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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

South Carolina Police Shooting Examined; Boston Marathon Bombing Verdict Reveiwed; Durst Pleads Not Guilty; Preview of Wonder List Show. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 09, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


[12:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: He was a loving son, a loving father and he cared about his family. Those are the words from the mother of Walter Scott.

He is the unarmed man who was shoot and killed by a South Carolina police officer. And understandably his family is devastated.

Judy Scott his mom spoke with our Anderson Cooper last night about her son, about his death and about that now famous video tape that put this story in to a whole new light.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER: So when did you learn that there was a video tape?

JUDY SCOTT, WALTER SCOTT'S MOTHER: It was the next day.

COOPER: So when you finally saw it, I can't imagine what went through your...

JUDY SCOTT: I couldn't really watch the whole tape. When I saw my son running and I saw the policeman behind him. I couldn't take it. I had to turn away. I couldn't handle it.

COOPER: Knowing what you know now, I mean that not only what happened to your son the way it happened, that it was all captured on a tape. And even what seems to be pictures of the policeman picking up something maybe the taser placing into your son's body. What do you thinking to know what happened?

[12:35:02] SCOTT: That was not right. The policeman is supposed to protect the people not try to frame them or get out of what they've done wrong. They suppose to be honest people, protecting us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Overnight residents of North Charleston gathered together at a candle light vigil to remember Walter Scott and also to demand some changes from their city.

Our Kyung Lah takes a look back at Walter Scott's life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Walter Scott now lives in our minds for the way he died for his family. The 50 year old struggled in an imperfect world and his place in it. He came from a large extended family. He was one of three sons.

ANTHONY SCOTT, WALTER SCOTT'S BROTHER: I had two brothers, I had two brothers. But now I have one brother. But out of my brothers he was the most outgoing out of all of us.

He had -- he knew everybody.

LAH: That outgoing personality brought him to the U.S. Coast Guard at age 19. He served for two years until the Coast Guard says a drug related offense led to an involuntary separation.

Scott received a general discharge under honorable conditions when he left in 1986. His family says the years that followed brought ups and downs.

Scott's first wife and the mother of his two older children died. Scott remarried, had two more children. But that marriage ended in divorce.

Unpaid child support piled up. And according to South Carolina authorities a warrant was issued for his arrest, that maybe why as the Scott family attorney, he ran from Officer Michael Slager.

His brother says he was a huge Dallas Cowboy's fan. And was happy the last time the family was together. Scott's parents just celebrated their 50th anniversary where he danced with the family he loved.

ANTHONY SCOTT: He was kind, he love his children, he was a great father, he was a great father. He was a great friend and he was a great brother. And he was also a great son.

LAH: As far as his court record we looked at it everything we saw was traffic related or child custody related. You have to go back almost 30 years back to 1987 when he was 21 years old to find the only mark of violence that in assault and battery charge.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well thanks to Kyung Lah.

It should be noted that his mother Judy Scott says that she forgives the man who killed her son, which remarkable grace that she articulated that on live television no less just days from the death of her son and having said she could not even watch the entire video.

Walter Scott's funeral will be held this Saturday in Summerville.

I want to move on to another big story that we're watching today. Guilty 30 times over, 17 times of a death penalty offense. A Boston Marathon bomber described as "A monumental failure" at striking fear in people. And now the process begins as to whether he lives or he dies. And the voices are coming out for and against.

You'll hear about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:43] BANFIELD: Now that the verdicts are in, in the Boston bombing trial, we are about to enter a second phase and it's big.

The jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts that he faced. And now that same group of people, that jury has a bigger decision. Whether that 21-year-old should be locked up for life or whether he should be executed by the state, by the feds, by America. This is a heart-wrenching time for the survivors and for the victim's families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BRASSARD, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I don't know what justice is. I'm grateful to have him off the street.

ROBERT WHEELER, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: Over the past, you know, two years now, I really thought a lot about what's more of a punishment to live with your son result t, that is basically I mean, you know, based on that judgment right away, you know. So I still wonder very much though what is a greater punishment

REBEKAH GREGORY, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I don't believe that there will ever be justice brought to this no matter if he does get the death penalty or he remains in prison for the rest of his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, the question really from the beginning was, should Tsarnaev's life be spared and the Boston Globe is weighing in saying this, "Tsarnaev obviously should spend the rest of his life in prison. His defense has already made a good case that he does not meet the exceptionally high standards for a federal execution."

Really? Really? I want to take a closer look at those standards with our legal experts, Danny Cevallos and Joey Jackson.

