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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Another Secret Service Scandal; More Details of Police Officers Shot During Ferguson Protests; Preview of Today's Session of Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

Aired March 12, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Today yet another scandal and more embarrassment for the Secret Service. Two senior agents have been reassigned for reportedly crashing their car into a White House Security Barricade last week after a night of partying.

CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has more.

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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another scandal for the embattled agency responsible for protecting the President. This time claims two of its top officials including the second in charge of President Obama's own personal security detail, went out drinking at a party, got behind the wheel of a government car and plowed into a security barricade at the White House.

Uniformed officers at the scene wanted to check the official sobriety and make arrest. But the supervisor intervened and let them off. Details reported first in the Washington Post.

CAROL LEONNIG, WASHINGTON POST: Our sources have said to us that the uniformed officers believe these two individuals very likely to be have been drinking and that's a violation of being in a government car for the Secret Service and that they were told to stand down when they were talking about a test.

SERFATY: The Secret Service says the agents in question have been reassigned to "non-operational positions." And now the administration is investigating the incident. Chairs and the house oversight committee calling for quick action as well, saying, "The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only embarrassing but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially dangerous situation."

But it's not the first agents have gotten in trouble. In 2012, nearly a dozen agents were accused of bringing prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Columbia. And last year, three agents sent home from the Netherlands after they went out drinking. One found passed out drunk in the hotel. This latest incident comes just six months after that knife carrying man made it into the east room of the White House, leading to congressional outcry and eventually to the Secret Service director's resignation. Her replacement, Joe Clancy, an old agency hand, vowed to clean up.

JOE CLANCY, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: We've got to do a better job of mentoring, coaching, teaching, and training our people that this is unacceptable.

SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty CNN, Washington.

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BANFIELD: Joining me from Washington live right now is former Secret Service agent Anthony Chapa. He was also with the office of professional responsibility for the U.S. Secret Service.

Anthony, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. When I hear that you were the assistant director of the office of professional responsibility, the first person I want to ask about what happened last night and in 2012 as you heard Sunlen report and in 2014. It seems there have been a lot of these incidents, a lot of them involving drinking and misconduct. What is the answer to this problem?

ANTHONY CHAPA, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Well, Ashleigh, first off, thank you for inviting me to come up here with you. The -- any incident like this is definitely a black eye for the agency. And I can assure you that the Office of Professional Responsibility is taking each one of these cases and investigating them thoroughly.

And this is in defense of the 6,000 men and women of the uniform division, the Secret Service, the professional, administrative staff who do an unbelievable job day in and day out to protect the President, the Vice President, their families, visiting heads of state.

And so, the agency itself, you know, has no want to put any of this under any carpet. It will be investigated thoroughly. The Office of Professional Responsibility received the information. And because of the high level agents involved they're obligated to call the Office of Inspector General. The Office of Inspector General can take the case or pass it back to the Service for thorough investigation.

BANFIELD: So then also Mr. Chapa, what should happen not only to the two agents, and one of them high level and involved, you know, in the President's inner circle. But also the supervisor on duty who decided to overrule the on duty law enforcement officer. Apparently, that officer actually wanted to make an arrest and maybe do some DUI testing. What should happen to that supervisor on duty as well?

CHAPA: Well, first Ashleigh, the case has to be investigated thoroughly. Remember that there was a situation at the perimeter of the White House. So you have a suspicious package. So, you know, what was the focus of the team that was there, you know. We don't know. I'm speculating myself that that may have been the biggest obstacle and biggest concern that they had to address and they pushed this for later investigation, you know. It would have been another issue have they sent them home and never made the report. But here you can see that the agency itself reported this perceived misconduct for investigation.

BANFIELD: Now clearly, we are so at the nascent stages of this investigation. But if it comes to life that the driver, at the very least the driver was drunk after this party. Should that be immediate dismissal from the Secret Service? I'm not sure I would lose my job if I had a DUI, it's quite possible in a public figure. But what about the Secret Service members who do that, should they be held to higher standards?

CHAPA: Well, they are held to a higher standard, probably in some of the highest standard for any government employee. And any agent that has the authority to take a vehicle home who becomes involved with drinking and that information comes to light, you know, they're immediately suspended for 30 days. No questions asked.

So you know, that's a high standard there. Now here we don't have probably anything more than their statements and witnesses to collaborate that but that's enough for a serious suspension. The rest will come with the investigation so we can't jump ahead of ourselves.

BANFIELD: No, we certainly cannot and I look forward to finding out more information and having you back Anthony Chapa....

CHAPA: Well thank you Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CHAPA: Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: Coming up next, to all sorts of potential legal problems in the Secret Service scandal. I can't wait for our lawyers to weigh in on this. And here's something you may not know. These guys are feds and many times they had immunity while they're on the job. Does that weigh in heavily on what happened last night?

