Return to Transcripts main page

Jane Velez-Mitchell

Lottery Winner Murdered for Money?

Aired November 30, 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: Tonight, a woman goes on trial, accused of swindling and murdering a Florida man who`d won a $31 million lottery jackpot. And just wait until you hear how prosecutors say she stole his money, murdered him, and then went to wild lengths to make people think he was still alive. That`s next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): A lottery winner murdered for his money? This woman is on trial for allegedly befriending, swindling and then killing a $31 million jackpot winner. The elaborate plot prosecutors say she hatched and the extraordinary strengths she allegedly went to to convince everyone lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare was still alive.

And now Lindsay Lohan is facing charges in two states and new reports swirl about what happened the night she allegedly punched another woman in the face at a New York City lounge. Is Lindsay`s probation going to be revoked, and would hard time behind bars be the best thing for this troubled actress?

And thousands of wild horses chased down by helicopters and put into pens. And it`s all sponsored by our government. Now, growing calls for Congress to step in and stop the decimation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abraham Shakespeare of Florida was murdered after winning $31 million. Abraham Shakespeare`s remains were unearthed five feet below concrete. Dee Dee Moore weapon openly in court as lawyers questioned potential jurors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sheriff`s department found Shakespeare`s body at her boyfriend`s house, buried under a concrete slab.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you innocent?

DEE DEE MOORE, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER: Yes.

God knows I would never take another human being`s life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She claims someone else killed Abraham Shakespeare, a lottery winner she befriended in 2008 and who was found dead, buried under a concrete slab, two years later.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, high drama in court as prosecutors accuse a Florida woman of a very elaborate secret plot to swindle and murder a $31 million lottery jackpot winner.

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.

This woman, 40-year-old Dee Dee Moore, is on trial for allegedly gunning down Abraham Shakespeare, a laborer who was living with his mom when he suddenly struck it rich in the Florida lottery back in 2006. Prosecutors say Dee Dee Moore befriended Shakespeare, pretended that she wanted to write a book about him and be his financial adviser, then swindled him out of his money, shot him and buried him.

But it doesn`t end there. Then she allegedly concocted an elaborate plot to make it seem like he was still alive and out and about. It would be months before anybody would find out that Shakespeare was dead, that he was buried.

Before his body turned up, Dee Dee spoke to reporters and denied knowing anything about what happened to the man.

MOORE: Abraham went and had a very -- a life of drama, a very hard life of drama because of the money. The money was like a curse to him. And now it`s become a curse to me.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shakespeare vanished three years ago, but nobody reported him missing for seven months, thinking he might have left town to escape the spotlight and everybody asking him for a handout. Cops say Dee Dee used this dead man`s cell phone, OK? She took his cell phone, allegedly, and sent texts from his cell phone, pretending to be him. But the truth was, he was buried under a slab of cement.

Just days after his body was discovered in January of 2010, Dee Dee Moore was arrested. And now Moore is turning on the water works in court, crying every day. And the judge is losing his patience. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: They think I`m guilty by sitting here looking down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma`am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the judge had enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re not going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I`m telling you not to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So tonight, as brand-new Powerball lottery winners collect their mega millions, we`ve got to ask, if Shakespeare`s murder is a cautionary tale. Money can change everything.

Straight out to our very special guest, Steve Martin, the attorney for this murdered lottery winner`s estate.

Sir, you say you investigated how Dee Dee Moore allegedly swindled and spent this man`s money. How much money do you believe she swindled and how did she spend it?

STEVE MARTIN, ATTORNEY FOR SHAKESPEARE`S ESTATE (via phone): I think when she finally met him, he was down to $1.3 million in cash. That`s what we see moving through various bank accounts. In addition, she had taken his house, for which he paid $1 million. And she somehow induced him to sign a deed and never paid him for it. She also had an agreement with him, supposedly, which called her -- called for her to pay him $185,000 for his other assets, which were basically mortgages he had taken back from people to whom he lent money. You see the money come into his account and then over to her account. And early 2009.