I'm just going to ask you that question guys. Really, the exceptionally high standards for a federal execution? I don't know. I counted at least, I don't know, six, seven standards that he met perfectly actually to a T (ph).

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. But it doesn't work quite that way as simply just taking the aggravating factors and taking the mitigating factors and just balancing them out. The procedure is slanted in favor of life and that's the way it's designed out of an abundance of caution.

So the prosecution must prove it statutory aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. But the defense is under a much lesser burden to prove its mitigating factors, and the mitigating factors are both statutory and non-statutory.

And so when I say statutory, that's shorthand for anything you can come up with that can demonstrate to the jury that his young man's life is worth saving.

BANFIELD: OK. Joey Jackson and the mitigators here and there's a nice pretty list if you want to Google it.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

BANFIELD: You ca look for yourself at the federal statute, its simple folks. What's good about them and then what's bad about them? Just to be simple. But what's good about them? Apparently, impaired capacity is one of the things they can look forward veracity under it.

JACKSON: Minor participation.

BANFIELD: That it was a minor participation that they were equally culpable defendants that he's...

JACKSON: No criminal record

BANFIELD: No prior criminal record and then that big bread basket of other factors, nice guy, like puppies and kitties and help senior citizens. I'm making that up because I have no idea what else is good about this man.

JACKSON: Understood.

CEVALLOS: That could actually make it in.

BANFIELD: But, you know, what there's plenty bad, both of you know, there are plenty bad and we know it.

JACKSON: Sure.

BANFIELD: He meets so many, you know, great risk of death to additional person. Heinous, cruel, depraved, matter of committing to defense, he blew up a child. He blew people bit from bit.

JACKSON: Right.

BANFIELD: I mean I'm not even going to go through the list because it's too long.

[12:44:57] JACKSON: Well, ultimately, you have to think about what's the jury going to do back there, right? What are they going to do? Now, remember, they've been processing throughout the time of these 92 witness how heinous and cruel and atrocious this act was.

Based upon what the prosecution did here, Ashleigh, in laying out the compelling testimony of the victim. And we could talk about Martin Richard, his sick the (inaudible) body have (inaudible) and the father's testimony about making a choice to protect his daughter who also lost a leg, the carnage, everything absolutely.

BANFIELD: ... that child was so dead he knew it and he went to his daughter.

JACKSON: Yes, now, they've been looking for that and they've been looking into that the jury since the outset of the case. And so now they have to process it. And they also have to process the fact that he did it based upon punishing America.

But ultimately the answer is going to be whether or not they feel the jury. Is the punishment worse really, if we sentence him for life or should it be death.

BANFIELD: Whatever you feel about the death penalty and that's not what I'm talking about the morality of it. If you have it, this is kind of why, this is the guy that you have a death penalty for and why we sit and the likes of, you know, North Korea and Saudi Arabia and Iran.

And the other people who have states that killed their people. So, you know, if you're going to have it, I don't know why that wouldn't fit the bill but that's a whole other debate and it's a whole other program.

Thank you to both you. I appreciate it.

JACKSON: Thank you Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: We're keeping a very close file another courtroom is by Massachusetts were its verdict watch in the trial of Aaron Hernandez, this is the murder trial too folks. And the prosecutor say the former football star was the triggerman. But what is the jury talking about all these hours?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:07] BANFIELD: This just in to CNN this hour a not guilty plea from Robert Durst that millionaire real estate developer who is facing a first degree murder charge in Los Angeles and hasn't plead to that. But is pleading to something in Louisiana been in drug charges.

He was arrested in New Orleans last month of cash and a gun and drugs and a disguise. His next court appearance on the New Orleans charges will be on Tuesday.

And then to the Aaron Hernandez case where the jury after three days of deliberating does not have a verdict but they do have questions.

Our Susan Candiotti is outside of the courthouse she's over Massachusetts. What are the questions and what are they doing Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Ashleigh they've had fix (ph) their notes so far, since the late Tuesday afternoon. I think probably the most interesting one was one that came up yesterday. They were asking about the weapons charges.

Remember he faces that in addition to a murder charge here. And they wanted to know what is the meaning of constructive possession, this is how the minutia and the detail that's involved. And it means according to the judge that you have to have possession of the gun and the ability to control it.

But you don't necessarily, you don't have to have intent to use it. They're talking about the 45 caliber gun that prosecutor say is the murder weapon in this case. So that's an example. But other things had to do with, we need the exhibit list. We need laptops to look at the videos.

So they're seeking particular information about things they need, so they may still just be getting settled in. But they're clearly hard at work.

BANFIELD: No, I saw roughly 400 or so exhibit. So, they do have a lot to go over.

