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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Two Missionaries Found Dead In Jamaica; Teacher Sick-Outs Shut 94 Of 97 Detroit Schools Down; BYU Students Suspended After Reporting Assaults; Alleged Victims Says BYU Used Honor Code To Punish Them; Fifth Anniversary Of Osama Bin Laden's Death. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 02, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they were going to check on that home that they were building for a local family in a very impoverished area.

[12:30:07] They rented those motorcycles partly to get to this place that's very remote place where they were traveling to. Also for a moment we understand to just spend time together because it had been some time, about three weeks, since they've seen each other.

The rest of the details surrounding these murders are just very murky right now.

One of the bodies was discovered on Saturday afternoon. The other body discovered on Sunday afternoon by a team of locals there part of a search and rescue team. But the motive and whoever is responsible for this, that remains unclear at this hour. Ashleigh.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you for giving us the details on that.

If you go to school in Detroit, you are one of the extraordinarily lucky kids today because only three of Detroit's nearly 100 public schools are actually open for business.

Turns out hundreds and hundreds of teachers called in sick. Are they physically sick or they sick of some politics?

We're going to explain this next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:22] BANFIELD: It is teacher appreciation week. But Detroit's teachers clearly are not feeling any love because 94 out of 97 Detroit public schools had to shut their doors today. The teachers all called in sick.

Over the weekend, they learned that they would not get salaries for the work that they would perform in May and also in June.

Jean Casarez is working the story for us and she joining me live.

Now, I am thoroughly confused because it was only about a month ago Jean that I saw this big legislation pass there $48.7 million in supplemental funding that would allow paychecks for teachers and employees all the way through June 30th. So where am I missing the connect here?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a difficult issue.

And first of all, you're right, the governor alone allotted $48.7 million for the Detroit public school system for end of the fiscal year. And the school district has just confirmed that they've got the money to pay the teachers through the end of the fiscal year which is the end of June right there.

Well, the union and the school district had just confirmed with us that for those teachers, not all of them, but for those that continue to receive some paychecks through the summer, so they're on a 26-week pay cycle during the course of the year, in July and August, they may not have those paychecks because the money goes to the end of the fiscal year.

Now, let's look at what Stephen Ross, the interim manager of the Detroit public schools says about today's sickout. He is saying, "It is unfortunate that the Detroit Federation of Teachers has chosen to make a statement in this way. I am on record as saying that I cannot in good conscience ask anyone to work without pay. I am, however, confident that the legislature will support the requests that will guarantee that teachers will receive the pay that is owed to them. The DFT's choice for a drastic call to action was not necessary."

All right, so he talks about the legislature. Ashleigh, here's the Part B, all right? There's a six bill package that has passed the senate. It's now in the House of Representatives in Michigan. It includes so many things. For the state to overtake the $515 million debt for the brand new board of education to be elected this fall, for there to be an education commission locally to look at schools and grade them A to F.

The House of Representatives has to pass this for the money to continue after June 30th and some in the house are divisive. Some say, you know, I think there should be bankruptcy here for the Detroit public schools. But so far, there has been a bipartisan support of this to resolve the issues.

And many are saying in the legislature today that with this sick-out, that it really harms the effort more than helps it.

And Ashleigh, one more thing, in Detroit and in Michigan, teachers can't strike that's why they're calling it a sick-out.

BANFIELD: Well, we know that schools are essential services. So here's what I don't understand. Why is it if they're bickering over whatever they think is too fat for the, you know, the future, they can't just stick the way other organized labor fix. You go on the existing contract so that little kids can still go to school while their grown- ups are fighting?

CASAREZ: Right. And I think that's -- I think that the parents are divided on that because when I was in Detroit, I was there. And the sick-outs are called the morning of. The parents are getting ready to go to work. Their children are on the way to school and suddenly, they have to make other plans. And I know that the parents are for the teachers. But many of them just don't think this is the right way to do it. But everything hinges on the House of Representatives. If they don't pass this legislation that Detroit public school crisis will continue following June 30th.

BANFIELD: I would be livid. I mean if that happened to any one of us, you could just imagine the mayhem that would ensue.

Jean Casarez, keep us posted on what's going to happen tomorrow and the, you know, next few days as well. Thank you for that.

Coming up next, female students at one of the nation's most prominent religious university say that they've been kicked out of the school, this after reporting that they were raped.

[12:39:36] Did that really happen? Can that really happen? And what on earth is behind it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Brigham Young University under fire right now for a policy that critics say punishes rape victims.

It centers on the school's honor code. That is a code that prohibits students from wearing short skirts, consuming any alcohol, or engaging in premarital sex, among a number of other things.

But it is the same code that several female students say was used to kick them out after they went to the school and to the police asking for help.

CNN's Ana Cabrera has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGOT CRANDALL, RAPE VICTIM: They had taken photos and videos during the rape, and he threatened me to expose those.

BROOKE, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: And he started like touching me and stuff, so I tried to get up and leave.

