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Nancy Grace

Air Force Vet Charged With Killing Girlfriend

Aired September 06, 2010 - 20:00   ET

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


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight live. Denver, 2:00 AM, a huge crash wakes sleeping neighbors. Outside, a crashed Pontiac Vibe, a 22-year-old girl behind the wheel, head smashed into the windshield. The boyfriend staggers out, crying for help. After intense grieving by the 24- year-old boyfriend, cops now suspect the crash was a cover-up for murder. Why? Because the boyfriend also tried to murder his wife a few days after the deadly crash. That`s right, girlfriend dead, wife nearly dead. But why?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news. An Air Force vet allegedly stages a car crash to cover up the murder of his 22-year-old Air Force girlfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement says 24-year-old Air Force vet Robert Walters staged a traffic accident to make it appear his girlfriend died in a car crash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now from behind bars he is charged with trying to hire someone to kill his ex-wife, a key witness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now prosecutors say Walters also tried to hire a hit man to kill his estranged wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police responding to a car accident found Robert Walters crying over his fatally injured girlfriend`s body and pleading for help. But now prosecutors believe it was all an act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Court documents claim that from inside his jail cell, Walters attempted to hire a hit to take out his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The key witness in the case? Walters`s estranged wife, who says he confessed to her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... key witness who claims Walters admitted he murdered 22-year-old Brittney Brashers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, Virginia Beach, 11:30 PM, cops in hot pursuit of a Toyota van barreling down a busy four-lane. Behind the wheel, a 28-year- old mom, drunk -- stinking drunk! In the passenger seat, her 3-week-old baby boy. But tonight, DUI mom walks free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) mother has been arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother charged with DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For allegedly driving drunk with her 3-week-old baby in the back seat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-eight-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police arrested 28-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maiers was given a Breathalyzer test. And after failing, he said Maiers still insisted she was fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charged with felony child neglect and DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was going 50 in a 35-mile-per-hour zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say when officers approached Maiers`s car, they saw Maiers`s newborn baby in the car with her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say she started screaming at them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely belligerent, cursing at him, especially when he began to sort of lecture her on the dangers of drinking and driving and having an infant in the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When officers tried to arrest her, Maiers reportedly screamed at them and stated that if one of her children needs something, she will drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then she just really laid into him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maiers posted her bond and faces up to six years behind bars. Her next hearing is October 7th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Live, Denver, a huge crash wakes up sleeping neighbors. Outside, a Pontiac Vibe, a 22-year-old girl behind the wheel, head smashed into the windshield. After intense grieving on the part of the 24-year-old boyfriend, cops now suspect the whole thing, the crash, a cover-up for murder. But why? Because he also tried to murder his wife a few days after the deadly crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They met while serving in Iraq, but Robert Walters`s romance with Brittney Brashers seemingly ended in a tragic car accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brittney Brashers`s death in a car accident didn`t seem right to investigators. And now they believe it was staged by her boyfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But cops say, Not so fast, and claim the accident that left Brittney dead and Walters with minor injuries was no accident at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who allegedly confessed to a witness that he beat and asphyxiated his girlfriend when they got in a fight over her posing topless for pictures at a club.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was murder, charging the 24-year-old Air Force vet with first degree murder. Investigators say Walters murdered Brashers, then drove her car into parked cars to make it appear the death was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police responding to a car accident found Robert Walters crying over his fatally injured girlfriend`s body and pleading for help. But now prosecutors believe it was all an act and Walters staged the car crash to cover up his girlfriend`s murder. The key witness in the case, Walters`s estranged wife, who says he confessed to her. Now Walters charged with trying to have her killed, allegedly trying to hire a hit man from behind bars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: If at first you don`t succeed, try, try again. Nia Bender, news director of 710 KNUS, so we`ve got a dead girlfriend and a near-dead wife? What the hey? What happened?

NIA BENDER, 710 KNUS (via telephone): The guy is just obviously crazy. I mean, that`s got to be what it comes down to. And he tried several times, Nancy, to kill this girl. I mean, after he punched her in the face -- they were driving, he punches her in the face, they get into an argument. It gets worse. He ends up kneeing this 22-year-old girl in the face several times.

And then instead of thinking, like a normal person would, Hey, I better take her to the hospital because this could be bad, he thinks, Oh, I can`t take her to the hospital because if I do that, she`s going to wake up and tell authorities that I did this to her.

