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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Ominous Find in Missing Cheerleader Case

Aired April 03, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live from New York City. Breaking news on several fronts tonight. We`re keeping an eye on the tornadoes that have hit Texas, and we`re also covering the story of a stunning 15-year-old cheerleader who vanished from her driveway. I will talk to her frantic mother next about the race to find her beautiful daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight, the search for a missing California teen intensifies. Cops believe this beautiful cheerleader was abducted outside her house two and a half weeks ago. One day later, police found her cell phone less than a mile away. And now, more disturbing clues. I`ll talk to the missing teen`s mother, and we`ll investigate her mysterious disappearance.

Plus, did it happen again. One month after Trayvon Martin was gunned down in Florida, another unarmed teen is gunned down in California. Nineteen-year-old Kendric McDade (ph) was shot dead by cops responding to a 911 call. The caller claimed he was a victim of an armed robbery. One cop says that caused him to fire, because he mistakenly thought the unarmed teen was reaching for a gun. There was no gun.

Should the 911 caller be charged with manslaughter for lying? Is there a pattern here? I`ll talk to the dead teen`s parents live tonight. And we`re taking your calls.

And a transgender beauty queen kicked out of the Miss Universe contest comes out swinging against pageant honcho Donald Trump. So, did the Donald back down?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you, Sierra, come home. We miss you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you, Sierra, come home. We miss you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you, Sierra, come home. We miss you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifteen-year-old Sierra LaMar disappeared near San Francisco about two weeks ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come home, baby, please come home. You`re not in trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her cell phone and purse were found on the road near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As each day goes, it is longer and longer, it has become more real. It`s like more real. I just want her back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, a community desperately searches for a beautiful missing high school cheerleader as new, frightening clues emerge.

Massive search teams are scouring the area, frantically searching for 15-year-old Sierra LaMar. She disappeared almost two and a half weeks ago from the driveway of her home in Morgan Hill, just 70 miles outside San Francisco. Her mom says Sierra would never run off without telling her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I talked to her, said good-bye, and gave her a hug, and things were good, and I told her I loved her. She would never want us to go through all this pain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sierra was reported missing after her school`s automated system alerted her mom that she had missed class 12 hours after she had last seen her precious daughter that morning.

Sierra`s cell phone and her purse, containing only a neatly folded pair of clothing, including undergarments, found in the hours after she was reported missing.

But just a few days ago, search teams, well, they made a disturbing discovery. They found an empty handcuff box and condoms at the dead end of a road less than two miles from Sierra`s home. Could these items be connected to this beautiful girl`s disappearance?

What do you think? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

Straight out to my very special guest, Sierra`s mother, Marlene LaMar. Thank you so much for joining me. Our hearts go out to you. We want to help find your daughter. We know that it`s a race against time. We know having her face up on television often provokes memories and gets people thinking. And maybe they know something, and they`ll understand it. This is very significant.

First of all, I have to ask you, Marlene, what have these past two weeks been like for you?

MARLENE LAMAR, SIERRA`S MOTHER: Well, it`s truly unbelievable. You know, no parent should go through this. I have spoken with parents that are victims, and they truly feel what I`m going through. And it`s -- it`s a nightmare, and it`s -- it`s not going to end until I have her in my arms so I can give her a hug again. Until she comes home to me safely, the nightmare really isn`t over.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, I understand that cops said something in your daughter`s computer led them to believe that your daughter was being held against her will. Obviously, this is a very disturbing case, but do you know what that was? What did cops tell you? What have they told you?

LAMAR: Well, they didn`t say something specifically they found on the computer. They just said just from reviewing her Facebook and Twitter and, you know, all the data coming from her laptop didn`t indicate that, you know, there was the possibility, other possibilities leading to a runaway situation. You know, as far as her, she seemed like a normal teenager, doing the normal routine and normal conversing on Facebook. There wasn`t anything to indicate that she was unhappy and wanted to leave, for the most part of it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s talk about this case, because we want to find your daughter. Let`s dive into it, because we want to help find your daughter and leave no stone unturned as we really give you the results of what we`ve been doing in terms of investigating.

Cops believe this suspect is either from Morgan Hill, your hometown, or very familiar with that area. Now, I want to show you a map where all the key pieces of evidence have been found.

