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Jodi Arias Makes Effort to Save Her Live; 3 Women on Death Row in Arizona; Doctor Gets 14 Years for Fake Cancer Cure; Powerball Winner Still Unknown.

Aired May 20, 2013 - 11:30   ET

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

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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ashleigh Banfield, reporting live at the Maricopa County courthouse where Jodi Arias can stand up and address her jury today, all in a last-ditch effort to save her own life. That is if she decides to ask for leniency. We are unsure whether she will. We are in the last phase. It is could the penalty phase, where the jury decides if she should get the death penalty for her murder or if she, instead of being sentenced to death, gets life, either natural life, never leaving or life with some kind of a mix of parole, which is also very tough in this state.

If she does get the death penalty, though, she'll have three roommates. Really not roommates, because it is a very solitary existence on death row, but there are three other women on death row in Arizona. Wendy Adriano was sentenced to death in '04 for poisoning her husband and stabbing and beating him to death. There is also Debra Milke. She was sentenced to death back in 1991 for sending her 4-year-old son off with two of her accomplice, who then promptly shot and killed that child. Her case is right now under review because her conviction was thrown out just earlier on this 84. We covered right here on the program. And Shana Ford is an anti-immigration activist who was sentenced to death just back in 2011 for the shooting death of his father.

I am joined by HLN legal correspondents, Beth Karas and Jean Casarez.

It is important to the note one of those three ladies have been sitting on death row for more than two decades. With that in mind, with all of the challenges with all of the questions about whether when you can go ahead and execute, whether you have exhausted all appeal -- Beth, I'm start with you -- how long could Jodi Arias possibly sit on death row before being executed?

BETH KARAS, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the average time in Arizona is about 12 years. However, there are three different areas of review and appeals for our Jodi Arias. If she gets death, there will be a lot of scrutiny. She goes automatically to the Arizona Supreme Court. If she loses there, she can ask for a post-conviction relief, with I is kind of an investigation of her case. It could take years. If she loses there, she could go into the federal system on a habeas, which says I'm being held unconstitutionally, and come up with a constitutional question why she could get a new trial or a new sentence of life, not death. That's what Debra Milke succeeded in getting earlier this year. A new trial is ordered. It's on review. Se had been on death row since 1990 and her crime was in 1989. And she gets this new trial ordered in 2013.

So we're talking more than a decade if she gets death, maybe 15/20 years. Unless she withdraws her appeal. Timothy McVeigh did that and expedited his execution.

BANFIELD: Unless somebody thinks that is frustrating, annoying, it angers them. We have to remember if we, as a society, we are going to kill someone and sanction that killing, we better get it right. We have many examples of where we got it wrong.

So, now, Beth Karas, the big question is, if Jodi stand up today. We don't know if she's going to do this or not, one of the mysteries here, and says, she has to have an automatic appeal or not if they sentence her to death?

KARAS: Yes, automatic, straight to the Arizona Supreme Court. In fact the clerk of courts here has ten days to file the notice of appeal. That's basically her intention to appeal. She will get new counsel because she's indigent will be assigned to her. There are four different agencies in Maricopa County which have staffs of attorneys or will farm out like her lawyers. Her current lawyers won't do it. That will begin her odyssey and it will go on for a long time.

BANFIELD: OK. Jean Casarez, one of the women we pointed out in the three potential roommates on death row if this jury sentences Jodi to death was prosecuted by Juan Martinez, so he has some history in the particular area, doesn't he?

JEAN CASAREZ, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: He definitely does. You know, an amazing thing about the factual scenario in that particular case is this is a woman who poisoned her husband and stabbed him three times. There is some factual issues here that are so similar to this case at hand. Now, she's been on death row since 2004.

Here's what I find so interesting, Debra Milke, whose case was overturned this 84, currently she is on death row, but may, in fact, get a new try. Ashleigh, it took 23 years to have it overturned. It was turned based on information the defense did not get if regard to the star witness for the prosecution, but 23 years him although the exhibit of corrections here in Arizona says it's 12 years when that automatic appeal starts, to when the execution can take place, it appear, as though in reality, it is much longer.

BANFIELD: Jean Casarez, Beth Karas, you are both astounding courtroom lawyers and you are great lawyers. I thank you for your insight on this today. You will be hard at work following this.

Court will be in session starting at 1:00 eastern. As soon as Jodi Arias gives her testimony or her allocution, one gets challenged, the other one doesn't. We will bring it to you live. Again, we don't know if she will ask the jury to spare her or kill her. It is a bizarre turn that's about to happen in this courtroom. I will be on from 2:00 to 4:00 eastern live here in Phoenix, Arizona. A death penalty case like very few others I have seen in this country, believe it or not.