And then over the period of a year, she spent it all. She spent $1.3 million. You see some go from her to her boyfriend`s account. It comes back into her account. And you see throughout a continuous spending spree: taking trips to Las Vegas, buying jewelry, cash withdrawals. There was a Lincoln purchase. She bought her boyfriend a Corvette. She bought him a home, which we`ve been able to retrieve. She also purchased a vacant lot up in the panhandle. But she managed to...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: My gosh! This woman was on a spending spree. And if prosecutors are right, I`ve got to say, she`s a fool, because the idea that she could do all of this and that nobody would ever figure out that she would have this sort of unbelievable instant source of money. Where did she get it from? What was the source of her income to be buying Rolexes and going to Vegas and buying property. Where did this money come from? Oh, by the way, she happens to be friends with a lottery winner who disappeared mysteriously.

Dee Dee Moore has always said that somebody else killed Abraham Shakespeare. Here she is talking to reporters before she was arrested for his murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: God knows I would never take another human being`s life. So if I can live with that, then I can live with anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, she didn`t pay for any acting lessons. Maybe she should have invested a little bit in that.

Prosecutors say they have evidence that this woman went to bizarre lengths to make it look like Abraham Shakespeare was still alive. Get this, Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor. I`ll give you the list. Cops say she paid a cousin $5,000 to deliver a birthday card to the dead man`s son, saying it was from him. She allegedly paid the dead man`s friend $300 to make a fake phone call pretending to be him. She reportedly offered somebody 50 grand to take the blame for Shakespeare`s death.

Authorities claim she offered somebody else a $200,000 house in exchange for reporting a false sighting of the dead man. And she allegedly used the victim`s cell phone and sent text messages so people would think he was alive.

Very elaborate but not necessarily very smart. This sounds like something out of a direct-to-video thriller.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. One of those things would probably be enough to seal her fate in this case, because that`s the kind of consciousness of guilt and intent evidence that prosecutors love. Especially when you have a circumstantial case and you can`t with DNA tie her to the body, which appears to be an issue in this case.

When you have stuff like that, the jury isn`t going to care whether they can put her fingerprints on the weapon. They are not going to care, because she can`t explain all of that stuff away.

She even reportedly wrote a letter. And this is a man who, you know, had very poor skills. He was virtually illiterate, and she wrote a letter pretending to be him.

You know, look, I think she exploited him and assumed, because he had previously been a man down on his luck, that nobody would have cared for him when he disappeared. He`d be one of those disposable people that nobody would stand up for when he disappeared, and she was wrong. Dumb and wrong.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Dumb and wrong.

Dee Dee Moore`s penchant for stirring things up is even evident in court. She`s a drama queen. She frequently weeps. She tried her best to delay the trial today by claiming she had gone into shock behind bars overnight. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: Anaphylactic shock. Because they gave me a medicine called Bactrim for a kidney infection, and it -- I was allergic to it. I had an allergic reaction to it. My tongue swelled up really bad last night, and they admitted me in the infirmary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst, don`t the dramatic displays in court, the constant crying and the complaints about the shackles are causing her pain, her legs are swelling, her tongue is swelling. Don`t they often backfire on a defendant?

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, boo-hoo for her, Jane. Are you kidding me? She`s not a very good actress. But yes, the judge has had it with her. He`s tired of her antics. "Oh, I suffered from anaphylactic shock." Did you look that one up in a dictionary? She probably never even heard of anaphylactic before that.

But any way, no, you know, as Wendy says, this is not a very smart woman. It should be the initials, D.D. for dumb and dumber.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I like that one. All right. Let`s go out to the phone lines. Darren, Illinois, your question or thought. Darren?

CALLER: Well, I know it changes a lot of people`s lives. Just because you have a lot of money it doesn`t buy you happiness. I know that it happened to my family.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, really? So you have a lottery winner in your family?