OK. Sierra`s home just down the street from her bus stop, where she failed to board the bus Friday, March 16. The next day, her cell phone was found about a mile from her house in a field by the road. Not even 12 hours after that, a search team found her purse with neatly folded clothing, including undergarments, less than two miles from her house.

And then just a few days ago in the opposite direction from her clothes, searchers made that disturbing discovery, finding an empty handcuff box and two used condoms less than two miles from the girl`s home.

So I want to go to you, Jon Lieberman. You`re an investigative reporter. You`ve been looking into this. What do you make of these pieces of evidence?

JON LIEBERMAN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, at this point, police don`t believe that this was a stranger abduction. They do believe that if, indeed, she was abducted, she had had previous contact with the person that abducted her, meaning they may have been communicating through the computer, through text messages.

One of their theories is that perhaps she left the house that morning and she went to go meet somebody to spend the day with that person. That`s one theory.

Now, to the condoms and the empty handcuff box, police right now are doing DNA testing to see what they can find forensically on these items. And there are two theories there, as well. Because you`ll recall, they did an extensive search of this area prior, and they didn`t find the handcuffs box and they didn`t find the condoms.

So then, when they went back, they did find them. The question is, were they there the whole time, or something more sinister? Did somebody actually go back, if these are connected to the case and place them there, thereby taunting cops and taunting this poor family?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, cops have been examining both Sierra`s cell phone and her laptop for clues, as the missing girl`s mother just mentioned. Let`s listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we`re doing some forensics on that cell phone, try to get any information that we can off that cell phone as well as her laptop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, let`s look again at the specific area search teams have found evidence.

The police dogs lost Sierra`s scent at the end of her driveway, which is seen right here. Then the next day, search teams found Sierra`s cell phone in the field by this intersection less than a mile from her home. You can see this is a rural area.

Then the very next day, a team found Sierra`s Juicy brand purse, containing a neatly folded pair of pants and a T-shirt and undergarments right here, just two blocks from where Sierra`s phone was found. You`re looking at the actual location.

So I`ve got to go to Marc Klaas. You are one of my heroes, founder of the Klaas Kids Foundation, and you have experienced your own daughter`s tragic abduction. And that`s why you devoted your life to try to solve cases like this.

What do you make of this box that is supposed to hold handcuffs -- and I hate to be graphic, but these are facts, and we want to get them out there -- these used condoms and all the other pieces of evidence that have been found in this case?

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, Jane, I firmly believe that the phone and the -- finding the bag are totally related to the case.

But the one thing I do agree with the reporter on is that the possibility exists that the condoms and the handcuff box were a plant.

Now, the theory that I think makes the most sense regarding Sierra`s disappearance is not that she ran away with somebody, because there`s no evidence on her telephone or in any of her computer -- in her computer or in any of her social networking profiles that she would have done something like that, and it would have been out of character.

However, that she went outside and got into a car with somebody she felt comfortable with and was familiar with, is a very real and distinct possibility.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Absolutely. And we`re going to analyze her tweets in just a second, because we have created actually a time line of events that morning.

But first, I want to go to the phones. Joseph, Tennessee, your question or thought, Joseph?

CALLER: Yes. Hello?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi. Yes, your question or thought, Joseph.

CALLER: I want to say this thing breaks my heart. We keep hearing more and more and more about incidents like this happening. We need laws to take these sexual predators and we`re going to nail them to the wall. And we can`t be getting them and releasing them.

They have maps that show where these sexual predators live . They shouldn`t be in the street. They shouldn`t be in the jail, they should be under the jail. This is a heart breaker. Why did it take 12 hours for that school to notify this poor family about their daughter not being in classes where she was supposed to be?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excellent question. Mark Eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney. Had the mother known sooner, she could have gotten a jump on looking for her daughter.

MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t disagree. I`d like to know what the other side would argue, but if somehow there`s a gap that long, that definitely effected the investigation. I think the key in this case is looking at that laptop and seeing who she had contact with. I`m sure law enforcement are working on that now.

Yes. And on the other side of the break, we`re going to give you a time line of what Sierra did that morning, including tweets. We`re also going to talk to the famous judge Larry Seidlin on this case.

And we`re also keeping an eye on those talking about the tornadoes that slammed into the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Unbelievable video here. Tractor-trailers literally being tossed in the air like toys. What`s going on with all this extreme weather we keep seeing? We`re going to keep you updated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMAR: I feel guilty because I`m always worried about where she is. If you can hear me, know I love you, want you back. I love you and I just want you back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is a nightmare for the mother of missing teen Sierra LaMar. And you are looking at video we just got in moments ago of the teenager who is missing. And we are freezing it to show you that is the young lady, a beautiful young lady. She`s there with some of her friends, and she is wearing the white sweatshirt right there.

