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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Nationwide Manhunt for Mississippi Murder Suspect; Man Drags Officer With Minivan; Thief Sneaks Peek; Thieves New Trick; Woman Lashes Out In Grocery Store; Pregnant Woman Shot Dead; White Supremacist Couple Sentenced After Racial Rampage. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired February 28, 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] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want him apprehended.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): Armed and extremely dangerous, a nationwide manhunt for an alleged serial killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killed one person, has shot at another, he`s a suspect in a murder in Philadelphia.
BANFIELD: Police say he strangled his girlfriend, then shot a female jogger. And if that weren`t enough, may have shot a woman in a church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was laying there on her back.
BANFIELD: Alex Deaton, packing two guns and wanted by police right across the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to catch this guy as fast as we can.
BANFIELD: An officer`s command during a traffic stop turns into a death- defying chase.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show me your hands! Put your hands up!
BANFIELD: As the suspect drags the officer and crashes the minivan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) car!
BANFIELD: Think this ends well for the perp behind the wheel?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Get out of the car! Face down!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was six weeks pregnant.
BANFIELD: A pregnant mother shot to death with her tiny 4-month-old baby right beside her in bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Viciously attacked by the back (ph).
BANFIELD: And what`s most bizarre, police say several people were right there in the room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people were here when we got here.
BANFIELD: So why can`t they figure out who did it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody (INAUDIBLE) took her life in the middle of the night when she`s asleep!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m so sorry!
BANFIELD: Crocodile tears in court after an unspeakable crime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a good day! Bye!
BANFIELD: White supremacists rain hell on a children`s birthday party, African-American children...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad was black! That`s a fact!
BANFIELD: ... racial slurs, Confederate flags, even threats to kill the kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They used the "N" word and they said they were going to kill people on my property!
BANFIELD: But a hero emerges in court with dignity, grace and forgiveness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I forgive you. I forgive all of you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I slap the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of you!
BANFIELD: And caught on video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my bag. Bitch, you just touched my bag!
BANFIELD: A suspected shoplifter attacks the clerks who catch her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t touch my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) bag, bitch!
BANFIELD: Plus a new twist to the oldest trick in the book, an unsuspecting victim lured from his car when a handbag is tossed from a
window. What do you suppose happens next?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
We`re following breaking news tonight, the desperate manhunt for an armed and dangerous man. Police say he is an alleged serial killer suspected in
a strangling, a shooting and maybe even the murder of an elderly woman in a church. Alex Deaton could be anywhere in the country tonight, perhaps even
far from the crime scenes left behind in south central Mississippi.
And what makes this story so different from so many other crimes is how incredibly random these killings and shootings have been -- a girlfriend,
an unrelated jogger, and the woman cleaning the church. So far, nothing ties them together, not age, not familiarity, not even robbery.
And what police are really worried about tonight is that they think Deaton could strike again. Here`s what police are telling us about the killings.
He is suspected of strangling his girlfriend, Heather Robinson, after her body was found in her home on Friday. Police say he may be the person who
let himself into a church the day before and shot to death the cleaning woman in the back office. They say he also may have shot a woman out
jogging. Luckily, though, she survived.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GUEST, RANKIN CO. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The concern is, is that Mr. Deaton has killed one person, has shot another, is a suspect in a murder in
Philadelphia. We want to be able to apprehend him before he harms anyone else. We
do not believe he`s in the area. Last information, we don`t even believe that he`s in the state of Mississippi, so it`s important for us to use the
media, and not just local media but to use the media nationwide to try to get his face out there, whether it be media such as y`all, whether it be
social media. We want him apprehended. We don`t want anyone else hurt.
We don`t know the frame of mind that he`s in, but we do know that he has killed one person, he has shot a second person and is a suspect in a third
homicide. So it is very important for us to locate him and to try to capture him before anyone else is harmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Joining me now live, Rankin County, Mississippi, sheriff Bryan Bailey, Rankin County DA, who you just heard, Michael Guest. Gentlemen,
thank you so much.
Sheriff, if I can begin with you -- you know, as we read the details in this case, it is the randomness that stands out. Is it as random to you as
it is to what the public knows at this point?
[20:05:04]BRYAN BAILEY, RANKIN CO. SHERIFF: Yes, ma`am. It is very random. We enjoy a very safe community of very low-violent crime rate.
This 40-year-old woman was jogging down the main boulevard in her subdivision when a white SUV passed her, turned around, came back, passed
her a second time. The third time, a white male with a beard slowed down by her and fired a shot at her, striking her in the upper thigh, and drove
off.
