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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield
Medal of Honor Ceremony for Civil War Hero; Abducted Philadelphia Woman Found Alive; Abduction Suspect Connected to Case in Virginia
Aired November 06, 2014 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: She's Michaela Pereira.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I am.
BERMAN: I am John Berman. And "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.
I want to take you to some live pictures from the White House. This is a very, very special event. There is a family that is walking in right now to the Roosevelt Room where President Obama is about to hand out something you've heard about before, it's the Medal of Honor. It is for extraordinary courage. But this one is so different because this one dates back all the way to the Civil War. The family, the descendants of a Civil War hero, of an American hero, are gathered to receive this posthumous award in honor of Army First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing. Remember that name, Alonzo Cushing, because that guy is probably one of America's bravest ever. Picture yourself for a moment, if you can, facing down about 13,000 confederate forces advancing on you and you are the commander of a battery of artillery soldiers and you are the only guy left. You're the only guy remaining with a serviceable piece of - a field piece in the battery and he did it. And I want to listen in as he honors this family.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On behalf of Michelle and myself, welcome to the White House.
One hundred and fifty-one years ago, as our country struggled for its survival, President Lincoln dedicated the battlefield at Gettysburg as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. Today, the nation that lived pauses to pay tribute to one of those who died there. To bestow the Medal of Honor, our highest military declaration, upon First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing.
Now, typically, this medal must be awarded within a few years of the action, but sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the passage of time. So I want to thank the more than two dozen family members of Lieutenant Cushing who are here, including his cousin twice removed Helen Loring Enson (ph) from Palm Desert, California, who will accept this medal.
For this American family, the story isn't some piece of obscure history. It is an integral part of who they are. And today our whole nation shares their pride and celebrates what this story says about who we are. This award would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of supporters who worked for decades to make this day a reality. And I want to especially acknowledge Margaret Zurwick (ph), who is a historian from Delafield, Wisconsin, where Lieutenant Cushing was born. And there's Margaret back there.
Good to see you, Margaret.
Margaret's also the granddaughter of a union veteran and lives on a property that was once owned by Cushing's father. When she discovered this story, she spent over 25 years researching, writing letters, and raising her voice to ensure that this American soldier received the recognition that he so richly deserved. And what's more, she even managed to bring Republicans and Democrats together to make this happen.
Margaret, we may call on you again sometime in the next several months.
This medal is about more than just one soldier or one family. It reflects our obligation as a country to the men and women in our armed services. Obligations that continue long after they return home, after they've removed their uniforms, and even, perhaps especially after they've laid down their lives. And so this medal is a reminder that no matter how long it takes, it is never too late to do the right thing.
Alonzo, or Lon Cushing, was raised by his widowed mother in Fredonia, New York, with his siblings, including three brothers who also fought for the union. As the congressman who recommended Lon to West Point wrote, "his mother is poor but highly committed and her son will do honor to the position." After graduating from West Point, Lon was assigned to Battery A Fourth United States Artillery. From Bull Run to Anteeium (ph) from Chancellorville (ph) to Fredericksburg, Lon fought bravely and developed a reputation for his cool, his confidence and his courage under fire.
But it was at Gettysburg, what one newspaper later called "emphatically a soldier's battle," where Lon would be immortalized. It was July 3, 1863, the final day of a grueling three-day fight. Lon commanded his battery along the wall on Cemetery Ridge, fending off punishing fire from General Lee's confederate troops, in advance of what we now know as Pickett's Charge.
In the chaos and smoke, Lon and his men could barely see ahead of them. One colonel later described the terrible grandeur of that rain of missiles and that chaos of strange and terror spreading sounds. Lon was hit and badly wounded. His first sergeant, a soldier by the name of Frederick Fuger (ph), urged him to go to the rear. But Lon refused and said he'd fight it out or die in the attempt. Bleeding and weak, he moved his remaining guns closer to the front.
