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Lawmaker Seeks Federal Probe of Bland's Death; Accused Prison Worker Faces Judge; John Kerry Testifies to House Committee. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 28, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:43] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An autopsy showed there was no struggle in Bland's death, meaning she may have committed suicide. CNN talked to the woman in the cell next to Bland. She heard no signs of a struggle, no signs of distress except for Bland's crying. What do you think happened to her?

REP. BILL FOSTER (D), ILLINOIS: Well, I don't want to speculate on this. There are really two issues here.

The first is the traffic stop itself. I have not talked to one officer of the law that believes that the police officer acted appropriately in those circumstances. They should be trained to de- escalate confrontational situations like that, and what it appears we saw was the exact opposite of that.

This also highlights the importance of having high-quality video cameras on all aspects of the interaction between legal authorities and citizens because without the videos in these cases, we would have nothing. The videos were much less informative in the case of the jail, and I think that there are a lot of unanswered questions.

It may be in the end that we will never know the full facts of her case, but I think in order to re-establish the trust in the legal justice system throughout this country, I think there is not a substitute for a full, fair, and complete federal investigation.

I have been joined in this by Senator Dick Durbin who is obviously her senator. I'm her congressman and Dick is her senator, and we both drafted nearly identical letters urging Loretta Lynch to open a federal investigation.

COSTELLO: And I assume you have not heard back yet.

FOSTER: No. Our office is in the process of requesting a briefing on the situation and the likely response here.

COSTELLO: Representative Bill Foster -- thanks so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

FOSTER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Right now the New York prison worker accused of helping two

killers bust out of prison back in June is hoping to cut a deal. She's due in court. That deal part -- that's what her attorney is telling CNN -- because Joyce Mitchell could face up to eight years behind bars if she's convicted of helping the two men escape.

Joining me now with more, criminal defense attorney Page Pate and CNN's Randi Kaye. Welcome to both of you.

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Page, describe this hearing and what it will entail.

Pate: Well, normally this is a very simple procedure. You go in front of the judge. You acknowledge the charges against you.

What I think is going to be unique today is we believe Miss Mitchell has waived her right to be charged by a grand jury and she's simply going to agree to the information that's being filed by the prosecutor. And that is usually the first step towards a plea agreement and I believe that's what her lawyer wants to do today.

COSTELLO: Randi Kaye is here, by the way, today because she has a "SPECIAL REPORT: THE GREAT PRISON ESCAPE" which will premiere tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN. Randi -- you've done a lot of investigating into this. The interesting thing is David Sweat, one of the men who escaped, said he had no sexual relations with Joyce Mitchell but there was a murder plot. What more can you tell us about that?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, about this relationship -- Joyce Mitchell's lawyer also says that she never had any type of relationship at all with David Sweat, certainly not a sexual relationship which sources tell us she did have a sexual relationship with Richard Matt.

But in terms of David Sweat we spoke with a former prisoner who worked in that tailor shop at Clinton Correctional Facility with both escapees and Joyce Mitchell and he said there was definitely something unique between Joyce Mitchell and David Sweat. He said when the rest of the guys would go to the mess hall for lunch, she would actually keep David Sweat back in the tailor shop and would bring him fried chicken and barbecue chicken and even the guys there would call her his boo.

They all had a joke that she was sort of like his girlfriend and they teased him about it and joked about it. And one of them actually asked him directly and he would not confirm or deny whether or not he was having a relationship with Joyce Mitchell.

COSTELLO: But what about this murder plot? That supposedly there was some plot to kill Joyce Mitchell's husband. And, by the way, Page -- Lyle Mitchell, Joyce Mitchell's husband is sitting in the very front row in court this morning. PATE: Well, the murder plot itself I think is something that's

going to be very difficult for the prosecution to prove. Apparently all they have is the statement of the escapees or at least obviously Mr. Sweat at this point. And that's not usually credible enough to take to a jury.

