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Jackson's Death, The Elvis Connection; Suspected Facebook Killer Wanted to Be Hero

Aired May 31, 2013 - 11:30   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Five staffers gone if seven days. Why? It might have something to do with that cell phone video that surfaced recently of the mayor purportedly smoking crack with Somali drug dealers? I don't know.

Mr. Ford says he's got no plans to step aside, though. He says he's even planning to run again in 2014. And at a news conference the deputy mayor said, quote, "We all know that videos can be altered." So the mayor was asked about all these questions, he just kept saying, next question.

How does that work?

So last night in Boston, some big named rockers were in town for the Boston Strong concert to benefit the victims of the bombing there. Have a look.

(MUSIC)

Ah, yes, Aerosmith. Yes, Aerosmith joined New Kids on the Block, and Jimmy Buffet, and James Taylor, it was an awesome lineup. They all performed for free and that concert, needless to say, sold out. Net proceeds expected to top $1.5 million. All of them -- all that money for the One Fund.

And if you're wondering how much money that fund has been able to raise, it's now more than $37 million for the victims of the bombing.

You know, the more we hear about Michael Jackson's wrongful death trial the more this question just keeps coming up. Did concert bosses care about Michael?

The co-chairman of AEG Live -- that's the company that promoted Michael's last tour -- gets back up on that witness stand again today and the lawyer for the Jackson family just keeps confronting him with e-mail, some e-mails he didn't even write.

CNN's digital reporter Alan Duke joins me now from Los Angeles.

OK. Alan, this has not been looking good for AEG. We are in the plaintiff's case, but get me up to speed after yesterday's blockbuster stuff. There's just even more that keeps coming out.

ALAN DUKE, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: Yes, this trial promises to keep giving and looking forward to the next month or so of testimony. What we had yesterday and will continue today is AEG's lawyer trying to basically rehabilitate the memory, if you will, and the reputation of the co-CEO of the company in the eyes of the jurors. They were literally laughing in the last couple of days as he constantly repeated, "I don't recall," talking about e-mails.

He know he says I don't recall because now he says he just never read them or it's just been so long, he doesn't remember writing them. Pretty remarkable, some of them, for example, he was asked, is it not true that Randy Philips, your boss, asked you when you were editing the "This is It" documentary, the one showed up what happened in the last days of rehearsals for Michael Jackson. He told him to take out some shots that make him -- made him look emaciated.

These are e-mails that were read in court, for example, "Make sure we take out the shots of MJ in that red leather jacket at the soundstage where the mini-movies were being filmed. He looked way to thin -- think," he meant to say "thin" we found out. "And skeletal."

And then there were comments from Michael Jackson's stylist and later from the production manager that he was pretty thin in his last two weeks. One of them, production manager Bugzee Houghdahl, wrote, "He needs some cheeseburgers with a bunch of Wisconsin cheesehead bowlers and a couple of brats and cheese. Jeez."

That was just 11 days before Michael Died, but four days later, Bugzee had a more serious assessment of Jackson's condition, writing, "I've watched him deteriorate in front of my eyes over the last eight weeks. He was able to do multiple 360 spends back if April. He'd fall on his ass if he tried now."

And those are very, very serious comments. And of course, we know just six days later, Michael Jackson, in fact, was dead.

BANFIELD: What are the juror look -- I mean, when I read those comments, I winced. I felt very uncomfortable about people talking about Michael Jackson as though it would be as easy to help him, just give him a cheeseburger on a Brat, or that he fall on his ass if you try to do it as a magical stint. How did the jury take that?

DUKE: Well, I think the jury was laughing at times by some of this not because it was particularly funny, but it was kind of odd the way it unfolded. And as I reported, what happened earlier, yes, the ghost of Elvis Presley erupted -- entered into this trial this week in a really interesting and odd way.

I mean, you and I both remember when Elvis died back if August of 1977, that was the big story. The big story after that was when Michael Jackson died and two found a nexus here at the trial. In fact, there was an e-mail that, John Gongaware, the man who's on the stand now wrote just two weeks after Michael's death.

