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Overview of the Ariel Castro Kidnapping Case, Trial and Verdict

Aired August 01, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra Phillips of our sister network, HLN's "Raising America," welcome.

And I know it makes your skin crawl. I know. I know.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST, HLN'S "RAISING AMERICA": And I can't believe the timing. I can't believe we heard that in court and I've been working on this for a number of months.

BALDWIN: So, you and your producer, you go under cover. What exactly did you do?

PHILLIPS: The oldest trick in the book, he had a puppy. And we tested 20 different kids. We went to the park four different times. He rolls in with his dog. He's my would-be predator. He approaches the kids.

Now a lot of kids did the right thing. They bolted back to mom. Mom, that guy wanted me to go walk his dog, wanted me to go to the car, wanted me to do this, that. Other kids shut him right down.

They were all interested in the puppy, which was interesting, but there were a lot of kids that did the right thing.

However, when you see here, there's a lot of kids that did not.

BALDWIN: OK. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what? I need to go give him some water. Do you all want to come with me and help me feed him and give him some water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I have some water here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go this way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right in front of my face.

PHILLIPS: It happened right in front of your face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to feed him a treat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. PHILLIPS: Did you think it was going to be that easy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Not at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pied Piper. Pied Piper (inaudible).

PHILLIPS: OK, they're still going. They're going all the way to the parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they didn't even ask if they could go or nothing.

PHILLIPS: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to put him in here, and we're going to feed him in here, OK?

It was so easy. I could have all six of them right now in my truck going God knows where.

PHILLIPS: What did he look like to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A nice guy that takes care of dogs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could have just took you off and kept you and I would have never saw you no more. Then what?

PHILLPS: What do you do next time someone comes up to you that you don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell mom.

PHILLIPS: There we go.

So for these moms, the conversation about predators is just starting.

But for another mom, she couldn't even talk about our test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not scared of a dog, are you?

PHILLIPS: So devastated by what you're about to see, she asked us to conceal their identities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a toy in there. I got some food in there. You got him? You got a good grip on him? OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that their cage?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that. Look at that cage. Could you reach that raccoon in there? I can't get it.

PHILLIPS: Mom's warnings forgotten.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dogs are standing in your way. There you go. Can you crawl -- just like a dog. Oh, he's like, what are you doing? Get out of my house. PHILLIPS: A child now vulnerable to abduction, terrifying proof that the talk doesn't go far enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just a guy faking it out here for TV. If I'm a real sex predator, I've got them in my truck, oh, my god.

PHILLIPS: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrifying.

PHILLIPS: Families need to practice for that moment when a predator comes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So the mom was so distraught seeing her little one climb in that cage.

PHILLIPS: It was awful. I mean, I actually felt awful because I watched her reaction, and I talked to her for days afterwards.

She couldn't sleep and I couldn't sleep because she couldn't sleep.

And even as a mom, I look at -- even when I look at that with you, and I've seen it 5 million times, right, my heart just sinks.

BALDWIN: You're emotional, looking in your eyes.

PHILLIPS: I guess I realized you can't just talk about it. You have to test your kids. You have to put them in real life situations.

And we could have gone on and on and on doing this, drive up to kids, and, hey, you want to jump in the car? Can you help me find directions?

It was unbelievable how trusting kids were. Another thing too, Brooke, they've got to learn self-defense moves.

BALDWIN: Kids.

PHILLIPS: Yes, and we have a wonderful expert on our special tomorrow, noon Eastern, who's actually going to show specific moves that you can practice that work.

BALDWIN: HLN tomorrow, noon Eastern, "Raising America," Kyra Phillips, thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Scary little bit. It is called "The Predator Test," tomorrow.

Coming up next, back to the strength of this young woman, the strength of Michelle Knight, the woman abused and tortured for nearly 11 years, confronts the man who held her captive. Coming up next, we'll talk to a psychologist who explains how this hearing really can be part of a recovery process for her, and the two others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today in a Cleveland courtroom, we heard the sentence, we watched this hearing, Ariel Castro getting life plus a thousand years, and we watched one of his young victims, Michelle Knight, really just pour her heart out to this court.

We'll have much more on that in a minute. First, I just want to take you back to Cleveland where it all began.

I was there in May when the whole story broke that they were free. And I actually walked to the three exact spots where these unsuspecting girls crossed paths with a sexual monster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here in Cleveland, this is 106th Street and Lorraine Avenue, and this here is the last time anyone saw Michelle Knight. The year was 2002. She was just 21-years-old.

Fast forward one year, six blocks away, right here on Lorraine Avenue, and Amanda Berry had just finished her evening shift here at work. This was the eve of her 17th birthday, and she was last seen walking along this street in her Burger King uniform.