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BANFIELD: Breaking news here at CNN. The tactical situation that we've showing you this morning in Ferguson Missouri is now officially over. There were dozens upon dozens of officers, many of them SWAT officers who defended upon a home in Ferguson looking for potentially the shooter involving last night's shooting of two officers at the Ferguson Missouri Police Department.

These pictures were playing out throughout the morning. They had arrested two, and now we're told a third-person or at least they had taken them. They had taken them from the home.

What's interesting is that the official line from the police right now is that three people have been removed from the home. That's the word we're using -- removed two men and one woman.

The police say that they are being questioned as part of the active investigation into last night's shooting. But according to the spokesperson no one is in custody. No suspects have been arrested. But there was a witness from close by who said that he witnessed of people being taken from the home and handcuffed.

It's always interesting to hear that no one has been arrested or is in custody. And yet they're in handcuff being removed from the home. So we're going to continue to gather more information on that.

But the tactical situation that you've been seeing playing out live on CNN most of this morning is now official over. Three people now being interviewed as part of this active investigation into whomever is responsible for the shooting that injured, seriously injured, two police officers last night outside the Police Department in Ferguson after a lot of protest has started to dissipate.

We can also report to you that those two officers have been treated in the hospital and both have been released.

Our other big story "Best Secret Service." It was a busy night last night from Ferguson to D.C. and we're digging deeper into this latest Secret Service scandal with senior agents crashing their car into the barricades around the White House, supposedly after a late night party.

I'm joined by my legal panel, CNN Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos and HLN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

First of all, I can't believed we're even repeating that line that Secret Service agents might have been drunk and partying and then crashing their car, because we had a lot of this problems lately with drinking and poor behavior and misconduct among Secret Service.

First to you Danny, I was unaware that there is this sort of immunity that many of these federal officers actually have in the prosecution of their job. But can you tell me how that relates to this incident?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: As a very general proposition. Federal agents and federal officials enjoy immunity from the local civil actions and state prosecutions. And the rationale behind that is a balancing test between the supremacy clause and also the idea that we don't want -- we want federal agents to feel secure in carrying out their duties without being prosecuted.

But on the other hand local governments don't want them to be cowboys and completely disregard law, drive recklessly and what have you.

The interesting question here is where in the district Columbia.

BANFIELD: Yeah, there is no...

CEVALLOS: Which so...

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Governed by federal law.

CEVALLOS: ... is exactly...

JACKSON: ... Right, yeah.

CEVALLOS: The U.S. attorneys prosecute local law in the District of Columbia, so the question arises. Do they have immunity from local law when the local government is the same government, the federal government? So, it's an interesting constitutional question. We've seen congressmen prosecuted in the past for DUI. But it'd be interesting to see they operate in a different constitutional realm than these federal agents, absolutely they're covered by different part of the constitution.

And ultimately, the charges here might be pleading the scene or of the general impairment statute OWI in D.C., which doesn't require a BAC reading just that they appeared to be drunk.

JACKSON: And just as a quick aside to this to Danny's great analyst there is this, you can lose that immunity. And you can lose that immunity if you're not acting within the general scope of your responsibilities. And at the actions you're taking are not reasonable and proper to that scope. So, even though there is some immunity, there could be a question as to whether that immunity is lost under certain circumstances.

BANFIELD: OK. I also have some defense here as well, like sort of uniqueness to their defense to say...

CEVALLOS: Yes

BANFIELD: ... have you actually go forward to the defense?

CEVALLOS: Yes. This is what's interesting, so when you hit -- when you're involved in an accident in D.C. it can be one of two kinds, either you hit a person or you've hit property. In this case they damage property. And your obligation under D.C. law is to give your informations to the person whose property you damaged and report it to law enforcement.

These guys are law enforcement. The area they hit was law enforcement. There's no question that law enforcement was unnoticed of these actions.

JACKSON: However...

CEVALLOS: So, if they were prosecuted, that would be my defense. Now Prosecutor Joey Jackson is going to step in.

JACKSON: Well, listen. Here's the other issue, it's not only damage to property, it's are you're driving while you're out, you know, while you're alcohol induce, while you're drunk.

And so the issue then becomes even though they left and they're arguably wouldn't be any toxicology result, not that they would to be compelled to take one. But they do this thing called breath analyser, where you blow into it, and then of course, that gives the result. It didn't happen here.

But there's another way you can do it under the general impairment statutes and that is, "I see Ashley Banfield. She has watery eyes. She has slurred speech. She has the over of alcohol emanating from her breath. And when she walk, she was unsteady in her gate," and as a result of that you can certainly be prosecuted under the theory of common law. You look drunk even though I don't have a scientific result to specify that you are.