So I think the prosecutor has thought about this and said, look, we're just going to leave her with these low-level charges, these less serious charges. Allow her to work out some sort of a deal because we don't have enough evidence to prove the criminal solicitation to commit the murder, which obviously would be a much more serious charge.

KAYE: Yes. And I can actually add to that just the fact that David Sweat when he was caught said that it was actually Joyce Mitchell's idea to kill her husband. And her attorney all along, Carol, has always said that she had nothing to do with it. She wasn't aware of the plan that she never wanted to kill Lyle. And one night they went for Chinese food just before the escape and she and her husband and I guess that's when she had a change of heart and that's when she told her attorney she decided to let her husband live and tell him about everything that had been going on.

[10:35:09] And we have much more of that. We touch on that quite a bit in our documentary that airs tonight if you want to take a look at a clip.

COSTELLO: Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: A brazen escape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a hole cut out of the back of the cell through which these inmates escaped.

KAYE: Two convicted killers cutting their way to freedom. Emerging from a manhole outside the prison walls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We estimate they climbed down and had power tools and were able to get out to this facility.

KAYE: Two dangerous murderers now free.

JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST: They kill anybody they feel like killing anytime.

KAYE: How did they get the tools? Who helped them? And what was their plan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are leaving no stone unturned.

KAYE: A scent in the woods, false sightings -- all part of a desperate search through the Adirondacks and along the Canadian border from the ground and from the air. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could have gone up to the north up here

in all these vast woods towards Canada -- pretty easy to get lost up in there.

KAYE: Law enforcement on the hunt. Two dangerous fugitives on the loose. And a dramatic ending nobody sees coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to head directly live to the courtroom. That is, of course, Joyce Mitchell sitting there listening to the judge.

And Page Pate, I just want you to walk us through what is happening right now.

PATE: Well, generally in these proceedings the judge is going to be talking to the defendant, Miss Mitchell in this case, advising her of what her rights are. Generally if this is a grand jury presentment it may be handled a little bit differently, but I haven't heard the very beginning of this hearing and I don't know if she's already waived her right to that presentment which we anticipate that she is going to do if she hasn't done already.

COSTELLO: Let's listen for just a bit and see if we can discern anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That being the case, she should execute in open court a written waiver and consent to proceed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your Honor, I have in my hands (INAUDIBLE) I have executed in court and I am handing a copy (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it possible to have the (INAUDIBLE)

COSTELLO: So, Page -- I'm assuming a lot here but is she signing a deal?

PATE: No. What she's doing right now is what we just discussed, Carol. She's waiving her right to that grand jury presentment. So that allows them to go forward today with just the information, just the charges filed by the prosecutor.

The next step would be a plea agreement where she admits to violating the law, violating the criminal code as charged in the information and possibly being sentenced, but this is the first step. She simply is just waiving that right to appear or have her case heard by a grand jury.

COSTELLO: So we can see she's crying and she's obviously very upset. And as I said before, her husband, Lyle, is sitting in the front row. Randi, what do you know about their relationship?

KAYE: At this point, Carol, I mean we know that he certainly has gone to see her in jail. We've gotten really some mixed messages from his attorney in terms of whether or not he's forgiven her, whether or not he plans to have a future with her. It's hard to say, but you know, certainly he's there in the courtroom. We don't know if he's there to support her or to make sure that she does sign a plea deal and goes away because she's facing eight years in prison. So there's a good chance she's going to get some time here.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's see -- I know the audio is lousy, but let's see what we can hear from the courtroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Signed on behalf of the people indicating the people's consent that this matter proceed by superior court information. And at this time I am now signing an order approving of the prosecution of this matter by superior court information.

Next, Mr. Johnston, do you want me to read the superior court information in full to your client?

STEPHEN JOHNSTON, ATTORNEY FOR JOYCE MITCHELL: I do not, Your Honor. I do not require that to be read. And I believe that we have a plea agreement which Mr. Wylie is going to recite on the record. At least that's my understanding.

[10:40:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there is a proposed disposition, I will ask District Attorney Wylie to place that on the record.