I want to take you to Cleveland now where police officers who rescued three women who have been held in a house of horrors for a decade, they're now sharing their emotional story.

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OFC. ANTHONY ESPADA, CLEVELAND POLICE: I mean, it took everything to hold myself together.

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BANFIELD: This officer describing what he calls one bombshell after another.

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BANFIELD: "You saved us," those are the first words Michele Knight said to the police officers for ending the abuse for not only herself by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. Those officers are now speaking out. They're doing so in great detail about that dramatic moment when they freed the three women.

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ESPADA: She called our car, 2 Adam 23 for a code 1. I responded. You know, go ahead. That we got a female on the line stating that she's Amanda Berry.

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911 DISPATCHER: Cleveland 911

AMANDA BERRY, KIDNAPPING VICTIM: Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.

911 DISPATCHER: Do you need police, fire or ambulance?

BERRY: I need police.

911 DISPATCHER: What is going on there?

BERRY: I have been kidnapped. I have been missing for ten years. I'm here, I'm free now.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ESPADA: As soon as we pull up, my partner was driving, so she came to the driver's side and he looked at me and he was like, it's her. Just the emotion from that point of him confirming it was Amanda, it was overwhelming. My partner immediately asked her, you know, is there anybody else inside? And she said, yes, Gina DeJesus around another girl. It was like another bombshell just with overwhelming force just hit me. As we were going up the steps, they were so quiet, like peaceful, almost as if, you know, I started thinking, OK, all we're going to do is clear this top floor, nobody is going to be there and just leave and then you hear this scuffling, you know, something going on in this room. And, you know, I'm looking that way, just waiting to see what's going to happen and it was Michele, she kind of popped out into the doorway and paused there for a second. Within moment, she came charging at me, she jumped on to me, she's like, you saved us, you saved us. And I'm holding on to her so tight. And within a few seconds I see another girl come out of the bedroom. I just look at her, you can immediately tell who it is, just thinner and, again, I just needed confirmation. And I asked her, what's her name, and she said, my name is Georgina DeJesus. It was very overwhelming. It took everything to hold myself together. You know, I have Michele in my arms, then you got Gina coming out. And it was like one bombshell after another. That's when I brought cast in, we found them. We found them.

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BANFIELD: It's just overwhelming to see a reaction from a police officer like that. These guys are pretty hardened to the crimes they deal with every day. But this is unlike any other and, by the way, about that crime, an indictment against Ariel Castro, the one and only suspect in all of this, is expected to come down any day now. Rape, kidnapping, so far, so far, the charges, but you can expect, there could be so many more, in fact, hundreds and hundreds of charges. And as soon as we hear about that, we're going to bring you that news.

Up next, though, an unusual story, an herbal supplement to heal what ails you, -- cancer and M.S. patients spending more than a million dollars only to discover it's nothing more than snake oil. But now the doctor behind it is going to be locked up. We'll explain in a moment.

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BANFIELD: There is no other way to describe in doctor other than a snail snake oil poison. Her name is Dr. Christine Daniel. She was found guilty of fraud and other charges for selling a fake herbal cure for cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. As it turns out, the patients were turning their backs on traditional treatments that could have saved them, so they could instead use a concoction that contained beef extract and suntan lotion. I'm not kidding.

Let's bring back our legal panel on this one, Brian Claypool and Midwin Charles.

First of all -- Midwin, I'll start with you -- the doctor bilked the patients out of a million dollars. There was all sorts of charges related to wire fraud and tax evasion, witness tampering, where is the manslaughter here? If someone actually died, because they rejected a traditional treatment that could have saved them. I am at a loss.

MIDWIN CHARLES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, I really am, apparently, this is the season for whacky doctors getting in trouble. As you know, Kermit Gosnell was recently convicted, the abortion doctor. I can't believe a doctor held in high esteem and high regard, that people entrust their lives and health to, would go to such great lengths to kind of defraud so many people, particularly since these people were at the most fragile point of their illness. Many were in late stages of cancer, multiple sclerosis, so these were people already incredibly weak and, therefore, susceptible to her fraud. That's what makes it all the more despicable.

