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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

Football Player Accused of Killing Cheerleader Ex; Forensics Reveals Suicide to Staged by a Murderer; Video of "Pacman" Jones` Arrest; Man Picked Jail Over His Wife; Man Charged for "Explosive" Pregnancy Announcement; Murder Victim`s Brother Causes Chaos in Courtroom; Man Steals, Stuffing Guitar in Pants. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired January 24, 2017 - 20:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[20:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): Deadly obsession -- a young cheerleader`s life cut tragically short.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She made the world a better place, just a beautiful soul.

BANFIELD: Police say her college football ex just couldn`t let go and shot her dead through her bedroom window.

You may get away with cheating on your wife, but you`ll rarely get away with cheating on the cops. This guy is accused of hooking up on Ashley

Madison, but screwing up on killing his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s the ultimate domestic violence situation.

BANFIELD: Hasn`t he seen "Forensic Files"?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you die tomorrow!

BANFIELD: Pacman has a fever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You dead, bro!

BANFIELD: That`s NFL star Adam Jones (ph) spitting and swearing in the back of a cruiser and demanding his fat paycheck stay intact.

911 OPERATOR: What`s the problem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone killed my parents!

BANFIELD: Nearly 30 years later...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just burst through the doors. I started firing.

BANFIELD: The mystery remains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran around, shot my mom.

BANFIELD: Why did Lyle and Erik Menendez brutally murder their parents?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just told him I didn`t want to do this and that it hurt me!

BANFIELD: We take a look at how it really happened.

Courtroom chaos -- a judge clears the court after a murder victim`s family goes after the accused killer.

And talk about an explosive announcement. Is this really the safest way to tell the world it`s a boy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a boy!

BANFIELD: Now they can tell it to the judge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

All-American, girl next door -- these are the kinds of things that people would use to describe Emma Walker. But now they call that high school

cheerleader murder victim. And it was no random murder.

Knoxville, Tennessee, a quiet neighborhood, a shooter secretly stalking her home, peering through her bedroom window on a quiet, sleepy night and

firing twice from a .9-millimeter handgun while Emma lay asleep in her bed. And perhaps the most shocking part of the story is the man they tracked down was barely a man at all. It was her ex-boyfriend, a freshman college

football player. Riley Gaul went to high school with Emma before moving on to college. But when she broke up with him, it seems he could not move on

from her. Prosecutors say he stalked Emma for more than a month and stole the murder weapon from his own grandfather.

And then there are the tweets. Just weeks before her murder, "I`d do anything to have it all back." And then hours before his arrest, "I love

you, Emma. I can`t be around any of that yet. It`s too soon."

Understandably -- understandably, this would be the kind of material that would feature prominently in a first-degree murder trial because that`s

what he`s facing. Joining me now, former prosecutor David Bruno, defense attorney Rachel Kugel and defense attorney and CNN legal analyst Danny

Cevallos.

First of all, I want to check in with Kristen Farley. She`s a news anchor at WATE, and she joins me now live from Knoxville, Tennessee. Kristen, I`m

just astounded at the details behind this case. How bad was this breakup before this ultimate murder?

KRISTEN FARLEY, WATE-TV: Well, I think, Ashleigh, our community was completely shocked, but people who knew the couple slowly began to trickle

out some facts about this breakup happening just weeks before she was found dead. It was Emma`s own family confirming to reporters that Riley just

could not accept the breakup, Emma breaking up with him, trying to move on. And apparently, Riley just could not, and as you said there in that

introduction, posting on social media, on November 9th, saying, "I will do anything to have it all back."

BANFIELD: What about this talk of suicide with his family or friends in the weeks prior to doing this? What do we know of his mental state?

FARLEY: Well, we learned a lot through the affidavit. I have a copy of it here. His own grandfather, who according to the affidavit is where Riley

apparently got the gun -- stealing it from his grandfather is what we`re being told by investigators, and again, detailed throughout these documents

here. His grandfather told investigators that he was becoming increasingly concerned because he told investigators that his grandson was having

suicidal thoughts.

BANFIELD: And then those tweets. They didn`t just come before the death, Kristen, they came after the death, too, like, hours after the death.

