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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

James Holmes's Mental State Examined During Trial; Phase Two Of Caitlyn Jenner Media Extravaganza; CNN Investigation Turns Up Thousands Of Criminal Warrants Against Pets And Their Owners. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 03, 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] MORGAN ENGLISH, ARRESTED BIKER: Why were we being held like this? Why if there a million dollar bomb, why, I'm saying I'm a hard court criminal. It's just none of that made sense.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Matt Clendennen says he belongs to a biker club called The Scimitars. He says he was sitting with biker friends unarmed when an argument erupted in the Twin Peaks parking lot.

Moments later he says chaos erupted.

So what did you do?

MATT CLENDENNEN, ARRESTED BIKER: I ran inside, run in through a side door, ran into a hallway to a bathroom trying to get any form of cover I could. It was absolutely insane.

Just that it has seemed like it went on and on and on.

LAVANDERA: Police describe the bikers as vicious criminals and say they recovered more than 300 weapons at the crime scene.

SGT. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO, TEXAS POLICE: They are not here to drink beer and eat barbecue. They came with violence in mind and we're ready for it.

LAVANDERA: Clendennen hid inside the restaurant until the shooting stopped. He says he didn't have any weapons on him and didn't fight with anyone. He says he gave statements to the police about what he saw.

Was being criminally charged in the back of your mind, did you think that was going to possible?

CLENDENNEN: No. I'd has I didn't know what they could charge us with. I didn't understand what I could be charge with, you know, what can -- what criminal charge can you put on somebody who has done nothing wrong.

LAVANDERA: 36 hours later he says in the middle on the night he is in the jail room with about 30 other bikers when a judge breaks the news that he is not going anywhere and they're all read their rights.

CLENDENNEN: I was in total disbelief.

LAVANDERA: Did you look around, close look on people's faces?

CLENDENNEN: I was just, it was silence, you know, everybody was in shock.

LAVANDERA: The Waco Police Department is firing back at critics who say it's investigators over reacted in this case. A spokesperson tells us that they would not respond to alligations made by people they put in jail on probable cause. The spokesperson also says the investigation continues and that the justice system is working the way it should.

Some of the biker might be out of jail now. But their legal battle is far from over. They still faced the serious criminal charges and they're not sure when they'll ride free again.

Ed Lavandera, CNN Waco Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Anyone who has see the mug shot of the man who opened fire in a Colorado movie theater has wondered what was going on in his head when he did it.

And now almost three years later, he himself is going to tell you that exact story. The horror continues, the mass killer's calm and collected thoughts and remembrances coming up after the break.

We're also watching these live pictures from a news conference that ready to get underway any moment now with the Boston police. And also community leaders there all because of that shooting of a man who police say had fallen under the spell of ISIS and was about to start hurting people possibly even police.

I'm going to bring it to you live, the moment they take those mics live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:41] BANFIELD: Others on a July night, in 2012. As you look into those eyes I want to play for you about two minutes from a 22 hour interview was conducted last year by Holmes' court appointed psychiatrist Dr. William Reid. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES HOLMES: Then I went to put the stuff on, and get all the weapons ready.

WILLIAM REID: Tell me about that process. What did you do or how did that work.

HOLMES: Well I previously loaded all the magazines into the (inaudible), to have them ready to fire. I just put on the clothes, the armed guard, the coats with the ballistic proof. REID: Walk me through you go in through the outer door then what happens? What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell?

HOLMES: First I opened through gas canister while I was still outside the door and it made a hissing sound. And then I went inside and tossed it over on the right side of the theater.

REID: How did it feel to be really doing it?

HOLMES: It was autopilot.

REID: Exhilaration or?

HOLMES: No none of that.

REID: Did you come around the curtain or whatever the partition is and toss the canister?

HOLMES: Yeah.

REID: Walk me through from there.

