So now you know, it`s -- the problem is, if something happens, people have to report it, Jane. But you know my big question is, Jane, where have his parents been during all these incidents that he`s had?

You`re going to tell me that they don`t know if he had any issues with anger, that we heard, from a reporter from Baltimore, that he might have had when he was at Landon School (ph). What did his parents do, to try to intervene, to try to get help for their son, if he needed it?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we just learned yesterday that his father called police when they were on their yacht off the coast of Palm Beach and this George Huguely, this young man, became angry and they got into some kind of fight on the yacht. And dad called police and George jumped off into the water.

BROOKS: And I`m sure that wasn`t the first incident involving some kind of anger around his parents, Jane. If he did it then, I`m sure he did it before, he probably did it afterwards.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: A young man named Andrew Sharp, who says he has met the suspect and his social circle includes friends who knew the victim, wrote a very insightful article on this tragedy where he captured the mentality of certain -- not all -- but certain upper crust lacrosse players.

He writes, "Lacrosse is a chosen sport for sons and students of the establishment. And with that comes entitlement." Andrew goes on to say his experience with lacrosse culture gave him exposure to wealthy young men who quote, "partied really hard and treated a lot of people like crap, girls, non-athletes, authority figures, pretty much anyone who wasn`t one of them either didn`t exist or existed solely as an object of ridicule."

So here`s my take on this issue. This elitist mentality that has existed since the dawn of time, people who are brought up to believe the rules do not apply to them, people who think they are special and superior because their parents have money. But if they were so smart, wouldn`t they realize they`re all puffed up and arrogant over an unearned status, an accident of birth? They didn`t achieve their place in society; it was handed to them with a silver spoon.

I much prefer people who are arrogant because of some accomplishment, something they personally achieved. Otherwise, it`s just snobbism, its snobbery. It sounds like this young men was just a snob.

Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of "Seventeen" magazine.

BROOKS: A spoiled brat, that`s what he was.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, he`s a spoiled brat obviously.

BROOKS: Yes, no exceptions.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do girls need to look out for when they`re dating to make sure they don`t come across somebody like this?

ANN SHOKET, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE: Well, certainly arrogance and being a spoiled brat is not on the list of red flags and it certainly more than lacrosse players. Because with 30 percent of girls reporting that they`ve been in abusive relationships, this is a widespread problem.

The red flag -- but Huguely had all of the red flags: that controlling behavior, the violence, calling her names, blaming her for things that she did wrong; all of those are red flags. Even more important, something that parents need to look out for, is when your daughter`s cell phone is constantly ringing. Her boyfriend constantly needs to know where she is. That is one of the most dangerous

VELEZ-MITCHELL: After the other side of the break, we`re going to get more of those red flags.

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CRAIG LITTLEPAGE, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: There are alcohol violations, if you will, violations of our alcohol policy that take place throughout the course of the year. I`m assured that those incidents that have been brought into the pipeline were handled in a manner consistent with what our policies, long-standing policies, have been.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: The University of Virginia`s athletic director insists the school does not ignore alcohol-related offenses among students but we found information on at least two alcohol-related deaths on the UVA campus in the past few years.

Phone lines lighting up on this. Greg, California, your question or thought?

GREG, CALIFORNIA (via telephone): Hi Jane, thank you. It`s a pleasure to be on the line with this professional panel. Mike, you`re great with Ryan on "In Session". My condolences go to the family.

With the e-mails they might have off his computer and letters he have, and if it`s anything towards her, like he was going to do something, could that be premeditated murder and he`d get the death penalty?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Haley Peterson, they confiscated computers and he allegedly took her computer when he left that night, correct?

PETERSON: Yes, yes, he did. And he hid it and then later told police where it was. So they have it in their possession now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. So they do have information.

Let`s talk about my big issue. Does UVA have a drinking problem? Ok, the UVA men`s lacrosse team mourned the death of a player two years ago. The team captain Will Barrow died in an apparent suicide. His death reportedly came as a shock to the team.

Now, you add that to the arrest of eight UVA lacrosse players for alcohol-related offenses and I think it`s safe to say that this team has some sort of problem. Again, my big issue, does the University of Virginia have a drinking problem?

I want to go to Haley Peterson on that because we know that certain universities get reputations as party schools. I know because I went to one my junior year. I went to an infamous party school. Does UVA have a reputation?

PETERSON: You can`t make that judgment. I mean, it`s just -- you only have a slice of the picture. You can`t really make a judgment based on a report.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So you`re saying it doesn`t have that reputation as an infamous party school? Because we`ve heard otherwise.

PETERSON: I can`t confirm or deny any kind of reputation.

BROOKS: Jane, I go down to the University of Virginia at least once a year as part of a group down there that studies critical incidents. And I can tell that overall, I would say that the school would not be considered a party school.

If you look at the totality of colleges across the country, you know, it`s more towards academics. But you`re going to have incidents like this at any large university that you go to.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ann, if there`s one message you`re going to send to co-eds what would it be?

SHOKET: You have to look for the red flags. You have to be responsible. And you have to tell someone and get help. Loveisrespect.org, call the help line. Tell someone who`s in a position of authority.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to thank my fantastic panel, an amazing discussion.

And we`re going to end on a bittersweet note. We are saying ta- ta to Annie Scranton, our booker extraordinaire. She has rocked this show since its inception. She`s going on to adventures. And we know she`s going to have a great time. We love you, Annie. You have added so much life and joy to our team and we wish you the very best.

You`re watching ISSUES on HLN.

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