Over 10,000 confederate infantry men advanced, elbow to elbow, in rows over a mile wide. Peering through field glasses, Lon ordered his men to continue firing at the advancing columns. He used his own thumb to stop his gun's bent, burning his fingers to the bone. When he was hit the final time, as a poet later wrote, his gun spoke out for him once more before he fell to the ground. And Alonzo Cushing was just 22 years old.
In a letter to Lon's sister, Fuger wrote that "the bravery of their men that day was entirely due to your brother's training and example set on numerous battlefields." Etched on Lon's tombstone at West Point is the simple epithet, "faithful unto death." And his memory will be honored later this month when one of our Navy's cruisers, The USS Gettysburg, designates its officers dining hall as the Cushing War (ph) Room.
And here today we know that Lon and the others who fell that day could not -- we know what they could not, that Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War. It's also proof, if any was needed, that it was thousands of unknown young soldiers, committing unsung acts of heroism, who saved our union and freed a people and reaffirmed our nation as one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'm mindful that I might not be standing here today as president had it not been for the ultimate sacrifices of those courageous Americans.
Today we honor just one of those men, Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who as Lincoln said gave their last full measure of devotion. His story is part of our larger American story, one that continues today. The spirit, the courage, the determination, that he demonstrated lives on in our brave men and women in uniform who this very day are serving and making sure that they are defending the freedoms that Alonzo helped to preserve. And it's incumbent on all of us as Americans to uphold the values that they fight for and to continue to honor their service long after they leave the battlefield for decades, even centuries to come.
So with that I'd like to ask Helen to join me for the reading of the citation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States of America, authorized by act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing, United States Army. First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing distinguished himself by acts of bravery above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an artillery commander in Battery A, Fourth U.S. Artillery, Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War.
That morning, confederate forces, led by General Robert E. Lee, began cannonating (ph) First Lieutenant Cushing's position on Cemetery Ridge. Using field glasses, First Lieutenant Cushing directed fire for his own artillery battery. He refused to leave the battlefield after being struck in the shoulder by a shell fragment. As he continued to direct fire, he was struck again, this time suffering grievous damage to his abdomen. Still refusing to abandon his command, he boldly stood tall in the face of Major General George E. Pickett's charge and continued to direct devastating fire into oncoming forces. As the confederate forces closed in, First Lieutenant Cushing was struck in the mouth by an enemy bullet and fell dead beside his gun. His gallant stand and fearless leadership inflicted severe casualties upon confederate forces and opened wide gaps in their lines, directly impacting the union forces' ability to repel Pickett's charge.
First Lieutenant Cushing's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his own life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Battery A, Fourth U.S. Artillery, Army of the Potomac and the United States Army.
OBAMA: Let me ask the members of Congress who helped to make this happen to join us for a photograph. And let's get our secretary and -- our twos secretaries right here. Come on up. Come on, guys.
All right. So let's -- swing around here. Just pull back just a little bit and that way everybody can get a good picture. You (INAUDIBLE). Got it?
BANFIELD: That might be one of the most conciliatory acts with congressional members that we've seen since a very bruising week, but what a moment for this family as a first cousin twice removed from this man, Alonzo Cushing, accepts the Medal of Honor from the president of the United States for his heroism, his absolute personal bravery above the - you know, above and beyond the call of duty in the Civil War. One hundred and fifty-one years ago, that 22-year-old man being honored finally after several decades of lobbying from his family, this story got lost, and today it is lost no more. Congratulations, not only to First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, but also his family members who made this happen.
Big story that we've been following for you, police say a vicious predator is off the streets today, a man who was seen in this video, airing all over television, grabbing a woman brazenly off the streets. Well, that man has been captured and the details are nothing short of remarkable. That's next.
