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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Latest in the McStay Family Murder Case; Brown Shooting Grand Jury to Hear from Two Pathologists; What to Do about Foreign Fighters?; Mexican Prison Video Diary to Air

Aired November 13, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: So next the D.A. prosecuting the man accused of killing the McStay family in California, sits down for an exclusive interview with CNN. Find out what led the authorities to nab their suspect ands what do they have on him?

(COMMERICIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Some disturbing new details and a five-year mystery, the murder of a California family, the McStays. They were found dead, kids included, buried in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert last year and the suspect, his name is Chase Merritt. He's a family friend. And he was just arrested last week.

And then just yesterday, he pleaded not guilty to the crime, perhaps not a surprise. But Joseph McStay, his wife, Summer and their two precious little boys, Gianni and Joseph Jr., disappeared in February of 2010, and now for the first time the district attorney in the case is opening up about what happened to them and why he is certain that Merritt is the one who did it. Randi Kaye has this exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL RAMOS, SAN BERNARDINO'S DISTRICT ATTORNEY: When we finally put all the case together and the circumstantial evidence and the direct evidence, there was no doubt in her mind this was the person that committed the murders.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NEWS REPORTER: And that's when investigators found stunned Chase Merritt just last week, a stunning turn for a man who called himself one of the victim's best friends. San Bernardino's district attorney spoke exclusively with us about the case.

At what point do you believe Chase Merritt became the prime suspect?

RAMOS: As early I would say six months ago, you know, when things started getting clearer and we started putting pieces of the puzzle together.

KAYE: D.A. Michael Ramos shared for the first time that long before Chase Merritt was the prime suspect, investigators were suspicious of him very early on in the investigation.

Merritt had told us in an exclusive interview in January, long before he was arrested that he'd taken a lie detector test but insisted he wasn't asked directly if he killed the McStays.

You passed the polygraphs?

CHASE MERRITT, SUSPECT FOR KILLING MCSTAY FAMILY: Apparently, I mean, I haven't -- after I took the polygraph test, law enforcement has not contacted me, and kind all sense.

KAYE: But that doesn't mean they weren't watching him.

RAMOS: We knew where Mr. Merritt was on a daily basis for the last year.

KAYE: Watching him closely?

RAMOS: Watching him closely.

KAYE: Merritt raised red flags because he apparently couldn't keep his story straight.

RAMOS: His story is all over the place.

KAYE: And with that, the big tip for you an indication.

RAMOS: I think that's one of the many indicators.

KAYE: The San Bernardino sheriff says the family died from blunt force trauma. And that they all died at their Fallbrook, California home. But the D.A. revealed new information about how quickly the murders occurred and what Merritt might have used to kill.

RAMOS: We know that the main weapon was enough to cause a blunt force trauma to the victims.

KAYE: In one strike?

RAMOS: Yes. It could be several, but yes one strike with the object could have done this especially to the children.

KAYE: Can you say anything about, you know, is this an object that would have been found in the home? Is that why they believed they were killed in the home? Is this is an object that would have come from somewhere else?

RAMOS: It's an object that could have come from the home or somewhere else. It's an object that we would be familiar with.

KAYE: It's a common object.

RAMOS: There you go, it's a common object.

KAYE: The McStays remains were found buried in the Mojave Desert a year ago this week in two shallow graves each, about 1 to 2 feet deep. Investigators were intrigued that Merritt lived about 20 miles away.

Ramos told us investigators recovered more than 100 pieces of evidence from the desert. Could you pick up tire tracks all those years later in the desert? And it was nearly four years later?

RAMOS: Yes. We've been known to be able to do that especially in a part of a desert. A lot of folks aren't driving to those secluded, isolated places. So any tire tracks or any evidence would be preserved.

KAYE: Could one person kill a family of four, bury the bodies hundred miles north in the Mojave Desert, dropped the car 250 miles south at the Mexico border, is one -- could one person do all that and then return home to make it look like he was home that night to receive a phone call from Joseph McStay?

RAMOS: Yes. And we have the evidence to prove that. Yes.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Victorville, California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Can a murder suspect video diary from prison sway a jury and yes, I said a video diary from inside the cell. Well, the victim's family says yes. And they do not want that video shown.

CBS, however, does not agree. They plan to show it, going to bring you the latest twist in the case of a former producer of Survivor who's accused of killing his beautiful wife in Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: That's a live picture at the Washington D.C. (inaudible) gathering, getting -- waiting for a -- getting ready for a big news conference from the Attorney General Eric Holder is about to take to the mike all of this following a meeting that he's fresh off with the European Union officials, and the topic about foreign fighters and how to prosecute them.