FARLEY: On the day that Emma was found, he began professing his love, putting up Bible verses and pictures, and then even the day of his arrest,

some people calling it a long and lengthy tribute, even posting things, talking about what he dreamed their future would be like, what their dog

would be like if they had moved on together.

[20:05:12]But again, his Twitter account just filled with images. He even changed his description on social media saying that, basically, he was

living for Emma Walker now.

BANFIELD: I want to read some of those tweets. We popped them up on the screen, but they really bear being read because I am guessing that they

will be evidence in court, as well. One of the tweets, just hours after her death, saying, "That`s my beautiful Emma. Rest easy now, sweetheart.

1 Corinthians 13:8, be sure to remind God about our verse. I love you forever and always."

And then within this, he had a photograph, and the photograph was of a page full of notes that he`d written on his phone. And if you actually read

through those notes, there`s some telling material in there, as well. So let me do that, if I can, for a moment.

One of the Twitter notes said, "There will never be a time where I stop thinking about you." And another tear (ph) said "Rest easy now, beautiful.

I`ll be praying to you every night, waiting for a sign that you hear me. I love you, Em. Never forget that."

Danny Cevallos,, I want you to jump in here because you can read that two different ways. You can read that as though you are a very guilty young

man, or you can read that as you are a very troubled young man who thinks you`re communicating with Emma in heaven, which could be insanity.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If you`re his defense attorney, you`re going to try and paint it that way. But it`s going to show at least some

knowledge that what he did was viewed by society as somehow morally culpable. And I`m certain the prosecution can use that evidence that way.

It`s just an example of how certain evidence can be viewed by the defense or the prosecution in drastically different ways and used for each of their

purposes.

BANFIELD: So Rachel, the one issue I had looking at the actual facts as laid out in the affidavit of how the shooting happened -- he`s alleged to

have jumped over a six-foot wall in the back yard...

RACHEL KUGEL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.

BANFIELD: ... and fired through the bedroom window to Emma as she was sleeping peacefully in her bed...

KUGEL: Right.

BANFIELD: ... then jumping back over that wall, firing again. And the first thing that came to my mind was, what are the odds that you`re going

to make that kind of contact, and that the contact you make, I mean, is actually going to lead to a death? And that made me wonder if that`s a

part of the defense, meaning, I never meant to kill her.

KUGEL: Yes. I think that`s definitely a part of the defense. I think that there`s no question that shooting into the house in that way raises

some doubt about what his mental state was at the time and whether murder one is appropriate.

What I thought was interesting, though, is that they`re novelly (ph) sort of charging him with felony murder, as well, with a child abuse element.

And I`m wondering if that`s not to sort of avoid that defense. In other words, to say, Well, to go in there and shoot into the bedroom of a young

girl may be child abuse, and if she died as a result, that may be...

BANFIELD: Meaning you were behaving so recklessly, no matter what you meant to do, that`s child abuse, and that`s an underlying felony for felony

murder. We got you no matter what.

KUGEL: I thought it was interesting they charged him that way.

BANFIELD: So the other question I had, David, is that the detective, after the killing of Emma, got suspicious about this young man and they put him

under surveillance. And as they were watching him, he was doing some unusual things. They say that it looked like he was preparing to destroy

evidence, to get rid of the handgun.

And when they hauled him in, just before they put up this lovely mugshot of him, they found him caught with a garbage bag full of items, including,

wouldn`t you know it, his grandfather`s stolen pistol, the pistol they allege was used in this murder.

DAVID BRUNO, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes, sure. That`s relevant to an individual account of tampering with evidence, which is -- he`s been

charged with, but it also goes to consciousness of guilt. And while we are talking about whether or not this may be a mental defense, that is

probative and evidence of knowing that he did something wrong. And sure, it is absolutely legal to have him under surveillance if they have reason

to believe, and it shows he knew what he did was wrong.

BANFIELD: So Kristen Farley, where is he right now, as this all plays out, and as, obviously, prosecutors are looking forward to a first-degree murder

trial?

FARLEY: Right now, I do know that their next hearing is set to be the 30th, I believe, of this month. And again, you know, as you were saying,

they`re looking at tampering with evidence charges, reckless endangerment and a lot of other charges because of that trash bag that they found.