John -- I mean, Paul Gongaware, by the way, was the last tour promoter for Elvis Presley when he died. And guess what, he was the last tour promoter and producer for Michael Jackson when he died. And his friend sent him condolences about Michael's death and he replied in e- mail, "I was working on the Elvis tour when he died, so I kind of knew what to expect. Still quite a shock."

So what's happening yesterday and again today is the AEG lawyer is going to try to explain that e-mail, as well he knew what was -- there was going to be big public mourning and --

BANFIELD: And layoffs, right?

DUKE: And trouble of Elvis' death. Not --

BANFIELD: That all the concert staff would be -- yes, that the concert staff would be laid off. He's sort of explaining it as the shock was the ramifications and the fallout, not the shock that the death resulted because I have been down this road before.

Alan, stay with me for a minute if you will. I want to bring back CNN's legal analyst Paul Callan, who is not only a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor but a teacher of law as well. Part of his expertise is in cases involving professional liability. And also with us, another favorite HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson who has loads of experience defending clients under the glare of cameras.

First to you, Paul, I have to remind everybody, we are in the plaintiff's case, so it is -- you know, we sort of think at this moment, yikes, this case is over, but it's not, isn't it?

JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Always the voice of reason, Ashleigh.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Well, I try. Go ahead, Paul.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's far from over. And it's just one tragedy after another when you look at Michael Jackson's life. But I think ultimately what we have to remember is the jury is going to be looking at what -- the concert promoter, AEG, what's their responsibility here?

I mean, they're not his parents. They're not his relatives or his family. They hire him to do some concerts. And is it their job to make sure he's eating peanut butter sandwiches and hamburgers? Is it their job to make sure he's got the right doctor? Their defense ultimately is, hey, he's a professional. It's not our job to do this.

So as embarrassing as these e-mails are to them, in the end, I think their lawyers are going to say, he's a professional. He's got lawyers and doctors.

BANFIELD: So --

CALLAN: It's up to him to take care of himself.

BANFIELD: So. Joey, listen, does it -- look, you can say all you want. You can make them out to be monsters if you want. But does it all come down to who hired the doctor who is sitting in jail because of the killing?

JACKSON: You know what, Ashleigh, I think that's a huge part of it because remember this is not only about what they knew. It's about what they should have known. And when you have an e-mail that talks about, I worked on the Elvis tour, I knew what to expect, what you're saying is, you're equating it to what happened to Elvis Presley and his unfortunate demise.

And if that's something that you as a company was on notice of, then certainly you had an obligation to insure that his health would be proper, that he would be able to perform adequately, that he could fulfill his obligations. And to do that, he needs to be healthy. And so it comes down, Ashleigh, to the issue of negligent hiring.

And did you adequately supervise this hiring? Did you adequately do what you were supposed to do? And if the answer is no, and you were on notice of his health, negligence and therefore liability.

BANFIELD: And that --

CALLAN: So this means if Joey Jackson were representing Elvis Presley, we would have no Elvis Presley music.

BANFIELD: Oh that --

CALLAN: Because Joey would not let him perform or record.

JACKSON: Amen.

CALLAN: So, you know, I mean, I take --

BANFIELD: This is his heartbreak hotel right here.

CALLAN: There you go. There you go.

BANFIELD: OK. Listen, all of you, thank you. Alan Duke, Paul Callan, Joey Jackson. I just adore you all. And you're so smart.

(CROSSTALK)

All right, we can talk --

JACKSON: Not as much as we adore you.

BANFIELD: Oh, precious. OK. Well, I'm going to have you back, in fact, in just a few minutes, you're going to come back, if you can, Joey. Because I have this other story that I want to get out to our viewers. A young man trying to get a girl to notice him. This happens all the time but this guy's alleged plan went so horribly wrong he is now charged with murder. What if he meant no harm? We are seeking daytime justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So when a shopping mall goes up in your part of town, usually the developer has to knock down some trees, take out some woods, and that oftentimes will destroy wildlife habitat. And that means some of the injured animals end up in wildlife centers across the country which is exactly where our CNN Hero can be found this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONA RUTGER, CNN HERO: In this fast paced world, we do forget that we are animals and part of the natural world. This is a beautiful female bald eagle.