What to do about foreign fighters like those of the American how to deal with leaving this country, heading to ISIS, so just to be some fascinating announce likely to happen.

In the meantime, our justice correspondent Evan Perez have been n the story, what do you know about exactly what do you plans to do and what is administration plans to do with the E.U.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, (inaudible) on the front row of the Attorney General just got back from a trip to Europe last week and here he has some of his counterparts from the same country who are here meeting with him and one of the things they're trying to do is it push country to increase their laws to pass new laws to be able to deal with foreign fighters and as you know, Ashleigh the U.S. has a law called material support to terrorism which the U.S. have used very, very often to prosecute people who are attempting to travel to Syria or Iraq to join terrorist groups and has used it -- frankly have used it over the period of years to join, you know, for anybody who's trying to join Al-Qaeda. And so, the idea is to try to get countries pass similar laws and to track down on some of this people who are traveling as you know there a couple of thousand foreign fighters who have gone to this region to join this ISIS and other groups.

BANFIELD: All right so, were going to continue watch this Evan, I know you're watching as well. So we're going to squeeze on a quick break first, but the live mic is ready to go, we're going bring you this news conference as soon it happens.

And also that story about the guy who was the producer on the reality TV show Survivor, he's effectively producing his own reality show inside his own cell in Mexico and Americans want to see it and American network wants to run it. Doesn't mean everybody wants it out there though. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A former producer of the hit reality show Survivor has recorded his own real life drama in a Mexican prison. While he's on trial for the murder of his wife at a resort in Cancun from back in 2010.

His name is Bruce Beresford-Redman and he's been behind bars since 2012 as his case continues to drag on. And CBS program called 48 Hours gave him a small GoPro camera and they asked him if he would document his life while he was locked away. And he agreed.

Weird thing is the prison agreed too, but this is not the United States, folks, it's Mexico. And now CBS is airing the episode this Saturday. And it's against the wish of the victim's family. Take a look at the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE BERESFORD-REDMAN: My name is Bruce Beresford-Redman. What you will see is a glimpse into a Mexican prison. I agreed to do these video diaries to give a sense of what life is like here in hell.

I'm accused of the murder of my wife Monica. The cell I'm in is a very small cell. It's designed for three men and there are ten of us in here. If I'm convicted, I am facing a sentence of 30 years.

There is very large riot going on right now. They tear gassed a couple of times.

This is what it looks like to be tear gassed.

There's fire everywhere. It's chaos. It's really, really chaos. There were people who have demonstrated poor impulse control and some of them may have mental problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, his wife is the victim in this case. She was murdered and Monica Beresford-Redman's sisters are asking CBS not to air this stuff until after the verdict in the case. But the network is going ahead with it and here's what the network's saying, I'll quote them, "We have approached the sisters for the duration of our reporting on the story, though they declined repeated requests for new interviews. We feel we have fairly represented their position in the broadcast. We are confident when people see the show in it's entirety. They will agree we have fairly represented all sides."

So that's them and then there's this whole issue of, really? From a legal view I want to bring back in our CNN Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos and HLN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

First let's just be real clear, this wouldn't be happening in the United States of America?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: It would not. Why? Because they wouldn't allow the camera in the first place to do any type of documentaries, now if we were talking about Jodi Arias, that's different, but we won't bring that into this particular equation. But, no certainly there - it wouldn't be even an issue because they wouldn't allow for such a documentary to take place in the United States.

BANFIELD: So, why is this is a problem if this is something that is going to be adjudicated in Mexico? Are we really that concerned or should the family be that concerned of jury tainting?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, the Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that (inaudible) not the Mexican. I'm not very up on my Mexican Supreme Court case law, but ours has said that putting gag orders on the media is an extraordinary remedy, should almost never be used.

And that actually comes from a 1994 Supreme Court case involving CBS. So...

BANFIELD: Really?

CEVALLOS: ... it is, there is present (ph) for this. So you add that to the fact that this maybe a Mexican court and that becomes completely meaningless to our system.

In other words, the proceedings in a Mexican court really cannot be -- they can't be stopped, they can't file suit here in America and stop any documentary if they wanted to. There is virtually nothing they could do.