CALLER: I do. My mother and father back in 1998. They won, and they got a lump sum. And they had three lawyers they actually hired, and they invested it. And they currently live off the interest.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Wendy Walsh, psychologist, as we are, as a nation celebrating the good fortune of these two families -- one is possibly a mystery still but the other one has just come out and accepted their multi-multi-multimillion-dollar check -- we have to ask oh, my gosh, this much -- this much money can sometimes be a source of pain. Not just pleasure.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, Jane. I mean, we have this illusion that money buys happiness, but the research is really contrary to that. In truth, the only time money buys happiness is when it pulls you out of poverty up to middle class. Anything above middle class, it`s the same person walking in the same pair of shoes. You`re not worried about being hungry anymore, so you have to deal with your issues.

So lottery winning, not only doesn`t guarantee happiness. It often bring a lot of paper. And it depends if the person is financially savvy, has surrounded themselves with good lawyers like your caller`s parents did. Whether they have financial advisers around them whom they can trust. But if they are financially illiterate, then this can be a very dangerous thing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And even in the case that we`re covering. Not this case. These people were so happy for them. But in this case that we`re talking about, it resulted in murder, prosecutors say. More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sheriff`s department found Shakespeare`s body at her boyfriend`s House buried under a concrete slab.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you innocent?

MOORE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did Shakespeare die? Shot in the head, according to Dee Dee Moore.

MOORE: God knows I would never take another human being`s life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wanted to make it seem like all of this came from her heart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abraham had a very -- a life of drama. A very hard life of drama because of the money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That woman you`ve been listening to, prosecutors say she`s a murderess. Investigators caught Dee Dee Moore in a lie when she denied that she owned the house she had allegedly swindled from Abraham Shakespeare, the lottery winner that she targeted, allegedly. Here she is on the police interrogation tapes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: That was not a house I owned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why do you pay the property taxes?

MOORE: I do not pay the property taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why does the Hillsborough County property appraisers have you as the owner?

MOORE: Let me see. I am not the owner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just as in the Casey Anthony murder case, when Casey Anthony was tried for the murder of her daughter Caylee, there was no eyewitnesses to Abraham Shakespeare`s murder. It would appear, Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor, they have mostly circumstantial evidence. Could that be a problem?

In other words, you could prove maybe she`s a swindler, perhaps. But that`s not the same as proving that she is responsible for the murder of Abraham Shakespeare. Just as Casey Anthony was shown to be a liar, but she was acquitted of murder.

MURPHY: And you know, I think she didn`t kill her child. Listen. Almost all murderers are circumstantial cases, because the key eyewitness is dead. So every time I hear somebody say, "Oh, it`s a circumstantial case." Circumstantial cases when you`re about murder tend to be a lot stronger than what we call direct evidence cases with a single eyewitness, who says, "I saw this and this is what happened." So I`m not worried about it being a circumstantial case.

I am worried that she may be able, through her defense, be able to prop up Plan B suspects, primarily because this was a guy who apparently was giving away money, lending money, and there could be an argument by the defense that there were lots of people who had a reason to kill the guy so they didn`t have to pay him back, for example.

But she had so much in terms of the documentary evidence that connects her to trying to cover up his disappearance, and his body is found in the yard where she`s living. She`s likely to be convicted, I think.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s the thing. We don`t want to convict her. She deserves her day in court. Let`s see how it plays out. But you`re absolutely right, Wendy. Abraham Shakespeare told a lot of people he wished he hadn`t won the lottery, that it was a curse. Everybody was asking him for money, and he gave away most of it. Listen to this from "Good Morning America."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABRAHAM SHAKESPEARE, LOTTERY WINNER: I really would like my old life back where I could walk the streets like a normal person. I got people coming up asking for money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: My heart goes out to this man. He was so generous, and it ultimately cost him his life. He took the lump sum option of about $17 million before taxes, and his family says people constantly were asking him for money, and this is a man who barely knew how to write. Never even had a bank account before he won the lottery.