When we received the 911 call about this, it just -- when you hear something like this, you think that there`s some kind of motive, some kind
of reason, and there was just no rhyme or reason to why anybody would do this to this woman, especially after our investigation into this. Luckily,
she was not -- she was not killed. She was not rendered unconscious. She was able to give a very good description of the vehicle and the suspect.
BANFIELD: Well, she would make a great witness, obviously, in all of this, as traumatized as she must be, having just been out for a jog and been
shot.
However, there are the ballistics. There is, you know, a forensic case that can link all of this together. Are you there yet? Do you have the
results back saying whoever shot that cleaning woman in the church is the same person who shot that jogger and is the same person who strangled
Heather?
BAILEY: You know, there`s a large amount of evidence that`s been collected in this case. And again, this morning started out at 5:20 in the morning
with this random shooting, so we did collect some ballistic evidence there. And then later in the evening, afternoon, when we received the welfare --
the welfare check on the -- Heather Robinson, that`s when everything just sort of exploded. And we`ve been working hard ever since, still collecting
evidence. So we have very large amounts to submit to the crime lab for comparison.
BANFIELD: And District Attorney Michael Guest, if I could ask you -- I`m looking at some of the charges so far, first-degree murder and aggravated
assault. Is there any robbery? Is there anything else that may end up in this case that might give you some clues as to why this person did what
he`s alleged to have done and where he may be headed from here, what kind of path he`s on?
GUEST: You know, at this point, you`re correct, the charges that have been filed are first-degree murder and aggravated assault. In addition to that,
there will be at some point a charge for automobile theft, as Ms. Robinson`s vehicle was taken following her death. We`re also awaiting some
final autopsy reports from the state medical examiner. Depending upon the cause and manner of death, there may be an opportunity for us to increase
the charge to capital murder, which would then make Mr. Deaton eligible to be put to death if the jury were to impose such a sentence.
So we are working to finish gathering the evidence that we need, to have the ballistics and things returned from the crime laboratory. We`ve been
very fortunate that in our Department of Public Safety has been with us from the very beginning. The commissioner of public safety actually came
to the crime scene that evening. He offered all of his resources to help capture this suspect. He has asked the crime lab to expedite items that
have been submitted. He requested that the medical examiner expedite the autopsy.
So things are progressing. We are gathering new information every day. But of course, at this point, the most important thing for us is to locate
Mr. Deaton...
BANFIELD: Yes.
GUEST: ... and to capture him and bring him to justice before he harms someone else.
BANFIELD: So if I can, I just want to put up a timeline so that our audience is fully aware of sort of what you know and what at least is
public. So on Thursday, February 23rd, about 4:00 o`clock in the afternoon, Brenda Pinter is killed at that Baptist church.
Friday, February 24th, about 5:15 in the morning, a 911 call is made by the jogger. She`s been shot. Same day, but about 4:20 in the afternoon, more
than -- about -- almost 12 hours later, sheriff`s officer gets a request to do the welfare check on the girlfriend, Heather Robinson. And she`s found
strangled in her home. And that 2012 GMC Arcadia is missing, that white SUV.
Then on Saturday, the next day -- this is what`s crucial here -- Alex Deaton sends a text message or text messages from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He
sends them to his mother and he sends them to someone who`s being identified as a Boy Scout.
Sheriff, can you help me understand a little bit more about those text messages? What do they say? Who is this Boy Scout? What kind of clues do
they give?
BAILEY: You know, the text messages more or less -- that`s the last contact his mother -- his mother`s actually worked with us on this case,
and he had texted -- she said he sounded suicidal on the telephone when she talked to him.
[20:10:00]Most of the text messages that he sent were, like, almost cryptic. They didn`t make much sense at all. In some of the text
messages, he did refer back to Heather, referred to a church and referred to some other things, again, which ties him to the different crimes
involved.
BANFIELD: So cryptic or not, he referred to Heather being alive or Heather being dead and the church in terms of a murder?
BAILEY: No, he never, like, admitted to murder or admitted to Heather, but, like, he would ask, How is she? Is she OK? You know, I don`t know
what I`m going to do, it`s just, like, would jump all over the place with the conversation in the text and again, did mention about a church and did
mention that, you know, he didn`t know what he was going to do.
BANFIELD: What about the jogger? Any mention in those text messages about the jogger?
BAILEY: Nothing was said about the jogger at all. And again, she was just the wrong time at the wrong place. I think he fully intended to kill her.
You know, when we first -- just that call, just the jogger being shot, we thought maybe it was somebody trying to scare her or maybe, you know, she
was -- had some other kind of relationship going on. But at the end of the day, when we started putting the pieces of the puzzle together, I believe
in my heart he fully intended to kill her.