BANFIELD: Because everything you just said is actually true about. It's (inaudible). I mean...

JACKSON: Not at all.

BANFIELD: ...the problem right now.

CEVALLOS: It also the...

JACKSON: ...it's over effective.

CEVALLOS: It's miraculously what every police officer puts in his report after a car stopped...

BANFIELD: Aha, it's why I said. I actually I'm (inaudible) right now, trying to get through this horrible cold. But I could see somebody saying, "You look a little off. You look a little drunk. And you're just a witness, how could you possibly know my physiology at that point."

Guys, thank you. I appreciate it. We're going to continue to follow that story, and find out what happens to these two federal officers.

Up next, an MIT student came face to face with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at height of the manhunt. But they live to tell about it. An MIT Officer, however, did not. Riveting testimony at the Boston Bombing Trial, next.

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BANFIELD: Its day six of the testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. And this morning some pretty gruesome reminders that the carnage did not end after two bombs ripped into the spectators at the race site, killing three and wounded hundreds of others. It went on for a day. CNN Deb Feyerick is covering the trial.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you see this man contact law enforcement.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hours after the FBI released the Tsarnaev brother's photos just before 10:30 Thursday night. Two men around the corner and approach MIT Police Officer Sean Collier as he seats in his cruiser, bright light flash, calls coming to MIT dispatch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds that somebody is hitting a trash can really loud and there's a cruiser that is right by there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, well check it out. FEYERICK: In that cruiser Officer Collier shot multiple times is not responding either the radio where cell calls. A sergeant arrives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my goodness, all units respond. Officer down, officer down, all units.

FEYERICK: Collier has a slight pulse that is bleeding badly. Other police now on scene frantically performs CPR trying to save him. His gun belt is removed. Blood visible on the gun handle.

Prosecutor say Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev try to steal the fire arm which was triple locked in its holster. An MIT student rides by in a bike. He testify seeing a young guy leaning into the cruiser "He snapped up and turned around. He looks startled. I made eye contact. He had a big nose. He was wearing a dark sweatshirt and hat." Ask whether that man was in court. The student pointed identifying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev flank by his lawyers watched the video described his hand and his brother running from the murder scene. Earlier in the day the jury along with Tsarnaev were shown bomb components including a twisted 8 inch piece of a pressure cooker, BBs and nails used as shrapnel. A green electrical wire and shredded pieces of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev backpack found in the middle of the marathon route.

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BANFIELD: Still incredible they could find those. Deb Feyerick joins me live now from Boston. Take me inside the courtroom today the medical examiner was talking about officer Sean Collier and in particular the wounds and its significant. Can you explain?

FEYERICK: Yeah it was really difficult to listen too and Sean Collier's dad was in that courtroom he looked visibly upset. Some of the jurors actually wipe away tears as they listen to the extent of the injuries. Well I can tell you is the medical exam they're describing what was a whole in his middle, in the middle of his face and saying the he died very, very quickly.

And it's interesting because that video that you just saw Ashleigh, them walking across MIT. Well you cant really make out is that the end of that video was the car light there is a flash in that vehicle presumably the moment that he was fatally shot Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: There's also the issue I think come -- might have forgotten the issue of somebody who was hijacked and car jacked and kidnapped. Where is that going in court right now? Was that person taking the stand?

FEYERICK: Well that's a great question because right after they killed or Mr. Collier they car jacked a man who was returning attacks who pulled over the side of the road. Tamerlan gets into the car according to this grad student who was currently right now testifying. Mr. Tamerlan gets into the car holds a gun in his head and actually asks the grad student, do you know the Boston marathon explosion and then Tamerlan say I did it, I just killed the policemen in Cambridge and then he goes on to ask the grad student where he is from, the student says "I'm Chinese," and Tamerlan respond "I'm Muslim, Muslims hate Americans."

They were driving around for awhile they stole his bank card, went to stole -- to take money from the ATM machine. And then they got to the gas station. And that when that the grad student knew he had a chance to escape. And you can actually see surveillance video Ashleigh of him racing bolting from that car, racing across the streets to get help.

Meanwhile Dzhokhar is inside the convenient store and he's casually picking out drinks and chips and snacks. And after that man runs you can see Tamerlan race up to that door and signal him to come outside which Dzhokhar does. They know it's about to unravel, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Unbelievable reporting, Deb Feyerick for us live in that Federal Courtroom. Thank you for that and thank you all for joining us well. We have a lot of breaking news that we're following here at CNN not the least of which that tactical situation in Ferguson Missouri. They are after whom ever it was who shot two police officers last night.

More coming up with Wolf Blitzer, right after the break.

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