Mike, HLN law enforcement analyst, could some of the people who allegedly helped this murder defendant pretend that this guy was alive -- calling his mother, pretending to be him, things of that nature -- could they also face charges?

BROOKS: You know, if they didn`t know. I mean, I`m sure that, as part of the investigation, they asked them, you know, exactly what they knew, Jane.

But this woman, she is just unbelievable. Because No. 1, you`ve got the paper trail that Wendy was talking about, and now you`ve got the people trail. You know, you`ve got all these people who she tried to get involved in this, you know, to do things for her. After she set up this LLC, the limited liability corporation, for him where she was controlling everything. So I don`t know. It`s not looking good for her in this particular case.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what fascinates me, Wendy Walsh, is somebody could be so clever and yet not so smart if prosecutors are accurate. Getting somebody to call the dead man`s mother and pretend to be him. And the mother said, "You don`t sound like my son."

WALSH: She`s clever, but she`s deluded. It is almost like she`s in a narcissistic fantasy that she believes the stuff that she`s creating, the lies that she`s creating as she goes along. So that`s where the dumbness comes in, Jane, is that she`s conniving. She`s a little bit sophisticated. She`s definitely clever, but she also thinks everyone else will believe the same stories that she`s making up, and that`s where the delusion come in.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on the other side. Fascinating stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First thing he says is, "Now don`t say nothing."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s the first thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Don`t tell anybody this. But -- we won the lottery." How do you not say something to anybody? Oh, OK. So then obviously, I go to work, and everyone is talking about it. Like, someone from the Kansas City area won. I`m like, you don`t say. Wow! I`m like...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s the son of Mark and Cindy Hill talking about how Dad told them, "Hey, we won $293 million before taxes!" Oh, my gosh. It comes at a great time for the Hill family of Missouri. Cindy and Mark, a husband and wife, have both been out of work recently. I`m so happy for them.

And now we`ve got the other mystery half. And this one, of course, there was a winning Powerball ticket in Arizona. Now, we have surveillance video from a convenience store in Maryland. Check this out. It shows a man -- there he is -- looking at his lottery ticket and freaking out like, "Oh, my gosh!" Look at this guy.

Now, we think that this possibly -- we don`t know for sure. It could be the winning ticket.

Some of the people who were there and reportedly said, yes, they looked at the numbers. But of course, that`s in Maryland. So the winning Powerball ticket was bought in Arizona. We don`t know if he`s recently gone to Arizona or what. But look at that.

Now Mike Brooks, given what we`ve talked about with this other story, this tracked of a murder of a lottery winner. What should somebody do in that situation when they see that and they go, "Oh, my gosh, I`m now a mega multimillionaire"?

BROOKS: Well, I think these people did the right thing. They didn`t -- didn`t come right out. And we`ve seen this many times, when you have these large Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots, where they go and they get a financial adviser. They get an attorney. And they do the smart thing. They do the right thing. And turn to help -- turn for help. Like this guy probably should have done.

But there was nobody there in the very beginning to help this guy, Jane. That`s the sad part about it. You know, until this predator came along. And this guy, he didn`t -- he didn`t stand a chance with her. He was just too giving, and he didn`t know what to do with the money.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It breaks my heart.

BROOKS: It really does.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: He was so generous and so giving. And he died as a result.

Thank you, fantastic panel.

Nancy Grace takes a fresh look at one of America`s most notorious crimes: 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez gunned down in their extravagant Beverly Hills mansion. Brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez behind bars after two trials. "NANCY GRACE MYSTERIES" tonight on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The latest trouble for Lindsay Lohan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After being arrested at about 4 a.m. this morning for allegedly punching a woman in the face, we just found out that she`s being charged for a traffic accident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s in a nightclub, middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actress punched the woman in the face several times. Reckless driving. Giving false information to a police officer and resisting arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are two things. You`ve got probation going on, violation of probation issues, and then you`ve got brand-new potential charges here.