MADELINE MACDONALD, ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIM: I've got boundaries. I've got these, you know, like strict lines you're not crossing and he didn't care about those.

MADI BARNEY, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: I was just sitting there crying saying that I don't want to report. I can't do this. What if BYU finds out?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their stories of rape and sexual assault, traumatic and horrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does it take for us to change the way we address sexual assault? CABRERA: But it's what happened after their school found out that's sparking outrage.

BROOKE: It was just really scary.

CABRERA: Brooke's nightmare began in February of 2014. She says she had taken hallucinogenic drugs just before being assaulted.

BROOKE: Over the course of the next 45 minutes, in like different ways, he raped me.

[12:45:03] CABRERA: She reported it to police, but too afraid to face her alleged attacker in court, decided not to press charges. Three months later, she told her school, Brigham Young University.

BROOKE: I thought it would be a simple process to report him and have him be kicked out, you know?

CABRERA: Because he was a student?

BROOKE: Yes. He was a student there.

CABRERA: But instead of getting support, Brooke was suspended. BYU, a private university run by the Mormon Church, determined Brooke had violated its honor code, a student code of conduct that prohibits the use of illegal drugs and alcohol, as well as premarital sex.

BARNEY: And I waited about four days to report, because I was scared of my standing at BYU.

CABRERA: Madi Barney only reported her alleged rape to police. It happened off campus. So she was shocked when she got a call from BYU's Title 9 office, which investigates sexual harassment and sexual violence.

BARNEY: What she eventually said on that phone call was, we received a police report and in A, we think you may have been raped, and, B, it looks like you probably violated the honor code as well. I felt so betrayed because they read every single thing that happened to me and they just kind of didn't care.

CABRERA: In fact, she says, now she's facing backlash from BYU for not answering all their questions. Her attorney told her not to until after her criminal trial this fall. The school won't let her register for future classes until she cooperates with the honor code office.

CARRI JENKINS, BYU SPOKESWOMAN: There would never be an honor code review for reporting sexual assault, for being a victim of sexual assault.

CABRERA: How does that victim then end up being disciplined by the honor code office?

JENKINS: I wouldn't know. I wouldn't be able to speculate on any one situation. CABRERA: While the school can't talk about specific cases, it did issue this addition statement, saying in part, "Sometimes in the course of an investigation, facts come to light that a victim has engaged in prior honor code violations. In all honor code proceedings, the university strives for fairness, sensitivity, and compassion. The university's overriding concern is always the safety and well-being of its students."

BARNEY: I think their first and foremost protecting is protecting the university. It's not protecting the students.

CABRERA: And I see you shaking your heads. You guys agree?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes, they've made that very clear.

CABRERA: Since Barney went public with her story, other victims have felt empowered to share theirs.

MACDONALD: You're not reporting someone else. You're reporting yourself when you go in. Like, that's at least my perception of the Title 9 office. Like you are presumed to be guilty.

CRANDALL: As soon as they got the legal document say that my rapist had been convicted, that's when they gave me accommodations and helped me withdraw from classes, and they didn't offer any of that until they had the court documentation.

CABRERA: Anger is growing.

KELSEY BOURGEOIS, RALLY ORGANIZER: I'm a sexual assault survivor. I was raped here in this community while I was attending BYU.

CABRERA: Did you report it?

BOURGEOIS: No, I did not, for this exact reason.

CABRERA: You were too afraid?

BOURGEOIS: Yes.

CABRERA: Kelsey Bourgeois recently led a protest march through campus with a petition signed by more than 100,000 calling on the university to give immunity to those who report rape or sexual assault.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be happy to take these and we'll personally deliver them to President Worthen.

CABRERA: The university says it is now studying current practices and procedures.

JENKINS: We want to look at the relationship between the Title 9 office and the honor code office. We want to look at whether and how information is shared. We want to look at the perception that students have.

BARNEY: It's not a perception. It's something that's actually happening. And that's them again not believing us.

MACDONALD: I don't know why they even feel the need to do a study. Like there's overwhelming evidence. So many people have come forward.

BROOKE: It's just a school whose policies are very messed up right now and aren't in line with what love and mercy is.

CABRERA: Ana Cabrera, CNN, Provo, Utah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I want to bring in Amy Ziering who's an Emmy Award winning documentary producer, whose latest project The Hunting Ground airing on CNN, explores the topic of sexual assault on campus colleges.

Amy, good to have you again. I just wanted to ask you a little bit about this honor code because as Ana's report was playing, I noticed that in the honor code is also a stating from, you know, coffee and tea and caffeinated beverages. But you're not going to get kicked out of the university, I assume, for having a cup, you know, from the local Starbucks.

So when does the honor code kick in, in many of the cases that you see in your research?

AMY ZIERING, PRODUCER, THE HUNTING GROUND: Well, what we found was that all too often, you know, you can't have policies on campus which inhibit reporting. And if you do that, then essentially you're not protecting the students, you're protecting the perpetrators.