HOLMES: Then I raised the shotgun, and saw that people were getting up in, like the back left corner. So I like shot off that direction. And then I don't remember any of the other shots of the shotgun.

REID: Any ideas why those people were getting up in the back left corner?

HOLMES: Well they could see me picked out with my guns and stuff.

REID: So you shot in that direction. Do you know if you hit anything?

HOLMES: I heard a scream.

REID: You heard scream?

HOLMES: Yeah.

REID: What happened next?

HOLMES: I shot all my shotgun rounds and tossed it on the floor. And switched to the AR-15, and I don't remember where I shot those ones either, except for like two people that tried to run away, I shot like three shots at them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN reporters who are in the courtroom say that the jurors who have to make this decision about whether he is sane or not are watching Holmes interview closely and that they themselves are showing no emotion. It's a remarkable account.

If you like the cover you may just love the T.V. show.

Straight ahead, phase two of the Caitlyn Jenner media extravaganza. But is this starting to go too far?

[12:39:58] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The Jenner-Kardashian clan certainly knows how to run a media campaign. The public reveal of Caitlyn Jenner's transformation from Bruce to Caitlyn this week took the world by storm.

Breaking Twitter records and causing a lot of breath taking moments for a lot of people. And this morning, the cable Channel E begun a big promotion an upcoming reality show called "I Am Cait."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLYN JENNER: We had it to a couple of weeks ago. Actually a professional come in and do my makeup. What a difference.

OK, we're officially off the property. We're out into the world. It's so bright out there look at that. Isn't it great if maybe someday you'll be normal.

Just blend in the society.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are normal.

JENNER: Put it this way. I'm the new normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The new normal. Well there you go just a tiny snap at joining to talk about Jenner's media blips CNN Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter.

It's so whirlwind that even the criticism has become whirlwind.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

BANFIELD: It had started positively. And now people are saying this is becoming a bit like a cartoon and it's not maybe the positive message that we'd like for this community.

STELTER: That certainly the fear in certainly and the risk associated with this. And Jenner has talked about that. And Caitlyn Jenner's interview with Buzz Bissinger and Vanity Fair goes in a detail about how she wants to make sure this is handled appropriately and if people take away the right messages from it.

[12:45:09] You know, it's interesting that the E Network we don't necessarily think of them as the classiest cable channel on all of cable. But they have recruited several consultants from the transgender community or helping with this reality series.

BANFIELD: Oh really.

STELTER: If they want to make it very clear that they are trying to get it right. And they are trying to avoid that criticism that you're describing. The last thing they want is visit him like spectacle. BANFIELD: Oh, I'll be the negative Nellie. And I'll always just call people out of their maneuvers because I get it. There is such a orchestration to some of these programs.

STELTER: Yeah, sure.

BANFIELD: Because they have had trouble in the past Duck Dynasty had trouble.

STELTER: Yeah.

BANFIELD: The Duggers are having trouble. So I can understand how they would hire the consultants to try to stave off any disastrous moment. But at the same time it just for the lay person. And I'll put myself in because I love T.V. It feels too orchestrated, I feel like I'm being played.

STELTER: So a little too manufactured maybe.

BANFIELD: Well the role I've certainly. I haven't seen the show yet.

STELTER: Well on one hand the role, I would say it's been flawless from a P.R. standpoint.

BANFIELD: Oh flawless. That's the problem.

STELTER: But you're right maybe if it feels a little too carefully done, a little too perfect. You know, one thing that I think is really interesting about this. We haven't seen Caitlyn Jenner paparazzi photographed. We haven't seen pictures of her out in the bout, she's been careful not to let that happen because she's among the paparazzi to make money off of her.

But obviously she will be making money off of this reality show. So from her point of view that makes a lot of sense, right. She want to make sure she profit and not paparazzi.

BANFIELD: Well I hate to say we are the paparazzi, Brian. We are the -- with the people who picked up the magazine in her just curious about this because they might watch a lot of that Kardashians' programming and there's a just a little bit hungry for more. Will we get that through the paparazzi.