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BANFIELD: Police in Philadelphia say a vicious predator, the man that you were able to watch on video aggressively kidnapping a 22-year-old woman, is thankfully now off the streets. This is the video. And it is not often that you see this kind of thing, an abduction caught on tape. But Sunday night, as Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was grabbed and dragged down the street and then forced into a vehicle, all of it was recorded. Perhaps even more rare, three days after that young woman was abducted, far past that crucial 48-hour window, the news came that she was actually found alive. And that news came last night. And the suspect in this case, 37-year-old Delvin Barnes, he was taken into custody as well. Our Jean Casarez looks at how it all went down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HANKO, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Carlesha Freeland has been rescued.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Philadelphia woman, kidnapped on Sunday, now found alive. Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was rescued in Jessup, Maryland, Wednesday, after authorities identified the vehicle used in her abduction and tracked it down. Law enforcement spotted them inside and surrounded the car.
HANKO: When the subject exited the vehicle, he was apprehended and that's when Miss Freeland was recovered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once she had the time to process what had occurred, you could tell she was very emotionally distraught. So, as a result, we took her immediately to the hospital.
CASAREZ: Police identifying her kidnapper as 37-year-old Delvin Barnes. He is currently being held on attempted capital murder charges in another case.
CAPTAIN JAMES SMITH, PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: And all of our prayers were answered when we were able to locate her in a safe condition and we were able to place this male under arrest.
CASAREZ: Overnight, Barnes' uncle speaking out, saying he is not surprised.
LAMAR BARNES, DELVIN BARNES' UNCLE: My experience and knowledge of him is a thing about women or females. It's just hard for me to accept the viciousness of it. Not necessarily surprised.
CASAREZ: The 22-year-old nurse was abducted Sunday night in Philadelphia just blocks away from her home. This disturbing video captures her kidnapping from beginning to end. The suspect parks his car and waits and approaches her as she walks across this intersection. She tries to walk away, when the man grabs her and aggressively drags her down the length of this block. She struggles to break free and yells for help, but he violently pushes her into his vehicle.
The next morning, surveillance video captures a man dressed much like the kidnapper using Carlesha's ATM card at a bank in Maryland. He is also spotted inside this convenience store shortly after. Investigators do not have a motive, but say there is no indication she knew her abductor.
Her mother, thanking law enforcement and the public, grateful for their part in bringing her daughter back safe.
KEISHA GAITHER, MOTHER OF CARLESHA FREELAND-GAITHER: Thank you for being there for us. I'm taking my baby home. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Wow, that is some joy right there. Jean Casarez joins me now. She's on the phone because Jean is on her way to Charles City, Virginia. I know that sounds strange since all of that actually happened in Maryland, but Delvin Barnes is accused in something else as well, a previous abduction involving a 16-year-old.
So, Jean, you're going to have to sort this out for me. We're dealing with a man in the middle of the screen who now has three states attached to him where there has been big trouble and some big alleged trouble -- Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. So could you walk me through this and make this make sense.
CASAREZ (via telephone): Let's start with Virginia. And the similarities, law enforcement say, are striking. This was October 2014. It was just a month ago, Ashleigh. Law enforcement tells me there was an abduction of a young 16-year-old girl. She was just walking along the street. A stranger abduction. And they say the man was Delvin Barnes. Well this young woman was able to escape. Not before, though, she was sexually assaulted. She was lit on fire and bleach was poured all over her. Now, law enforcement says that there was a sexual assault examination done and the perpetrator DNA was put on a DNA database and they found that it was Delvin Barnes. They also believe that she was set on fire because he wanted to try to destroy any type of evidence, forensic evidence, of his that was on her.
Once they got the name Delvin Barnes in October, we're talking late October, Ashleigh, last week, they served a warrant on his home in Virginia. And he was -- they were surveying his mother's home and another relative. He fled the jurisdiction, they believe, on October 29th to October 30th. They didn't know where he was, but now they realize that he must have gone and ended up in Philadelphia.
