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New Day

Dan Marino Sues NFL Over Concussions; Twelve-Year-Old Girls Charged In Stabbing; Kasem Family Feud Erupts In Bizarre Video

Aired June 03, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Got to show you some video here. A Minnesota couple entered married life with a splash. Take a look. Dan and Jackie Anderson lined their 20-person wedding party up on a dock for pictures. And as you can see, that wedding party was too much for the dock. And, oh, no, really? Yes, it collapsed, sending most, not all, but most of the wedding party into the water. And this is the kicker, folks; it happened an hour before the ceremony! The couple says, despite the surprise dunking, the wedding only started 10 minutes late and just a bit soggy. So there's your headlines -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody was safe, so it's OK, to have a chuckle out of it. It was interesting to see how the guys had that look of resignation on their face. The women are scrambling trying to save the dresses. The guys are like we're going down. It's kind of hot anyway. Anyway, thanks, Mich.

All right, there is something else that is breaking overnight that we want to talk to you about. Hall of fame quarterback, Dan Marino, suing the NFL over concussions. Marino is arguably the most iconic star to take the league on this issue. Question is what will it mean for the future of the litigation, the game, and what impact will it have on thousands of other players who have are retired now and are suing because of the damage they say they suffered?

Let's get Danny Cevallos in here, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, and Clinton Portis, former NFL running back two-time pro bowler, one of the plaintiffs in the previous lawsuit against the NFL. It's good to have both of you with us this morning.

Clinton Portis, when you hear the name Dan Marino joining the suit, what does that tell you about the significance of this problem?

CLINTON PORTIS, FORMER NFL RUNNING BACK: I think it's a serious issue. When you see a guy such as Dan Marino who is fresh off the TV, who has been the face of the NFL for so long, come and participate in this lawsuit, I think -- and then he's saying that the NFL hid this information. So I would think Dan Marino knows a lot about this situation to wait this long to join into the discussion and add himself on to this list. So I think it's an interesting -- I think it's an interesting moment for this lawsuit.

CUOMO: Let's go back and forth on the points that will be raised here. The first one, Danny Cevallos, Dan Marino is in. He's a big name. You're in the NFL. You don't want to hemorrhage any type of goodwill in this situation and bad reputation. That's exactly what this will bring. Does it make you settle sooner?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: In fact, the strange thing about the lawsuit, Chris, is that technically it already settled back in January. All the parties came to an agreement. But a judge here in the eastern district in Philadelphia actually blew up the settlement because the judge didn't think it was fair.

And that, more than Dan Marino joining, that plus, now a celebrity name, sends a signal to the NFL that the amount that you may want to pay, even though you may have tentatively reached a settlement, is not enough. So I think between that opinion in January from Judge Brodie and now, a big name like Dan Marino joining the lawsuit, the NFL better be raising its expectations in terms of how much it's going to be on the hook.

CUOMO: Danny, quick take on this. Can't the NFL say, we don't care if Dan Marino joins, he doesn't even say he was injured. He doesn't even have an injury?

CEVALLOS: Sure, they're going to defend the case against all of the plaintiffs and just because Dan Marino hasn't alleged any very serious injuries in his complaint doesn't mean that much. Complaints are drafted with just a short and plain statement when they're in federal court.

However, the NFL has already indicated that it wants to settle this case and, indeed, tried to settle and did reach settlement terms earlier this year. It's the court that said, no go, that's not enough money. So the NFL has to be wondering, how much do we have to pay to get out of this lawsuit?

CUOMO: What's the answer to that, do you think, Clinton Portis? What do you think? What number makes sense here, $767 million was not enough because you may have 20,000 plaintiffs, 20,000 former players with injuries. What's the right number?

PORTIS: Well, I don't think you can look at a right number. I think when you look at how this is structured and the period of time that it's supposed to be paid out, over years, you know, this fund is supposed to take care of guys that's playing right now, that haven't came for it. So to go back to Dan Marino when you say he don't have any serious injuries, you can't judge migraines. You can't judge memory loss.

Like no one can tell you, you remember something that you don't remember. So I think that Dan Marino's case at the time that he played and he was probably one of the best quarterbacks of all time, when you look at this situation, I think for Dan Marino's case, migraines could kick in.

