Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Baltimore Jury Selection; Paris Attackers Had More Planned; University of Chicago Closes; Paris Attacker in Syria. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired November 30, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] GRANT BOSSE, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER: Endorsement. We think he's the one that's going to be the best president and the best nominee for the Republican Party.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

BOSSE: We don't make predictions. That's up to voters.

BROWN: All right, Grant Bosse, thank you very much.

And thank you for joining us AT THIS HOUR. "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: An urgent warning from the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, Americans on alert after credible reports of an imminent attack on Kabul in the coming hours.

Closer to home, the University of Chicago abruptly canceling classes and warning everyone to stay indoors or stay away after FBI counterterrorism officials uncover and online threat of gun violence.

And in Colorado, the man accused of killing three people and wounding nine more at a Planned Parenthood clinic may have been planning a much bigger massacre. Robert Lewis Dear due in court today.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield, and welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We're going to begin this hour in Baltimore. Almost eight months after an arrest, now deemed legal, leading to a death that convulsed a city, the first officer who was charged in the Freddie Gray case is going on trial. William Porter is standing accused of manslaughter, second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office for actions occurring after Freddie Gray was arrested and before he arrived at the Western District Police Station. The complicated process of jury selection began in earnest this morning. A process that is due to be repeat no fewer than five different times as his fellow officers will all go on trial in succession after him.

My colleague, Jean Casarez, is live in Baltimore. She joins me now.

I can't wait to hear what some of those questions in voir dire are going to be like. And you are there to see who those prospective jurors are who are assembled. Give me a feel for the situation and the process. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Such an important day today,

Ashleigh. The trial has begun of William Porter, the police officer in Baltimore. We know in the courthouse behind me, on the fourth floor, there are 75 potential jurors, 40 of them are African-American, 33 of them are white, one Hispanic, one east Indian. All of them know about this case. Every single one of them. All of them know about the civil settlement, $6.4 million, that was given to the family of Freddie Gray several months ago. Out of 75 potential jurors, 35 of them have been convicted, incarcerated or are facing current charges, 26 of the total have very strong feelings about this case. And my colleague, Miguel Marquez, was - is in the courtroom. There were some protesters earlier today and he said it was very clear as a potential jurors are being seated in the courtroom, they all could hear the protesters saying all night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray. The question now is, can a fair and impartial jury be found right here in Baltimore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): When 25-year-old Freddie Gray was picked up by Baltimore Police on the morning of April 12th, it was captured on cell phone video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His leg's broken. Y'all dragging him like that!

CASAREZ: Handcuffed and place on his stomach, officers physically dragged him to the police van. A shortly time after departing, officers say Gray was acting irate and the van stopped where investigators say an eyewitnesses saw Mr. Gray "kicking the inner door and aggressively shaking the wagon." Gray was removed from the van and put back in, "head first onto the floor of the wagon." Now, with flexi cuffs on his wrists and shackles on his ankles. Prosecutors say it was during that drive that Gray "suffered a severe and critical neck injury." State Attorney Marilyn Mosby says that's because -

MARILYN MOSBY, BALTIMORE STATE ATTORNEY: At no point was he secured by a seat belt while in the wagon, contrary to a BPD general order.

CASAREZ: According to the probable cause statement, Gray indicated "at least twice that he was in need of a medic" after being asked. But the arresting officers failed to get him medical attention. After arriving at the police station, Gray was found unresponsive and taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma. He underwent surgery but a week after his arrest he died from his injuries. All six officers involved in Gray's arrest were suspended from their jobs. A federal investigation was launch and the state police were brought in as protests erupted around the city.

[12:05:06] CROWD: All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray.

CASAREZ: Freddie Gray was buried on April 27th. Shortly after, Baltimore began to burn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go.

CASAREZ: The case made national headlines a looting became rampant and the city was under siege. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother's keeper.

CASAREZ: For days, protesters marched, demanding justice -

CROWD: No justice, no peace.

CASAREZ: The National Guard was called in and a curfew put in place. On April 30th, gray's death was ruled a homicide and the state attorney announced criminal charges against the six officers.