And this is from YouTube. We were given this because we want to help find her. Obviously, she appears to be at an amusement park. It looks like Disneyland, because she`s wearing the Mickey Mouse ears. But again, here she is, a beautiful young, happy, happy-go-lucky girl who is not despondent or depressed.

The question is, and I`ll bring this out to Marlene LaMar, the mother of this missing teen. We don`t want to, in any way, make this more difficult than it already is for you, and I know that it`s so difficult. We`ve been doing some investigating, which is what we do on the show. And we`ve come up with some social media where somebody who has the same exact name as your daughter seems a little more sophisticated than we`ve led to believe, at this point, that there was even some references to experimentation with weed.

Now listen, I say this as a person who`s in recovery for 17 years. And when I was a teenager, of course, I`m the first to admit that I tried pot, you know. It`s just something that teenagers often do. I`m not condoning it or suggesting it, but I`m saying it to put it in context.

Marlene, what I`m trying to say is do you think she might have been doing things that you weren`t aware of, might have had friends that you weren`t aware of, may have even had a boyfriend that you weren`t aware of?

LAMAR: Well, I wasn`t aware of any boy that she was in a relationship or had a crush with. She was pretty open with me. She would actually ask for my advice. And I was -- I was pleased with the relationship we did have, because, you know, a lot of teenagers don`t confide in their parents as far as who their crush is, and they get all embarrassed. Or they don`t think it`s any business of their parents, and there was nothing to...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did she ever seem secretive when she was on her laptop? In other words, that she might be talking to somebody that you wouldn`t have approved of, an older man, a strange man? I mean, these -- there are men. They`re on the Internet. They prey on girls just like this.

LAMAR: I spoke with her about, you know -- when she started the Facebook thing, I just told her, you know, be really careful about your privacy. You know, there`s a lot of predators out there. Don`t put your address on your Facebook or information that may encourage a stalker.

So she was -- so she pretty street smart that way. Even when she walked down the street on Doherty (ph), she was aware of her surroundings. She would look behind her, you know.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let me jump in, because we want to get to some very key facts in the case. This is the time line.

6 a.m., you, Sierra`s mother, you leave for work. You say you saw her in her P.J.s.

6:29 a.m. Sierra posts the last tweet to her Twitter account.

7:10 a.m., Sierra usually leaves home to start walking to her bus top.

7:11 a.m., she sent an undisclosed text from her cell phone to a friend.

And then at 7:25 a.m., Sierra usually boarded the school bus just down the street from her house. The bus driver never saw her.

Finally, 6:30 p.m., Sierra is reported missing after she didn`t attend school.

Judge Larry Seidlin, you covered so many of these cases. What do you make of it? What should cops be doing?

LARRY SEIDLIN, JUDGE: Well, the police are going to examine that time line, and that`s the most important thing: where she was and what she did.

The textbooks say that 70 percent of these cases, there`s a relationship with the victim, Sierra, and the suspect. And they`re going to look through her relationships and who she knows. And it`s very difficult. We lost a lot of hours here. We lost a lot of time. And -- and by the school contacting her so late...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we`re watching those tornadoes. More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we continue to watch those tornadoes tearing through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Here`s some of the footage of just absolute widespread damage.

When Mother Nature gets angry, she can take a house and toss it like it was a soccer ball. And look at those vehicles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t believe this is happening to like one of my best friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we`re praying for her to come back home, and it just makes us so sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Those are her friends and school mates. Sierra`s dad has also been heavily involved in the search for his daughter since she went missing. Here is Sierra`s father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come home, baby, please come home. You`re not in trouble. Everyone, everyone wants to see you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is so heart breaking, Sierra`s dad, we have to mention is a convicted sex offender, reportedly in a lewd and lascivious case involving a 14-year-old girl, but cops -- it`s important to say cops have cleared him of any wrongdoing in his daughter, Sierra`s, disappearance. And he, like any other frantic father, has been searching night and day for her.