I think when you look at guys such as Terrell Davis who is known for migraines, it's so many guys who have migraines later in their career, headaches all the time, lights, so stuff that you really can't judge, you just have to go in and take someone's word. I don't think Dan Marino will get on this stage and lie about his issues. So maybe because he was on TV for so long it's never came out, he's never admitted it. So as to say, guys, I feel some type of way, but for him to come out and make this statement is big. And I think when you look at numbers for the NFL to say if 20,000 guys do come on, that's 15 more -- I mean, 15,000 more guys than we already have.

This 5,000 guys and growing at this moment. So if you -- you're looking to take care of 15 more thousand people with this money it won't be enough. It will run out in no time.

CUOMO: Clinton, the main pushback is this. You know what you're getting into when you put on a helmet and pads. That's why you put them on. You know it's a contact sport.

PORTIS: You actually don't know what you're getting into. I think for so long this is a game. You know, you go through middle school. You go three high school. You go through college. And this is always a game, a game, a game that you're supposed to love. Once you're with the NFL this is big business.

Actually once you hit college this is big business. So the fact that this is big business is such a huge stage, they're making a lot of money. And it's no expense to the players because we do sign up for it. It's something that we want to participate in. It's something that we want to do.

But I don't think if you tell me, I mean, I love fast cars. If I get in a fast car, well, this car is going to crash in 15 minutes, I'm not going to get in no matter how bad I want to get in that car. So I think when you look at this situation, it's the same. If I don't know, I had never sat down in the concussion seminar for the nine years that I was active and said, well, there is what's happening to you at the year one.

This is what's happening to you after year two, year three, and so on. So with that being said, we don't know. We don't know the specifications as you see with other lawsuit that came out, guys go in the locker room, the training room and you're getting treatment for stuff that you don't know. So many injuries where in the real world you don't ice and stem. You go to the doctor. You get treatment.

You're off. You don't get days off in the NFL. You have to go out and be tough. You have to have a mentality to recover tomorrow. I can't go and sit and say well I'm down for two weeks on my own. Two weeks is, well, if you can play in two weeks what can you give me today? Can you give me something? Can you give me anything?

The next thing you know a two-week injury I'm back on the field and playing and saying I'm not at 100 percent. But you don't go on the field saying, I got to be 100 percent. Nobody in the NFL is at 100 percent right now.

CUOMO: I hear you. Clinton Portis, thank you for laying out the reality. Danny Cevallos, thank you for laying out the legalities. Appreciate it -- Kate. BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, two 12-year-old girls are being charged as adults in an alleged plot to murder a friend. Why prosecutors say the web site gave them the idea to stab the victim 19 times and leave her for dead? It's a horrible story. We're going to talk about it coming up, what happened.

Also ahead, plus a bizarre twist in the family feud surrounding radio legend Casey Kasem. Why did his wife throw meat at his daughter? We're going to show you the video that has clearly gone viral.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Disturbing details this morning about an alleged plot to kill involving 12-year-old girls. Two girls now charged as adults for luring a friend into a park after a sleepover, then stabbing her 19 times and because they're charged as adults media outlets including CNN are showing their images.

Investigators say the girls were acting out a horror story from a web site. The victim barely alive crawled to her own rescue. She's still in the hospital. Rosa Flores is following developments for us. There is nothing you can really say about this?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is such a sinister case that took two preteens from being fascinated with a fictitious character on the internet to allegedly stabbing a 12-year-old girl to impress them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): The details play out like the plot of a horror film.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the morning the suspects went to David's Park and lured the victim into the woods near Big Ben Road south of Rivera Drive to play a game.

FLORES: Two 12-year-old girls are accused of inviting their friend to play hide and seek after a sleepover. But police say they had much darker intentions.

CHIEF RUSSELL JACK, WAUKESHA POLICE: Once there, one suspect held the victim down while the other suspect stabbed her 19 times in the arms, legs, and torso.

FLORES: Suspects Morgan Geyser and Annisa Weir, middle school students who appeared in court Monday allegedly spent months planning the attack on their friend. The suspects' fascination with "Slender Man," a fictional internet character that often appears in horror stories and videos led to the attempted murder plot, according to police.

The web site known as "Creepy Pasta Wiki" that posts horror stories portrays Slender Man as its leader in order to gain respect and climb up to his realm, a user must commit murder. One of the young suspects told authorities. Severely wounded, the victim managed to crawl out of the woods where she was found by a bicyclist. According to court documents, she was one-millimeter away from certain death.