Again, the indictment just coming down officially this week, even though all of this happened back in November. But again, the indictment really

painting a much clearer picture of maybe exactly what happened here.

BANFIELD: Just unbelievable. Thank you all for your input into this story.

I`ve got some breaking news I want to bring you right now out of Georgia. Police are on the lookout for a 4-year-old girl. Her name, Mireida

Espinoza Lemus. She was last seen in Norcross, Georgia. That`s just north of Atlanta.

[20:10:05]If you`re in that area, keep your eyes peeled. She is just 3- and-a-half feet tall. She weighs 35 pounds. And she was last seen wearing a pink sweater and pink pants. You can see her in this picture wearing a

pink shirt.

The police say she was taken by Gladys (ph) Lemus, and they say that she could possibly be in extreme danger. They`re looking for a 2009 Ford Flex

with Georgia tag RCP-9791. If you have seen them, if you have seen this car, if you know where Gladys Lemus might be, you are asked to please

contact your local police as soon as possible.

It all started as a suicide call for officers, but now the death of a mother is a murder investigation, complete with claims of dark Web searches

and a cheating Web site, surprise, surprise, a big insurance policy, too. But you know something? The forensics -- boy, they can come back to get

you!

And then NFL star Adam "Pacman" Jones is certainly no stranger to the back of a police cruiser, nor to a football field. But wow! Wait until you see

the very latest video that we have our hands on. I think you`re going to say it`s not the kind of jaw-dropping you would expect on the field. It`s

this kind of jaw-dropping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suck my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Hope you die tomorrow! (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:15:32]BANFIELD: If you are a fan of the show "Forensic Files," buckle up because this is "Forensic Files" live. When police in Minnesota

responded to the call of a suicide in November, they say it didn`t take very long to figure out something didn`t add up.

The victim, Amy Allwine, was dead. There was no question about that. She was lying on the floor, a .9-millimeter handgun by her left elbow -- her

left elbow. That`s important. Remember that. Her husband, Stephen, says he found her that way after coming home with his young son.

For their part, the neighbors said they just couldn`t believe what happened to Amy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE SHERMAN, NEIGHBOR: Very sweet lady. Whenever you talked to her, she was always upbeat. Everybody`s pretty much shocked about it. They`ve

always seemed like they got along very well, and we`ve never heard issues or anything like that. Pretty shocking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: But here`s the thing. When the officers started digging into her husband, Stephen Allwine`s, computers and multiple cell phones, they

say they started to find evidence that he had gone on the dark Web, tried to hire a hit man to kill his wife, and that he had used the cheaters` Web

site Ashley Madison to meet up with two different women. Prosecutors say behind what looked like a normal and happy family were some very big

problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED FINK, WASHINGTON CO. ATTORNEY`S OFFICE: It`s the ultimate domestic violence situation. She had a $700,000 -- I think it was $700,000 even --

life insurance policy on her life with the beneficiary as the defendant. She was found to have a drug known as scopolamine in her system, and that

drug is variously known as devil dust or the zombie drug, and it supposedly incapacitates somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Stephen Allwine charged with second degree intentional murder and he`s being held on $1 million bond tonight.

And I am happy to be joined by Kevin Devore because he is Stephen Allwine`s attorney. And he`s live with me now in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Kevin, thanks so much for joining me tonight. This is going to be a tough interview, my friend. I hope you are ready for this because none of this

looks good. Ashley Madison, a $700,000 insurance policy, that drug scopolamine called a Zombie drug. You have an uphill -- a battle here,

don`t you think?

KEVIN DEVORE, Stephen Allwine`S ATTORNEY (via telephone): Well, Ashleigh, the only thing out there right now is just a complaint, a very, very

detailed complaint, one of the longest state complaints I`ve ever seen. But essentially, the state has, you know, laid everything that they think

is a possible connection to Stephen Allwine on the complaint.

But from what I`ve seen, most of it seems circumstantial at best, and there`s a lot of what I would call red herrings in there. I can`t identify

which items I`m talking about, but there`s some things in there in the complaint that really have nothing to do with...