ANDREW J. WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you, Your Honor. Your Honor, set forth in the superior court information are the two charges that you have indicated, promoting prison contraband in the first degree and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree. Promoting prison contraband is a class d felony punishable by (INAUDIBLE) in the state prison, maximum fine $5,000.

Relative to the criminal facilitation in the fourth degree charge, that is an A misdemeanor punishable by one year in the county jail and a fine up to $1,000.

The terms and conditions of the negotiated plea and sentence are as follows. The defendant will enter a plea to the superior court information in full in satisfaction of any other charges that the defendant could be charged with, including but not limited to any additional promoting prison contraband charges related to the escape of David Sweat and Richard Matt on June 6, 2012. As well as to the conspiracy to commit Lyle Mitchell -- murder of Lyle Mitchell as well as any article 130 of the penal law charges that could be filed against Miss Mitchell relative to sexual allegations involving David Sweat and/or Richard Matt.

The terms and conditions of the plea offer are as follows, the defendant would be sentenced to two and a third to seven years, indeterminate sentence on the promoting prison contraband first degree charge with a $5,000 fine.

Secondly the defendant would be sentenced to a one year in the county jail to be imposed concurrently on the criminal facilitation in the fourth degree charge with $1,000 fine and the court would impose mandatory surcharges. Additionally the defendant would waive her right to trial,

appeal, and post-conviction remedies. She would cooperate with the investigation being conducted by the New York State inspector general's office relative to this matter and allegations at the Clinton Correctional Facility. That Miss Mitchell would execute a surrender agreement with the University of State Education Department relative to her certificate as a teaching assistant that was issued effective September 1st, 2002, with a control number of 325238031.

And I would just acknowledge and I'll ask Mr. Johnston and Miss Mitchell to acknowledge she's already executed that surrender and has provided me with the original of that document.

JOHNSTON: That has been done this morning and I delivered that to Mr. Wylie this morning, Judge.

WYLIE: Thank you, Mr. Johnston.

The defendant will further cooperate in preparation of the presentence investigation report, that the defendant would waive or the court would issue (INAUDIBLE) warnings to the defendant and the defendant would provide a DNA sample and pay the $50 DNA data bank fee (INAUDIBLE).

This encompasses the entire plea disposition, Your Honor, relative to Joyce Mitchell and her involvement relative to the escape of David Sweat and Richard Matt which occurred on or about June 6th, 2012. Thank you.

JUDGE MARK ROGERS, PLATTSBURGH CITY COURT: Mr. Johnston, does the negotiated disposition as set forth by District Attorney Wylie, does it concur with your understanding?

JOHNSTON: Yes, it does. And the only other thing I would add is what I have said previously is that to my knowledge Miss Mitchell does not have the ability and will not have the ability on sentencing date to actually pay the fine money out of pocket. It may be necessary for the court to issue a summary judgment but other than that possibility, that sets forth my understanding as well.

ROGERS: At this time I'm going to ask the defendant to stand and be sworn in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you solemnly swear the testimony you shall give in this issue will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please state your name for the record.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to --

ROGERS: If I ask you a question and you don't understand, please give me your assurance that you will so inform me and I will allow you to consult with Mr. Johnston. Do I have that assurance? JOYCE MITCHELL: Yes.

ROGERS: First of all, do you understand that you have the absolute right to remain silent in the face of the charges lodged against you and that by entering this plea of guilty you give up that right and incriminate yourself?

[10:45:09] Have you had enough time to discuss this matter with Mr. Johnston to make an intelligent decision?

MITCHELL: Yes, sir.

ROGERS: Are you satisfied with his representation?

MITCHELL: Yes, I am.

ROGERS: Have you had enough time to discuss this matter with any of your family?

Do you understand that rather than accept this negotiated deal, you have a right to proceed to trial either before the court sitting alone or before a jury?

MITCHELL: Yes, I understand.

ROGERS: Do you understand that if you decided to go to trial rather than accept the offer, it would be the people who would have the burden of proving you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in order to secure a conviction of the charges?