Now, she had lived with the dad in his hometown of Fremont about 40 miles away until last October, which leads me to wonder, Mark Eiglarsh, could she have maintained ties with somebody from that town? And also, what about these clothes that were found in her purse. That is odd, too. I mean, if it were sports, you`d think maybe a backpack or something.

MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think your speculation is dead on. Right now, we have to consider everything. Could there have been some contact made that then somehow she maintained contact while she moved? Anything is a possibility.

The clothing I also found to be very unusual. Thank God we have trained investigators looking into it. I don`t know what to make of it. I do want to say, though, the condoms and the box with the handcuffs, that I find suspicious. I can`t believe they didn`t find it to begin with.

And secondly, this area, I read, was an area that teenagers seemed to hang out in and drink. So that might account for why these items might have been placed there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We`re going to the phone lines again. Annie in Arizona, your question or thought, Annie?

CALLER: I have the question, he actually said it about those clothes and her bag. And I was wondering if anybody has thought -- you know, I was a teenager once myself. I`m 28 now, but if maybe somebody had talked her into doing something for the day.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Marlene -- I want to go to the mother. Why would she have a change of clothes in her purse?

LAMAR: Well, I`ve seen her borrow clothes frequently from her friends, and they would borrow clothes from her, as well. So I would see her bring a pair of pants that she`s returning that she borrowed to a friend and a blouse. So as far as clothes being in her purse, you know, that happened frequently, you know. She loved clothes, and she would borrow frequently from them and vice versa. They would borrow clothes from her, as well.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Marc Klaas, cops apparently refused to issue an Amber Alert, saying it didn`t fit the criteria. There`s a controversy about that. Because a lot of parents who have suffered tragedies, said if cops had only issued that Amber Alert.

KLAAS: They got (AUDIO GAP). You have to remember, Jane, this was about 11 hours after she apparently disappeared, and they have absolutely no information except the fact that she walked out of her house and seemed to -- the dog seemed to have lost the scent right near the freeway.

So in this instance, it really doesn`t fit the Amber Alert criteria, but I think that the response has been effective.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, please, put security cameras on every street. It would help out so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shooting of Mr. McDade is absolutely tragic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His crime was being black at night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s Kendrec McDade, shot unarmed, killed in Pasadena, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently there three investigations going on into the incident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An armed robbery that had just occurred.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do they have any weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they have a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Telling the dispatcher the description of the two black males involved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tragic event that occurred one week ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the passenger officer exited the car and began chasing Mr. McDade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers Griffin and Nolan (ph) had been listed as victims on the initial police report.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first volley of rounds were fired.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shot at and hit multiple times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seconds, moments after the second volley of rounds were fired.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death of a young man, Kendrec McDade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McDade was carrying no gun, and had no stolen items on him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just know that I want justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: As crowds across the country demand justice for gunned down Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, did a similar shooting just happen in California? Does this happen a lot more than we know?

Good evening everyone, Jane Velez-Mitchell back with you live in New York City.

Last week, 19-year-old Kendrec McDade was shot dead by Pasadena police after a caller to 911 lied and claimed the teenager was carrying a gun, which he wasn`t.

Listen to that 911 call and just wait for the tragic twist.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, what are you reporting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two guys just stole my backpack and put a gun in my face right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m at Raymond and Orange Grove. They just ran away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do they have any weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they have a gun.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Not true, it was a lie. Despite what the caller claimed, Kendrec had no weapons on him. He is a college student, or he was until he was gunned down. Cops fired on him and killed him, without saying "freeze" first.

Now people in Pasadena are demanding answers. Watch here at a town hall, Pasadena cops giving their side of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The officers were uniformed patrol officers. They weren`t gang officers, they weren`t special enforcement officers. They are off work, off on leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What he didn`t say is that the two cops involved are now on paid leave. Plus the police report lists them as the victims.

How is that so when they shot the teenager? Today, the parents announced they are suing the city and the cops. They accuse the police chief of, quote, "covering up excessive force" and claim he put the dead victim on trial and spun multiple accounts of what occurred.

Does this case parallel the tragic Trayvon Martin story? Call me, 1- 877-JVM-SAYS.

I am joined tonight by the parents of Kendrec McDade, the teenager who was shot to death by cops recently; and this is on the other coast. Thank you for being here.

First of all, my deepest condolences; I know this has to be a very, very difficult, unimaginable time for you. So let me start with Anya, the mother of Kendrec. What led you to sue the Pasadena police? Why do you think there was a cover up involving the death of your son?