BANFIELD: OK.

DEVORE: ... the allegations against Mr. Allwine.

BANFIELD: I respect that, Kevin. I respect that. And you are right, that complaint is probably one of the most detailed probable cause affidavits

we`ve ever seen. It is loaded with material.

And I know you won`t go into some of them, but if you will permit me, I`d like to outline some of them because some of these forensics are very

curious. They don`t seem to match up with what police actually found, if you ask the police.

For starters, the gun was found near the victim`s left arm, but she was a right-hander. There was no blood on either of her hands. There was no

gunpowder residue found on either of the victim`s hands. There was no gunpowder stippling found near the entry wound, and that is odd.

The defendant`s right hand -- the defendant`s right hand was consistent with gunshot residue. That`s your client. And there was an unusually high

level of that scopolamine found in the victim`s system. In fact, we`re told it was something like, I believe, four times -- correct me if I`m

wrong, producers, if you can -- 4 or 40 times higher than the typical dose. And yet, Kevin, there was no prescribed scopolamine anywhere in the house,

no bottles, no pills, no nothing laid out in the affidavit.

Where would she possibly have gotten her hands on scopolamine, if it wasn`t anywhere in the house, unless someone gave it to her?

DEVORE: I have no idea, and neither does my client, so -- that`s the first I`ve ever heard of scopolamine. You know, I don`t think they found any

evidence of that in the house at all.

[20:20:02]They also talked about some evidence of the floor being cleaned up. And you know, there`s -- you know, apparently, there was some other --

you know, might have been an alternative perpetrator involved in this. I have no idea. At this point, all it is is just a bunch of allegations.

BANFIELD: So I can`t read my own handwriting, Kevin, but it was 45 times the typical prescriptive dose of scopolamine. So even if she was taking it

herself, it`s a hell of a lot of scopolamine to be taking yourself, if your intention is to shoot yourself. It`s just very curious.

I want also to just mention a couple of other things, if I can. In the forensic inconsistencies, Kevin, the bedroom carpet had dog hair all over

it, but the hallway floor didn`t, which was consistent, perhaps, with someone cleaning it.

And yet the detectives were able to get stains from that hallway floor with the victim`s blood. And of course, if you shoot yourself dead in the

bedroom, you`re not going to be able to walk out into the hallway and get your blood out into the hallway, and the detectives say that it was sort of

consistent with footprints.

And there are no recordings from the home security system at the time of the death. And Kevin, this is very curious because on the 12th, the day

before she was shot, there were recordings. And then on the day that she was shot, it`s all gone. And then after she was shot, and on that same

day, they`re back. The home security recordings are back.

And your client`s an IT guy. So you have understand that looks extraordinary curious, as well.

DEVORE: Well, I would imagine if the state had the answers to all of that, they would have put it in the complaint. And the reason I say that is

because they immediately came in and conducted a search warrant and took everything out of the home, anything that was of any value whatsoever. So

if they would have been able to identify things to unquestionably tie it to Mr. Allwine, they certainly would have put it in the complaint. They put

everything else in there.

BANFIELD: I understand. And you know, oftentimes...

DEVORE: (INAUDIBLE)

BANFIELD: And oftentimes, there can be coincidences and they can be explained away. But once you get two, three, four coincidences, it gets

tougher for a jury to do the benefit of the doubt thing.

And there is one more issue I just want to bring up quickly, and that was this. Prior to Amy`s death, she received two anonymous and untraceable e-

mails. So not just anonymous, police could not find at all where those e- mails came from. And that takes some skill to create an e-mail address that`s completely untraceable.

But they were from someone named Jane (ph). And the Jane was urging her to commit suicide, making all sorts of threats about what she`d been up to

which weren`t true, and suggesting that she`d be better off dead. She`d save her family from harm if she just committed suicide. And I remind you,

and I remind our audience, your client, Stephen Allwine, is an IT professional.

DEVORE: Yes, and there was an ongoing FBI investigation into all of that over the summer of 2016. And so they are obviously looking at somebody

that might have written those e-mails. My client did not.