JACK: Many of the stab wounds struck major organs, but incredibly and thankfully the victim survived this brutal assault.

FLORES: The suspects are facing attempted first degree murder charges and will be treated as adults.

THOMAS J. FEIFER, WAUKESHA COUNTY COURT COMMISSIONER: I recognize the young age, but it's still unbelievable.

FLORES: The parents of the young suspects in shock about the brutal attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morgan's parents are very sad about what has happened. They're horrified and our condolences to everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, police say that both suspects spoke openly about the incident with investigators. The girls were arrested hours after incident and their bail is set at $500,000. CNN's attempts to reach the suspects' attorneys have not been successful. The victim remains in stable condition -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Rosa, thank you very much for that. Let's get some insight from CNN law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes on this. This one leaves you shaking your head. Have you heard of anything like this before? Such young girls being motivated from a horror story web site.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Kate. No, I haven't. I think, you know, we've seen an incredible amount of violence committed by boys, usually late teens or early 20s when they act out and to see that in girls is unusual. And then to see it in girls this young, 12 years old is even more unusual.

I think that, you know, from the indications of their early reporting they talked to the police and it didn't appear that they were very remorseful about the whole thing, that they planned this for months. It wasn't a heat of passion or sudden anger where they burst out.

They planned this to assassinate their friend and try to get in good with this fictitious Slender Man character on the internet. This is almost like a junior mafia. You have to kill to make your bones. It's just incredible.

BOLDUAN: It is incredible. One of the girls even telling the investigators that bad part of me wanted her to die. The good part of me wanted her to live, according to some reports. I mean, I think you hit one of the parts that is so startling about this, this wasn't a spur of the moment thing. This wasn't a fight that t got completely out of control. From all indications they were plotting this for months and they didn't just stab this other young girl once, they stabbed her 19 times. What is the investigation into this going to include? Is there much of it considering that the girls were -- appear to be so open with investigators already?

FUENTES: Well, I think the big thing is that how many other people, especially children, are out there looking at this web site? Have there been other murders committed, you know, elsewhere in the country based on people trying to make their bones with Slender Man. So is this an isolated incident or could there be more of these that we haven't heard of.

You know, maybe somebody was killed and disappeared and people assumed it was a runaway child when it could have been someone murdered by a friend of all things, and hidden in the woods or thrown in water or some other way hidden. So that's part of the investigation I'm sure.

And then, of course, did anybody else see this coming, did they talk to other classmates, were other kids in their school also looking at this web site, talking about the website, discussing this at all. And then, of course, what are the parents see or hear or know?

BOLDUAN: And that's one of the -- that's one of the things that -- we're talking about two 12-year-old girls, middle school students. Folks are asking very honest question which is, this had to have been on someone's radar, that they were spending so much time on this web site. I mean, one of the girls even believed that this Slender Man, paranormal, completely mythical made up fictional figure, she even thought that he was real, that he could read thoughts, that he was watching her. Shouldn't this have been on someone's radar? That's a legitimate question?

FUENTES: Certainly. And you would think so and hope so, but if these girls were locked in their room and yelling out to their parents, I'm still doing my homework, mom, and the parents thought everything was normal and if they weren't talking, you know, about sinister things at the dinner table or maybe their parents didn't have that much contact with them, we don't know that. But those are all areas for discussion here.

BOLDUAN: And of course, they're going to look into that web site, right, to see if there was any communication or any kind of provocation coming from this web site.

FUENTES: Right. Yes. They will be looking at that web site. But the unfortunate thing with the internet is that you have literally thousands of these kind of web sites. I mean, we've seen thousands of web sites convince people to become Jihadists. So the motivation for people to do things based on what they have discovered or learned about or been encouraged by the internet is pretty phenomenal. The internet, you know, we're seeing more and more is an extremely powerful tool and it can reach anybody anywhere if they've got the computer connection.

BOLDUAN: Especially the young and impressionable minds of two 12- year-old girls. They are now charged as adults with first degree attempted murder. Tom Fuentes, thank you so much. Important to just reiterate has Rosa Flores pointed out at the very top, the young girl who was the victim in the case, she is now, they tell us, in stable condition, recovering from her wounds.

