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Nancy Grace

Mother With Cancer Kills 7-Year-Old Son

Aired July 16, 2012 - 20:00   ET

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

JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news. After a chilling 911 call sends police to a disturbing crime scene, who do you think they find there? The body of a 7-year-old little boy in his own bed, beaten and choked to death.

So how did this happen? Was he hit? Was he punched with somebody`s hand? Oh, no, no, no. No. In a sick twist, we learn that after a failed attempt to reportedly electrocute the 7-year-old in a bathtub -- that`s right, electrocute -- didn`t work, little Bernard was bludgeoned with a hammer, strangled with a belt and then allegedly with bare hands.

The prime suspect reportedly dying of cancer and claims that she was rescuing the 7-year-old Bernard by ending his life. Who did this? Police say it was his own mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocking, disturbing and horrific accusations against a mom of a 7-year-old child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 40-year-old woman who sources identify as Tenika Revell called police.

911 OPERATOR: 911. What is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Telling the operator she killed her son and took pills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother allegedly first puts her 7-year-old son in the bathtub, tries to electrocute him by dropping household appliances in the water. But it reportedly doesn`t work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When officers arrived at the home, they found the 7-year-old unconscious in his bed with head trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She allegedly smashes her son in the head with a hammer multiple times and choked him with her hands and a belt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would she do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something really dramatic going on with her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" on the truTV network, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us.

The body of a 7-year-old little boy found in his own bed, beaten and choked to death. Was his mother`s claim she`s dying of cancer -- I was good to him, I loved him so much, I didn`t want him raised by anybody else -- a motive for murder?

For the latest, let`s go out to Brett Larson. He is the afternoon anchor with FM News 101.9. Brett, what happened?

BRETT LARSON, FM NEWS 101.9 (via telephone): It`s just -- it`s just such a tragic story. The mother, 40-year-old Tenika Revell, beats her little son, 7-year-old Bernard, known to some neighbors as "Little B," said to be just a great kid -- she beats him.

But she didn`t just beat him to death, she actually tried to electrocute him. She put him in the tub, filled it with small appliances, tried to electrocute him. When that wasn`t successful, she hit him over the head with a hammer, then strangled him with a belt, put a plastic bag over his head, and then that was what ultimately led to his death, just such a tragic story.

Even -- even Tenika`s boyfriend says he feels like his son was taken away from him. And he wasn`t even the father, but he`s been such a part of this child`s life for so many years, he feels like his own son was just stolen from him in such a tragic way.

CASAREZ: Look at that little boy, that precious little boy! Alexis Weed, Nancy Grace producer, this weekend, you were out in the neighborhood going door to door to find out what`s the truth here. What really happened? Does she really have cancer?

But here`s what I want to ask you. We need to establish the timeline. Let`s start in the morning because she talks to her boyfriend on that day, right? And she says, You know, it`s hot outside, we`re not going to go outside, we`re going just going to stay indoors all day. Take it from there.

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Jean. So she says she wants to stay indoors and she says this to her long-time boyfriend of seven years, Terrace Johnson, says, you know, I`m going to keep Bernard in. It`s very hot outside.

But Jean, her attorney tells me that she had visited at some point during this day when Bernard was killed -- that she had visited a church, trying to seek some sort of sanctuary for Bernard, knowing that she needed someone to take care of him, saying that her attorney had -- or her family had turned her away, saying that they couldn`t take care of Bernard.

The attorney said she then leaves this church. The attorney believes that she visited the church along with Bernard. And the attorney claims that the church said, Well, come back on Sunday and pray with us, but for the most part just turned her away.

Then Jean, later on in the day, the boyfriend -- he tries to reach Revell again. He says she doesn`t pick up the phone. She later calls him back. And this is now at 8:15 in the evening. He says that she sounds like she`s breathing heavy. And when he asked to speak with Bernard, to have a chat with him, Revell reportedly tells him, Well, he`s sleeping. And the boyfriend thought this was very odd because he was not a boy to be sleeping at 8:15 in the evening.