So I didn't have any incidents where I know we weren't looking BYU in particular but at other schools there were something called parietals which then it just -- were true regulations as to when you can go into an opposite sex's dorm.

And so that would be something that would keep people from wanting to report because they would be scared that they had violated parietals, so they wouldn't report if a crime that happened in another opposite sex's dorm.

[12:50:09] So those sorts are things are awful policies on campuses that really need to be looked at and changed.

BANFIELD: I do understand that the chill effect that this would have on any young woman let's say, at BYU or any other youth private colleges that have these honor codes. It would chill them from reporting to the police even because sometimes those reports make it over to the honor office that you know effort of their own. But I do have to come back to the drugs and alcohol provision because they signed that deal going into the university. And if they engaged in the use of drugs or alcohol prior to anything else happening, that is a violation.

The fact that sex may have happened and that was not their choice, I can't imagine that they're getting kicked out of universities for engaging in premarital sex that was not their choice. ZIERING: Yeah, but all too often, that is the case. And what you see with this, Ashleigh is regardless of what you're talking about, anything that keeps schools from anything that allows schools to be able to push these cases away and not investigate them and not punish perpetrators allow these crimes to be committed with impunity over and over again.

So we really have to look at these policies and say, "Are they protecting the students or protecting the perpetrators?"

BANFIELD: One of the interesting things on NEW DAY this morning, there was an alleged victim named Madi who talked about the fact that she feels she's being pushed to be investigated by the university about what happened while she has an ongoing criminal case.

Her lawyer she says, it telling your -- you don't talk publicly until we deal with the criminal litigation. But here's what she had to say.

Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARNEY: I have an ongoing criminal trial for my rape. So I am a primary witness. I can't talk about the details of my rape.

And BYU would not accept that. And so they told me that until I come in and participate in the investigation against myself, I can't register or enroll in any future classes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I almost feel like she's got a civil case against the university for that. But I'm not talking to you, you know, in a legal capacity. I want to know how often this happens from your research?

ZIERING: How often. Well, assault happen one in five students are to be assaulted while they're on campuses. It happens at a higher rate on campuses than in our society at large because these kind of institutions provide perfect storm conditions for these crimes to be committed. You have a young trend of population, you have a party culture in which there's ample opportunity for these crimes to be committed and as we've seen and as you've just heard, you don't have good mechanisms on campus to investigate these crimes and you often have things which inhibit people from coming forward to report as you just told, you know ...

BANFIELD: But that particular incident where she's being compelled by her university according to her to come in and speak on the record about a crime that is currently, you know, under litigation. I mean, nobody, I mean, we don't even have civil cases quite often before a criminal case plays out when they're competing, you know, tracks of litigation.

How often are you finding young women being have to come in into the office, other universities despite the fact they got a rape case going on in the background? ZIERING: Our film did not address those incidences. But what I wanted

just talk about was the ways in which what's most important for people to know is that 92 to 98 percent of the time, when someone is coming forward to report a rape, they're telling the truth and that statistically consistent with every other crime in our society.

Yet, this is the only crime that when you come forward and report, you yourself are blamed, questioned, and challenged.

People don't say, "What were you drinking -- were you drinking when he took your T.V.? What were you wearing when he say he took your T.V.? Are you sure you didn't mean to give him the television set?"

And yet, with this crime, unlike any other you yourself are questioned and we see that these policies that you're describing on these campuses inhibit reporting and punish victims and protect perpetrators. And that's what's shocking and that's why all schools have to look at their policies and say, "Are we supporting survivors? Are we supporting victims of crimes? Or who are we really protecting here? How are our rules helping to protect all of our students and not just a select few committing felonies?"

BANFIELD: All right, Amy Ziering, thank you very much for being here. Nice to see you.

ZIERING: Thank you.

[12:54:17] BANFIELD: And we're right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Today marks five years to the day since Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Forces, Navy SEALs to be exact in Pakistan.

And in an exclusive special airing tonight on CNN, President Obama returns to the situation room and speaks to our own Peter Bergen about the raid on bin Laden's compound.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we came in here at the point where the helicopters were about to actually landed. It's here where we observed, for example that one of the helicopters got damaged in the landing.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And what we're you thinking?

OBAMA: I was thinking that this is not an ideal start.

Look, we were all worried. And the good news was a good crash. Our guys were able to extract themselves. And the bad news was that the helicopter itself had been damaged. And this is an example though of the kind of meticulous planning that had been done. Even though we had the best helicopter operators imaginable, despite the fact that they had practiced these landings repeatedly in a mock-up, we couldn't account for temperature.

And the fact that helicopters start reacting differently, you know, in an enclosed compound where he may be rising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:00:01] BANFIELD: The CNN special "We Got Him," President Obama, Bin Laden and the Future of the War on Terror, airs right here tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern on AC360.

Thank you so much for watching everyone. It's nice to have you stay tune now, Wolf, starts right now.