Do you understand that if you proceeded to trial rather than accepted this offer, you would have a right to take the witness stand, give testimony in your own behalf if you wish, call witnesses on your own behalf if you wish --

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to jump out of this so we can help you understand what is happening inside that courtroom.

Page Pate, obviously Joyce Mitchell agreed to a plea deal. Here is what we got -- two and a third to seven years on contraband charges, one year in the county jail concurrent to run with the two and a third to seven years. Is that what you got?

PATE: It is. And there's some other conditions. She has to give up her teaching certificate. She's got to continue to cooperate in the investigation -- I think that's important. I think that's what got her to this point to begin with. It's her cooperation that allowed her to get what I think is a pretty favorable deal when you consider the fact they could have charged her with the allegations of having sex with someone in custody and with the allegations of conspiring to murder her husband. So at the end of the day I think she got a good deal.

COSTELLO: So how long do you think she'll actually spend behind bars? PATE: That's a great question, Carol. Under New York law they

impose in cases like this an indeterminate sentence. You heard there's a range here -- two and a half up to seven years. She's not going to serve the seven years unless she gets into prison and really causes some trouble.

I think normally under the prison rules there, parole board guidelines, she'll probably serve about two-thirds of the sentence but again I think that's ultimately up to the parole board.

COSTELLO: And Randi, are you surprised?

KAYE: Yes, I have to say I am. I mean considering what she admitted to, and yes, it's right, you know, she did cooperate and Page makes a good point there. That's probably why she got a pretty good deal in most people's eyes. I mean she admitted to helping them plan the escape, helping to -- or at least planning to pick them up in the getaway car.

She is the one who brought those hacksaw blades that they used to break out into that prison and then got them to Richard Matt through one of the other prison employees by hiding them in hamburger meat. So she was quite responsible here and I guess she knows that. And I just think about also, Carol, what if these guys had been out there and maybe they had killed somebody else, just imagine what would have been on her shoulders after that as well.

COSTELLO: And we just heard, by the way, the judge just told Joyce Mitchell she will not be officially sentenced today. Is that normal procedure, Page?

PATE: It is. Most judges like to have a presentence report prepared for each defendant, and I think I heard the judge instruct her that she needs to cooperate in that process. She's going to meet with likely a probation officer who is going to obtain facts about her background, any other criminal history which I don't think she has and then the judge will consider of that when he ultimately imposes the sentence.

But I don't think it's a mystery here. The judge is almost certainly going to go along with the negotiated plea between both the prosecutor and the defense lawyer.

COSTELLO: The other unanswered question, Randi, did anyone else help, you know, in this escape of these two men? Did Joyce Mitchell provide any names for authorities?

KAYE: That is really a big question. I mean we know certainly that the prison guard who apparently got the hamburger meat with the hacksaw blades inside is charged in this case as well, although after David Sweat was caught he said that he wasn't really one of the guys who was helping them, but he didn't put the meat through the proper scanner so he's certainly being looked at. Whether or not there was anybody else that she put them in touch with or helped them it certainly didn't seem like they had a Plan B which is why David Sweat is back in prison now and Richard Matt is dead. COSTELLO: OK. So we do have someone observing the court

proceedings while we're talking. Joyce Mitchell just accepted the plea deal and as you said -- as you said Page she'll be officially sentenced a little later on but she'll be immediately sent back to prison obviously.

PATE: Right. She'll be remanded into custody. And I think under New York law all of the time that she's currently spending in jail will count towards that sentence so ultimately she'll serve the balance of whatever sentence and based upon what the parole board does with her once she's in custody in the prison system.

[10:50:00] COSTELLO: All right. Randi Kaye, Page Pate -- thanks to both of you. I appreciate it. Be sure to join us tonight for Randi's "SPECIAL REPORT: THE GREAT PRISON ESCAPE". It airs tonight 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

All right. We just got news just in to CNN on this new Donald Trump controversy. A new statement from Michael Cohen, a special counsel for Trump's business empire, looking to clarify the first statement he made to "The Daily Beast" about a rape allegation made decades ago from Trump's then-wife Ivana. Ivana Trump later walked back that rape accusation against Donald Trump saying while she felt violated it was not rape in the criminal sense.