BANFIELD: Well, I sure appreciate you coming on to talk about this. As we move forward in this case, I hope you`ll be a guest again.

DEVORE: Well, thank you very much for having me on. And I look forward to, you know, when all of the details are fully disclosed, being able to

present that to a jury and at the appropriate time.

BANFIELD: Being a defense attorney is not an easy job, and I will wish you good luck because you do have a very big, steep uphill battle on that one,

Kevin Devore joining us from Minnesota tonight.

The mother of an NFL star gave her son an adorable nickname when he was a baby, Pacman. But that mother would probably really not appreciate the

language that her baby, Adam Jones, decided to use while in the back of a police cruiser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the window so we can get it on camera. Open the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) window! No, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), this window back

here! (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yes, that`s the gentlest, by the way, of the language.

And then I want to tell you about this guy. He, as you can see, picked jail over his wife. That is so weird. But when we`re talking he picked

jail, he did something so he that would absolutely end up in jail and admitted it was because he didn`t want that home life anymore. You`ll find

out what it was next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:28:38]BANFIELD: When NFL star Adam "Pacman" Jones was arrested earlier this month on assault and disorderly conduct charges, it strangely did not

raise a lot of eyebrows, and that`s probably because it`s not the first time that the Cincinnati Bengals star has been in trouble with the law. In

fact, arrests and suspensions nearly ended his career years ago.

But now there`s something completely different. Police have released a video of Mr. Jones as he was being taken to jail, and his actions in the

back of the squad car are -- Oh, I don`t know, you can insert a lot of adjectives here, but I`ll say they`re infuriating.

There is just this unbearable sense of entitlement. It is outrageous. Take a look at this video that was obtained by TMZ Sports. But as you

listen, I want to make sure you hear the very last thing that he said.

[20:30:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two misdemeanor charges.

ADAM JONES, CURRENT NFL CORNERBACK: Two misdemeanor charges?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I bet you`ll be out of jail in a couple hours.

JONES: Suck my (beep). How about that? I hope you die tomorrow. (beep) wrong as (beep) man. Open the window, so we can get it on camera. Open the

(beep) window. No, (beep) window back here. (beep). what`s your name, bro?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sergeant Cotton. C-O-T-T-O-N.

JONES: (beep) you gonna be out of a job tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

JONES: Shut up. (beep) whole career right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).

JONES: Hey look. Hey look. Now if I lose this money going through this (beep) right here. Oh boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Did you hear that? Did you hear what he just said? "If I lose this money going through this blank right here. Oh boy." Now, whose fault

would that be if you lose money from a big, sweet contract? Because of what`s going on in the back of that car. I`m just going to guess you, that

would be your fault.

Mr. Pacman Jones issued apologies for what he`s done. He issued the apology not after the arrest, not even a few days or weeks after the arrest. He

issued the apology right after the video was released. So there`s that. Like three weeks later.

Melissa Nealey is an anchor and reporter at 700 WLW Radio. She joins me live from Cincinnati, Ohio. I`m just going to go out on a limb here and say

that Officer Cotton still has his job. That`s just my guess. What on earth led up to this?

MELISSA NEELY, ANCHOR AND REPORTER, 700 WLW RADIO: Well, there`s been reports that Mr. Jones was at a local casino and there was some trouble

that evidently started there and then moved on to a local nearby hotel in downtown Cincinnati. And from there, the police were called out to --

because he was apparently yelling, banging on the glass at the hotel, and just making a ruckus.

And when they came out, the trouble kept going. And as you could see from the tape, he started arguing with the officers. A little bit before that,

though, as they were trying to take him into custody, he did get into an altercation with the security guard, poked him in the eye, and then

continued on in with this rant inside the police car after he had already been arrested.

BANFIELD: I did not know, I did not know, Melissa, about the eye poke, but I had heard about the head butt. One of the officers, head butting an

officer allegedly before the incident you`re seeing in the back of the cruiser. Hang on for a second. I want to read this apology. Because I love

apologies. I love it when they`re sincere. I`m not 100 percent sure of this one considering it came out three weeks later on the day the the video

released.