ANYA SLAUGHTER, MOTHER OF KENDREC MCDADE: I have no idea. I just -- I don`t know. I`m still in shock from the situation. I`m trying to actually deal with it personally, so I have no idea what -- I can`t speak on why the police -- what the Pasadena police did and what they didn`t do.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I can certainly understand --

SLAUGHTER: It is up to the Pasadena police to -- I just wanted to intervene -- that it is up to the police department to explain why there was a cover up. The burden is now on them, once the lawsuit is filed. The burden is on them to show why they shot an unarmed man.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me just set the stage here so our viewers understand this complex case. Cops claim the young man they killed, they claim, he was acting as a lookout while an accomplice stole a backpack and laptop. But here is the interesting part. No stolen items have been recovered.

Cops claim a video near the taco stand that was the site of this purported theft, shows a 17-year-old reaching into the car, and grabbing the items, but cops have refused to release the video.

So let me ask the attorney. Carree Harper, do you want cops to release that video? Do you believe there was a crime that was committed or do you think that this entire alleged robbery was made up?

CARREE HARPER, ATTORNEY FOR KENDREC MCDADE`S FAMILY: First of all, the question isn`t about whether or not there was some crime committed at the scene, the question is about can a police officer shoot an unarmed man? Can a police officer shoot someone without saying "halt", "stop", without rolling code three lights and sirens that lets the citizen know that you`re now required to stop.

Police do not have an automatic right to contact anyone they want. People can walk away from police. There`s some misconception that everyone has to stop and talk to police if they want to, if they don`t want to.

Here the question is about was there cause to shoot an unarmed man. The officer shot from a seated position in the patrol car. The officer did not activate his video camera in the patrol car that would have captured the shooting. It would have captured the audio reporting.

You should be asking the Pasadena police why didn`t your officer want proof of what occurred that day?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me go to Mark Eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney. The way the police explain it is that the dash cam video wasn`t activated because they hadn`t activated their flashing lights, and that`s what automatically activates the dash cam video, to which I say why on earth is there a system set up where the cops know when to activate or not activate the dash cam video. Doesn`t that defeat the purpose? Shouldn`t the dash cam video be on at all times so it can`t be manipulated?

MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that would certainly be helpful in this situation. Let me just suggest that we wait and let`s see everything. Clearly racism and prejudice and all the things that are being alleged, they`re alive and well here in the United States.

I am not sure that we can make the conclusion just yet that these officers shot this kid because of the color of his skin. I don`t know that if they came upon anyone else who allegedly reached into his waist band after cops believed he was involved in a robbery and had a weapon, whether cops wouldn`t have shot also.

So again, the racism, the prejudice issue -- I`d hold off on that. And also let`s wait until we get all the facts. It does seem tragic unfortunately that in light of the Trayvon Martin shooting that again we have another unarmed African-American boy tragically shot. Let`s just wait and see what happens.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: He is 19, and he was in college.

EIGLARSH: Oh, well --

HARPER: Excuse me.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This was a 19-year-old.

HARPER: May I respectfully interrupt?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, go ahead.

HARPER: I need to respectfully interrupt. First of all, the Pasadena police chief did not wait before he accused my client`s dead son of a crime. He didn`t wait to do an investigation. So this man that`s saying let`s wait before we call it racism, let`s wait before we vilify the victim. Let`s wait before we call him a criminal.

Why was the -- when the Pasadena police chief --

EIGLARSH: Well, the issue --

HARPER: -- looked in my client`s eyes and said that the caller was making report of a robbery, he had information already that the caller had lied. He had information on March 26th that the caller had lied, and on March 28th, he looked in her eyes and said, "Well, it was a 911 call."

Why didn`t he tell us then? Why did it take me making a press conference and calling the 911 caller a liar for the chief to come forward?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here is the point.

(CROSSTALK)

HARPER: Now, stop putting the victim on trial --

EIGLARSH: The issue is what the cops believed at the time.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: If this guy who called 911 -- if the guy who called 911 lied about the guns being put in his face, couldn`t he be lying about the whole thing? Couldn`t he be lying about being robbed, Jon Leiberman?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I have walked the beat --

HARPER: Exactly. That is -- I am also a criminal defense attorney. That`s reserved for the minor who is facing criminal charges, based on the word of a man who has now been a proven liar. There`s a jury instruction that says if one thing -- let me finish, sir.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

HARPER: If you believe -- If you have proven one thing to be untrue, then you have a right to discard everything that person has said. So now there`s a young man in jail based solely on what this lying 911 caller said. And the police chief wants to point the blame at the 911 caller and he rushed out and arrested him for involuntary manslaughter.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But they never charged him with involuntary manslaughter.