The boyfriend then didn`t know anything was wrong, Jean, until he learned of Bernard`s death until the following morning. But...

(CROSSTALK)

CASAREZ: ... Alexis. Here`s what I think the critical point is. At 7:30, she calls her mother...

WEED: Right.

CASAREZ: ... and she tells her what she did. But at 8:15, 45 minutes later, the boyfriend calls. He`s sleeping, can`t disturb him, he`s sleeping right now.

I want to go to Victoria Taft, radio show talk show host from KPAM radio, 860 AM. Here`s what I want to know. When she threw the electrical appliances into the bathtub to allegedly try to electrocute him, were they plugged in?

VICTORIA TAFT, KPAM RADIO: Well, I have to believe they were, else why would she try to do that? But what saved that little boy at that moment in time, before she did the final deed, I imagine, was there was a ground fault interrupter. It`s too bad we can`t have ground fault interrupters for stupid acts by desperate people, Jean.

CASAREZ: You know, everybody, we have got a very special guest today. It is George Parnham. You know George Parnham. He is a defense attorney extraordinaire out of Houston, Texas. He represented Andrea Yates, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

I really want your thoughts on this case, but here`s what I want to ask you. How can you reconcile insanity -- because I think that`s what you`re going to assert here -- with the fact that at 7:30, she talks to her mother, she admits everything, but at 8:15, when the boyfriend wants to talk to the little boy -- he`s not around any longer -- she says, He`s asleep, sorry.

GEORGE PARNHAM, REPRESENTED ANDREA YATES (via telephone): Well, there are many issues that obviously need to be reconciled. But I think in looking at this, one must understand that individuals that commit acts as horrendous as the act here, and might be suffering from a severe mental illness or mental defect at the time of the act, often do make statements that perhaps are rational in some contexts, irrational in others.

But that in and of itself is not indicative, as far as I`m concerned, as to whether not the mother meets the standard in the state for the insanity defense.

CASAREZ: Alexis Weed -- that`s very interesting that you are not conclusively believing this is insanity. Alexis Weed, does she have cancer? Doesn`t she have cancer? Because that is why she`s saying she did this, so her son would have a better life and not be left without her, since she says she`s dying.

WEED: Yes, Jean. Her attorney tells me that she does have cancer. He`s learning this through her family members. And also, it said that her cancer had spread to her ovaries, even after having a mastectomy, Jean.

CASAREZ: OK, so the family is saying that. Everybody, if you`re just joining us, police are saying and prosecutors are saying that this is a young mother who tried to electrocute her son, didn`t work, got a belt, tried to choke him, didn`t work, got a hammer, started beating him on the head, don`t know if that worked or not, and then ultimately put a plastic bag over his head?

We`re taking your calls tonight. I want to go to Carolyn in Michigan. Hi, Carolyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jean. Does this woman have just this little boy or other children?

CASAREZ: I think this is her only child. But Brett Larson, isn`t it true that she aborted a child last year?

LARSON: Jean, that is correct. She was actually pregnant with her boyfriend`s baby, Terrace Johnson`s baby, but she had to abort it because the cancer had come back. And now Terrace says he thinks that`s really when Tenika snapped. That`s really when this downward spiral began.

It should also be pointed out Tenika has a rap sheet, over two dozen arrests for various things. I mean, why she wasn`t pulled in or why this child wasn`t helped by Child Protective Services is a question that needs to be asked.

CASAREZ: It`s another issue.

I want to go out to Ramani Durvasula, clinical psychologist. First of all, if it`s true she has cancer -- and that`s horrible if she`s dying of cancer and it`s all over her body. That`s terrible. We don`t have documentation on it. It`s what her family is saying. It`s what she told people.