This is what Adam Jones issued. "Adam Jones is deeply embarrassed and remorseful for his conduct and language after being arrested in early

January. Mr. Jones will not be commenting upon legal proceedings at this time." You know what, I`m going to just say that Ashleigh Banfield doesn`t

love it when apologies are made by your attorney. And not by you. They should be in first person. I`m just saying. "Mr. Jones is deeply

embarrassed" is not half of I am so embarrassed by my conduct. That`s just me.

The couple of other things that have been stated too because the NFL told espn.com that the video is part of the organization`s review of the

incident. The Bengals, for their part, did something very, very unusual and they actually issued an apology. That`s something that the team, you know,

usually declines comment on things, but they did say we are sorry about this. So there`s that.

NEELY: Yeah. Just unusual because.

BANFIELD: Yeah, real quickly, Melissa. Go ahead, last comment, real quick.

NEELY: Okay.

BANFIELD: Go ahead.

NEELY: I was going to say, that is very unusual because obviously we know this isn`t the first time Adam Jones has been in trouble and this is the

first time they`ve come out so soon and issued a statement about what happened.

BANFIELD: Well, we`ll have to see what Mr. Jones says when he faces misdemeanor, assault, disorderly conduct, obstructing official business,

felony, harassment. What bodily substance? I assume that`s to spit. Melissa Neely, thanks, nice to see you.

NEELY: Thank you.

BANFIELD: After nearly 30 years, the 911 call Lyle Menendez made to report his parents` death kind of seems like yesterday.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s the problem? What`s the problem?

LYLE MENENDEZ, CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS PARENTS: Someone killed my parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pardon me?

L. MENENDEZ: Someone killed my parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? Who? Are they still there?

L. MENENDEZ: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people.

L. MENENDEZ: No, no.

[20:35:00] BANFIELD: But even now, why Menendez brothers, why those two brothers killed their mom and their dad remains a mystery. But Hill Harper

has been examining this case and he`s got some answers. He`s going to come up next and tell us how it really happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: On the night of August 20th, 1989, a quiet night in the home, Beverly Hills neighborhood, a mansion turned into the scene of a bloodbath.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Jose Menendez, a TV executive, was shot at least four times and his wife, Kitty, was shot nine times. Their son, Lyle Menendez, called 911

and frantically reported those murders.

His younger brother, Erik, was screaming in the background. In the months that followed police methodically

[20:40:00] gathered evidence against those two brothers, while Erick and Lyle helped to raise suspicions, because they did weird things. They lived

it up. They bought a Rolex and a Porsche Ferrari. They even planned to buy a restaurant. Lyle even bought his then-girlfriend a car for Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

For their parents, they did not even buy a headstone. HLN`s special series "How It Really Happened with Hill Harper" is premiering this Friday at 8:00

p.m. with a three-hour documentary-style investigation into the Menendez brothers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Beverly Hills emergency.

L. MENENDEZ: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s the problem?

L. MENENDEZ: We`re the sons of.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s the problem? What`s the problem?

L. MENENDEZ: Somebody killed my parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pardon me?

L. MENENDEZ: Somebody killed my parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone rang and it was the watch commander indicating that I needed to respond to the station. They had a double homicide. 722

North Elm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first patrol car pulls up, Erik Menendez is curled up in a ball, weeping hysterically on the front lawn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, we have two deceased persons inside. A male and a female.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They escorted me into the home to show me the crime scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you enter, there is a large double door directly in front of you. The victims were in their home. They`re watching TV, having

dessert, relaxing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently that`s where they started shooting the second they were in the room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Menendez was sitting on the couch and quite a bit of trauma to the legs, to the head, to the torso. Just immense carnage on the

body itself. Just below on the floor between the coffee table and the couch was Mrs. Menendez, Kitty Menendez.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my 38 years in law enforcement, I`ve seen murder victims and I`ve seen suicide victims, but the condition in which these two

bodies were in just I`ll never forget the look. They were basically unrecognizable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The break in the case came in March of 1990. There was a woman who alerted the police that a former lover of hers, who is a psychologist,

had been treating the Menendez brothers and that those brothers confided in him saying that they, indeed, killed their parents.

So at trial, their defense left the courtroom in a state of shock. As you will clearly be able to see in this preview of Friday`s premiere of "How It

Really Happened."