HARPER: They charged him.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jon Leiberman, jump in for a second.

HARPER: The D.A. didn`t file it. The police charged him and tried to blame this man. Let`s get the facts correct here.

JON LEIBERMAN, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: One piece --

HARPER: They didn`t want it filed because there`s too much false information.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.

LEIBERMAN: One piece of perspective, this is a horrible tragedy all the way around, but let`s not forget one thing. I have been out with cops on the beat in cities across this world. When they get a call in their patrol car that there are armed suspects fleeing, which was what the initial call was, which has now proven to be false, these police are on high alert at that point.

I have been out with cops on the beats across this world. When they get a call in the patrol car that there are armed suspects fleeing, which is what the initial call was, which has now proven to be false, these police are on high alert at that point.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. But wait a second. Let me just say this. Carree, the young man who is now dead was running away. I mean he was running away quite possibly in fear for his life because he didn`t know what was going on maybe. Where there other options that they had other than shooting him?

(CROSSTALK)

HARPER: Sure, they could have made sure that their lives were in danger. There`s nothing in the police report that says that they saw an object in his hand, that he made a furtive movement, that there was a bulge in his waist band.

EIGLARSH: Well, they are.

(CROSSTALK)

HARPER: No, there`s nothing on the --

EIGLARSH: They`re alleging -- apparently the allegation is he reached for the waistband. And I disagree with all due respect that a cop has to yell "halt". I think that makes for good movie drama, but a cop doesn`t necessarily have to wait for that to happen. "Halt, stand there."

(CROSSTALK)

HARPER: Sir, are you a cop.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me just say this. Every time that a shooting occurs we hear well, he was reaching for his waistband.

HARPER: Exactly. That is their fallback.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, you could be scratching your belly button.

(CROSSTALK)

EIGLARSH: I don`t disagree that that could be manufactured. That`s why we have to wait and see what the investigation yields. Give them polygraph tests.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I do believe there should be an investigation but there should be an independent one.

Thank you all so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNA TALACKOVA, SUED THE MISS UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION: I had always dreamed of being in the Miss Universe competition, and having an opportunity to represent my country. I was told by representatives of the Miss Universe Canada pageant that I could not compete.

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MAGNATE: I`ll speak to my people, but I know it`s been a very, very big story in Canada and actually throughout the world and we`re going to certainly have to look into it.

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ATTORNEY: As anyone with eyes can see, Jenna is a vibrant, beautiful young woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She is legally and biologically a woman, a beautiful woman. She happened to have been born a man. This 23-year-old transgender woman entered the Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant hoping to represent her country in the Miss Universe competition. She made it to the finals, but when officials at Donald Trump`s organization found out that she was born a man, she was disqualified.

They say she was eliminated because of a rule that required a contestant be a naturally-born female. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLRED: She did not think for one moment that what she might have looked like at birth would be relevant. She did not ask Mr. Trump to prove that he is a naturally born man, or to see the photos of his birth to view his anatomy to prove that he was male.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Now, right before that news conference, Donald Trump and the Miss Universe Organization backtracked and announced yes, they will allow Jenna to compete.

Joining me now, Jenna Talackova`s attorney, the one and only Gloria Allred; Gloria, head to head with the Donald. Wow. Do you consider what happened in terms of the Donald`s decision to say yes, she can compete, a victory for you and your client?

ALLRED: Well, we want know whether the rule that an applicant, an eligible contestant, has to be a natural-born female, which has been the rule, which was the reason they said that Jenna who had reached the final competition, Jane, could not compete. We want to know whether that rule is going to be eliminated because this is not only about Jenna. Jenna is fighting for her rights but she`s also fighting for the rights of others not to have that rule in the pageant.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did people know when she was in the pageant that she had biologically been born a man and identified as female since she was four, began hormone therapy at 14, and then did the gender reassignment surgery at 19?

ALLRED: Well, she was treated as a female, she`s a beautiful female. Her driver`s license reflects that she`s a female. Her passport in Canada reflects that she`s a female. Her birth certificate reflects she`s a female.