So then he comes up, he pulls the car over not too far away from where this all started, just northwest of downtown Denver. And at that point, he just starts -- well, he basically climbs over her and takes his forearms and tries to crush her windpipe because he noticed she was still breathing. And he kept yelling at her, apparently, Why don`t you die? Why don`t you die? Finally -- he was, you know, attempting to break her neck -- she ends up dying. And that`s when he went ahead and staged the whole accident into two parked cars in a northwest Denver neighborhood.

GRACE: Twenty-two-year-old Brittney Brashers, Air Force member, served our country in Iraq, now dead. Months pass, and police chalk it up to a smash-up. Then they find out, no, it was a cover for murder.

To our chief editorial producer, Ellie Jostad. Ellie, how did they crack the case?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, like Nia explained, this looked like an accident, and even though the husband`s story kind of raised some eyebrows with investigators, they couldn`t prove anything until his estranged wife -- and he did have a wife while he was dating this other woman, the victim. His wife came forward and said that he had confessed to her multiple times, told her that he staged it to look like an accident, that he screamed for help so that people would think that he was looking for help for his poor injured girlfriend. But really, he did it to cover up the murder. He decided to murder her, he told his wife, when she took her top off at a strip club.

GRACE: OK. Ellie Jostad, I want to go back to setting up the scene. And Ellie, in this jurisdiction, do we have the death penalty?

JOSTAD: We do. This is Colorado. They have death by lethal injection there.

GRACE: OK. Let`s go back to setting up the scene. And right now, everybody, he is planning on pleading not guilty. Ellie Jostad, tell me about the smash-up. When people came out of their house around midnight, in the early morning hours...

JOSTAD: Right.

GRACE: ... what did they see?

JOSTAD: Well, this is on a dead end street, Nancy. And the thing is, Walters told police that he had fallen asleep, so he didn`t know exactly what happened. But it appeared that the car had run into two parked cars, then come to a stop at the end of this dead end street.

They also questioned the boyfriend and he wasn`t sure how they got there. He said he didn`t know why they would be in that neighborhood. He couldn`t remember the name of the club that they`d been to earlier. And he said that they did get in -- he said they didn`t get in any kind of argument. He was just sort of sad about what had happened at the club. And cops thought that story smelled.

GRACE: And long story short, Ellie, he didn`t stop there. He went on, allegedly, to hire a hit man to kill his wife. Just killing the girlfriend, Brittney Brashers, just 22 years old, wasn`t enough for this guy.

Out to the lines. Gloria in Illinois. Hi, Gloria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, apparently, this guy does have some psychiatric problems. My question is, was there any psychiatric evaluation done during the investigation of the murder with the girlfriend?

GRACE: OK, you know what, Gloria in Illinois? I love the fact that you have such high hopes for the human race that you still believe somebody would have to be legally insane to do this. I thought that, too, before I became a felony prosecutor. It took me about three or four years to realize not every killer was just plain crazy. They`re not. They`re plain mean.

And you know -- to you, Nia Bender, 17 KNUS -- people are going, Oh, he`s crazy. He`s not crazy. He`s not crazy. I mean, he tricked the cops for a period of time. He set up a murder that passed muster. And only when he confessed to his wife and tried to order a hit on her, allegedly -- he says he`s not guilty -- that it all came out in the wash. This guy is not crazy, Nia Benders!

BENDERS: No, he`s not crazy, you`re right. He`s just downright mean. And the thing about this is that he had threatened Brittney Brashers in October, a month before this girl ended up dead. He had threatened to either see to it that she was going be in a car crash or both of them would be. So there was a history of him threatening her to begin with. And you`re right, he`s not crazy. I like what you said. He`s downright mean.

GRACE: To Bethany Marshall. Dr. Bethany -- psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers" -- why do we all want to believe -- and me, too, although now I know better -- when you hear a scenario like this, you go, Oh, he`s crazy. He`s not crazy.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: He`s not crazy, Nancy, because we can`t believe someone would do such a heinous thing. You know who he reminds me of is Joran Van Der Sloot because remember, Joran bragged about the crime, about killing Natalee, and told so many versions of the story and he didn`t mind if he was implicated. He just loved telling the story. And this guy told his wife multiple times and in very dramatic detail how he committed the crime, which tells me he`s malicious, he`s self-serving, he only thinks of himself. And that`s all it is. It`s not crazy.

