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Bill Cosby Charged with Sexual Assault; "Affluenza" Teen and Mom Fighting Extradition; Historic Flooding Submerging Neighborhoods. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 30, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:50] DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: But instead, aggravated indecent assault focuses on penetration which is a nuanced difference, which means -- what does that tell us about what the prosecution believes? It means they must not believe that there was intercourse or maybe they believe they can only prove penetration.

As we read their affidavits of probable cause, that will tell us more and more information as time goes on and as the case progresses. But it will be -- the actual charges they elected to file tell us a lot about what they think about this particular case.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Stay with me -- Jean, Danny, Joey. I do have a victim's rights attorney, Gloria Allred, on the phone with me. And to give you context there, Gloria Allred represents a number of women who are also accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault and rape.

Gloria -- thank you for being with me. What is your reaction to --

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS' LAWYER: Yes thank you very much for inviting me.

HARLOW: What is your reaction to these charges?

ALLRED: Well, this has been a very long process. This has been a journey towards justice. I'm very proud of Andrea. I don't represent her, but I know that her attorney and she have shown quite a bit of courage in all of this, as have my 29 clients.

We have one lawsuit. We are continuing to proceed with that lawsuit on behalf of Judy Huth against Mr. Cosby. We did take his deposition in October. There's a protective order on it. I don't know how long that will last. That will be up to the judge.

We have filed a motion to compel seeking to have him be ordered to take -- to appear for a second deposition based on his refusal to answer certain questions in the first deposition which we took in October.

So all of this is now coming together. I think that the prosecutor in Pennsylvania has looked at this very, very carefully. I don't think it's political. I think he's looking at the facts. He was clear that the civil deposition in Mr. Cosby from Andrea's

case in 2005 and what Mr. Cosby said under oath in that deposition did play a role in the evidence that he is using to support his charge.

So I think this is a very significant development. And I for one am very happy about it. He has a right, of course, to his day in court and to a fair trial, but certainly the victim, Andrea, has a right to a fair trial as well.

HARLOW: Gloria, I want our viewers to also know that we've reached out to Bill Cosby, his team, his attorneys -- waiting for some sort of comment or reaction from them ahead of his arraignment at 4:00 p.m. today. We have not heard back. As soon as we do, we will let you know what the reaction is.

But Gloria, the fact that this is a case that in 2005, Andrea Constand was told by then-district attorney Bruce Castor there was not enough information. And the new D.A., Kevin Steele, just said they came across new information in July of this year.

For the cases that you are representing, have you come across new information? Because the issue here for a lot of these cases, is the window, the statute of limitations.

ALLRED: Well, I do think -- yes, I do think that it's really important that anyone who is alleged to be a victim of sexual assault or rape, you know, go to an attorney, whether it's by Mr. Cosby or someone else, and report it and find out what their options are.

And I hope -- and I hope that they would not have been demoralized by what the decision made in 2005. And I hope they will be encouraged by this decision which comes many years later, but still it's within the time period of the statute -- for the statute of limitation.

You know, it may be that -- and I don't know -- that some of my clients might be called as witnesses in this case if and when the prosecutor decides that what they allege happen to them is relevant and admissible under Pennsylvania law. So we'll have to wait and see.

You know, I'm not going to comment on what law enforcement either has done or might do. I think they want to protect their investigation. I'm sure they do. But we're proceeding with our civil lawsuit. And we'll see what the judge decides in reference to whether this deposition, which we took, will be made available or not and whether or not we'll be able to take a second deposition of Mr. Cosby, given that there is now a criminal prosecution of him.

HARLOW: All right. Gloria Allred, appreciate you calling in. Thank you very much. I want you to stand by. Our entire panel will stand by.

Again, we have reached out to Bill Cosby, his attorneys for comment -- nothing yet. But a huge, huge development in the sexual assault charges that have been brought against Bill Cosby. All of these accusations over months and months, for the first time, a criminal charge has been filed. Bill Cosby will be arraigned today.