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: I`m sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Charges mount in two different states against actress Lindsay Lohan as the woman she`s accused of socking at a New York City lounge tries to make sense of the alleged attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ridiculous. Come on. Come on, guys. Stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That woman in the hopefully faux fur coat is the alleged victim, Tiffany Mitchell, her husband speaking out to ABC News saying his wife is holed up in their Manhattan apartment with a swollen cheek feeling aggravated, and she doesn`t want to leave house. He said Lindsay Lohan came out of nowhere, telling his wife "I need space" and then slugging her.

But will surveillance video that the club reportedly gave to police back her story? Could it confirm brand-new reports claiming that Lindsay is drinking again? Or will it show that Lindsay is the victim, as her attorney claims?

All this, the New York legal drama-rama, happening the very same exact day that Lindsay is charged with three totally different charges on the West Coast, stemming from a car accident in Los Angeles back in June. Prosecutors claim she lied to cops, saying that she wasn`t behind the wheel when she allegedly was.

Will her East Coast arrest, combined with her West Coast triple charges mean her probation will be revoked and she will go to the slammer?

Straight ahead out to Alicia Quarles, E! News correspondent; wow, you need a score card with this. It changes by the minute. What is the very latest?

ALICIA QUARLES, E! NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It changes by the minute. The very latest is she was charged with a misdemeanor here in New York, arrested for allegedly punching that woman. Of course, there are three charges in California.

Jane, she could go back to jail. This could be, you know, revoking her parole but the history is she doesn`t stay in jail very long. She`ll to go jail for 24 hours, for just a few minutes. This girl doesn`t ever seem to really face punishment.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And that`s why I say there is a two-tiered criminal justice system in America -- one for all of us and the other for the rich and famous. She does squeeze out of jail. She`s been before judges 20 times. And she has spent less than two weeks behind bars.

The big question tonight, is Lindsay drinking again? New claim by TMZ that Lilo is downing up to two liters of vodka a day. Cops didn`t say anything about her being DUI at the time of her arrest Thursday morning. Her attorney Mark Heller speaking out today saying he was with Lindsay and did not smell booze on her breath. He says, quote, "She certainly didn`t look like somebody who had been drinking." Police didn`t arrest her for public intoxication or disorderly conduct.

Now, Lindsay said herself on "Good Morning America" just a couple days ago that she has learned from her mistakes. Listen to this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that your life and your career may have been different? Would have been different without the constant scrutiny?

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: I mean, obviously yes, to a certain extent. But I think that everyone goes through things in life and I learned -- I like to learn from my mistakes, obviously. But I wouldn`t be who I am today if I had not gone through certain things. And everything happens for a reason, good or bad. So you can just, you know, take what you`ve learned from it and move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Learn from her mistakes? She`s got seven mug shots and counting. I mean how can you accumulate all this wreckage and then get into another drama and continuously claim that you are the victim?

Rob Shuter, none of us were there. I didn`t give her a blood test. I have no idea whether she was drinking or using or not. But this drama, there has to be some explanation for it. What`s your take?

ROB SHUTER, HUFFINGTON POST: Yes. This drama surrounds her. I have people that saw her at the Justin Bieber concert that she attended before all this went down in the nightclub. They said she was very, very erratic at that concert. She was crying. She only stayed about 20 minutes. She arrived, she entered, she left, she came back in. She was seen going to the bathroom. This is all in just 20 minutes at a concert at Madison Square Garden.

So it makes one wonder what is she up to? What is going on? I`m also told, too, her behavior inside the club was erratic is the word people are using with Lindsay.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And sometimes erratic can mean you`re think. And you think sometimes maybe there is an emotional problem or even possibly mental illness. I`m speaking hypothetically here.

The minute Lindsay was picked up from jail, cameras caught her getting into an argument with somebody in her car. Listen carefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I didn`t.

LOHAN: Gavin, get out of car. Get out of car.