BANFIELD: So I got to ask you this. We`ve looked up his priors. Obviously, we`re looking for a rap sheet. This is typically what we would
find when we`ve got a dangerous man on the loose, armed with, you know, two handguns. He`s got no prior arrest history, and from what we gather, it
doesn`t seem that there were any domestics in the past. What do you know about his past?
BAILEY: There`s very little known about his past until you start talking to family members of Heather, her sister, her mother, and different ones.
And I think some of the signs were there about an abusive boyfriend, a controlling boyfriend. And I believe that`s what started this -- this --
all these tragic events is I think that -- I believe Heather was trying to distance herself or break up with him.
BANFIELD: Well, Sheriff, good luck. District attorney, good luck. I hope you are able to gather more information. I hope the autopsies bring in
more information. I hope you can find this man. And I sure hope he doesn`t allegedly strike again. Thanks for being on tonight. Appreciate
it.
BAILEY: Thank you.
GUEST: Thank you.
BANFIELD: Bad guys are coming up with whole new ways to get their hands on your hard-earned cash and possessions. The latest -- check it out --
thieves using handbags as a decoy to get your stuff. It`s not that complicated. We`re going to show you what happens.
Also, a traffic stop goes so horribly wrong for a police officer. Instead of getting the suspect, that officer got this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: You know, if there is anything that we have learned about police traffic stops, they are not routine, ever. And when a police officer in
Ohio pulled a man over and noticed he thought that that guy had been a suspected shoplifter, everything seemed to be going OK, actually. Looks
good, doesn`t it? But he did not expect what was going to happen next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:14]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, are you on your way up to Lowe`s to steal more (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. I don`t steal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t steal (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did last week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not me, no. I`ve never stole from Lowe`s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn`t Lowe`s, it was Sam`s Club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it wasn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don`t you jump out of the car for me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn`t (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: In just a matter of seconds, a fairly routine traffic stop just southwest of Cleveland went from bad to simply terrifying for the officer
responding. And were it not for the cameras that were mounted on both the cruiser and on the body of the cop, you just really can`t appreciate the
sheer violence that this officer, and frankly, all officers, have to expect every time they say, Step out of the car, please.
When the officer approaches this minivan, he recognizes the driver as a shoplifting suspect from a few days prior. That driver`s name is Thomas
Laforce (ph). So that`s where the conversation began, with the shoplifting. But where it ended was with the officer asking that suspect
to get out of the car, which he had absolutely no intention of doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, are you on your way up to Lowe`s to steal more (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. I don`t steal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t steal (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did last week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not me. No. I`ve never stole from Lowe`s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn`t Lowe`s, it was Sam`s Club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it wasn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Why don`t you jump out of the car for me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn`t (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Step out of the car for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I want you out of the car, that`s why. Bad idea! Bad!
All right. That car just took off, and he drug me from the vehicle. He`s southbound on Ridge Road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show me your hands! Put your hands up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
DISPATCHER: (INAUDIBLE) location?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ridge and South Brook (ph).
[20:20:04]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) car! Crazy! Get out of the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) car! Get out of the (EXPLETIVE
DELETED) car! And make sure they`re OK in that truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your hands out, dude. Keep your hands out!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it over there. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the truck! Face down! Face down! Get your hands behind your back!
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands behind your back, dude!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch the blood (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re bleeding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the glass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got it all over here. We got a squad coming?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: It hurts when you get caught in that manner. I want to bring in former NYPD officer John Cardillo. He`s also the host of "The John
Cardillo Show." OK, John, you saw that. Textbook?
JOHN CARDILLO, FORMER NYPD OFFICER: Yes, pretty close to textbook. I mean, and I was so glad you mentioned, Ashleigh, a little bit earlier that
routine car stops are never routine. They`re two of the most dangerous things, dangerous calls police officers respond to, domestic incidents
being the other. Those tend to be the most deadly, the most violent, and the most volatile.
But things jump off the quickest. And really, these officers did an outstanding job up to the end where they had the presence of mind to send a
couple of their partners over to check on people in other vehicles to make sure they were OK.
BANFIELD: What`s interesting is that there was actually a passenger in Mr. Laforce`s car. I think we might even have the video of it. As the high-
speed chase began, the passenger actually dumped out at some point. Watch this. The passenger, like, dumps out and says, I`m not having any of this.
CARDILLO: Yes.
BANFIELD: I was so curious about what the police would do, had that passenger stayed in, because as I understand it, they used that PIT
maneuver, the Pursuit Immobilization Technique, where they ram that car, and it flipped. If there`d been a passenger still in there, would they be
able to do that? Would they still do it?