GRACE: You are seeing a look at Robert Walters, Air Force vet, met the first victim while serving in Iraq, now suspected of setting up the murder of 22-year-old Brittney Brashers and ordering a hit on his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walters`s wife told police he admitted punching Brittney during an argument and considered taking her to the hospital. But since he knew Brittney would tell on him, he killed her instead, his wife telling police Walters confessed to her several times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators say Walters murdered Brashers, then drove her car into parked cars to make it appear the death was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That witness, the boyfriend`s estranged wife, becoming a target herself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But now breaking news. The district attorney says Walters tried to arrange for the murder of his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say her husband, already behind bars, charged with his girlfriend`s murder, tried to hire a hit man to kill her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From inside his own jail cell. His wife, a key witness in the case against him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The key witness in the case, Walters`s estranged wife, who says he confessed to her. Now Walters charged with trying to have her killed, allegedly trying to hire a hit man from behind bars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back to Nia Bender, news director, 710 KNUS. Nia, I haven`t even gotten to hiring a hit man to kill his wife. How did that unfold?

BENDER: It`s really strange. Somewhere between June 1st and June 13th, while he was in prison, apparently, he was trying to find someone to, you know, obviously, murder his ex-wife. The details on exactly how he went about that, who he contacted -- Denver police have been pretty quiet about a lot of details on this case. But I do know it took place between June 1st and June 13th.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Selena in Washington. Hi, Selena. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Love you! I love your show. Everyone watches it here.

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question was, how did detectives observe the scene and how did they determine that this man was telling the truth?

GRACE: What about it, Ellie Jostad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we know -- do we know his family background, by any chance?

GRACE: Ellie?

JOSTAD: Well, two things about that, Nancy. Like I said, detectives were called in immediately because the traffic cops that responded thought that her injuries were not consistent with a car accident, although the autopsy came back as undetermined cause of death, so they couldn`t put it together until after the wife, the key witness, whose identity is secret right now, probably for her own protection since he tried to put a hit on her, allegedly -- but until the wife came and said, This is how he described her death to me, then they went back to the person who conducted the autopsy and he said it matched.

Now, about his family, his mother says that he is not a monster, not a murderer, and that the wife was very possessive and jealous. So it sounds like she`s trying to suggest that what the wife said is not true.

GRACE: OK, wait a minute. So they`re trying to lay blame on the wife for being possessive and jealous? Jealous of what, a husband that`s got a girlfriend that he killed? You know what? I say, you know what, girlfriend, you can have him. Take him. He`ll end up COD, back on my doorstep in about a week.

Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, felony prosecutor, death penalty- qualified, Alan Ripka, defense attorney, New York, Peter Odom, defense attorney, Atlanta.

Weigh in, Eleanor. Are we looking at the death penalty here?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: I think so because you`ve got some premeditation, especially with this earlier threat that he wanted to see her killed in a car accident, maybe even both of them, and then his heinous actions during that murder.

GRACE: Odom?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Before we convict him of capital murder, let`s at least gets some facts here. I mean, what`s this based on? It`s based on the testimony of the ex-wife, who has a motivation to lie. Don`t you think, Nancy, that we thought to...

GRACE: Peter...

PETER ODOM: Don`t you think, Nancy...

GRACE: ... I`m basing it on the fact that his confession fits exactly with the evidence, and the whole story about the smash-up where she gets killed and he has minor injuries and walks out clean as a whistle -- yes, of course he did it.

PETER ODOM: She says it`s a confession. She says it`s a confession. You`ve got to believe her to believe it`s a confession. He doesn`t admit that. Let`s at least see the forensic evidence before we put the guy in the electric chair or give him a lethal injection.

GRACE: OK, Peter, is that your answer on every question that I ask you, I don`t have enough evidence yet?

PETER ODOM: I`m begging you, please just let`s look at the evidence.

GRACE: You know, it probably is. That`s probably what you argue to juries. You don`t have enough evidence.

PETER ODOM: Yes, let`s look at the evidence.

GRACE: OK, maybe Alan can give me something a little more creative. Go ahead, Alan. Hit me.