[10:35:00] Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Breaking news: for the first time Bill Cosby has been criminally charged with aggravated indecent assault. This is a sexual assault charge tying back to a case in 2004 against the then-Temple University employee, Andrea Constand. When she first brought her case to the authorities she was told in 2005 that there was not sufficient evidence to bring charges.

Now a new district attorney, Kevin Steele, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania disagrees. He has brought charges. Here's what he said just moments ago.

KEVIN STEELE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, MONTGOMERY COUNTY: We are here to announce today charges that have just been filed against William Henry Cosby. These charges stem from a sexual assault that took place on an evening in early 2004 at Mr. Cosby's home in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County.

Mr. Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. This is a felony of the first degree. Mr. Cosby's attorney has been notified of the charges, and he is expected to be arraigned later this afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. Let's talk about all of this. Jean Casarez, our CNN reporter who has been on this story from the very beginning; legal analysts Danny Cevallos, Joey Jackson.

Jean, to you. Andrea Constand lives in Canada.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she's a massage therapist. She has gone on with her life. But I was able to confirm several months ago that this summer investigators from the district attorney's office flew to Canada and spoke with her at length for several days.

[10:40:04] And we also know that this summer, I was able to get the deposition. It was unsealed. We were able to get it -- 3,000 pages from 2004. And remember, it had been sealed for that amount of time. And that deposition, of course, went into what allegedly had happened with she and Cosby. And the district attorney today just said that it was newly discovered evidence this summer.

HARLOW: They realized the statute of limitations was not closed yet -- it's 12 years. This happened allegedly in 2004.

Joey Jackson, to you, what is key here when he said new information came to light in July. What could that be?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: To Jean's point, it's got to be the deposition. Now, here's what's so significant about that deposition. In that deposition -- = the 3,000 pages that Jean mentioned, there's many things in there. One such thing is an admission from Bill Cosby with respect to

the penetration that Danny Cevallos referenced earlier which is the cornerstone of that statute. That presents a real problem in terms of the defense. If you have admitted in a deposition, sworn, under oath, specifically what your conduct was as it related to the victim here, that's going to play big in the criminal case against Cosby.

HARLOW: Danny Cevallos, paint a picture for us of how significant this is because so many women have alleged that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them, raped them. And this is the first time that criminal charges have been brought.

CEVALLOS: It's very significant because most of these allegations are sometimes decades old. But in this particular case, in Pennsylvania, you have a 12-year statute of limitations and they are right up against the expiration of this statute. And this was a case that was investigated years ago, back in 2004, 2005 -- around that time.

So it's going to be really interesting. It's also going to be a study in what happens when a prosecutor waits until closer to the end of a statute of limitations to bring charges because this case was investigated sometime ago. They elected not to prosecute for whatever reason.

How does a case evolve over time? How does it prejudice or help the prosecution's case when witnesses or evidence become somewhat stale but not too stale so as to be in violation of the statute of limitations? And how does a defendant like Cosby defend themselves, marshal witnesses and evidence in his defense a decade later as opposed to back in the mid-2000s, early 2000s.

JACKSON: I think in this case, though, it will be a little different. Why? Because remember, there was a civil lawsuit here that was brought. As a result of that civil lawsuit, it serves to preserve much of the evidence. Why? We speak about a deposition. What is that? It's the interviewing of witnesses under oath who have already given their statement.

So if there's any memory loss or any memory gaps, you can go to what you said back during the time that it occurred to assist you in terms of exactly what happened, when it happened, where were you? Where was he? And so I think to the extent that there was an underlying civil case here, a lot of the information is preserved.

CASAREZ: I also heard something else. I heard the district attorney say in regard to a question about other alleged victims -- he said stay tuned for other motions. There is something in the law called prior bad acts.

And if there is something that was never charged but something - that is so strikingly similar in nature, and a judge rules whether it can come in or not, then other alleged victims, some of the other women can come in and testify as to what happened to them.