All right, let's take a break. Coming up next on NEW DAY, the fight over legendary radio voice, Casey Kasem, has been a bitter one. Now it's getting odd. Why his wife threw a hunk of meat at his daughter. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. A strange twist in the sad saga of Casey Kasem. The 82-year-old radio legend has been hospitalized under a court order obtained by one of his daughters. Kasem's children are locked in a bitter family feud with his wife. This erupted in a bizarre confrontation all caught on tape that involved raw meat, families. Nischelle Turner joins us now. This is a hard one to follow.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It gets stranger, more bizarre and sadder, all in one, like you said. This family feud continues between legendary radio host, Casey Kasem's wife and his daughter. Two judges expanded the power of Kasem's daughter, a decision that his wife is clearly not happy about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the order of King David, go ahead and take me --

TURNER (voice-over): Shocking developments in the family battle over ailing radio host, Casey Kasem. A dramatic scene on the front lawn of this Washington home between Kasem's wife, Jean and eldest daughter, Kerri, who arrived with an ambulance Sunday to take her father to a hospital.

After reportedly refusing to let paramedics into the house, Jean Kasem yells at the media and her stepdaughter, while the 82-year-old icon is eventually loaded into the ambulance. Mrs. Kasem went further, citing a bible verse, and throwing a pound of raw meat at Kerri.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the order of King David, I -- to the dogs.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Jean really shot herself in the foot because what's going to happen is the judge is going to see this video. This is nothing, but a page out of Looney Tunes in the mind of a judge.

TURNER: Kasem's wife and daughter have been facing off in a legal battle over the right to determine his medical care. Kasem suffers from a disease, a debilitating form of dementia.

KERRI KASEM, CASEY KASEM'S DAUGHTER: He now has a stage three bed sore, lung infection and a bladder infection. In my opinion, not being taken care of to the fullest extent. TURNER: On Friday, a Washington judge ruled in favor of his daughter.

JEAN KASEM, CASEY KASEM'S WIFE: Shame on these children. Shame.

TURNER: Jean unleashed her anger at a news conference later that day, playing cell phone audio of her husband moaning, claiming he was protesting the judge's decision. This follows a period last month when Kasem briefly had gone missing after Jean checked him out of the nursing home without notifying his family, despite a California court granting Kerri temporary conservatorship over her father.

ROBBINS: You're seeing egos driving everything and it's sad after bringing so much joy to millions of Americans for decades, that this is what the final chapter of his life looks like.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Indeed. That next chapter will happen on Friday where apparently the judge will listen to argument as to whether the Californian conservators IP order will be held up in Washington State. Another California hearing is scheduled for June 20th. At that time, the court will decide whether to make Kerri Kasem's conservatorship permanent. Just sad all the way around.

BOLDUAN: Really all you can say about it.

CUOMO: End of life issues are horrible, and no family is immune. We say it again and again. Doesn't matter what money or fame you have.

TURNER: Indeed. That's a good point.

CUOMO: This one is far from over.

From that story to one completely different. This is this week's "Impact Your World." Here is a fact that could shock you, more than a million and a half American children will end up living on the street this year. There's a place they can find hope and a home. It's called "Covenant House." Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): As a teen, Cherise Peters felt trapped in a cycle of poverty and neglect.

CHERISE PETERS, COVENANT HOUSE RESIDENT: My mom verbally emotionally and physically abusive. It was just like, I'm always sorry, but I don't know what I'm sorry for. I got engaged with this guy, which I thought was the love of my life.

CUOMO: She dropped out of high school her senior year and ran away with him. They spent about eight months living on the streets of New York City.

PETERS: You don't know who's who out there. Eating out of the garbage, dabbling in drugs because I got to know myself.

CUOMO: Peters knew something had to change. She dumped her boyfriend and found refuge here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is where the magic happens.

CUOMO: Covenant House gives homeless youth a place to live across the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

KEVIN RYAN, CEO, COVENANT HOUSE INTERNATIONAL: Covenant House is part of a movement to help kids dream big dreams and achieve those dreams. We're all about giving kids the skills that they need and we want them to build for themselves that very fulfilling love-filled home that is their destiny.

CUOMO: Peters is on her way to achieving that. She's training to be a nursing assistant. Her goal is to get her GED and go to college. She's even reconnected with her mom.

PETERS: I feel revitalized. It's like I got me back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: All they need is a chance.

BOLDUAN: Her smile tells it all.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, the manhunt is over, the suspect at the center of an explosive threat in San Francisco is caught and caught on tape. How police caught up with him, and why an online note led to clues to a possible motive.

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