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: First of all, I would have a field day with this medical examiner. He examines a body and doesn`t find a crushed windpipe or half the injuries that the woman on the show said that had that he inflicted upon her? What kind of medical exam is that? Secondly, the estranged wife who`s coming up with this story, at the end of the day, you cannot connect it. There`s no corroboration. He`s not going to jail for this.

GRACE: Put Ripka up. Put him up! Ripka?

RIPKA: Yes?

GRACE: Your observation is right on. I`ve got a problem, too.

Out to you, Dr. Robert Kaufmann, doctor of internal medicine. Based on his story, the defendant`s story that he told in confidence to his wife about his girlfriend -- if that story is true, why didn`t the medical examiner find this?

DR. ROBERT KAUFMANN, INTERNAL MEDICINE: I think it`s utterly ridiculous that the medical examiner said they didn`t have a cause of death. It had to be obvious that she had a crushed windpipe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-two-year-old Air Force vet Brittney Brashers allegedly killed by her boyfriend, Robert Walters, following a topless photo shoot. Walters is also accused of faking a car crash to cover up his crime. Now Robert Walters is also accused of attempting to hire a hit man to kill his ex-wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back to you, Ellie Jostad. What can you tell me? You know, we`ve got all the defense attorneys chiming in on how the wife is vengeful and angry and PO`d because her husband had a girlfriend. But wait a minute. Didn`t she catch these conversations, these confessions on a cell phone?

JOSTAD: Yes.

GRACE: Didn`t she record it?

JOSTAD: That`s right, Nancy. According to the affidavit, she got -- she says he confessed to her numerous times and that she even recorded him talking about killing the defendant (SIC). Now, another piece of evidence that they have, we`re told -- one of Brashers`s friends said that she heard a voicemail from the defendant to the victim saying he hated her and he was going to kill her. Police say that they have that voicemail.

GRACE: OK, wait a minute, Ellie. Which victim, the wife or the girlfriend?

JOSTAD: That would be the girlfriend.

GRACE: You know, I wish I could ask that question at trial, Ellie. OK, back to you -- let`s see Peter Odom in full. Let`s see the whole Peter Odom.

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: Yes, Peter, wasn`t it just you that said the wife is angry and she`s jealous and she said all this because her husband was having an affair? She`s got it on recording, Peter.

PETER ODOM: And she`s got -- and she`s got a -- well, let`s see the recordings, Nancy. Let`s see what they say.

GRACE: I knew you`d have a fallback. OK. Thanks. I`m glad you didn`t disappoint me.

Out to the lines. Helen in Georgia. Hi, Helen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Nancy. I want to tell you first that I just love you. And I have a 4-year-old granddaughter and a 13-year-old daughter, and I keep them safe because I listen to you every night!

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the question is, is that -- I don`t understand if she`s got cell phone -- you know, they ping cell phones or they can determine cell phone usage everywhere. Why can`t they determine this kind of cell phone usage, a voicemail? They can, you know, find it anywhere for every other thing. Why can`t they determine that?

GRACE: You know what? I`m sure that they can. If they need to pinpoint where he was when he was calling the wife, I`m sure that they can. It`s a really good point, Helen in Georgia.

And following up on your question, Helen, let`s go to Andrew J. Scott, former chief of police, Boca Raton, president, AJS Consulting there in Miami. Let`s talk about how she got that recording. If he was calling her on her cell, how do you record it? Is it any different than when you record something on your landline phone?

ANDREW J. SCOTT, FMR. CHIEF OF POLICE, BOCA RATON: Yes, Nancy, you can record, but you know, I suspect that the wife premeditated having the equipment there with her to tape record this. Now, telephones don`t normally tape record calls that come in, so I suspect, given the other calls that she`s received, she thought she better capture this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. The district attorney says Walters tried to arrange for the murder of his wife from inside his own jail cell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Breaking news, an Air Force vet allegedly stages a car crash to cover up the murder of his 22-year-old Air Force girlfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement says 24-year-old Air Force vet Robert Walters staged a traffic accident to make it appear his girlfriend died in a car crash.

CASAREZ: And now from behind bars he is charged with trying to hire someone to kill his ex-wife, a key witness.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now prosecutors say Walters also tried to hire a hit-man to kill his estranged wife.

CASAREZ: Police responding to a car accident found Robert Walters crying over his fatally injured girlfriend`s body and pleading for help. But now prosecutors believe it was all an act.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Court documents claim that from inside his jail cell Walters attempted to hire a hit to take out his wife.