Humans, we are wildlife force enemy in many, many ways.

He had been clipped by a small jet. We don't want her to live in a cage. We want to get her back out there in the wild.

I'm Mona Rutger. I rescue, rehabilitate and release injured wildlife back into their natural habitat. I think we can get her fixed up and get her back out there.

When I started this center, I thought I was going to get 25, 30 animals a year. Once people found out the phone never stopped ringing.

This is coopertalk (ph) is ready to go.

It is all consuming, but I'm doing something I love.

One --

Working with an injured animal, everyone says let nature take its course. But 90 percent of these animals' injuries, they're human related. That's not nature. It's us. We need to become more responsible caretakers of the earth. Each animal has a role to play in the food chain. If just one link breaks, the whole chain falls apart.

This is a big day for these little baby ducks.

We've successfully released thousands of animals back to the wild. It's the same thrill every single time. We're counting on the children to do a better job than we have in the past.

Where do wild animals really belong? In the wild.

I desperately want them to feel the excitement that I find in nature. We can make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: We need your help to find these great stories so we invite you to please go to CNNheroes.com. You can do it right now and you can nominate someone you know who's making a difference and deserves the recognition for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BANFIELD: He wanted to be a hero, yet he has turned into an accused murderer. This 20-year-old man from Maine showed up in a courtroom this week after a bizarre plot to kidnap his 15-year-old crush and then miraculously come to her rescue. Police say Kyle Dube created a fake Facebook page to lure Nichole Cable out of her home and then get her to the end of her driveway.

They say that that's where he was lying in wait, wearing a ski mask. But he allegedly grabbed her, duct taped her face and then threw her into the back of his dad's pickup truck. The last time her mom saw her was when she was heading out the door.

In an affidavit that's just been released, the witnesses say he admitted to his plan to kidnap her and play that hero in her rescue. The trouble is Nichole died in the back of that pickup truck.

And now the big question is, does it even matter if Dube didn't mean to kill Nichole Cable? Does it matter if he meant no harm? HLN's legal analyst criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson is here to talk about what has -- I think you can only describe it as a very bizarre case, but that's the question. Does it matter if he had some other story and it went wrong and she's dead.

JACKSON: The answer is no, it could go to mitigation after he's found or should he be found guilty? But here's what happens, as we know, and as you know very well, Ashleigh, any crimes turns upon mens rea. What does that mean in English? It means what was your mental state? What were you thinking at the time? Certainly not all murders are premeditated. There are some killings that are unintentional.

And yet, there are others like this that you could argue are so extremely reckless that they're depraved. You have to know or understand that if you put someone in a trunk and you duct tape them, that something could go miserably wrong. And so if you act with such an extreme degree of recklessness and depravity, and it results in murder, then you then cannot say, well. You know what, I didn't mean to do it because you could certainly foresee the tragic consequence of your action. And that's what's at play here.

BANFIELD: So I want to read a little bit of the affidavit. This is what the accused's brother told the detectives. That Dube jumped out of the bushes and took Nichole, that he duct taped her, that he put Nichole and his father's pickup truck when he removed her, she was dead, and it goes on to say he dumped the cold body in the woods and covered it with sticks, that he discarded everything including clothing. Apparently he then drove to a girlfriend's house according to the brother.

Now the cause of death for this young woman is still being determined. But again, I got to ask you, isn't there a huge difference between say a man in Cleveland who allegedly captures three young girls and keeps them for decades, and a guy like this who allegedly planned to do something that was far less damaging and dangerous and deadly than it turned up to be? I just -- I think isn't that the difference between first and second degree and manslaughter? JACKSON: It certainly is, Ashleigh, without question. And I understand exactly what you're saying. But when you look at it, the law looks at certain things. First, the law looks at intent. What was your intention? So you argue it was never my intent to kill. The law then moves to it may not have been your intent, but what were your actions? Were your actions so extreme with regard to recklessness that they do still amount to murder? Sometimes you do things and they go terribly wrong. Should you know that you're -- the consequences of those actions could cause something like this?