Get him out of the car. Now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, published reports say that soon after that confrontation, this man, Gavin Doyle, I don`t know exactly which man that is. Is it the one with the cap? Yes. Ok. Took to Twitter saying to Lindsay, "After bailing you out last night. I hope and pray you get the help you so desperately need. We are all rooting for you." Then he wrote "Life is not a movie. It is a reality that needs to be faced."

Now, Kim Serafin, senior editor "In Touch Weekly", what do you make of that comment coming from somebody who was there with Lindsay?

KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes, you know, it`s interesting because we always wonder if Lindsay has people around her that are looking out for her that are saying don`t go to the club. Don`t be out at a club. If you`re going, don`t stay out until 2:00. Certainly don`t stay out until 4:00.

It sounds like her Gavin, her assistant, has really been with her. He was in the car with her during that accident on the PCH where those charges accumulated -- those three charges your mentioned before. It sounds like he`s been around for her. Hopefully he has her best interests at mind. And then her lawyer is also saying look, people are looking after their own 15 minutes of fame.

So you do have to wonder who is around her because they care about her. Who is around her because they want to hang out with her? You never know. And I think that`s why people do, at sometimes feel bad for her and have given her so many chances because it does seem like she`s got the scrutiny. You never know who`s looking out for her.

But it does sound like this guy Gavin is really concerned about her well being.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s go to the phone lines. Dee, Massachusetts, your question or thought, Dee?

DEE, MASSACHUSETTS (via telephone): My comment is I think she is on her own road (ph) of demise and truthfully, enough is enough with Lindsay. You know, if she wants to self-destruct which apparently she is, I think they should -- the media should downplay it and stop it. Enough is enough.

There are so many other important pressing issues and I just really have had enough of hearing about her. I think this is more publicity for her and gets her more, I don`t know, not more jobs but, you know, just helps her along to keep in the limelight. And I`m kind of tired of it. So I hope we can downplay --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ma`am, I understand that you`re concerned that she is getting the attention and I do believe she is an attention addict. But here`s why I think this story is culturally significant.

She has been before judges 20 times -- four different judges at least. She has gotten into a slew of trouble. Two DUIs, theft of a necklace; the list goes on and on. And yet you want to know how much time she spent behind bars? Less than two weeks. Ok. There are all her mug shots.

Alicia Quarles E! News correspondent, we talked about this two-tiered system of justice. If anybody else, let`s say it was a young man, a poor young man. A minority young man had done any of the things and all of the things that Lindsay Lohan has done, would that person have done more time? I believe so. What do you think?

QUARLES: Absolutely. There is actually a very interesting article in the "New York Daily News" today addressing exactly what you`re talking about. If this were a minority, if it was even a rapper or athlete, guess what they would have spent a lot more time in jail than Lindsay Lohan has.

Judges are making exceptions. People are saying "It`s ok, Lindsay. You`re going to get away with this, again." So she thinks that there`s no repercussions for her actions. There is definitely a celebrity level. You can get away with it because you`re a young cute girl and then there`s the rules for everybody else.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let me say this as a person in recovery with 17 years of sobriety, I remember back then two decades ago, that part of the rush is the adrenaline that you get after going out and being inappropriate and then oh, you get away with it. And then oh, that`s a charge. That`s part of the excitement of the addiction.

So she is -- once an addict, always an addict. She`s been to rehab five times. So once a pickle -- never again a cucumber, Lindsay; you`re an addict and your behavior is classic addict behavior. I don`t know what if anything was in your system but you are acting like an addict and you`ve got to get a grip.

We`re going to talk about this more on the other side.

But first your must-see "Video of the Day" -- a scary million-dollar robbery caught on tape in Houston. Cops say about ten, ten thieves stormed a flea market on Black Friday. They snatched open cases, grabbed jewelry. Took cash from safes; shoppers were forced to the ground at gun point.