But if you don`t want your son to be raised alone without you, and all of those reasons you believe are virtuous, why wouldn`t you just give him some pills? She had all her cancer medication there, allegedly. She took a couple of pills before she called 911. Why wouldn`t you do that and let him sleep? Why would you take the hammer out and start beating him over the head?

RAMANI DURVASULA, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: I think we`re trying to apply rational thinking to a really irrational situation. I`m guessing that this a woman who likely has a history of mental illness, that plus the stressors -- plus, we don`t know things like, was she using drugs at the time of the crime -- we do not know what happened at that moment.

But that kind of presentation, so violent, so horrifying -- it doesn`t add up. And so when it doesn`t add up, we really do look to the likelihood that she was psychotic, that she was dissociated, that she has a trauma history. All of these things are likely playing a role in how this went down and why it went down so violently and so horrifically.

CASAREZ: To Woody Tripp, former police commander and polygraph expert joining us out of Atlanta. What about murder? What about even premeditated murder? Because premeditation can be formed very quickly. And there are so many acts here, one after the other, that took a state of mind of intending to do the act -- going to get the hammer, throwing the appliances into the bathtub water -- why don`t we think about that?

WOODROW TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER: You`re right, Jean. And we`ve got to look at the period -- when you talk about premeditated murder, you know, from the time that she threw this appliance into the water to the time that she ultimately, horrifically, you know, put a bag over this child and then strangled it to death. So there`s a time period. An autopsy should be able to reflect that.

CASAREZ: This little boy was 7 years old. He was a walking, talking, functioning little boy who used to go into the neighborhood store and buy cake and balloons. And he had to go through what prosecutors are saying was absolute torture.

Out to Tangee in Alabama. Hi, Tangee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

CASAREZ: Thank you for calling. Your thought or question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My first question, is there a previous history of this woman having mental illness problems? That`s my first question.

CASAREZ: OK, Alexis Weed, do we know if she has psychological background and history of going to psychologists and psychiatrists and getting treatment?

WEED: Her attorney (INAUDIBLE) tells me that, yes, she has a long history of mental illness. He`s right now still trying to collect all of that history, digging for it, looking for it. He said that she had been in and out of a number of mental health institutions throughout her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say the mom beat her son with a hammer and used her bare hands and a belt to choke him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) anybody that would kill a child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even allegedly putting a plastic bag over his head. Little Bernard dies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Called police to say she killed her 7-year-old son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that`s not all. With the 7-year-old child in the bathtub, the mother first tries to drop appliances in the tub, allegedly attempting to electrocute him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Little Bernard. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. This little boy 7 years old authorities say was not only -- tried to be electrocuted, but then was beat with a hammer -- we don`t know when he died -- and then suffocated with a plastic bag along with a belt?

I want to go back out to Brett Larson, who is afternoon anchor for 101.9. Here`s one of the questions I have. It`s sort of a disconnect in all of this. Authorities are saying he was in the bathtub when she starts throwing in the electrical appliances to try to electrocute him, but he`s found deceased in his bed. What are they saying about how he got from the bathtub to the bed?

LARSON: Well, she more than likely bought him there when she saw that this electrocution wasn`t a success. And as the previous guest pointed out, you -- that -- that type of electrocution just don`t work anymore. These things don`t happen.

So she -- you know, when she sees that this wasn`t a success, she`s in this rage, I would have to assume, and she figures she`s going to take him into the bedroom and she`s going to then, you know, get the can -- get the hammer, rather, her plan B, and beat the kid.

And what`s sad is, you know, that`s where he was found. And as you had pointed out, I mean, the neighbors thought he was just this great kid, and she just doted on him his entire life.

CASAREZ: But for her uncontrollable anger that some people have said she had. To Dr. Bill Manion, who is New Jersey medical examiner, joining us tonight. Would you be able to find out exactly what caused the death? Because if you have hammer blows and then you have a belt around his throat and then you also have a plastic bag around his head -- we know with Jessica Lunsford, that was put on when she was alive. Are you going to be able to determine the actual causation here of the death?