CASAREZ: The key witness in the case, Walters` estranged wife, who says he confessed to her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Key witness who claims Walters admitted he murdered 22-year-old Brittney Brashers.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls. I want to go back to Andrew J. Scott, former chief of police, Boca Raton, president, AJS Consulting, joining us out in Miami.

Just give me a quickie tutorial. If you want to record a phone call, not just a recorded message, but a phone call on your home phone, your landline or your cell phone, how easy is that?

ANDREW J. SCOTT, FMR. CHIEF OF POLICE, BOCA RATON, FL.; PRESIDENT, AJS CONSULTING: It`s very easy. You have a small piece of equipment that attaches to the phone. It`s attached to a tape recorder. And it`s as simple as that, Nancy. And you can buy them at any one of the local electronic stores for about $10.

GRACE: OK. What about a cell phone?

SCOTT: Easily done. Similarly to a regular line. Remember, cell phones don`t have an automatic recording of telephone calls so you do have to attach a piece of equipment.

GRACE: And that piece of equipment is what?

SCOTT: A piece of equipment is going to be a microphone that`s attached to the phone itself and then also it`s attached to a tape recorder. And it simultaneously records while it`s listening to the telephone conversation.

It`s a very simple piece of equipment, Nancy. It`s not that difficult to get and it`s not that sophisticated to use.

GRACE: I mean, Radio Shack, Spy Shop, you name it.

To you, Eleanor Odom, of course, a jury is going to be assaulted by the defense claiming what kind of a shrew would record her husband`s messages, his conversations. Probably a woman that has witnessed multiple confessions of murder?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Exactly, Nancy. And also, remember, leopards don`t change their spots. Perhaps he has done similar things to the wife, such as hurt her or hit her.

GRACE: OK. Back to Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "The Profiler."

Pat Brown, that`s pretty bold. To murder your girlfriend, your 22- year-old girlfriend, then brag about it to your wife, then order a hit on your wife.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, you know, he reminds me of Drew Peterson, only stupider. In other words, somebody who is so arrogant and so pig headed that he thinks he can control his women, he thinks he can do what he wants to do.

And I -- I`m looking back to what happened originally with that police -- the autopsy report. And what I wonder whether it said was, they knew the cause of death because that should be able to be seen through the autopsy but they didn`t know the manner of death, and whether it was an homicide or an accident.

And they were waiting to see what they were going to come up with with this character because they knew he had a big mouth who eventually screw it all up. So I think that`s what they were waiting on.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. For those of you just joining us. One of our soldiers that fought in Iraq meets a young girl overseas, there in Iraq, comes home. After a love affair -- he`s married -- we now find out that she didn`t die in a car smash-up after midnight in a residential area the way it appeared.

In fact he now is charged with murder. Of course he`s pleading not guilty. How did it come to light? After he tried to hire a hit-man to murder his wife.

Back to you, Ellie Jostad. Ellie, what I don`t understand is why the wife is trying to keep her identity secret, because she only has to worry about him. Isn`t he behind bars?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes, he is behind bars, Nancy. But prosecutors say that from behind bars he was trying to orchestrate this hit on her.

GRACE: OK. Back to Eleanor Odom. The qualifying aggravating circumstances for the death penalty, of course, is mass murder which is more than one body. He didn`t quite make it on the wife. So when you say death penalty, it`s a viable possibility in this case. Why?

E. ODOM: Well, the heinous nature of the crime and also the premeditation in telling what he was going to do ahead of time. I mean he was not only hit her, but choked her, said die, die, and then staged a car accident. That leads up to death penalty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Virginia mother has been arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A mother charged with DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For allegedly driving drunk with her 3-week- old baby in the backseat.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Twenty-eight-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police arrested 28-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Maiers was given a breathalyzer test and after failing he says Maiers still insisted she was fine.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Charged with felony child neglect and DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was going 50 in a 35-mile-per-hour zone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say when officers approached Maiers` car they saw Maiers` newborn baby in the car with her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police says she started screaming at them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely belligerent, cursing at him. Especially when he began to sort of lecture her on the dangers of drinking and driving, and having an infant in the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When officers tried to arrest her, Maiers reportedly screamed at them and stated that if one of her children needs something, she will drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then she just really laid into him.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Maiers posted a bond and faces up to six years behind bars. Her next hearing is October 7th.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Joining us right now, Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. Nicole, what happened?