They were able to go to the car dealership that had a GPS tracking device that they had put on his car because of a credit risk. They used that GPS tracking device to help locate the vehicle yesterday with Carlesha in it. And around 3:30 in the afternoon, that the ATF, U.S. marshal, and FBI began to surveil (ph) that video. They had him in custody by 5:30 yesterday afternoon.
BANFIELD: So, Jean, what you're telling me is while the police are executing warrants for evidence in the attack on the 16-year-old from a couple of weeks ago, while this young woman is still recovering in the hospital from that attack and while the police are trying to get him on an attempted capital murder in that attack, he's allegedly doing that on tape and grabbing this 22-year-old woman?
CASAREZ: That's right. That is exactly right. If that timeline of what law enforcement says is correct, you are so right. Days later he allegedly abducts Carlesha, this time caught all on video. And once again, (INAUDIBLE) survives.
BANFIELD: So what about - and thank God. Thank God for that. What -- I'm not sure if we know the answers to this yet, but there was some detail about when Carlesha was grabbed and thrown in that car, she fought like hell. She kicked the back window out or the passenger side window out of that car. I'm wondering, what was the circumstance that they found her in that car? Was she in the trunk? Was she conscious? Do they know any of that? Are they releasing any of that yet?
CASAREZ: Law enforcement out of Virginia tells me that when they found them yesterday afternoon, they were in the back seat. And they did not want to apprehend him at that point because they were afraid that they were going to have a hostage situation on their hands. So the ATF and the FBI and U.S. marshal waited. And when he exited the vehicle, they moved in. They apprehended him. They rescued her.
She was immediately taken to the hospital in Maryland with they say quote/unquote minor injuries. And we know, Ashleigh, she was released in the early morning hours this morning. She was reunited with her family. I spoke with her family this morning. They say that she is their hero and I think they're in shock now, Ashleigh, for a second time, and overjoyed to say the least.
BANFIELD: Yes, I think those minor injuries would be what you can see, maybe physical injuries. But there's no way you can live through that kind of an ordeal for three days and not come out of it without some kind of a scar.
Jean Casarez chasing that story down for us. Let us know when more developments happen. Clearly the man's going to be doing a lot more court appearances on this one.
What may be so amazing about this is how the police were able to come to such a remarkable conclusion. The investigators tracking Barnes, as you heard Jean say, through that GPS device that the car salesman decided, I think I got to track this vehicle. I do not trust this guy. He was weary, apparently, of Barnes' horrible credit report. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey was on "New Day" this morning to further explain how the public played a part in identifying him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES RAMSEY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, the first video was not a very good video. Unless you really knew the person well, you wouldn't be able to tell exactly who it was. But we were able to, after he used the ATM card, we certainly had a photograph from that. We were able to locate some video from a convenience store. We actually found a scene where some items were discarded that belonged to her. A receipt was found there, so we were able to backtrack that. It was a grocery store in Philadelphia. We pulled video from there. Very good video. We got that out.
The media was a great help to us because by putting that video out, we got a phone call from a person who sold this individual a car. And from that we were able to trace the car. We were able to then contact Charles City, who they had an outstanding warrant for this individual, and things started really falling in place very, very quickly and we were able to track him to Jessup, Maryland, and rescue Miss Gaither.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: It's a good thing that a lot of those violent criminals are remarkably stupid because in addition to the receipt, someone found a broken key chain, a smashed glass, a zip tie and an empty bag of (INAUDIBLE) potato chips and Barnes was scene on the surveillance video you were just looking at, at a convenience store in Philadelphia buying chips and a drink the morning after the abduction.
I want to bring in CNN's legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin and CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos, a defense attorney based in Philadelphia.
This is one of those cases where perhaps I very gently say, this is what you call a case with a lot of bad facts.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.
BANFIELD: Go for it. Have at it.
HOSTIN: To say the least.
DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, definitely. And, you know, I have to say, being in Philadelphia, the PPD has been doing this a lot. They've been making investigations both viral and social by editing these videos, putting them online. I've watched tons of these. And people really get interested. And it's really effective investigate -
HOSTIN: It's great police work.