DR. BILL MANION, NEW JERSEY MEDICAL EXAMINER: Yes. Yes, I think so. We can tell pre-mortem injuries -- in other words, injuries inflicted when the person`s alive -- from post-mortem injuries, in other words injuries that take place after the person dies. These injuries, they won`t bleed, there won`t be fresh hemorrhage around them. There won`t be what we call vital reactions.

So it sounds very morbid, but absolutely, we can look at all the different injuries and try to determine which injuries had occurred while this child was still alive. Hopefully, he was knocked out by the hammer and did not have to suffer, he was unconscious when he finally died, hopefully.

CASAREZ: You know, Jennifer Smetters, family law attorney joining us out of Chicago, this is a very big point right here, when did he die in the process, because if he suffered and was alive and awake when all of these things in succession allegedly happened to him at the hands of his mother, I mean, that is cruel, that is unusual, that is atrocious behavior, versus if he passed out when the first hammer blow came to him.

JENNIFER SMETTERS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Exactly. And I`m -- with that said, Jean, I`m really surprised at just the manslaughter charge here. This child endured the absolute epitome of torture by the hand of the woman who is supposed to be the number one person in his life to care for him. I can`t even justify this by saying that she was in a state of rage or any type of claims as to what her health was at the time.

What she did, pure and simple, was vicious, and I`m going to say, it`s bordering -- it`s evil. And to justify it in any way, shape or form, to say what her state of mind was, or her state of health was at the time is trying to justify this poor, innocent -- the poor, innocent child being tortured. I`m not going to go there. Just it`s tragic all around. That poor child.

CASAREZ: It is tragic all around. To Kirby Clements, to successfully get all these deadly weapons and use them on your child -- how can you justify that? How can you say, Oh, I didn`t know what I was doing? Furthermore, when she finally calls 911 at 11:00 o`clock, she just says she popped a couple of pills. She wanted to commit suicide. But there`s no evidence that her stomach pumped, that she was unconscious! Isn`t that all a ruse to finally have a reason for why this all happened -- Oh, I was going to kill myself, too?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`m sure that`s what the prosecution might say. But I want to point out that no one`s trying to justify what happened. I would just suggest to you that people who are mentally ill sometimes do some wantonly depraved things. Not everyone who`s mental ill does it, but I`m saying those who do commit crimes do so in spectacular fashion, like we`ve just seen here. So I would suggest we need to look at her mental health history a little closer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say the mom beat her son with a hammer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tragedy that unfolded inside that apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 7-year-old boy with so much life to live dies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother then allegedly tried to commit suicide, but it doesn`t work. She lives!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. OK, so this mother says she has cancer -- and she may very well have cancer. Her family says she did. And she says, I`m going to die, I`m not going to be around, and I don`t want anybody else raising my child. So what do I do? Allegedly, I try to electrocute him, I get a hammer to him, I get a belt to him, and I put a plastic bag over his head. Does that make sense to you? I don`t know.

Let`s go to out to the callers. Hannah in Florida. Hi, Hannah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Does she have a criminal record?

CASAREZ: Oh, yes! Yes, she does. Alexis Weed, NANCY GRACE producer, what`s a little bit of that criminal record?

WEED: She does. She has had two different stints in prison. One was for attempted robbery. One was for attempted burglary. She served a total of eight years behind bars. That was well before Bernard was born, however. Those were back in the `90s.

CASAREZ: Right, that was in the `90s. And to Brett Larson, afternoon anchor, I mean, we`ve got to tell everybody that people said she was a wonderful mother.

LARSON: Yes. That`s absolutely true. She was a great mother. The shopkeeper at the corner store near her house said she would come in with him all the time. She would buy him candy and cake and balloons and whatever he wanted. He was a spoiled child. Even her boyfriend, Terrace Johnson, has described her as being this doting, loving mother. So for something like this, it`s just of unusual.