And then exactly one year later, 14-year-old Gina DeJesus is plucked off of the same street here, Lorraine Avenue, where Michelle and Amanda were taken.

And we've just come to this corner and just found this. I want to show you. Underneath all this is a sign that says, "Where is Gina?" This is possibly one of the original missing posters.

Down to the details, Gina DeJesus was last seen wearing a white jacket, sky blue sweater, blue jeans and a cream shirt, the details of her disappearance down to this very corner, and the reward that was offered.

And, finally, look at this, a picture of her as a baby, and this handwritten note. "This is my baby. Happy birthday, Gina. Love, Mom."

And today, now that we know how the story has ended, celebratory balloons and a sign down here. "Thank you, God. Gina is free."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It's incredible. It was incredible just walking there and seeing how he plucked them one after another, different years, all basically within, like, four blocks of one another.

And then they suffered 11 years in hell, kidnapped, specifically Michelle Knight here, kidnapped at 20, addressing her captor, Ariel Castro, today in court, saying, "It's your turn now. Your hell is just beginning."

Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING VICTIM: I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning.

I will overcome all this that happened, but you will face hell for eternity.

From this moment on, I will not let you define me, or affect who I am. You will live -- I will live on. You will die a little every day.

As you think about the 11 years and atrocities you inflicted on us, what does God think of you hypocritically going to church every Sunday, coming home to torture us.

The death penalty would be so much easier. You don't deserve that. You deserve to spend life in prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Carol Lieberman, forensic psychiatrist, joins me live from Los Angeles. Carol, I mean, this young woman spent basically a third of her life as a prisoner in this home. It's been, what, three months since she's been free? How does one summon the strength that we witnessed to be able to speak like that?

CAROL LIEBERMAN, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: It's amazing. I mean, the only thing that can explain it, besides that hopefully she's been getting a lot of therapy since she was found, is the fact that somewhere in the beginnings of her life, there was love coming from someone. That gave her this sense of strength in herself.

You know, she was -- she was -- she protected some of the other girls. She took the worst beatings, literally and emotionally, and yet she's able to come out and be so articulate. So there was something in her, you know, background that gave her that strength.

Also what she's doing here is wresting the power away from her captor. He had the power over her for a decade. By her saying these words, she's taking the power back for herself.

Now, whether she believes that 100 percent, you know, or she's still growing into that is another thing, but she's certainly on the right path.

BALDWIN: We focused on Michelle Knight because we saw her, you know, physically in court today, but I want to focus on the other two survivors, Gina DeJesus and also Amanda Berry.

They weren't in court. They had different representatives from their families. We saw Amanda Berry's sister. This is what she said. Let me quote this.

Quote, she, "Amanda has not talked about these things, even with me, and she does not want other people to talk about these things."

You know, I think the caveat also being she's the one with the little girl. The little girl has no idea really, I think, the whole back story, right, of this entire decade in captivity.

But how would one approach this, talking about the ten years, or simply moving on?

LIEBERMAN: No. That's not a good sign. I mean, she really does need to be talking about it, certainly with a therapist, first and foremost.

It's the hardest in a way -- well, for each of them, it's hard in a different way, but she has a child by this monster. That makes it even harder because the child is always a reminder.

Of course, she loves the child, I'm sure, but trying to push it under the rug, not talking about it, is the worst thing someone can do when they've had this kind of trauma.

BALDWIN: Carole Lieberman, forensic psychiatrist, thank you very much. Wish these three women and the little girl well. Thank you.

Russia's new anti-gay laws have some calling for a boycott of next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Johnny Weir is a decorated American figure skater and is openly gay. Coming up next, we'll talk to him about Russia's new law and calls for athletes to skip the games altogether, and you may be surprised at what he says.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Revulsion at Russia is spreading for its newly passed laws against gays and lesbians.

And we talked about this yesterday. New York City demonstrators dumped the contents of Russian vodka bottles, look at this, right in front of the Russian consulate.

Well, just a short time ago, West Hollywood, California, same kind of drill. We talked to folks at this West Hollywood bar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALFREDO DIAZ, PARTNER, REVOLVER VIDEO BAR: It's something that each of us can do, individually, today. We don't have to wait for the involvement of politicians, civic leaders, other activist groups.

Each and every one of us can basically take part in a grassroots movement to highlight the injustice of the LGBT community in Russia right now.

CHRISTOPHER AKERS, BAR PATRON: Stoli has said they're not necessarily a Russian company even though a lot of stuff comes out of Russia.

But there's an importance behind it. If it's going to bring attention to it, there's importance behind it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Moscow's draconian anti-gay laws curtail public discussion of homosexuality and they allow for arrests of gay and lesbian tourists, and that's with the Sochi Olympics coming up.