BANFIELD: Yes.
HOSTIN: Great police work.
CEVALLOS: It's terrific police work. It's really tremendous.
HOSTIN: Yes.
CEVALLOS: The other thing I want to mention, I've been hearing this all morning, is it legal to put these GPS devices on cars? Remember, a car purchase --
HOSTIN: Because doesn't it make you feel bad? Doesn't it make you feel like, my goodness, I buy a car and now the dealer can put this GPS on my car and track me wherever I am. That, initially, made me feel bad. But you found out --
CEVALLOS: Ah-ha, except that when you say the word buy, when we're talking about the subprime car market, people with horrible credit, you can say they buy a car, but the dealer retains a substantial security interest and a high probability that they'll have to repo that car. So the real issue --
BANFIELD: So he hasn't fully bought it. Until you finally buy it, we're going to find out where you are.
CEVALLOS: Exactly. So the real issue is, as long -
BANFIELD: Thank God for that in this case.
CEVALLOS: As long as you have notice that there's something in your car tracking you -
BANFIELD: Yes.
HOSTIN: Yes.
CEVALLOS: Which you can put in all that fine print of the car purchase, then there's nothing illegal about it. It's not the government. No Fourth Amendment.
BANFIELD: But, guys -
HOSTIN: But it's usually the subprime market, right? It's not -
CEVALLOS: Absolutely. I would hope so.
BANFIELD: Let me ask you real quickly - let me ask you about the horrible nature of the crime at hand here.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: And that is what he is charged with doing to this 16-year- old girl. It is heinous. It is horrifying. And what he's going to be charged with more than likely in this particular case. Tell me that he won't get out again, Sunny, and get me off the ledge.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: Because all too often I hear about people like this who have done things like that and are still walking amongst us.
HOSTIN: It's because he's a serial sexual predator. Clearly a violent predator. And he served eight years in prison for an aggravated assault on an ex. And so this is someone that, in my view, it's striking that he was even walking the streets. And, unfortunately, Ashleigh, in our system, sometimes when you have a domestic violence issue, people think -- law enforcement and the public think, well, that's something that just happened inside of the home.
BANFIELD: In their house.
HOSTIN: In their house.
BANFIELD: Right.
HOSTIN: And so this is specific to that couple and this is not somebody that's going to reoffend. We know in law enforcement, quite frankly, that that is just not true. And so I don't think, given the fact that there is video, given the fact that there is DNA evidence, I don't think he's going anywhere.
And I also want to mention something that was really striking to me. She fought -- and you mentioned, Ashleigh, she fought like hell. I think, when looking at this, she did everything right. I remember when I was at the U.S. attorney's office and we were trained by the FBI about safety and I was always told - and I don't know if you've heard this -- never let them take you to the second location -
BANFIELD: Right.
HOSTIN: Because the second location is where the rape and the murder and the mayhem --
BANFIELD: I've always head, never let them get you in the car.
HOSTIN: In the car, but definitely into a second location.
BANFIELD: Yes. Yes.
HOSTIN: So the fact that she fought like this shows how very brave she is and also that she was able to stay alive for those three days, you know, means that she is very smart and I really just can't wait to hear from her -
BANFIELD: Yes.
HOSTIN: Because I think her story will really help so many people, so many women.
BANFIELD: But God bless her if she chooses not to, because I said it just a few moments ago -
HOSTIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: Yes, she may have had minor injuries in that hospital room, but there is no way you get out of that unscathed because that is absolute horror.
HOSTIN: Oh, of course.
BANFIELD: Sunny Hostin, Danny Cevallos, thank you for that, for your input on this terrible story.
I want to take you to another story that we're following as well, and it is the follow up from the midterm elections this week. My next guest says President Obama could end up being the most isolated U.S. president since Richard Nixon. So I'll ask him, isn't that a little harsh?
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