But I mean, she also has sort of this -- she herself has a past that`s not the greatest thing in the world. She was -- reports that she was dumped at an early age by her own mother, who was also abusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocking, disturbing and horrific accusations against a mom of a 7year-old child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 40-year-old woman who sources identify as Tenika Revell called police.

911 OPERATOR: 911. Where`s your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Telling the operator she killed her son and took pills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother allegedly first puts her 7-year-old son in the bathtub,

tries to electrocute him by dropping household appliances in the water. But it reportedly doesn`t work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When officers arrived at the home, they found the 7-year-old unconscious in his bed with head trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She allegedly smashes her son in the head with a hammer, multiple times. Chokes him with her hands and a belt.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wouldn`t have lived.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why would she do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something really dramatic going on with her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" in for Nancy Grace.

Tenika Revell said that cancer was all over her body, it was spreading fast, and she wasn`t going to live and because of that, she wanted to honor her son, do a service to her son so she says she killed him, so he wouldn`t have to be raised by anybody else.

Brett Larson, you are the afternoon anchor at News 101.9. I want you to start from the beginning, because think about that in relation to the facts. Take it, Brett.

BRETT LARSON, AFTERNOON ANCHOR, FM NEWS 101.9: Well, I mean, she said she had cancer all over her body, she goes in, Bernard, 7 years old, first she tries to electrocute him by throwing small appliances into the bathtub with him in it. When that doesn`t work, she goes -- well, she admits being plan B hitting him in the head with a hammer and then strangling him with her own hands and a belt only to then put a plastic bag over her head which is just awful. She then calls 911 and says she`s killed her son and she`s taken some pills.

CASAREZ: But yet she tells the boyfriend when she talks to him at 8:15, he`s just sleeping, he`s sleeping, he can`t be disturbed. And by the way, police are saying this all happened between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. That is what they`re alleging.

Let`s go to the callers, Brian in Florida. Hi, Brian.

BRIAN, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Jean. How are you?

CASAREZ: I`m fine. Thank you for calling.

BRIAN: You`re welcome. I love your show. This is such a tragedy for the 7-year-old, what a terrible, terrible thing she has done. Do you think that (INAUDIBLE) death penalty?

CASAREZ: The death penalty. You know, Woody Tripp, former police commissioner, polygraph expert, joining us, you know, if you`re going into that crime scene at that apartment complex and you are looking at the various rooms, because we have got the bathroom, we have got the bedroom, what are you going to try to piece together to see if this is premeditated capital murder?

WOODY TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: Well, things such as her throwing that electrical appliance into that bathtub, Jean, you know, that shows some premeditation, she had to think about that, that wasn`t a spur of the moment, a rage type of situation. And I`ve got to say, you know, we have a saying in cop talk that liberals are conservatives that just haven`t been mugged yet.

Well, those of us in the criminal justice system, we have been mugged numerous times because we have to deal with situations like this. So we`re going to continue to see the attorneys talk about how horrific and how terrible and she shouldn`t be cuddled and this and that, and that. But, Jean, we`re all tired of this, and as we look at this, that`s what we examine.

CASAREZ: You know, we do forget the facts here because we want to look at her background and what she went through and what she may have been going through.

Alexis Weed, you went to the neighborhood, you went door to door this weekend to talk to anybody you could find to find out what`s really going on here. What did you find out?

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Jean, I felt most importantly was a neighbor who I talked to, a neighbor who lives on the exact same floor where Bernard was killed.

This is just a small apartment, Jean, the doors -- the two doors in these apartments, just about five steps away from each other, and these woman who lives next door she said she hearing nothing. She had no idea anything was wrong until police showed up there.

But, Jean, every single person that I spoke to in this community by all accounts said that this mother really, really loved this child and they couldn`t understand what happened.

CASAREZ: Well, let`s go to Ramani Durvasula, PhD, clinical psychologist. How do you reconcile that? Everybody says, oh, she was a great mother, she did so much, but then you look at this, one of the most horrific scenes you could ever find.