MOSBY: While each of these officers are presumed innocent until proven guilty, we have brought the following charges.

CASAREZ: Officer William Porter will be the first to be tried, facing charges of assault, misconduct in office and manslaughter. But defense attorneys for the six officers are arguing they cannot get a fair trial after the city approved a $6.4 million settlement for Freddie Gray's family in September.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Our Jean Casarez reporting for us at the courthouse.

And I'm joined live now by Billy Murphy, who is an attorney for Freddie Gray's family.

Judge, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

I just want to ask you specifically about this morning's developments, those protesters gathering so close to the courthouse that they could be heard inside the courtroom. I wonder if you have a concern about that and if you think the judge might actually take some action to move those protesters and bar them from within a vicinity where they can't affect the process. The concern is, do you think that could have an impact on a fair process?

WILLIAM "BILLY" MURPHY, ATTORNEY FOR FREDDIE GRAY'S FAMILY: No, I don't it will have any impact at all because these kinds of protests are very common. They often can be heard from the outside-in. And they've never been a problem in selecting a jury before.

Now, of course, it can be argued that this is an unusual case, but all of the jurors have probably been exposed to all kinds of news media about how the city feels about this case. And so there's nothing new in the protests. And they don't certainly rise to level of any intimidation. So I'm not concerned.

BANFIELD: And, of course - yes, and, I mean, there's always a concern when jurors, and potential jurors are arriving to a courthouse and going through a throng of protesters. I've always said, you can find a jury for anyone if you can find a jury for O.J. Simpson, because I don't think there was one person who had not heard something about the O.J. Simpson case. And we seated a jury in that case.

In this particular case, sir, you know, I don't think we could say there's anyone in Baltimore who wasn't affected by this. Either they know someone who might have been out on the street matching, they might have been affected by the march, they certainly might have been on lockdown or under curfew. These are usual circumstances. They are not typical. It's not like Casey Anthony where you heard a lot of media about the case. There's a direct, you know, emotional reaction to being a part of something like that. Is that a concern to the process?

MURPHY: No. What we need to remember is that the riot was confined to a very narrow area of Baltimore and it is easy to determine in the voir dire whether anybody was in that affected area. Ninety-nine percent of the city was not affected, and that's where all of the - the bulk of the jurors are coming from. And so there are many people who were not personally affected in the sense that you say. So I'm not worried about that either.

And that's what the voir dire process is all about. And some of these people are going to be, none the less, fair and impartial jurors because the test is whether they can set aside their opinions and base their verdict solely on the evidence presented and the law as instructed. And so this is not an uncommon thing.

BANFIELD: Judge Murphy -

MURPHY: I mean there were demonstrations in the Michael Jackson case. There were demonstrations in the O.J. Simpson case. Jurors were exposed to the same level of public concern and outrage. And so I don't see any real significant difference here except for the people who lived in the affected area and that would be a little bit different.

BANFIELD: Yes, and I'm sure that the voir dire will cover that extensively. At the time that I collected this research and came up to the set to get ready for this program, every single person who had been questioned, and since that time I can't tell you whether this is still the case, was aware of the settlement. They were all aware of that multimillion dollar settlement that the city actually did before the criminal trials. I don't have to explain to someone of your stature that that is something very unusual. Typically civil issues are settled after the criminal issues so as not to affect that process. You must be somewhat concerned when you hear the statistics that every one of those prospective jurors knows that the city thought something was wrong, enough so to pay Freddie's family.

[12:10:14] MURPHY: Well, on the other hand, the burden of proof in a criminal case is higher than in a civil case. In a civil case, it's the preponderance of the evidence. In a criminal case, it's proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And I am sure that the judge will explain that during the voir dire process so that the jurors can answer that proper question, and that is, given that the burden of proof is much higher here, can they set aside any effect of the settlement and base their verdict solely on the evidence presented and on the low as instructed. That's the standard test. And the judge has a chance to evaluate the credibility of each juror in answering each one of these questions. Likewise, the judge is presenting in chambers a limited amount of examination by the lawyers so they can have an attempt to ferret out any bias that's either implicit or explicit. And so under these circumstances, I don't think that this is particularly unusual in terms of the potential impact that anything can have on a jury in a case as serious as this.