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via phone): Good evening, Nancy. On August 19th, shortly after 11:00 p.m., 28-year-old Heather Maiers was stopped by police in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for speeding.

Now after pulling her over for the traffic violation the law enforcement did a fantastic job in noticing that Miss Maiers was intoxicated. She was administered a blood alcohol test, showing a blood alcohol content of .13. This almost twice the legal limit.

All the while, her newborn, 3-week-old baby boy in the backseat.

GRACE: .13. All right. Eleanor Odom, before they were a felony prosecutor you were a misdemeanor prosecutor. That would be specialty DUI. How drunk was drunk mom?

(LAUGHTER)

E. ODOM: She was pretty drunk, Nancy. I mean she --

GRACE: You mean stinking drunk?

E. ODOM: Yes. Stinking drunk, knee-walking drunk. And you know what? Speeding a car is like a bullet being shot out of a gun. That`s how dangerous she was in that car.

GRACE: When you say almost twice the legal limit, Eleanor Odom, how many drinks we`re talking about?

E. ODOM: Well, depending on the weight of the person. So it probably could be up to six, seven, to 10 drinks. Again, depends on her weight.

GRACE: To Nicole Partin, any idea where mommy was getting a snoop full? Was she at a bar? Was she at home? Was she sitting in a parking lot of a liquor store with the 3-week-old baby with her? What do we know?

PARTIN: We don`t know exactly where she had been. Now we do know what she was pulled over while driving. Now this is about 20 miles away from Virginia Beach. So why she was in Virginia Beach, we`re not quite sure where she had been. We`re not quite sure. But she definitely was drunk with this newborn baby.

GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, our producer on the story. Matt, what more do you know?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: OK, there`s a couple of things, Nancy, that is scaring me here. She`s got a 2006 DUI conviction. So this is the second one within five years so she can get a year in jail just for the DUI.

The other thing is, we have not found out yet if the child was in a car seat, which gets me very concerned a child in the backseat with the mom speeding. If she was in the seat or not in that car seat, that child could have been injured very seriously.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Charlotte in California. Hi, Charlotte.

CHARLOTTE, CALLER FROM CALIFORNIA: Hi, Nancy. How are you doing?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

CHARLOTTE: I`m just wondering, being this is her second offense, was she going to lose custody of her children or what would happen to her children then?

GRACE: Good question. Matt, where is the 3-week-old baby tonight and does she have more children?

ZARRELL: Yes. Our understanding is she does have more children. She is a stay-at-home mom. She`s got a husband and a couple of kids. We don`t know how many children. But when she was arrested the child was released to a family friend. Not to the family. But it is our belief that the child is now back with the father in the home.

GRACE: OK. Take a look at drunk mommy, Heather Maiers, 28, driving drunk twice, nearly twice the legal limit, .13. When the cops take a look in the car, who is in the passenger seat? Her 3-week-old baby boy.

To Dr. Robert Kaufmann, doctor of internal medicine. Dr. Kaufmann, what would it have done to that child if it had flown through the front window?

DR. ROBERT KAUFMANN, M.D., INTERNAL MEDICINE: The baby would be dead. There`s no question. I mean, any -- I don`t know if the baby was in a baby seat, but if it wasn`t, just falling to the back of the seat and falling on the floor could very much damage that child.

The other question is, is she breast-feeding that baby? And she has a level of .13, I mean, if she -- she might as well put liquor in the bottle and give it straight to the baby.

GRACE: Ooh, explain.

KAUFMANN: Because if alcohol is in her body and she`s breastfeeding, there`s alcohol in her milk. And if the baby is breastfeeding with an elevated level of alcohol, it`s just like giving it in the bottle.

GRACE: Fetal alcohol syndrome is what we`re talking about. Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, felony prosecutor, death penalty qualified, Peter Odom, Atlanta defense attorney, Alan Ripka, New York defense attorney.

Peter Odom, now we`re talking about just -- you might as well give the baby an IV of vodka. It`s what the doctor is saying. What`s your defense? Now I don`t understand why she`s on bond tonight. But let`s just talking about what this does to the baby.

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, if she`s breastfeeding, as some women do and some women don`t, so that`s only relevant if she`s actually breast-feeding.

GRACE: Yes. We know that, Peter. Talk about something you`re expert on like the law. Go ahead. You don`t know anything about breastfeeding, Peter Odom.