RAMANI DURVASULA, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: What mental illness can often do is throw off patterns and stress plus mental illness can often be a really deadly combination, if not for the person themselves, but for someone around them. And I think in this case it was this woman who has this long history of mental illness and then has this stress upon her of all these other things.

But the fact is, this is also broken system. This is not the first time something terrible has gone on. I think people just turned a blind eye, you know, whether it was Child and Family Services, whoever, and people not noticing, she`s a great mom, nothing is wrong, something was wrong. This didn`t just -- you don`t just bludgeon your kid out of nowhere. Something was wrong. The system has failed this child. This mother failed this child. And this is what -- this is what happens when we don`t address this problems earlier on.

CASAREZ: You know, defense attorney, Alex Sanchez, people don`t know what goes on behind closed doors, and I agree, it wasn`t that she was a loving, wonderful mother at all times. She couldn`t have been. There are reports she had an uncontrollable temper. But there are acts here of intent to kill over and over and over again. Because it appears as though possibly the first time didn`t work, she had to keep going.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, the defense has some heavy lifting to do in this case, Jean. But there`s no only two lines of defense, either she was insane, and they`re going to go not guilty by reason of insanity, or she was suffering from a mental defect or some sort, extreme emotional disturbance in which she might be found guilty of manslaughter.

I just want to correct or clarify something. In New York there is no death penalty. So as horrific as these acts were, she`s not facing the death penalty. She may face life imprisonment but the death penalty is off the table.

CASAREZ: And those that are for the death penalty are outraged by that.

Judy in Kentucky, hi, Judy.

JUDY, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Hi, Jean. Thanks for taking my call.

CASAREZ: Thank you for calling.

JUDY: You`re welcome. Does anyone know if they`re saying she had signs of mental illness, why didn`t someone in the family, friends or someone step in, you know, beforehand instead of saying, you know, she was stressed out and signs of mental illness? And also was there a father figure? Is this boyfriend the father of this child?

CASAREZ: Yes, this boyfriend is the father figure, Terrace Johnson.

Brett Larson, this had been the boyfriend for a long time, in fact he had raised this little boy since he was an infant so he knew her well. I mean is he saying that she was psychologically over the deep end?

LARSON: Well, I mean he says affectionately, you know, he kind of took the bitter with the sweet with Tenika, and that yes, she did have some anger issues but that he just sort of put up with it. And he did very much consider himself the father of the child, though he was not. And I mean he even went so far as showing Father`s Day cards that he`d received from Bernard over the last several years and he -- you know, he was sort of one of the tipping points on this in that he -- when he called, he didn`t believe that she was -- that he was asleep because he knew that Bernard was an energetic boy.

And also he didn`t really find out about it until the next morning when he saw cops and news crews on the -- on the scene.

CASAREZ: This little boy is so precious, I mean look at him, look at his eyes, look at this smile. He go to the corner store and he got to know the corner store clerk, and he bought cakes and he bought balloons, he would have lived his life, but he can`t.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Shocking, disturbing and horrific accusations against a mom.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tenika Revell called police and says she killed her 7-year-old son.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She alleged smashes her son in the head with a hammer multiple times.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Found the 7-year-old unconscious in his bed with head trauma.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Little Bernard dies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just beat up and say I want to kill my child. That`s not what she`s done.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Stunned and searching for answers, but neighbors say the woman often seemed troubles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of times I used to see her, you know, she`d be walking like she`s in a daze.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A 7-year-old with so much life to live dies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy never lived. Never lived.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why would she do it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace.

We`ve got a very special guest tonight, you know his name, it is George Parnham, he`s a defense attorney out of Houston that represented Andrea Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity.

And George, I really want to know your thoughts on this case. As you`re listening to everything as it unfolds, what is your legal mind telling you and what is your heart telling you?