BANFIELD: So, Brian, let me get this straight, now we know manslaughter isn't an option in the sentencing here, let me be very specific about what she can be sentenced for and could have been sentenced for. Four counts convicted on mail and wire fraud, six counts of tax evasion, one count of witness tampering. She could have been sentenced to 150 years. She could have been fined $5.5 million according to "L.A. Times." Instead, she got 40 years. Does that make sense given the range of facts in this courtroom?

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Actually, it doesn't make sense, here's why. The U.S. attorney should have charged her with second-degree murder for homicide. There was a 22 woman with lymphoma, Ashleigh, and it was curable. This poor young lady refused to get radiation or chemotherapy because Dr. Daniel told her. You don't need that, use my herbal treatment opinion should have been second-degree murder. The U.S. attorney should have brought in an oncologist saying that had the patient received traditional treatment, she would have survived. That would have been enough evidence to convict her of second-degree murder and she would have been spending a lot more time in jail then.

BANFIELD: Well, if there's any silver lining here, anybody who's sentenced to the federal clink usually spends the entire sentence because federal guidelines are pretty clear and you don't get a lot of time off for good behavior or anything else. So she'll probably spend the bulk of the 15 years.

Midwin Charles and Brian Claypool, thanks for your insight on this one. It's another head shaker.

We are waiting to see who it is that's going to come forward and claim the biggest Powerball jackpot in the history of the good old U.S. of A. The legal steps they need to take now before they come out and greet the world if they ever should even come out and say hello to us. It's coming up next.

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BANFIELD: One winner, one powerful, powerful winner. The Powerball, $590 million ticket, one winning ticket. So how big is the payout if you're the guy who has the ticket? It was actually purchased at a Florida Publix store. You can bet your bottom dollar that $165 million more than Mel Gibson's divorce settlement would be what you get in your jeans. Even after Uncle Sam's take, it's enough to cover the entire production costs for "Spiderman 3," one of the most expensive movies of all time. It's a lot of money.

Who's going to get it? And what's that person or pool going to do with all that money?

Joining me now is Sarah Ganim.

Everyone wants to know, is there any hint of who it is, a pool, a person, if they're in that tiny community or not. What are you hearing?

SARAH GANIM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, Ashleigh, you know, that is the one thing in this town you can bet on today is everyone wants to know who that winner is. Is it a person, a group, someone local? I just talked to the Mayor of Zephyr Hills. He's really hoping, I'd be happy for anybody but I really hope it's somebody from this town. This town about 13,000 people here. This is a neighborhood grocery store. People are really hoping that it's someone among them. He said it's turned into kind of a murder mystery, you know. People around town are watching their neighbors, they're watching their driving habits, who's going to work, who's not going to work, is anybody acting funny. So far in this town where secrets are very rarely kept, this has stayed a very well kept secret -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Well, Sarah, I can tell you this from my very little exposure to the law in the united states, the number-one thing whoever the winner is, get yourself a good team, lawyers, accountants, investment strategists, even before you call your mom and say we won. It's just a no-brainer.

Sarah Ganim, keep your eyes out. Let us know if you hear anything about who the person is everybody's new best friend I'm sure.

(LAUGHTER)

Sarah Ganim reporting live for us.

We are back after this break.

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BANFIELD: There are fewer and fewer mornings now that Jodi Ann Arias is being awakened in the Astoria jail being, dressed in prison stripes and bussed over. That's exactly what's happened this morning and her days are now numbered. In the courtroom anyway. We are waiting to find out what exactly Miss Arias is going to do in this courtroom in less than an hour. She has an opportunity to try to save her own life and appeal to these jurors as to why she is a life worth saving. Called mitigation, folks. And it is never easy. It's made even tougher when you don't know if the client is going to say save me or kill me. And at this point, we don't know what Jodi is going to tell this jury. In a death penalty case, it does not get more serious, but we just don't know what this woman is going to do. Her mitigation is going to continue. Like I said, less than an hour now whether she testifies or ellocutes. One is challengeable and the other isn't. And we'll hear what she has to say.

I'll be back live with you here at 2:00 p.m. eastern for continuing coverage at the Maricopa County courthouse.

I'm Ashleigh Banfield, reporting live in Phoenix. AROUND THE WORLD is next.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes. Happy Monday.

Well, they were taking in the sights from the sky when their hot air balloon hit another. And you see what happened. We're going to have the latest from turkey.

MALVEAUX: Then, tornadoes wreaking havoc across the Midwest and southern plains. We are live from Oklahoma.

HOLMES: And, will it be life or death for convicted murderer Jodi Arias? We're going to have a look at what the penalty could be.

MALVEAUX: Brace yourselves, more brutal weather might be on the way.