BANFIELD: I want to ask you -

MURPHY: I'm confident that a fair and impartial jury can be selected.

BANFIELD: And we are all hopeful because there is nothing that anyone wants more than a fair process for all parties involved. And to that end, I do want to ask you about the very first person to go to trial, William Porter. He is a black defendant. He is one of three black defendants in this case. The other three are white or Hispanic. And I'm curious because there's been so much made about race in this particular case, do you think this was a strategic move? Do you think it was strictly the logistics that brought him to trial first? And do you think that this will have an impact on the other trials, the fact that an African-American is being tried first in this success of six?

MURPHY: Well, the fact that an African-American is tried first I think will have minimal impact. The result of the trial can have some impact. And, of course, there will have to be a separate voir dire on that. And so if Porter's acquitted, the jurors will be pulled in the second, third, four and fifth trials and the sixth trial about whether or not that acquittal has any impact on them or should have any impact rather than the evidence and the law as instructed.

Likewise, if there's a conviction, it will be the same drill. And again, the judge will have to make the final determination as to each juror about whether or not they can set aside any concerns that they may have about the civil settlement or anything else. And the questioning is rather straight forward and standard and it is up to the judge to decide the extent to which the voir dire has revealed any evidence that the jury even might be - the juror might be unfair in assessing the case.

BANFIELD: Judge -

MURPHY: So I don't see anything radically unusual about this. And I'm sure that the voir dire will successfully arrive at a jury that has been vetted by the judge to be fair and impartial.

BANFIELD: Well, you have an open invitation to be on this program any day. I welcome your wisdom and I thank you for your time, Judge Murphy, and hope to see you again soon.

MURPHY: Thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to be here.

BANFIELD: Judge Billy Murphy joining us on the program today.

Coming up next, has the most wanted man in Europe slipped away into Syria. We're tracking Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam, and we are uncovering even more plots that he had in the works. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:18:04] BANFIELD: Big headlines to report in the war on terror and threats around the world. The U.S. embassy in Kabul says it has received credible reports of an imminent attack in the Afghan capital. The threat, for a possible attack to happen in the next 48 hours. And there are few other details than that, like targets or timing or the method of the planned attack. But the United States Department of State is saying that the security situation there is, quote, "extremely unstable," and that the threat to all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan remains critical.

Moving over to Paris where we are learning that the terrorists responsible for the November 13th attacks had others attacks ready to go, in Jewish areas, transport networks and schools. This as French intelligence services are operating under the theory that the main suspect, Salah Abdeslam, is long gone from the area and may, in fact, have already escaped to Syria. Police believe he bought his detonators in France before the attacks.

And this just in. The street near the Bataclan concert hall has now reopened and we have new video revealing damage from the deadly attack. There are bullet holes that can be seen outside. There is shattered glass. And just a glimpse of the terrifying events that actually unfolded inside that horrifying attack hall.

CNN's senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann joins me live now from Paris.

Jim, I'd like you to expand a little bit more on these attacks that were ready to go, not just in the planning stage, but ready to go against the Jewish schools, the transport network, so the Jewish areas, the schools and the transport networks. What do we know about that?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little bit of hearsay, Ashleigh, in fact. Basically the cousin of the ringleader who was killed in the Saint-Denis shootout with police, the cousin of the ringleader, and she was also killed in the shootout, basically told one of her friends that they were planning other attacks. So that's where it comes from. And the other attacks included what you mentioned, Jewish targets, as well as transport systems and schools, and how - how far along those plans were is anyone's guess. But clearly this group had a lot of means in terms of carrying out their attacks.

[12:20:35] And the one thing that you mentioned earlier that we did find out today about Abdeslam, Salah Abdeslam, who's wanted now and the police have been hunting now for more than two weeks, basically was that he had bought the detonators for the suicide vests, 10 of them, at a fireworks store north of Paris and that the store manager came forward after he saw the wanted posters for Abdeslam and reported to police that he'd come in and bought the detonators. So the police have some things to go on, but basically the cold - the trail has kind of gone cold, which has lead to that supposition that he may have already escaped the net and be out in Syria or somewhere else out in the Middle East.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: We're going to talk to one of our terror experts about that in a little bit.