GEORGE PARNHAM, REPRESENTED ANDREA YATES, FOUND NOT GUILTY BY REASON OF INSANITY: Jean, obviously the heart is troubled deeply by the death of a child as precious as this child. It`s -- the act itself is so extraordinary and for the most part, it appears to be out of character with this mom and her son`s relationship, I would leave no stone unturned as far as mental health issues are concerned.

And it troubles me somewhat to hear the officer talk about not -- defense lawyers not having been mugged, really don`t appreciate the gravity of the situation. This is my fourth year of defending individuals and I have been through the system and I know that there are answers out there that under -- that belie the actions. And frequently, those answers are connected to mental health issues and every record to include the abortion, OB-GYNs, everybody record needs to be uncovered.

And there needs to be, it seems to me, an expert that can correlate this -- the illness that this mother apparently was fatally undergoing with her mindset at the time this action occurred. That to me is absolutely imperative.

CASAREZ: Former police commander Woody Tripp, how do you respond to all that?

TRIPP: Well, Jean, I respect his opinion. Again, he`s a defense attorney and as I prefaced it earlier, that we`re going to continue to hear these comments but I think the general public and especially those of us in criminal justice system have got to the point that something has to be done.

We`re having children dying every day, and we all hear this, oh, it`s so terrible, yes, we understand, it is, but something has to be done and there`s really not much sympathy for myself and others that have to go to these scenes and work these for horrific crimes. And that`s about where I`m at on.

CASAREZ: All right.

To June in Virginia, hi, June.

JUNE, CALLER FROM VIRGINIA: Hi, Jean.

CASAREZ: Thank you so much for calling, June.

JUNE: You`re welcome. I would like to ask you a question, what did that little boy do to make his mother so angry? Did he spit on her? Was he acting up? Did he threaten her with a knife? Did she do something so horrific that she would kill him?

I don`t want to hear the mental illness thing, I have heard that over and over again, Andrea Yates chased her kids through the house, and the little boy tried to unlock the door and couldn`t, and she grabbed him. Now you tell me that she was not sane? That`s stupid.

I`m sorry, Jean. That`s not very good.

CASAREZ: No --

JUNE: But I think this mother, I don`t care what her past is, that`s her son, she killed him, that`s murder. She should be done the very same way, beat her in the head with a hammer, put a plastic bag over her head, choke her until her eyes pop-out. I don`t care.

CASAREZ: You know, June, you just delivered a tremendous opening statement by a prosecutor in this case.

I want to go to George Parnham, I mean how do you -- how do you counter that? Because what June is saying is true.

PARNHAM: Well, you counter that, Jean, with the truth and the caller talks about Andrea Yates chasing her son through the house and when he`s trying to open the door, that was proven to be not true during the course of the case. That was an example that sticks out in everybody`s mind about the mental status of Mrs. Yates and her children that was disproven at trial. It was rumored that was circulated as soon as this event occurred I suspect by someone in law enforcement. And it just absolutely was disproven. And the jury all admitted that.

The other aspect is that it is true that we see over and over again instances of children who are harmed by mothers or fathers for various reasons. I think it`s important obviously to try to prevent as many of these actions as possible. And by understanding the underlying cause for these actions, if in fact it happens to be mental illness, then we can prevent children from further violence by mothers who are mentally ill. This might be an opportunity to do so. If in fact mental illness is what caused it.

There have been a number of individuals that have been subjected to the news relative to Andrea Yates that have turned around and done something. Andrea wasn`t (INAUDIBLE) at these future actions. But to be able to understand and grasp and recognize and treat mothers that do in fact suffer mental illness only benefit the kid that that mother gave birth to and has raised.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities say the mom beat her son with a hammer and used her bare hands and a belt to choke him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because you don`t just up right and get up and say I`m going to kill my child. That`s not what you do.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Called police to say she killed her 7-year-old son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. I don`t want to forget Bernard Revell.

Look at this little boy. Look at his smile. He was 7 years old. He had just graduated. And he was in summer vacation, having fun, going to start the next grade in August.