JACKSON: Unless -- yes. CEVALLOS: This is riddled with exceptions, this rule. As a

general rule, prior bad acts not allowed to prove that somebody is guilty but in a very, very broad stroke there are exceptions in cases like these if it shows sort of a modus operandi, that evidence. But certainly not a sure thing one way or the other.

JACKSON: Danny and I said at the same time because as defense attorneys, it's so prejudicial. If the jury believes that you did anything to anyone else, what are they going to believe? That you did it here.

HARLOW: Right.

JACKSON: It's propensity evidence, and it's not admissible to show that you did this offense.

CASAREZ: No, but to show absence of acts. And I have to tell you that one of my sources has told me that some of the other alleged victims were contacted by the district attorney's office and spoken to.

HARLOW: Great reporting, Jean, as always getting on the phone immediately with the attorney for Andrea Constand. Thank you both for the analysis.

Again, Bill Cosby, we have reached out to him and his lawyers. No comment from them yet. Bill Cosby will be arraigned on these sexual assault criminal charges today in Pennsylvania.

A quick break -- we have breaking news on Ethan Couch, that 19- year-old from Texas who fled to Mexico, when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:48:11] HARLOW: All right. A major development in the case of the two Texas individuals just taken into custody in Mexico: 19- year-old Ethan Couch who drove drunk and killed four people, injured two others; then fled his probation to Mexico along with his mother, Tonya Couch.

They were expected to come back to the United States today to be extradited, to face the justice system here. Apparently that is not going to happen, at least not right now. Why?

Let's go straight to our Ed Lavandera on the story in Dallas. Ed, what happened?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I just spoke with the sheriff in Tarrant County, Dee Anderson, who you've seen over the course of the last few days talking about the case of Ethan Couch. His agency was responsible for bringing in the U.S. marshals and tracking down Ethan Couch and his mother in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

He had just told me that he had gotten word from the U.S. Marshals Service that Ethan Couch and his mother have, quote, "filed some sort of paperwork there in the court system in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico trying to delay their return".

So the sheriff says, quote, "There's no chance of them returning today." He's not sure if it's delayed simply a day or several days or it could be weeks at this point. They're in the process of trying to gather more information to determine what kind of delay we're looking at here in this situation.

But the sheriff saying that as originally had been suspected that Ethan Couch and his mother would be returning back to Texas today. That no longer appears to be the case.

And Texas officials say, you know, they had spent a great deal of manpower mobilizing people to make all of this happen today. So they're trying to figure out what the next step's going to be now.

HARLOW: Yes, of course. All right. Ed Lavandera thank you, stay with me.

I want to bring in Danny Cevallos for some legal guidance on this.

[10:49:57] Why would they want to stay in Mexico? Is it because they haven't broken a law in Mexico, and would the authorities have to let them go?

CEVALLOS: Why would they want to stay in Mexico? We'd have to peer into their mind, but the easiest answer appears to be that Ethan Couch is not on probation in Mexico. He is not at present violating any Mexican laws that we know of.

HARLOW: They're going to have to let him go?

CEVALLOS: Well, not necessarily. Mexico is one of the countries, like many, that have an extradition treaty with the United States.

HARLOW: Right.

CEVALLOS: The thing that makes this interesting is that most of these cases deal with when the United States has an arrest warrant for a defendant who flees to Mexico. This is a defendant that was on juvenile probation. It's a slightly different case.

HARLOW: For killing four people.

CEVALLOS: Absolutely, yes. And he actually, under the laws of the United States, he had been found guilty, or whatever the equivalent is in the juvenile system, and was serving his probation. He violated probation, he didn't necessarily commit a crime, although he potentially committed a federal crime when he fled and when he caused the U.S. Marshals to expend their resources to track him down, yes, he potentially violated federal law.

But traditionally extradition treaties with Mexico involve a fugitive for which there's an arrest warrant. So without knowing what particular papers he filed in Mexican court, he could be seeking asylum. Who knows? Really at this point, we have no idea. It's just -- it's just conjecture.