P. ODOM: Well, here`s -- well, you`d be surprised, Nancy. I`ve raised two of my own. The law is that she might have been -- had an alcohol content in her system. But the police didn`t pull her over for doing anything reckless.

GRACE: So?

P. ODOM: She was apparently only going 15 miles over the limit. I dare say --

GRACE: Put his face up. Put his face up.

P. ODOM: There`s not a person viewing --

GRACE: Are you actually trying to say she didn`t have a crash so she should get, what, a -- well, she got a release from jail, but are you trying to tell me --

P. ODOM: No, I`m just saying --

GRACE: -- because she didn`t have a crash, everything is OK?

P. ODOM: She was impaired. She was an illegal status --

GRACE: She was drunk.

P. ODOM: If that breath test comes in -- no, drunk is not a legal concept, Nancy. Impairment is a legal concept.

GRACE: You tell that to a jury, Odom.

P. ODOM: And -- well, that`s what judges tell juries in these cases.

GRACE: Uh-huh. Yes, well, you`re not a judge and neither am I. And she was stinking, stinking drunk.

P. ODOM: If that breath -- if that breath test comes into evidence and those are thrown out of evidence all the time. Even if it was accurate and we haven`t even shown that it`s accurate yet. And these machines are no notoriously inaccurate.

GRACE: You`re making my teeth hurt.

P. ODOM: Ask the police about that.

GRACE: OK, Ripka, you came through last time. What can you do with this one?

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`ll tell you this. She`s certainly not going to take a baby away from a woman who`s had a clean record for five years. This was not an --

GRACE: A clean record for five years?

RIPKA: That`s correct.

GRACE: Did you say that? Well, hold on now. That was in 2006. This is 2010. Now, to me, that`s four.

RIPKA: OK, let`s make it four.

GRACE: Where did you get five?

RIPKA: Four years.

GRACE: Don`t try and lie about it and make it better than it is. She`s already got one DUI. She`s drunk, stinking drunk. And she`s got her 3-week-old baby boy in the car.

RIPKA: If she was stinking drunk she wouldn`t have been able to drive the car as far as she did.

GRACE: People do it all the time.

RIPKA: Well, she did it all the time. Maybe she`s someone who can metabolize her liquor and unfortunately is able to handle it despite it being legally too high. Obviously, if she could drive car straight -- that`s not why she`s stopped. She was stopped because she was speeding. Not because the car was swinging.

GRACE: Dr. Bethany. Bethany, this is the first time I`ve ever called on you to shrink the defense attorneys. OK? Why are they saying that? Somebody might actually believe them.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, it`s sad because this baby is still in danger. The baby still is because this baby was being raised by a substance abuser and this means the entire family system was overlooking her substance abuse.

And if they give the baby back to the dad he`s going to hand the baby right back over to the mother.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Doriana from Alabama. Hi, Doriana. What`s your question?

DORIANA, CALLER FROM ALABAMA: Well, hi, Nancy. My concern is birds of a feather flock together. Do we know if this father has any DUI records? Or is he drinking and driving, too?

GRACE: You know, Doriana? That`s a good question because if he`s -- if she`s already got a 2006 DUI and he`s not worried, he`s letting the 3- week-old baby be in the car with her, I`ve got a problem with that.

Pat Brown, what about it?

BROWN: Well, I have a problem with that, too, because I wonder what kind of husband is not worried with his wife going out and drinking with the baby. I mean you can go out and drink, leave the baby at home and come home and say, hi, honey, thanks for the night out.

But why the heck she`s out drinking with the baby alone? I don`t quite get that point. So I think that`s the most concerning part about all of this.

GRACE: You know, we`re always so -- worried about predators attacking our children, taking our children, we`re worried about schoolteachers, day care providers, babysitters. But you don`t really think about so much is your own mother drunk behind the wheel with you, a tiny baby, in the backseat.

To Andrew J. Scott, former chief of police, Boca Raton in Miami. Andrew, I was listening to Ripka and Odom saying maybe she`s not impaired, she was only 15 miles over the speed limit. She hadn`t done anything wrong. Drunks drive all the time.

SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. And the fact --

GRACE: And don`t get caught.

SCOTT: And don`t get caught. And individuals that have a higher intoxication level still drive and get into accidents.