We`re so happy to say that everybody is ok. Nobody was hurt. Our affiliate KTRC reports police are looking for these very, very brazen suspects.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s your viral video of the week. Who wants to play fetch? Good boy. Wow. I`ve got a little fetcher at home. But you`re putting her to shame, dude. Oh, wow, look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOHAN: I know that I was ordered to go once a week and I wasn`t missing a class. It`s just -- it wasn`t anything like that. I was working mostly in Morocco. The trip I was working with the children. It wasn`t a vacation. It wasn`t some sort of a joke.

And I respect you. I`ve been taking it seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was an extraordinary performance, you might say, from Lindsay Lohan a couple years ago begging for leniency from a judge. And she has got so many problems. Despite everything she`s been in, she has served less than two weeks behind bars but now she is on probation for that necklace theft.

Given all these new charges on the East and the West Coast, her probation could possibly be revoked. Kim Serafin, senior editor "In Touch Weekly". Do you think the best thing for her would be hard time where she is forced to face herself or another stint at rehab? She has already gone five times.

SERAFIN: Yes, exactly. She`s already gone to rehab and she would never do hard time because you know the overcrowding issue with the jails here. That is partially why it`s part of the problem; why she has only served, you know, three hours or two nights when she gets a longer sentence in jail.

But it is interesting also because if you look back at the judges that have come into contact with Lindsay over the years, even Stephanie Sautner (ph) back in March, Judge Sautner gave her glowing reviews. She said you`ve done everything the court has asked of you. Really was very -- giving her a lot of praise after everything she had done -- going to the counseling, doing her community service.

So it seems like even the judges are kind of on her side and they feel like she has turned a corner but then obviously things turn around and maybe she hasn`t turned a corner.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And once again, she is accused of slugging this woman who as I always say, hopefully it`s a faux fur. I`m not so sure about that. But this woman says she was slugged in the face by Lindsay Lohan.

Now, Rob Shuter, we talk about her getting easy treatment from the criminal justice system. But what about the people who are out there in her social circle? Is she getting --

SHUTER: Right. Special treatment?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Blackballed or embraced?

SHUTER: She`s getting embraced. I reached out to the club and then I heard she was still welcome. If you or I threw a punch in a club in New York City, we would be barred absolutely 100 percent. The club didn`t respond to the calls I made so I called two other clubs in New York, really fancy clubs that she`s been at. They both told me, Lindsay is welcome.

So the clubs are certainly not barring her. She is getting special treatment there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Lindsay is always invited on our show. We would love to talk to her. As for the woman she allegedly slugged, we reached out to her. We actually reached her, no comment from her.

More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Our special edition "Pet o` the Day". We want to focus on Barney. He was our Rico`s Rescue dog this week. He only has two more days to be adopted before he is put down. And you can go to my Facebook page.

He is in California. He desperately needs a home. He`s a beautiful boy. He is at a shelter. Go to my Facebook page -- Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook and get involved. Tweet this. Let`s get him a home before he is put down. Please. East Valley Animal Care and Control -- Let`s save Barney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: These beautiful horses in these pens. Look at how these majestic animals that are supposed to be wild are kept once the government rounds them up -- kept by the tens of thousands in cramped pens.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have seen these compromised animals, these thin babies and mares that aren`t getting the nutrition that they need. Stampeded towards that trap by helicopters, (inaudible) fractured, families split up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am appalled that this is happening. I`m watching it happen right now. I have been watching the TV for quite a while watching these horses being abused and killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight the calls to stop decimating our wild horse population growing louder. Americans are becoming more and more outraged with our government -- the U.S. government`s roundup of wild horses and burros in Colorado, Nevada and surrounding areas. Critics say the roundups often done by helicopters flying dangerously close and sometimes hitting these defenseless animals are cruel, inhumane, and unnecessary.

The U.S. government claims that drought and starvation are forcing these roundups but critics say come on. It`s business, an industry behind the roundups. They want the land that the horses call home. Those people are pointing the finger at this man, Ken Salazar, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who is -- that`s the department behind these roundups. Now, there are petitions online signed by thousands and thousands of people to have Ken Salazar removed.