HARLOW: I have 30 seconds. Do you think he and his mother will end up back in the U.S. in a matter of weeks?

CEVALLOS: Yes. As a general rule, when it comes to extradition, yes, countries have extradition treaties. But the reality is most countries outside of the U.S. are very interested in helping the United States bring back fugitives. Even going above and beyond what that extradition treaty provides for because, quite frankly, from a geopolitical perspective --

HARLOW: It is the U.S.

CEVALLOS: Yes, people like helping the United States. We are what you would call an influential nation. So it's no surprise that Mexico is not a safe haven for fugitives fleeing justice from the United States.

HARLOW: Interesting, then, that that's where they went. All right. We'll be watching.

Danny, thank you, as always -- appreciate it. Ed Lavandera, great reporting as always.

Quick break. We'll be right back.

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[10:55:25] HARLOW: Historic flooding is pummeling records in the Midwest. Floodwaters expected to rise feet above the record flood that was set in '93. We're talking about a dangerous next 48 hours, impacting more than 15 million people.

Rescues happening live on our air, as you saw last hour; entire neighborhoods under water this morning. At least 13 people have been killed by these floods. The city of Union, you see it here, one of the hardest-hit areas in all of Missouri.

With me on the phone right now is Mike Livengood. He is the mayor of Union. Sir, first let me tell you from all of us here at CNN, I am so sorry what you are going through. It is unbelievable devastation. How are the people in your community coping?

MAYOR MIKE LIVENGOOD, UNION CITY, MISSOURI: Well, we're managing pretty good right now. I think I've said before, the water is receding here in town. So now we've moved from disaster, and we're trying to get ready to start on our recovery which is probably really the hard part, you know.

As I stated before many times, we're just fortunate that no one was injured. No one was hurt.

HARLOW: No one was injured, no one hurt -- that is very good news. You said the floodwaters have started to recede, is that right? How much? LIVENGOOD: Well, they've went down approximately four foot. I

haven't heard an official number. I was just out looking -- watching some buildings that I knew were completely under water.

It looks like it's receded about four foot or so. We're hoping by Friday it might be back on the banks. We don't know for sure.

HARLOW: And for the people there, I know many, many people had to evacuate. And one of the dangerous things was people in their cars being swept away by the floodwaters. Has anyone been stuck in their homes, or did everyone get out all right?

LIVENGOOD: Everyone got out all right. There was some at the last minute that had to be evacuated, but they didn't (inaudible). They were wearing clothes -- because we kept trying to tell them the original reports weren't showing the highs to be this high, but we felt we knew from past experience and what we've seen farther up the river that we were going to have record-breaking water, and we did.

Everybody finally -- a lot of them tried to stay. Some of them stayed that didn't get flooded. It was just real close, right on the border.

HARLOW: What kind of assistance -- I mean, just looking at these images, these aren't live pictures. These are from Tuesday, from yesterday. But, I mean, you've got a McDonald's almost to the roof submerged in water. You've got a lot of these independent mom and pop shops. You've got these homes submerged in water.

In terms of recovery for people, what kind of assistance are they going to get? Anything federal coming in?

LIVENGOOD: FEMA is -- I'm not really sure if they're in town right now. We're supposed to get a call, but they were coming in to do an evaluation. And then (inaudible) they started out with, you know, loans and some of them are grants. It just depends on how the whole area, Jay Nixon, if they declared a disaster, then there will be the potential for getting aid and assistance on these people that don't have flood insurance. A lot of these homes that flooded weren't in the floodplain.

HARLOW: I know, I know. Well, just know that we are all thinking of you, and people that want to help can go to CNN.com/impact. Find ways to help there. Mayor Mike Livengood, we wish you the best. Thank you, sir.

LIVENGOOD: Thank you very much.

HARLOW: Thank you all for being with me today. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan begins after a quick break.

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