Susan Candiotti. Thank you for that. Let us know if there's any other movement from that jury room.

We're back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:32] BANFIELD: Well, Florida Everglades is home to some of the planet more bizarre animals and then extremely delicate invulnerable balance of wildlife. But America's most famous swap is right now endanger of drying up and it's where CNN Bill Weir went for this weeks Wonder List.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR: Mac (ph) is kind of a modern resonance man (ph), part artist and adventurer, part time scientist. Cool. Look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Before we start it's getting fine.

WEIR: All of which makes him among the best wildlife photographers in South Florida which can only come from someone with a deep love of this misunderstood place, a passion for the vast variety of creatures, great and small that exist only here, not just bears and birds, oysters and orchids, gators and crocks, but even the fresh scented of the weeds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, what a...

WEIR: I mean fresh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put that in your water. This is clear to mom's kitchen. The thing is people are afraid to put their toes in this. But there's nothing to worry about here.

WEIR: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just, you know, part of nature this is it.

WEIR: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the way to see it too, you know. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right onto you.

WEIR: The alligator takes his leg.

Yeah. What do you call this one "Princess?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where snakes like to hangout like right on top of these.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: All I'm saying is I won't to do that, I wouldn't...

WEIR: It was awesome.

BANFIELD: Are you crazy?

WEIR: No, it was amazing. And that's the thing about the Everglades it's not like the Yellowstone, or you're with somebody we go, wow. We got to kind of go out jungle. Oh, hey look over there--

BANFIELD: Yeah.

WEIR: Beautiful.

BANFIELD: Yeah. Those bees actually come to poke under the water when your little ankles they're looking some appetizers.

WEIR: It burns too much body heat for them to eat you.

BANFIELD: So, here's the weird thing. You did that and got all these spectacular pictures and did the whole beautiful hot...

WEIR: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... gorgeous Florida and then you just right off to the Apls, it's a two for you doing that in Florida and the Alp.

WEIR: Actually it's the other way around, so we had 9:00 this Sunday, we're going to the Apls to look at melting glaziers...

BANFIELD: OK.

WEIR: ... which is happening at an alarming rate. They trying to understand why the glaziers are disappearing so fast and climate change skeptics are not. And I go to a Heartland Institute convention in Vegas to challenge some of this folks who say that everything is fine on our planet.

And then we come down and go into the swamp which is one of the great examples of a man and realizing, wait a minute you can't destroy entire ecosystems with impunity. You know, they said drain the swap back in the 30s and 40s, let's make Florida the home the good life. But they didn't realize that without that swamp, without the fresh water and the aquifers there can be no good life in Florida, there could be no life in Florida.

BANFIELD: But it was -- it's always been my understanding and I love Florida, I'm there all the time in fact both my folks are there. But it's always in my understanding that they got smart after the dumbness and they...

WEIR: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... started to reverse a lot of the policy but how good have they been at that?

WEIR: That's why we went down there. It's the biggest wildlife reclamation project in history, the same army core of engineers that blew it up and dug it and dumped it and dike it and piped it and stopped all that fresh water from flowing. They're now under orders to fix it to put it back to the tune of $13 billion.

BANFIELD: You said billion with the B?

WEIR: Billion dollars. Remember the Florida recap, in the middle of that, you know, partisan fight Jeb Bush went to see Bill Clinton sign the bill that was spent billions to bring back the glaze.

BANFIELD: Oh, that's why we missed that.

WEIR: Yeah. You were distracted.

BANFIELD: I'm at fault actually because I was in the middle of that...

WEIR: That's all right.

BANFIELD: ... incredible litigation that I've never seen such tangled (ph) litigation. So, OK, this is going to be a program with both of these issues in composing?

WEIR: Two hour, two for us, we finish up Season 1, we're starting at 9:00 in Alps and 10:00 in the glades.

BANFIELD: One suitcase or two, because that's a lot of stuff.

WEIR: We -- yeah, we came home between.

BANFIELD: You did not. We send you out on The Wonder List because you're wonderful.

WEIR: Thank you.

BANFIELD: You love that. Well, thank you. OK. So, again The Wonder List CNN this Sunday evening at 9:00 eastern with this guy who's my favorite -- you're like the (inaudible) man, that's what you are.

WEIR: Say it first to my friends.

BANFIELD: The most incredible or amazing or whatever it is. Bill Weir thank you for that and thank you everyone for watching, it's been really good to have you with us. We've a lot of breaking news today and a lot still to cover, so that's why Wolf Blitzer now takes the house (ph) stay tuned he begins right now.