Straight out to one of my heroes, Madeleine Pickens, who is leading the fight to save these wild horses and to allow them to roam free -- Madeleine, you even offered the U.S. government, give me the horses, you bought land or you got land to try to provide these horses a new home. What has our government said to you about your offer?

MADELEINE PICKENS, FOUNDER, SAVINGAMERICANMUSTANGS.ORG: They need to do a study and then they go to another study and another study. Now they`re on a new study, and it`s quite shocking to me because I`ve been on this issue for five years, and they continue to round these horses up, and the numbers are diminishing.

We absolutely have to stop these roundups. They`re inhumane. They`re cruel. It is time for change, and Washington needs to wake up and understand they`re going to lose their Western heritage.

How about the Humane Society? They need to step in here and do something about this. Yes, they`re talking about for, you know, fertilizing and this and that, but we need to have the government stop these roundups immediately.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, these roundups are run by the U.S. Department of the Interior headed by Ken Salazar. We called the U.S. Department of Interior. Here is what they said. "The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management have worked hard to reform the program to advance the humane care and management of America`s wild horses and protect our public lands.

Madeleine, I don`t know how you can say these kinds of roundups are humane, and then the horses end up in these pens, and you`ve offered to take the horses. They won`t even take you up on that offer. What would you say to the President of the United States right now when we`re starting a new term about Ken Salazar and this program of his?

PICKENS: Well, we had an election. He got re-elected. Here is a chance to clean everything up now. He doesn`t have to worry about the future. He can step out and say, ok, my secretary, it`s time for you to fix this problem.

Let me tell you what, when you watch the video of these roundups, how many times do you just see two or three horses being rounded up? They`re very small bands now that they keep bunching up together and they just keep harassing them. Surely humans in America can understand they`re no longer desecrating the earth as all these soothsayers would tell you, the cattlemen and the ranchers.

This is such a corrupt industry. Somebody has to fix it, and, President Obama, it`s up to you. You are our newly elected president. You love your dog, you go Christmas shopping, you take him to Hawaii. I love you for doing that. Come and help us with the wild horses. They are being treated so poorly.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side, why Madeleine Pickens thinks this is really happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am appalled that this is happening. I`m watching it happen right now. I have been watching the TV for quite a while watching these horses being abused and killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The documentary "Wild Horses in the Winds of Change" investigates these roundups and shows the horrible reality of what really happens to these horses at the hands of our government. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the Bureau of Land Management innocuously refers to as "gathers" is a brutal, hell-bent helicopter drive that terrifies these sensitive animals. They run for their lives in a heart swell of panic, as sweat pours from their withers, fluid and blood ooze from their noses, hoofs tear and wear down, legs break, flesh is torn and dust fills their lungs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Madeleine Pickens, at a time when the U.S. government is desperately trying to find programs to cut to save money, this one goes on full steam ahead. What do you think is the real reason that the government is rounding up these horses?

PICKENS: It`s corruption. They`ve been doing it for years. They are comfortable doing it. If they suddenly stop and change, how do they justify what they have done? They have had hundreds of thousands go to slaughter. Then they tell you the (inaudible) horses that I rescued, they`re BLM horses and they were being sent to slaughter every year, only it wasn`t the BLM. It`s the (inaudible). The (inaudible) nation would do it. They just open up their fence, the BLM horses come on in and everybody would just wave good-bye --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I can`t -- I can`t independently confirm any of the details that you just said. I don`t know that, but what I do know is that we called the White House and wanted to get reaction and they directed us back to the Department of Interior which is the organization, the agency doing this.

So it`s a catch-22. We can`t get a response from anybody except those people who are involved in doing the roundup. So I certainly hope the White House takes a look at this at this crucial juncture beginning a second term.

Madeleine, I want to thank you for coming on and for offering your land and resources to house these animals. Go to my Facebook page to get involved if you want to help these animals. They cannot speak for themselves.

Nancy is next.

END