Here is what Michael Cohen first said in response. Quote, "You're talking about the front-runner for the GOP presidential candidate as well as a private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse, it's true. You can't rape your spouse. And there's very clear case law."

Well, now Cohen is saying this, quote, "I want to clarify a statement I made to the 'Daily Beast'. As an attorney, husband, and father there are many injustices that offend me, but nothing more than charges of rape or racism. They hit me at my core. Rarely am I surprised by the press, but the gall of this particular reporter to make such a reprehensible and false allegation against Mr. Trump truly stunned me. In my moment of shock and anger I made an inarticulate comment which I do not believe and for which I fully apologize."

We'll have much more after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:43] COSTELLO: Right now a showdown is under way on Capitol Hill over the Iran nuclear deal. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on the agreement. Secretary of State John Kerry along with the Secretaries of Energy and the Treasury are testifying in front of the committee.

CNN's Elise Labott is monitoring this. She joins us now with more.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol. Well, once again Secretary Kerry in the hot seat expected to really be grilled by a majority of Republicans who are against the deal. But now, you know, we're seeing the secretary even facing problems from his own party. The ranking member of the committee, Eliot Engel, very critical of that deal.

Just recently Secretary Kerry a few minutes ago warned the congressmen that anybody that thinks that the provisions in this deal are not strong enough, take a listen to what would happen. He said, reality would start -- 15 years starts right now. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: But if this deal is rejected, we immediately go back to the reality I just described. Without any viable alternative except that the unified diplomatic support that produced this agreement will disappear overnight.

Let me underscore, the alternative to the deal that we have reached is not some kind of unicorn fantasy that contemplates Iran's complete capitulation. I have heard people talk about dismantling their program. That didn't happen under President Bush when they had a policy of no enrichment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: So Secretary Kerry warning really that if this deal does not go through, Iran would feel entitled really to just go ahead with its nuclear program which everyone fears would happen and the U.S. would have no international support, sanctions would be lifted, and really creating a doomsday scenario, Carol.

But, you know, most Americans are finding that they do not support the deal and asking Congress to reject it. A recent CNN poll just found 52 percent of Americans looking to Congress to reject this deal. So Secretary Kerry out there really trying to sell the deal and trying to fight back about what he calls Republican misinformation.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 57 minutes past the hour.

A 30-year veteran police detective in Massachusetts has been placed on leave for threatening to shoot a motorist in the head. The driver had a camera mounted on his dashboard when the off-duty detective pulled him over for driving the wrong way through a traffic circle. At first the driver said he tried to back away because the detective was not in uniform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know you were --

(EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know you were a cop. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll put a hole right through your head.

Pull over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, OK, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're lucky I'm a cop because I would beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of you right now. Give me your license.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to let you know --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me your license --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I also want to let you know --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me your license.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I just want to let you know I have a dash camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Metro police chief calls the detective's actions troubling.

In California, Santa Cruz police say they have found the body of a young girl in a dumpster at an apartment complex. The girl has not been formally identified but police believe she is eight-year-old Madyson Middleton (ph), who went by Maddy. Maddy has been missing since. A 15-year-old boy who lives in the same complex has been arrested. He's now being questioned by police.

One reason the Baltimore riots were so bad last April was an apparent breakdown in communications among city officials. E-mail traffic shows a lot of concern about rioting and unrest on the day of Freddie Gray's funeral but no clear communications about what to do about it. About 7,000 city e-mails now made public also reveal confusion among city officials about the exact nature of the curfew after it was already announced.

And LaGuardia airport is about to get one expensive face lift. Not Botox, but $4 billion with a "b" will bring the now dated airport into the 21st century. New York's governor unveiled the plan yesterday. The project is expected to take four to five years to complete. And trust me, New Yorkers are rejoicing.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN,C NN HOST: And I'm Kate Bolduan. We are following breaking news at this hour.

Former --