And the answer from a prosecution perspective will be yes. There are so many times where you can act with such reckless disregard for human life. In other words, you didn't mean to do something, but certainly you had to know that by putting these chain of events in motion, whether you wanted to be a hero or not.

BANFIELD: Terrible. Yes.

JACKSON: And duct taping someone, it could have just terrible and tragic consequences. And that's just the law.

BANFIELD: That's just the way the cookie crumbles. All right, Joey Jackson, thank you for that.

We've also got another story that's coming into us. Some brand-new crime scene photos surfacing in the killing of Oscar Pistorius girlfriend. We're going to bring those two in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Got new photos surfacing of the bloody crime scene where Olympian Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend a few months ago. They show that blood spattered bathroom in which Reeva Steenkamp was shot. That runner who's been charged with murder now does admit that he shot and killed her, but he says it was an accident. That he mistook her for a burglar.

And joining us now from Johannesburg, South Africa, is CNN's Robyn Curnow.

Can you explain the significance of what we're seeing in the photo?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is essentially the center of the safe investigation against Oscar Pistorius. What you're looking at is of course the very place where Oscar Pistorius shot dead Reeva Steenkamp.

You see blood on the toilet seat. You see pools of blood on the floor of this bathroom. More crucially I think in terms of evidence you see the markers of where the bullet holes went through that closed door. And of course that will indicate to investigators whether or not Oscar Pistorius had his prosthetic legs on or not. And that of course proves or disproves his evidence.

BANFIELD: And then, Robyn, you've had a chance actually to speak with Oscar Pistorius recently. What did he tell you? JACKSON: I have. We were invited into the Pistorius home where Oscar has been staying for the last three months since he was released from police custody. He's grown a beard. He looks very, very sad. He's obviously not giving interviews. So his uncle, Arnold, spoke for him telling us exclusively how Oscar was ping for Reeva, that she was in deep mourning and that he had photographs of her everywhere. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD PISTORIUS, OSCAR'S UNCLE: He's got photos in his room. He's got photos all over the place. And what can you say if you're -- if the person you love the most die and you were the instrument? How would you feel? It's unthinkable.

CURNOW: His life will never be the same again.

PISTORIUS: That's with no doubt. He won't be the same again. He will -- he will have to cope with it somehow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: OK. And also I think it's important to note there've been a lot of speculation about whether or not Oscar will take the track again. He is going to gym every day in his own home. He hasn't started running. And those people close to him tell me that he will not be competitively running on any -- in any athletics meeting until after the trial. Back to you.

BANFIELD: All right. Robyn Curnow, thank you. Appreciate that.

Earlier in the program we asked you to be the judge. A woman with deadly peanut allergies gets on a plane and then ends up in the hospital. But who is to blame? Is it her? Is it the airline? We got your responses coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Time for you to be the judge now. Who is to blame -- the woman with the peanut allergy who took a flight and got sick, nearly died actually after the flight crew failed to alert other passengers to not open any peanuts, or is she to blame?

Here's what you tweeted. "Those with allergies should be responsible for themselves. Why should the rest of us have to bend over backwards for them?" That comes from -- missed it, sorry. Here's the next one. "I'd say someone with the airlines for not screening all the passengers as routine. And another comment, "No one, that situation cannot be policed. No need to use manpower or resources on that."

And this last one, she should be grateful to the airline because they saved her life by landing immediately. It's always good to hear your comments. Thanks for keeping them clean. But thanks very much for watching. Stay tuned because "AROUND THE WORLD" starts right now.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: She's free. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YANIRA MALDONA, RELEASED FROM MEXICAN JAIL: I'm home, finally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This Arizona mother of seven was jailed in Mexico for allegedly smuggling pot well, coming up, the evidence that set her free.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And then three Westerners killed in Syria, one of them an American woman. How she reportedly became a rebel fighter. A live report coming up.

MALVEAUX: And could the murder case against the "Bladerunner" be in jeopardy? The investigation is in question after leaked photos from Oscar Pistorius's home are now posted online.

Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company this Friday. An Arizona mother on her way home after more than a week in a jail. What a story. This is being Yanira Maldonado.