So who is she to say no, no, no, no, no it's all mine. And there is some of that criticism as well. Like how dare you suggest, we can only watch it through your orchestrated channel and not through the channels that everybody has this to come to.

STELTER: You know, to your point, when this promo came out this morning how did they come out? They came out either Today's Show which owned by NBC which is also the same (inaudible) compassed.

Right, so it's a very synergistic sort of roll out. And we wouldn't...

BANFIELD: When I say synergy I say orchestrated. STELTER: Not that you would expect anything less in this age. But you're right because some people that does come across with just a little too...

BANFIELD: Perfect.

STELTER: Perfect.

BANFIELD: ... and orchestrated. All right, we'll continue to talk about this because I think they'll be other roll out a day or two, right.

Brian Stelter, as always thank you I appreciate it.

What would you pay to save your beloved pet from a death sentence? That's what I thought you'd say, I can almost hear the cacophony.

When we comeback the CNN investigation, family dogs as cash house for animal control agencies is this really true?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:51:25] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isaiah Austin is blind in his right eye due to a detached retina that he suffered as a teenager. But that didn't stop him from dominating the court as a Baylor University Basketball center.

ISAIAH AUSTIN: I know that I had to perform at a high level in order for people to, you know, really respect me. And I did that.

GUPTA: In 2014 he was a top recruit for the NBA draft but just days before that draft Isaiah was told he has Marfan syndrome. It's a genetic disorder that affects the body's connective tissue.

Doctors say he could no longer pursue a career in basketball.

AUSTIN: Toughest moment in my life.

GUPTA: Isaiah had to be tough especially for his younger siblings.

AUSTIN: I just knew that, I headed myself right in front of them because they look up to me like no other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The NBA select, Isaiah Austin.

GUPTA: The NBA commissioner recognized Isaiah with an honorary draft pick and a job after he graduates. For now Isaiah is working with NBA cares and bringing awareness to Marfan syndrome through a foundation he started.

In his book Dream Again, Isaiah shares his personal journey in the hopes of encouraging others.

AUSTIN: I could've playing in NBA right now. And there could've been a high chance that I will collapse on the court. But my new passion really is to inspire people with my story.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: If you own a pet you may want to buy a short leash because the CNN investigation has turned up thousands of criminal warrants that cost pet owners hundreds of dollars in fines for their animals alleged misdeeds, misdeeds as mundane as barking.

If the owner can't pay the fines and the fees, their pets are killed. Our Randi Kaye has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their names are Jake and Lucy. Home is Colorado Springs, with the McAdam family, who adopted both of them. But now, both of these dogs, family pets, are staring down a possible death sentence, accused of killing a neighborhood cat.

Had your dogs ever harmed or killed an animal before?

CAITLIN MCADAM, DOGS SEIZED BY ANIMAL CONTROL: No.

KAYE: Had they ever been aggressive before?

MCADAM: No. They've never bit, harmed anything.

KAYE: But the Pikes Peak Regional Humane Society says it has no choice, the dogs are considered dangerous under Colorado law. So the district attorney has filed criminal misdemeanor charges against Caitlin McAdam and is threatening to euthanize the dogs.

This is all because someone thinks they saw McAdam's dogs kill that cat back in January.

Caitlin and her husband had no idea anything was wrong until animal control showed up at their house to seize the family's dogs. She says her dogs didn't kill the cat.

MCADAM: They thought, we could just go to the Humane Society and prove that and get them back.

KAYE: She could not have been more wrong. Caitlin was later told there'd have to be a probable cause hearing to determine if the county could hold her dogs.

And there's more. Caitlin had just 10 days to come up with $1,200 to cover the fees for her dogs' incarceration. No payment and the dogs would be euthanized within days.