CARDILLO: Yes, typical policy. And this was sort of a PIT. The PIT is done on the left rear quarter panel of the vehicle. I think the officer
was trying to do it. He hit the vehicle and it had the same effect.
And typically, you`ll deploy that under 35 miles an hour. Anything over 35 miles per hour, it could be fatal. And in this case, yes, they would have
deployed it anyway. And I think that guy was just thinking, What in the world is my buddy doing? He just wanted to get out of that car. He didn`t
want any part of a police pursuit.
BANFIELD: Yes. Amen. By the way, those two officers were hurt. And they were treated, minor injuries. But you heard them talking about the blood
from trying to break through that windscreen.
I want to bring in Paul Martin, former prosecutor, and Danny Cevallos, defense attorney, just to, you know, ask a little bit about -- when you
have literally the entire crime from start to finish on tape with audio -- it was almost, like, gift-wrapped with a little metal bow on it and put
under the tree. Especially as a former prosecutor, is that just, like, Well, thank you, you`re done?
PAUL MARTIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, no, it`s not that simple.
BANFIELD: Seriously.
MARTIN: I wish it was so simple. We see cases over and over again where it`s videotaped and there`s murders that are videotaped, and still we come
up with a verdict of not guilty or the jury is hung. So it`s not just a question of getting it on video. There`s also some other, you know,
factors that come into play.
BANFIELD: If that`s your client, what are those factors?
DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the argument has always been with video that when video came around, it would be objective. There would be
no more questions. But now that it`s here, the question is, What doesn`t the video show sometimes? In a case like this, it`s a little tougher
because you have so much video of what happened. This is a case...
BANFIELD: Can I say -- this moment right here...
CEVALLOS: And I can see you brimming with sympathy for this defendant.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: This moment right here, you can actually see Tom Laforce saying something and putting the car into gear. It`s not knocked into gear. It`s
not, I can`t hear you. It`s just so obvious that he is what you call fleeing and eluding, and hence the charge fleeing and eluding.
CEVALLOS: This is one of those cases where video will not bode well for the defendant. In other cases, it sometimes helps a defendant. This is
not one of those cases.
BANFIELD: OK, is that piece of video right there where I`m watching that officer getting the you know what knocked out of him -- is that officially
assault on a police officer, Paul? Because it looks like it to me and I ain`t no lawyer.
CEVALLOS: Aggravated.
MARTIN: It`s definitely assault on a police officer when the person is avoiding being arrested.
[20:25:00]BANFIELD: Then what am I missing? It`s all right there! We can hear it, we can see it! It`s plain as day!
MARTIN: Well, you`re not missing anything. I think what the defendant may say is that he didn`t have the mindset or he was drugged up or -- I`m not
sure what he`s going to say in order to get away from being prosecuted for this offense.
BANFIELD: OK. No person I know is ever allowed to say, Oh, sorry, officer, I was loaded. Sorry about that DUI. I was drunk. You can`t use
that stuff as an excuse. You just can`t do these things. You can`t risk that passenger`s life. You can`t risk all those other drivers around that
flipped vehicle. And then, by the way, you scraped up the officers and you dragged that guy.
CEVALLOS: It`s not an excuse, but maybe toward mitigation, you show that somebody like this -- maybe they have a history of drug and alcohol
dependency. When it comes to sentencing, if he was shoplifting at the store a couple days before, that`s usually a clear sign of an opiate
addiction, perhaps, and that is something you can show a judge at sentencing to maybe get some sympathy.
BANFIELD: Well, I sure hope those officers don`t end up addicted to the pain medication they may have to go on, given the assault that they
underwent and the pain and suffering they`re going through because any, you know, average guy would say, I got a neck brace after that, you know,
walloping. But you know, those guys are tough. They`re real tough. Hold the thought for a moment.
There is this story -- you know, it`s creepy, it`s upsetting, pregnant mother, brand-new mother, brand-new pregnant shot to death in her bed, and
that little 4-week-old baby was with her -- 4-month-old baby with her. So who would do this? And by the way, how is it that with a house full of
people, nobody knows who did it? There is one bizarre mystery there.
And a total melee broke out in this grocery store when an alleged shoplifter may have actually been caught red-handed. So you think
contrition, right? Think again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bitch, you just touched my bag! Don`t touch my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) bag, bitch!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:39] BANFIELD: In Michigan, police are working on a real mystery and they need your help. Take a look at surveillance video they released. A
young boy walks into a liquor store and apparently he is got handcuffs on. He walks around the store, officers say he even told a person in the liquor
store that he`d been kidnapped and was in danger, but then almost as quickly as they discovered him. He was gone, walked out, disappeared. And
unfortunately, that part was not caught on any kind of surveillance video. The police are keeping a close eye on this case, because in a very strange
twist, it`s the same liquor store where a teenager was kidnapped and killed just last year.