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 12 years, between the ages of 6 and 18, my client, Erik Menendez, was sexually molested by his father.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Attorneys stand up and they say they killed the parents because of abuse and you could hear a pin drop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were all like, oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People started saying, why are we just hearing about this for the first time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no idea of that, the boys had never spoken about that, and, or anybody that I knew around them had never spoken about that.

I never saw anything with Jose and the boys at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between the ages of 6 and 8, did your father have sexual contact with you?

L. MENENDEZ: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone in the courtroom was stunned. People writing as fast as they could trying to get every word.

ERIK MENENDEZ, CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS PARENTS: My dad came in and told me to take off my clothes and to kneel on the bed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think people were stunned not only to hear this claim in the first place, but to hear the details about what these brothers said

happened to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: You probably know this guy. Hill Harper from "CSI New York." He is the host of "How It Really Happened" with, of course, Hill Harper.

Welcome.

HILL HARPER, HOST OF "HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED": It`s great to be here.

BANFIELD: Welcome to HLN. It`s great to have you right now.

HARPER: Thank you. It`s fantastic.

BANFIELD: This series is amazing.

HARPER: You know, I couldn`t be more proud of the production team. I couldn`t be more proud of the folks at HLN and CNN and this combo package

of talent and we just have these great show, so.

BANFIELD: Speaking of, like, JonBenet, Heath Ledger, Ted Kaczynski, O.J., JFK Jr., you`re really getting all the ones that gripped us. We were moment

to moment on all of those stories.

HARPER: And telling stories, you know, really telling stories, letting the armchair detective delve into new information. You know, CNN has this

treasure-trove of three decades of interviews that, you know, may not have been important at the time, but when you start digging deeper into them and

start thinking about, okay, does this make sense 30 years later? Does this make sense now?

[20:45:00] BANFIELD: You`re talking like a forensic filer, you know? That`s what I`m hearing.

HARPER: Listen, I did a show, "CSI New York," for nine years where all we did.

BANFIELD: Okay, Dr. Sheldon.

HARPER: . all we did was talk about, you know, scientific evidence to solve crime and DNA evidence and all of the -- all of the things that come along

with figuring out mysteries.

BANFIELD: Thirty years later, though, you know, you start to find out other things. People start getting loose lipped. I`m always curious, are those

brothers -- do they talk, Erik and Lyle? Do they see each other?

HARPER: They don`t.

BANFIELD: Really?

HARPER: Apparently, they haven`t spoken in many, many, many years. Now, the -- they`re very different in terms of personality, okay? Lyle is the older

brother, Erik`s the younger brother. Erik is the one who told his psychologist that they murdered their parents. The psychologist told his

mistress. And then they had a falling out. The mistress was mad and hell hath no fury.

BANFIELD: Right.

HARPER: So she told the police what he had said.

BANFIELD: And then you lay out so much of this and because I think we`ve forgotten a lot of the details, like the O.J. thing is crazy these days on

television. Everybody wants every other detail and they can`t believe they missed it in the first round. The one I want to ask you about is, can they

ever get out? Do they have any chance at parole?

HARPER: Yeah, so there`s a new statute in California. And the statute says that you have the opportunity to petition for a new trial if you are a

victim of domestic abuse and you weren`t able to present that evidence at trial.

So obviously they claimed that they were sexually abused by their father and that`s why they killed him. And so they have to petition for retrial.

They claim they`re going to do that but they haven`t done it yet.

BANFIELD: Yeah. They sure brought up that evidence at trial. I wonder how successful they`ll be. Really quickly, I mean that because we`re running

out of time but I love talking to you, why are we still so fascinated three decades later?

HARPER: Well, I think it`s not just Menendez case. You`ll see we have, you know, from now until May every Friday, you`re going to see these incredible

stories being retold. I think, you know, when you think about a show like "Making a Murderer" on Netflix that everybody loved or "Serial" at the

podcast, you know, we`re fascinated with telling stories and now we have the technology to go back in and retell stories and figure out what

happened. I think our show does a great job of that.