I just want to digress one minute, though. You know motherhood is the holy grail of humanity, Nancy. And we constantly see that those closest to the children do the most harm. And we have a classic example with this right now.

GRACE: You know, I have a problem withholding, under the law, a mother to a different standard than you would hold anybody else because under the law every defendant, every victim is supposed to be treated equally.

But you know, Andrew, we do expect more out of mothers. Why is that, Dr. Bethany?

MARSHALL: Well, because our mothers are there to protect us. They`re our primary relationships. If our mothers don`t keep us safe, how are we ever going to feel safe in the world in general?

If our mothers don`t protect us, how are we going to go throughout life and feel protected? And that`s why we hold them to a higher standard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Posing for this mug shot is 28-year-old Heather Maiers. Virginia Beach police say this mom was booked for driving under the influence. But they say she wasn`t alone in the car. Officers found her 3-week-old son in the backseat.

Police say last week Maiers was caught speeding by an officer near Oceana Boulevard. They say she was going 50 in a 35-mile-per-hour zone. But officers had a hunch Maiers wasn`t just guilty of speeding.

When officers tried to arrest her, police say she started screaming at them. Maiers faces a list of charges including her second DUI charge, speeding and felony child neglect.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Virginia mother has been arrested for allegedly driving drunk with her 3-week-old baby in the backseat. Police arrested 28-year-old Heather Maiers and charged her with felony child neglect and DUI after she was pulled over in Virginia Beach last Thursday.

Police say when officers approached Maeirs` car they saw Maeirs` newborn baby in the car with her. When officers tried to arrest her, she screamed at them and stated that if one of her children needs something, she will drive.

Maeirs posted a bond and faces up to six years behind bars. Her next hearing is October 7th.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The mother charged with DUI with her 3-week- old child in the back seat.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When officers tried to arrest her, police say she started screaming at them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely belligerent. Cursing at him. Especially when he began to sort of lecture her on the dangers of drinking and driving and having an infant in the vehicle.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: From the beginning, Denver police had problems with 24-year-old Robert Walters` story about how his girlfriend died. He says he fell asleep while 22-year-old Air Force vet Brittney Brashers was driving and doesn`t snow why she crashed near Yuma and Cedar (ph).

But police suspicions were confirmed when Walters` estranged wife called them and said he confessed to her and she recorded it on her cell phone. According to the arrest warrant, the wife says Walters was angry at Brashers because she participated in a topless photo shoot.

He allegedly told his wife he punched Brashers, kneed her in the face and then choked her yelling, quote, "why won`t you die?" Adding he need to, quote, "finish her off so she couldn`t tell on him".

Walters allegedly told his wife he then staged the car accident to try to cover up the murder.

The warrant says Walters tried to kill himself so he wouldn`t have to go to prison, but he allegedly decided it would be better to kill his wife so she couldn`t testify. Witness B, another inmate, says Walters gave him $2,000 up front and promised another $4,000 if his wife was killed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Virginia mother has been arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A mother charged with DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For allegedly driving drunk with her 3-week- old baby in the back seat.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Twenty-eight-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police arrested 28-year-old Heather Maiers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Maiers was given a breathalyzer test. And after failing, he says Maiers still insisted she was fine.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Charged with felony child neglect and DUI.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was going 50 in a 35-mile-per-hour zone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say when officers approach Maiers` car, they saw Maeirs` newborn baby in the car with her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say she started screaming at them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely belligerent, cursing at him, especially when he began to sort of lecture her on the dangers of drinking and driving and having an infant in the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When officers tried to arrest her, Maiers reportedly screamed at them and stated that if one of her children needs something, she will drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then she just really laid into him.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Maiers posted her bond and faces up to six years behind bars. Her next hearing is October 7th.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant David Gutierrez, 35, San Francisco. Also served Afghanistan. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Assault Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge.

Lost his life just three days before his 13th wedding anniversary. Loved playing adult amateur football, hosting parties, cooking. Remembered as a grillmaster. Dreamed of culinary school and opening a restaurant.

Leaves behind grieving parents Olga and Hector, sisters Debra and Megan, brother Hector Jr., widow Patty, sons Andrew, Jeremiah and Gabriel.

David Gutierrez, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you and a special good night tonight from the New York control room.

Good night, Brett, Liz, home from Hawaii, and there`s Norm on the end.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END