Jim, thank you so much, live from Paris. Our Jim Bitterman reporting for us.

Here at home, the threat of gun violence has closed down the University of Chicago campus. We've got the details on what they know, who sent it in, and what government bodies are going after the person responsible for that threat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:51] BANFIELD: The University of Chicago's main campus has been closed all due to the threat of gun violence. Students around the Hyde Park area, as well as faculty, have been told to stay inside. This after and online threat was posted, and the threat was to the campus quad. The FBI has released this statement saying, quote, "upon learning of a possible threat, we shared with law enforcement and university officials, as is our practice." They go on the say, "the decision to cancel classes was made by the university. Our investigation to determine the source of the online threat is ongoing."

CNN national correspondent Ryan Young is live right now at the campus in Chicago.

And I'm always curious the hear that the investigation the find the person behind this threat is ongoing. Are they any closer to finding out who did this and if it's really serious?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that's the major question here. But any time you see a major campus like this shutdown, you've got to obviously understand they must be taking this very seriously. And, in fact, if you look behind my shoulder over here, you can see some of the security officers that we've seen in place. This campus should be bustling right about now, but so far it's been very quiet. We haven't seen any students in this area.

In fact, we're standing in the area, the quad, which was highlighted in that e-mail about 10:30 that shooter said that that's where the attack would happen. So we're in this area, haven't seen anything. We have seen some what appears to be university officials moving around and we've also seen some police officers not only from the Chicago Police Department but from the university moving through this campus, driving around in pairs, looking around. So far, the good news here, we haven't seen anything.

About the investigation, though. Of course everybody wants to know who made that threat, what's going on. We do know that investigation is still ongoing. Nothing about that has been released just yet. But this has left a lot of people with questions about what will happen next, including faculty members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHIAS STAISCH, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO FACULTY MEMBER: I mean I was surprised, but maybe one becomes so sort of used to this, unfortunately, that like it didn't sort of freak me out. I just thought, oh, well, I guess I'll have to cancel office hours and whatever else I had planned. And you just have to react to what they thought was best, which I thought was good. Like if there is a threat, then people should stay away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Ashleigh, those of us who live in the Chicago area know the Hyde Park area's neighborhood the Obamas used to call home. So, obviously, there's a heightened security in that sense as well. The home is still near here. But as you look at this campus and see how empty it is, how eerie it is, this beautiful campus, you know this investigation's being taken seriously.

One other thing. There are students still here on campus. They've been told, of course, to stay inside. The campus is closed till midnight, and then a re-evaluate will happen to see - in terms of what will happen next.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All of this, you know, just a few weeks from their exams, you know, during the holidays. That is a really - that's bizarre, that scene behind you, Ryan. Thank you for bringing that to us and keep us posted if they find the source of that threat.

I want to move you to Kabul, Afghanistan, right now. I want to talk about that, but also, Paris, France. You heard about Chicago, Illinois. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of terror threats right now. Whether the group involved is ISIS or just a disturbed individual, it certainly does make for a very unholiday-like season.

CNN intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer, former CIA operative, joins me now live.

Bob, I just want to ask you about this reporting that we've had just in this last hour about the suspect in the terror attack in France. Now the theory that they're working on is that he may be gone. He may be in Syria by now. I wanted to ask your opinion on something. Does that make him more dangerous now that he's got carte blanche to move about the country freely, or does that put him straight into the eyes of all those dirty intelligence officers that we hope are operating under this brand-new and robust coalition in Syria?

[12:29:47] BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Ashleigh, I think if he's made it back to Syria, he's probably pretty safe. We're not running a whole lot of operations into the ISIS territory or even northern Iraq. It's very difficult to get to him. And if in fact he got away - I'll tell you what this really tells me is that there's some sort of underground railway for these jihadists going into Europe and coming back. That's what the Paris attack has told us. You can't get - get in, hit a target and then go