BANFIELD: I`m so glad you`re here. Dr. Sheldon Hawkes is awesome, but Hill Harper is better.

HARPER: Set your DVRs, folks, every Friday, "How It Really Happened with Hill Harper."

BANFIELD: You should just come here every Thursday and promote it.

HARPER: Listen, I would love that. Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: Thanks for doing this. So you heard him, Hill Harper is premiering his big show, Friday at 8:00 p.m. right here, eastern time, HLN,

don`t miss it.

This is one we haven`t heard before. A guy goes and robs a bank not just to get the money but then to sit down with the security guard afterwards and

admit it. All to get away from his wife. No kidding.

[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Okay. Rapid fire, I want to take you to Kansas City, Kansas. This adorable man, I don`t like to call him that, Lawrence John Ripple, 70 years

old, sorry, mugshot, you really are kind of adorable in your bank robbery. And that you handed over the note and stole $2,924 saying, I have a gun,

give me your cash. And then you sat down with the bank security guard and said, i did it, i did it.

I`m the guy you`re looking for. And then in an interview he said, I had an argument with my wife and I`d rather be in jail than be at home. Oh, my

Lord. Danny Cevallos, that`s federal bank robbery, could face 20 years. Will they go easy on him for that?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: He should have picked a crime that doesn`t have such nasty sentencing guidelines to

have time to think about it. In related news, a high percentage of my relationships have ended in the other committing a bank robbery. It`s very

strange.

BANFIELD: Who knew? Okay. So then there`s the thing in Lincoln, Nebraska. If you, by the way, live near Lincoln, you heard a big kaboom on January

21st. It wasn`t something bad. It was Jonathan and Ashley Sterkel announcing what the sex of their baby was with explosives. Have a look.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a boy!

BANFIELD: Is it ever? Complete with the blue smoke. David Bruno, they said that they had no idea this was illegal. So I was going to come to you with

a question about ignorance of the law and all that. Until I learned you`re about to have a baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNO: I am. I`m having a baby boy, too.

BANFIELD: Hey. Does everybody know that?

BRUNO: My family, but not friends. And July 7th, 07/7/17, my wife, Ashley, and I are expecting a boy.

BANFIELD: Wait a minute. There is an Ashley in this story as well?

BRUNO: Yeah, my wife is Ashley.

BANFIELD: Okay, this is crazy. And no one else knows. So this is your big reveal?

BRUNO: This is a reveal. So, I thought about the explosion, but I think it was better off coming on your show, "Primetime Justice."

BANFIELD: I hope they`re going to be okay. They were cited for this. No property damage, no injuries. You`re not allowed to really do that. Okay.

There is this thing in court where you have two sides and when things get ugly like, say, a murder, there`s the victim`s side, there`s the family`s

side, and when they kind of belong to the same side, things can get so explosive that your bailiffs better be amazing and that`s what you`re about

to see.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there.

(SCREAMING)

BANFIELD: Okay. You can`t even tell where, like, the accused is because he`s not on screen but the guy they`re surrounding is the brother of the

strangled woman. And he lunged over the barrier to try to get at the accused and the whole place just went nuts. Like I said, bailiffs, you guys

are heroes. I got one last thing I need to show you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: This is a shop lifting video in Forth Worth, Texas, but it`s not your average shoplifter because it`s sort of shop shuffling. He`s looking

at a guitar around the corner. You can`t stick a guitar in your pocket. No, of course, you can`t.

Are you sticking that guitar down your pants? You are sticking the guitar down your pants. There`s no way he could walk out of that store. There`s no

way. Oh, he did it. He limped out. And didn`t even show. Real quick question, "C" for creativity, but.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that your guitar in your pants or you just happy to see me?

CEVALLOS: Good thing he`s not into the tuba, that`s all I can say, folks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it wasn`t for stupid criminals, we`d all be out of a job.

BRUNO: Surveillance video is everywhere.

BANFIELD: I know, right, you`re absolutely right. Thank you. Great to have you all here. I appreciate it. Thank you all as well for sitting through

this. I will see you back here tomorrow night, 8:00, PRIMETIME JUSTICE. Stay tuned now. "FORENSIC FILES" starts after a break.

[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END