So now you've got talk about this boycott of that, the Olympic Winter games.

CNN's Jill Dougherty is at the State Department. You have just landed and finished this interview with a very well known Olympic athlete, Johnny Weir, who offered his opinion on all of this.

And, Jill, what did he tell you?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he loves Russia. He freely admits that. In fact, he's married to a man who's a Russian-American, took his last name, et cetera.

But he says, Johnny Weir basically says, we ought to go to the Olympics. We should not boycott, definitely, because our mere presence will be enough.

The gay people, let's say the athletes or the gay visitors who want to come, the fans, their presence will be enough to make a statement.

Now, there are other people who say that if you go to games like that and you don't make a statement, then you're kind of condoning what's going on.

And what's going on is, of course, the law that it really is quite draconian. And one of the problems is, it's very new, so how could it be interpreted? It could be interpreted very seriously or maybe not as strictly.

Now, I should point out that the International Olympic Committee did tell CNN that that law is not going to have an effect on athletes or fans.

But many people, gay rights organizations, do not believe that.

BALDWIN: Let's watch just a portion of what he told you. This is Johnny Weir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY WEIR, OLYMPIC SKATER: I would never want to boycott the Olympics or take the opportunity away from other athletes in this country that have worked just as hard as I have or whose family has sacrificed as much as I have.

And I think and believe, really, that our presence in Russia will do nothing but help fight this law and help the LGBT community. And I urge Americans not to push for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So we hear his perspective, but I have to ask. I mean, here you are, you know, from the State Department.

What about the U.S. government? Have they touched this? Have they weighed in on the anti-gay laws in Russia?

DOUGHERTY: They definitely have. In fact, we've been asking them about it and they are concerned because they, for a long time, have supported equality, gay rights, and this could be a major issue.

After all, don't forget the State Department provides security for American athletes when they go to the Olympics, so there is concern.

But right now they are not -- the U.S. government is not supporting a boycott, but they are speaking out very forcefully and have been bringing it up in discussions with the Russians.

BALDWIN: Jill, thank you for sharing just a piece of your interview.

I just want to tell our viewers you can catch much more of Jill's interview with Johnny Weir on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer, 5:00 Eastern, today. Do not miss that.

A record setting day for the market, take a look for yourself. Look at the new highs. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Both the Dow and S&P 500 hundred at record gains today. Zain Asher is here.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There are quite a number of reasons why investors are showing the Dow some love today.

Firstly, yesterday, the Fed pretty much reassured investors there are no immediate plans to taper. Everyone sort of breathed a sigh of relief.

The employment report tomorrow we're going to be getting is going to be relatively strong. We're expecting about 180,000 jobs to have been added last month.

This morning we also saw weekly jobless claims fall, which may mean fewer layoffs.

And we have a lot of companies reporting solid earnings. I do quickly want to mention Procter & Gamble, their profit and sales topping expectations, and also Yelp, the online review site, shares up about 25 percent right now after it posted strong earnings last quarter.

So today has certainly been a solid day on Wall Street, but it really is all about that all-important jobs report that comes out tomorrow.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: We'll look for it, Zain. Thank you, closing bell five minutes away where you are.

And before I let you go, do not miss this. We have some video for you, the small town police chief with a big message full of bleeps, posted it on YouTube, led to his suspension.

Now another video that he called an apology. We'll let you judge how sorry he really is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before I go, I have to show you a couple pieces of video.

To set this up, there's a small town Pennsylvania police chief who has been suspended from his job after he went on not just one, but two profanity-laced rants against gun control.

So the videos first surfaced about two weeks ago. In the first one, Mark Kessler wails on liberals, on Secretary of State John Kerry over his support of a U.N. arms treaty, and basically anyone he thinks will take away his weapons.

Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MARK KESSLER, GILBERTON, PENNSYLVANIA, POLICE: I have a message to Kerry and to these (inaudible) over in the U.N.

Here's your (inaudible) agreement. Sign anything you want to sign. It's not going to mean (inaudible). It don't mean (inaudible) to me.

You know what I have to say? Come and take (inaudible)!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: After that video, Kessler made another one, which was supposed to be an apology.

Was it? Here it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KESSLER: Yeah, I don't think so. This boy don't roll that way.

For all you people out there who cried and cried about, oh, I used profanity, (inaudible) you!

Here's what I got to say. If you didn't get enough the first time around, go (inaudible) yourself and get some more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Keep in mind, he was the police chief. He was suspended, but here's the thing.

It wasn't for what he said, but it was because he used borough property without permission.

And despite all of this, the mayor of Gilberton says she's standing by her city's police chief because he has a right to express himself.

Let me know how you feel. Shoot me a Tweet, @BrookeBCNN.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. See you back here tomorrow, TGIF.

Now to Washington, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.