Alexis Weed, NANCY GRACE producer, you were in the neighborhood, you went door to door, what did you hear about this little boy, tell us about him?

WEED: Everyone I met, neighbors, friends, they all told me that this was a really well-behaved little boy. In fact, the next-door neighbor, she said every time she would see the boy come and go to the apartment, that he was always well-behaved, that he minded his manners, and Jean, he was just looking to celebrate his -- was very excited, I have heard, that he was going to celebrate his 8th birthday in just a couple of days from today.

CASAREZ: To Dr. Bill Manion, New Jersey medical examiner, how much did he suffer? What did he feel?

DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, as we discuss, hopefully if she struck him with a hammer, hopefully he would be knocked unconscious then we can look at the other injuries. If he was alive and was strangled we`d look for (INAUDIBLE) in the eyes and conjunctiva. If he was alive and was beaten, we`d look for fresh hemorrhages, things of that nature. Perhaps he`d have a bleed on the brain that could have caused unconsciousness, but yes, potentially this child could have suffered tremendously. That`s possible. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Shocking, disturbing and horrific accusations against a mom of a 7-year-old child. Authorities say the mom beat her son with a hammer and used her bare hands and a belt to choke him, even allegedly putting a plastic bag over his head. Little Bernard dies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: All right. I want to go back out to New Jersey medical examiner, Dr. Bill Manion.

Dr. Manion, I want to show you and tell you the results from autopsy that maybe you can tell us more about how much this little boy suffered, what actually caused the death. All right. First of all, severe trauma to the head, three lacerations to his head, hemorrhages of the eyes, the face and the neck, and ligature marks on Bernard`s neck.

What does that tell you?

MANION: Well, the fact that there are hemorrhages in the eyes means that the person was alive when pressure is applied to the veins of the neck. The blood will back up in the head and will get small hemorrhages in the eyes and in the conjunctiva, the lining surrounding the eyes. So this child was alive when the hemorrhages were suffered.

If -- I didn`t hear about the brain, if there was intracranial bleeding if there were hemorrhages on the brain, perhaps the child -- or a skull fracture, perhaps the child was unconscious when all this mayhem was occurring.

CASAREZ: This is big information the doctor is telling us because we believe the hammer came first. So after hammering his head, he must have been alive when the belt went around his throat due to the hemorrhaging.

I want to go out to Laurie in West Virginia. Hi, Laurie.

LAURIE, CALLER FROM WEST VIRGINIA: Hi, Jean.

CASAREZ: Thank you so much for calling.

LAURIE: This is so terrible, a loss of another child. My question is, has she said why she did it?

CASAREZ: Well, Laurie, she has. But I think that`s a good point.

I want to go out to Brett Larson, all right. Do we really know why she allegedly did this? It`s her boyfriend that`s saying, oh, I don`t want my son to live alone after I pass on from cancer, but do we know that`s why she allegedly did it?

LARSON: We don`t have 100 percent. I mean she did have a conversation with her mother about the fact that she did it and she`d planned on taking her own life. We know that she has been suffering from cancer and apparently has just gotten so much worse. And yes, we only know from the boyfriend saying that she didn`t want anyone else to care for her child once she was gone and she felt like, you know, her time was running out very quickly.

CASAREZ: But that`s not from her mouth, that`s from her boyfriend`s mouth. All right. Thank you.

Tonight, let us stop to remember Army Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, 29 years old from San Antonio, Texas, killed in Afghanistan. He was award the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He loved music and singing with the 82nd Airborne Chorus. His two dogs and all things Texas. He leaves behind his mother, Alicia, and his stepfather Bobby. His stepbrother Troy.

Clayton Bowen, an American hero.

Thank you so much to all of our guests. To you at home. A very special happy birthday tonight to Kylie Barnes. She is the daughter of the late Karen and Atlanta Fulton County Judge Roland Barnes.

Happy birthday, Kylie.

"DR. DREW" is coming up next.

END