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Bizarre Ending To Arias Trial Proceedings Today; Florida Teen Arrested On Charge Of Lewd and Lascivious Battery Of A Child; $1.1 Billion Gets Yahoo! Shiny New Web Site; National Weather Service Issues Tornado Warning For Metropolitan Oklahoma City
Aired May 20, 2013 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ashleigh Banfield, reporting live in Phoenix, Arizona, where we have witnessed a bizarre ending to today's proceedings in the case against Jodi Arias, more specifically, her sentencing.
Today that 32-year-old murderer was supposed to stand up and say something to the jurors who are deciding if she should live or die, say something in the case where she stabbed and nearly decapitated and shot her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, killing him, in 2008.
But just in the last 90 minutes, the judge in the case adjourned everything for the day after one of Arias' witnesses decided that she just could not show up and testify on Jodi's behalf.
Her attorneys are saying it is intimidation that caused that witness to back out. They not only asked for a mistrial, but they asked if they could quit the case, yet again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRK NURMI, ARIAS' ATTORNEY: There is no speculation as to why Miss Womack won't be here. She feels threatened, she feels intimidated and she doesn't feel like she can be here.
So that being said, under Strickland, Miss Wilmot and I cannot meet that standard and move to withdraw.
JUDGE SHERRY STEPHENS, MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: Your motion to withdraw is denied.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So Jodi Arias is now set to make her statement to the jury tomorrow instead.
That's a jury that has to decide unanimously on what sentence they should give Arias, and if they can't be unanimous, a hung jury doesn't make a get-out-of-jail-free card for Jodi in any respect.
Instead, a brand-new jury can be convened for yet another round of this sentencing phase. So the plot thickens. The story continues.
Also making news, parents, this is common sense. You need to follow who your teenager is dating, but did you ever check out the age of your teenager's teenage boyfriend or girlfriend? It matters. It matters a lot.
A year or two can make a huge difference as a Florida mother is now finding out the hard way. Her 18-year-old high school daughter, Kaitlyn Hunt, was dating a younger girl, a 14-year-old girl at the high school. And now Hunt could be convicted of a crime because of that relationship.
Reporter Angela Cruz from our Florida affiliate explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA CRUZ, REPORTER, WPTV: Kelly Hunt Smith says it has been a nightmare since her daughter 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, was arrested on a charge of lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years old.
KELLY HUNT SMITH: She's scared to death. She can't sleep.
CRUZ: Smith said Kaitlyn became friends with an under-aged female student at Sbaften River High School at the beginning of the school year.
SMITH: They began a dating relationship. Never in my mind did I consider what that meant.
CRUZ: Kaitlyn, a former cheerleader and basketball player, was expelled from school after the arrest.
Smith is hoping what she calls the overwhelming online support could somehow help get Kaitlyn's charge dropped and avoid a trial.
SMITH: It is not something I want for my daughter. It is not something I want for the other girl.
CRUZ: Smith says the relationship was consensual. She questions why the parents of Kaitlyn's girlfriend chose to press charges.
SMITH: You get with me and say, hey, this is going on and, as a mom, I don't like this, I want -- let's talk about this.
I would have sat down with her. I would have sat down with our children. I would have nipped it in the bud and would have respected her.
CRUZ: Smith doesn't feel Kaitlyn deserves the penalty if they don't accept and lose their case.
SMITH: She would have a lifetime sexual offender on her record. She would not be able to, you know, I think we all know what that means. It is a death sentence for her. It is -- her life will be over at 18.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, Kaitlyn Hunt's story has now gone viral. It is such a heated pace that it reportedly crashed the website, Change.org for a short period.
At this hour, there are more than 54,000 signatures that are urging the prosecutor in this case to drop the case against the high school senior. The petition just went up on Friday. The top of the page says, "Stop the Hate, Free Kate."
Her father who started this effort writes this. "Kaitlyn's girlfriend's parents are pressing charges because they are against the same-sex relationship."
Well, that may not be the whole story. Let's go live to New York where CNN's legal analyst Sunny Hostin is "On the Case."
Sunny, lay it out for exactly who presses charges and whether a same-sex relationship has anything to do with this at all.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks so much for asking that question, Ashleigh.
That's sort of a common misconception that people press charges against other people. That's just not the case.
It is the government, the district attorney, the U.S. attorney, that decides whether or not to indict someone. It decides whether or not to press charges. And so in this case, the parents aren't pressing charges. The parents of the other girl must have brought this to the attention of authorities because it is sort of a strange case.
We're talking about two teenagers having what one teenager is saying is a consensual relationship, and really doesn't matter under the law whether or not it is a same-sex relationship or, you know, an opposite-sex relationship.
Really when you're talking about this kind of case, which is sort of statutory rape, it is a strict-liability type of crime. A kid, a child, under the age of 16, cannot consent to having sexual relations with an 18-year-old, an adult under the eyes of the law. And that really is all this case is comes down to when you look at it legally.
BANFIELD: So I think that's so critical for people to know. This may have been a consensual relationship in high school, and people may look at these two as having this relationship and thinking nothing of it, but, again, what you said is the law is the law.
A child of the age of 14 legally cannot make that consent, even if he or she thinks he or she is consenting.
Let me go to this. We've been trying to get a response from the parents of the alleged victim in this case, but CNN wasn't able to.
And we have been able to speak with the state attorney who says that these charges are not being dropped and I want to let you know exactly what the state attorney is saying that they're offering in terms of a plea deal to Kaitlyn.
They're saying that this is a deal that would reduce the charges to third-degree child abuse. She would get two years of monitoring, meaning she would have to wear an ankle bracelet, and a year of probation.
It would be up to a judge if she would be labeled a felon as she moves forward in life.
That sounds pretty serious, but in light of the charges and in light of the circumstances, does that sound like a good deal?
HOSTIN: You know, it does. It does to me. I know that that's going to be difficult for a lot of people to hear, especially the parents out there. And they're looking at this as two teenagers having a consensual relationship.
But as we just mentioned, Ashleigh, you can't consent to having a relationship at the age of 14.
And I would say that this kind of deal is a good deal in a case like this that is very, very easy to prove. All you need to do is prove the age of the minor, and the fact that something happened.
And we know after seeing the affidavit in this case that this older girl, this 18-year-old, admitted to having this relationship.
And so I would say, absolutely, this is the kind of case that should never see the light of day in a courtroom. This is the kind of case that you plea out.
BANFIELD: Yeah, and I'll tell you something. It's the kind of case I'm glad you and I are talking about it, live on television, as uncomfortable as it is.
Every parent needs to know what their teenage children are up to and the age of those that they are having relationships with. It can be the difference between a future as a felon.
Sunny Hostin, thank you for your insight. Appreciate it.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
BANFIELD: So moving on, Yahoo! spent more than a billion with a "B" -- a billion dollars to acquire the website Tumbler. but along with it comes some not-so-safe to open up at work content.