But, if you're the family and you want this man convicted, you should be thrilled that he's doing a documentary. Because that will create a treasure trove of evidence that the Mexican government, if they're smart, will TiVo the episode and use it against them.

BANFIELD: (inaudible) always the way, is it Joey?

JACKSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: I mean, Jodi Arias they copy (ph) at the interviews and ultimately, I think it made some people really paid her. And some of those people might have been on the jury.

JACKSON: Ashleigh, do you really think?

BANFIELD: Although they're not killing her, they sure did convict her.

JACKSON: Right. They're doing that now. But, you know, just to take you back off to Danny's brilliant analysis, I get what he's saying is it's not going to happen.

Now, they're relying upon the good graces of course, the family that is, if CBS to say, you know, what maybe it's not in great taste, maybe by putting this out there it creates sympathy, it creates sort of this era if he's really innocent and he's enduring these terrible prison conditions, but you know what, the reality is if it goes into a court room and just this not much of a family from a legal perspective can do to stop CBS.

CEVALLOS: We should add that neither of us have kept up on our bar admissions in Mexico, so candidly the procedure we're a little behind on, right?

JACKSON: Just a little.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you though, I'm a real fan of this show on another network, waka...

CEVALLOS: Is that it...

BANFIELD: Sorry, I don't know what it is, but I love it. How was it any different because those people, they may also have actions still down the pipe.

CEVALLOS: Well, yes especially the ones that focused on jails where people are awaiting trial.

BANFIELD: Yeah, trial.

CEVALLOS: But then, when the cameras are on and those defendants choose to put themselves out there on camera, they're getting waivers and that can be used in a U.S. court, believe me against them should the prosecution be inclined.

JACKSON: Interesting you said you're a fan of that show. I'm a fan of legal view.

BANFIELD: Thank you.

JACKSON: You see that?

BANFIELD: Thank you.

CEVALLOS: My favorite show. Can I take that back, my legal view is my favorite.

JACKSON: There we go. BANFIELD: I watch them exactly...

JACKSON: The only show to watch on TV.

BANFIELD: Well listen, this will be the show, I think if this is your best CBS airing to stop, who knows though if the backlash will be anything worth reporting afterwards.

Guys, thank you. Danny, Joey as always.

So, I showed you that live microphone in Washington D.C. before, still there. Kind of thought this would start at 12:30, but here we are 23 minutes and 19, 20, 21 seconds later and Eric Holder is not at the mic. But he's going to be and so will we after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So this is one of those things where you kind of just sit and wait and you hope not to get in the way of the camera that's sitting and waiting too.

The Attorney General Eric Holder about to take that mic to announce what our Evan Perez has been able to find out is some pretty significant moves when it comes to European Union and how some of the members, now 14 of those countries in fact are going to be prosecuting their foreign terrorists, those who perhaps fight for ISIL and then perhaps return home.

When they're cut, exactly what kind of law can those countries use to prosecute them? The material support law that we use here in America, potentially. Anyway that kind of information's about to come from the A.G. himself, and like I said it was due at 12:30 and we're 12:57. So other news 'till he gets ready to go.

After bouncing off a comet, hurdling through space, the Philae probe has landed on a comet surface and its transmitting data into images as we speak, millions of miles back to earth to an office in Europe. I love it.

These are the latest photos being beamed back that the probe took of the comet's craggy surface. The probe is expected to send even more data and even more photos today.

Our CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on this awesome and historic mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a 10-year, 6.5 billion kilometer journey across the solar system, the Phillae lander let go of the Rosetta mother ship starting its free fall toward comet 67P.

Then, in excruciating weight at the descent took seven hours. The robotic lander about the size of a washing machine snapping pictures as it move closer to the speeding comet.

And finally, the confirmation scientist had waited a decade to hear. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We definitely confirm that the land that is on the surface...

PLEITGEN: And this tweet from the lander, touchdown my new address, 67P.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a big step for human civilization.

PLEITGEN: Soon after, mission scientists say they detected a possible problem. Anchors that hold the probe to the comet's surface failed and they say it appears the lander may have briefly lifted off again possibly to adjust its position on the comet.

It's unclear if any damage was done,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe today we didn't just land once, we even landed twice.

PLEITGEN: Despite the potential setback, scientists say the lander will now start gathering information about the composition of the comet which they hope will shed a new light on our solar system, our planet, and even the origins of life.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN Darmstadt, Germany.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Such a good day for geeks of the world unite. Thanks for watching everybody. Wolf starts right now.