The case of Jake and Lucy is hardly unique. In fact, an investigation by CNN Money, which looked at 15 cities around the country, found thousands of outstanding active warrants against pet owners. These warrants are for infractions that include a barking dog, a dog without a license, and an animal loose in the neighborhood. [12:55:06] And this may be about a lot more than pets. It may be about money. A lot of it. The fines and fees raise millions of dollars across the country, for cash-poor towns and cities.

But Caitlin is convinced some animal control officials are targeting low-income families, those who can't afford to pay

MCADAM: And the fact that I could be looking at jail time for something like this is just ridiculous, I just -- I feel like I were somebody living in the gate of community or something that this wouldn't even be an issue, this wouldn't be happening.

KAYE: And as steep as the defines are people like Caitlin McAdam say, animal control knows they'll find a way to come up with the money to save their beloved animals,

Did you have that kind of money?

MACADAM: I found that kind of money, but no, I didn't have that kind of money, I have to come up with it.

At the Pikes Peak regional Humane Society in Colorado Springs, we asked for an explanation, as to why Jake and Lucy, who have never been in trouble before, are facing a death sentence.

JAN MCHUGH-SMITH, PRESIDENT, PIKES PEAK REGIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY: There is no mistake, people are notified to get the money with in 10 days of the hearing.

KAYE: What if they can't get the money?

SMITH: There is always ways for people to be able to come up with the money to do this.

KAYE: Always? That's not exactly the case, in Stockton California this Siberian husky makes -- who was seized by animal control in 2013 after he'd escape form a backyard, his owner Geraldine Turket (ph) couldn't afford to pay the fine to get him out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And I'm just going to have to jump to Randi Kaye's reporting at this moment because I want to take you live to Boston where a clergy members and also members of the authorities in Boston are getting a live new conference about the man who was shot dead by police yesterday. He was a terrorist suspect, let's listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President of the Black Ministerial Alliance for the pass of 12 Baptist church.

DARNELL WILIAMS, CEO, URBAN LEAGUE OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS: What we thought that we would do is to try to give you a sense. And first of all, I thank all of you from the media for staying and waiting till after this meeting. We were invited along with several members of the Muslim community, there were women in the room representing various aspects of our community along with the civil rights community, community if the activist in clergy.

This is a ongoing investigation and as a result of that the FBI, the Carmen Ortiz from the U.S. attorney's office and commission to evidence from the from the Boston police department, because of the nature of the ongoing investigation there were many questions we had that were not answered.

The only thing that we can tell you or share with you is that we did see video what the video does reveal to us very clearly is that the individual was not on the cellphone, the individual was not shot in the back and that the information that was reported by other that was the case is in accurate.

We are going to have to wait and to after the investigation is complete before we determine or we recognize determination on the justifiable or the justifiable shoot.

That's not our role, what we were hopeful for, what we expected there was a level of transparency. |And that transparency was given, we were very comfortable on what we saw or we can't come to many conclusion about what we saw. But the video was a little distance, but yet we did see it.

I believe that the district attorney (inaudible) has indicted he wants the family of the victim that was killed to see the video before it's released to the public.

So I think at the end of the day what we are trying to do is to convey not only to our various constituencies but to the general public, that what has been stated the individual was shot in the back while he was on a cellphone taking to his father was false. And that there were three shots to the individual, one to the shoulder, one to the abdomen and one to the chest.

So those are the facts as we know it I'll stop here to Reverent Scott and Reverent Joe want to say -- make any other comments. And then I'll come back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There aren't to many other things to say other than what Darnell has covered, some of our Muslim colleagues are still up stairs still asking question still in conversation with the police.

One of the things we want to be able to do going forward from this is to make sure that the dialogue and the communication involves the entire community people of all faiths. So we want to ensure that, we sort to work our way through this very difficult incident as a Boston community with everybody communicating and working together.

[13:00:06] The last time we suffered one of these tragedies where the officer Moynihan and Angelo West event, the police had many of the same people in the room, they had the same kind of conversation.