She is not the one that brought up the issue. It was the pageant officials who called her and told her that she could no longer compete based on that rule.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, she`s very beautiful. I think everybody agrees. And let`s face it, the criteria for a beauty pageant is based on how you look, how you carry yourself, and also how eloquently you speak which is harder for some than others.

You remember this teen beauty queen from YouTube.com. Who can forget it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people out there in our nation that don`t have that. And I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and at Iraq, everywhere like such as -- I believe they should -- our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and Asian countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Naughty but Nice Rob Shuter, I mean if she is not disqualified, why would they disqualify Jenna?

ROB SHUTER, NAUGHTY BUT NICE COLUMNIST: It`s a very good question, Jane. As you said, a beauty pageant is all about how these young ladies look. And remember unlike Miss America, these girls do not have a talent round, so it purely is their looks.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

More transgender beauty queen in a moment. But first, we all deserve a laugh break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGH BREAK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALACKOVA: I wish Mr. Trump would just say in plain words whether or not I will be allowed to compete, and if I win, whether or not -- whether I`d be allowed to represent Canada in the Miss Universe competition. I also want Mr. Trump to clearly state that this rule be eliminated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now Donald Trump said, yes, he will allow her to compete, but he told TMZ he will not apologize for initially disqualifying Jenna and he said he couldn`t care less if she competes.

Gloria Allred, did Jenna lie on her application? Did she imply that she had been a woman from birth? Is there a question about that?

ALLRED: There is no question about that that I know of and, as a matter of fact, she indicates they never asked her that and that is not the reason that they gave her for disqualifying her. It was their rule that she had to be a natural born female.

And Donald Trump in his response talk, talking about his penis, which I am not interested in at all, and I would say to Donald -- Donald, everything is not about that. There are real issues in this world and this is one of them that affects many, many people. We just need him to end the rule and it`s not -- we don`t want him to end the rule just for the United States and Canada. We want him to eliminate this rule from the Miss Universe competition, whichever country this takes place.

Let him just say it loudly and clearly, Jane, that this rule is no longer going to be in effect that a person has to be a natural-born female. We don`t care what Donald looked like, his anatomy looked like when he was born. What matters is what Jenna looks like now and what he is like now. That`s all that matters.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. And, by the way, Mr. Trump, if you`re watching, you`re invited on our show anytime. We would love to have you on.

Right before Donald Trump -- your press conference, Donald Trump and the Miss Universe Organization said they will allow her to compete.

So here is Donald Trump explaining to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" exactly how they made that decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, we went by the laws of Canada and the laws of the United States and those laws say that she should be allowed to enter the pageant, so she will be entering the Miss Canada pageant. But we went strictly by the laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Rob Shuter, what`s the big picture here? There are some who say the most discriminated people in the entire universe -- and we`ve been talking about discrimination all this week -- are transgender people.

SHUTER: I think you make a very good point, Jane. I think transgender people are terribly discriminated against. However, the big picture of this for me is that Donald Trump loves publicity. He loves us talking about him. He likes all the buzz of this.

So I think the real winner here is, once again, Mr. Trump and the pageant. The way that the pageant works in America is that every different state in America could go on to be Miss USA.

They`re almost like franchises, Jane. Individuals own those different states. One person owns Miss New York. One person owns Miss California. So there`s tremendous pressure for these people to make sure that their girl goes on and wins. And that`s probably the same in Canada, which is why they probably want the girl that they think will win to go on to represent them.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you`ve got to wonder now that Jenna has gotten all this publicity, though, and all this focus on her private issues, you might say, whether that`s going to affect the judges in their decision. Can she get a fair shot?

More next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Gloria, Donald Trump has issued this statement saying that he and the Miss Universe organization made a fair and just decision in allowing Jenna to compete. They acted swiftly and appropriately. Pageant rules have been modernized to ensure this type of issue does not occur happen again. Are you satisfied with that?

ALLRED: Well, we want to hear him say it. Is the rule eliminated for the entire Miss Universe pageant? He has been very vague about that. He`s talking about the United States and Canada, which, as I said, we were prepared to file lawsuits if necessary in the United States and in Canada to do away with this rule.

He recognizes it does violate the law in both countries. What about the Miss Universe contest in other countries? We want the rule eliminated worldwide. He hasn`t said that he would do that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to say you and the Donald, maybe you need a show together.

END