Just about all of us have shuddered at the thought of being watched secretly while we`re sleeping, so imagine for a moment not only being
watched, but being robbed, yet again, surveillance video. This is the home of Laura Lucas and that woman sneaking around real quiet-like, not her
friend. Not a family member. Nope. That is an intruder in Miami, taking her time scoping out the house, looking around. Even takes Laura`s keys to
her car. Here`s the weird part, see that couch on the left-hand side over there? That is where Laura is sleeping. She is sleeping on the couch the
whole time, this woman just walking right past her, look at that, the gall. Do you recognize her? Because police are still looking for her and if she
is that brave, chances are she just might do it again.
Want you to take another really good look at surveillance video I`m about to show you, because it`s kind of weird. It`s tricky. May happen to you
too because it`s this new way police in Georgia say thieves are targeting their victims. If you watch the SUV pulling out there, look out the back
window. Out goes a handbag. This is a gas station. And that guy who`s filling up his car back there is like what? What is this? Can`t help but
notice that he leaves his car, right? Walks up to the handbag, checks it out. And look what happens to his car while he is taking the handbag
inside. Yeah. The SUV comes back. The guy gets out. Slinks on over, opens up the door, helps himself into the victim`s car. Hello and helps
himself to a wallet and an iPhone, bang. That took seconds.
Police told our affiliate WSB that the suspects also had stolen that Lexus that they were driving and that nice little handbag, stole that too. Using
the same technique only an hour before this guy got robbed. And the officers say this, if you`re filling up your car, stay alert. Don`t go
leaving it because something weird happens. Lock your door when you go inside to pay, because this is easy pickens if you`re not on the ball.
We have all seen rude and angry customers but in El Cajon, California, the full-throated anger and rage of a woman was on full display at a local
supermarket. She was cursing and screaming and berating the employees there. So the guy, who`s filming this, Abraham Ahmed, pulled out his
iPhone, started rolling and posted it on his Facebook page. It`s not entirely clear if this woman was shoplifting but it is pretty clear the
employees were trying to stop her from leaving the store and when they grabbed her bag, a whole bunch of baby formula fell out onto the floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my bag. Call them. Don`t touch me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m going to sock you if you don`t all move. Move, bitch, I`m about to slap the (BEEP) out of you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bitch, this is my bag. (BEEP) my bag (BEEP). Bitch, you just touched my bag. Don`t touch my (BEEP) bag, bitch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:31] BANFIELD: Mr. Abraham told our affiliate KGTV in San Diego while the woman continued to do that to the employees, they were on the
phone the whole time with the police. But we do not know at this point what ended up happening to that woman.
There is murder mystery that is deepening tonight in Fresno, California. At a time when 20-year-old Amber Baker should be nursing her little 4-
month-old baby and rocking him to sleep, Amber is instead about to be buried. She was murdered. Shot to death with that little baby lying in
the bed beside her and no one knows who did it. But it`s not because there was nobody around when it happened. That is part of a mystery. The house
was full of people and so was her bedroom. It all started on a Saturday night. Amber, six weeks pregnant as well, had invited people over to her
apartment for a get-together. But sometime, about 3:00 in the morning, an argument reportedly could be heard and that was followed by gunshots.
Baker was killed. That little baby right beside her was spared. And tonight a family is in mourning, a killer is running free, and detectives
are trying to figure out why nobody inside that house knows who did it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE GOMEZ, FRESNO POLICE DEPARTMENT: The detectives are currently at the autopsy for the victim. Trying to determine who is involved. A lot of
people were here when we got here. And we`ve been working on this case since we got it that morning.
KATIE MARTIN, AMBER BAKER`S SISTER: She has a beautiful baby that she loves so much and he is going to grow up with without a mom and it`s
devastating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Katelyn Thompson is a close friend of the victim in this case, Amber Baker. She joins me now live. Katelyn, what is the situation in
terms of who was at the house when your friend was killed?
KATELYN THOMPSON, AMBER`S CLOSE FRIEND: I`m not so sure about who was exactly at the house. I can`t really say because I don`t have that much
information, but I know people know who did it and actual, like, if they know who did it, they should speak out and, like, let it be known who did
it, because this isn`t right.
BANFIELD: Are you saying you know they know who did it and they`re all protecting each other or do you think there`s really a possibility that
someone came into the house and they truly did not see this happen and did not know who it was?
THOMPSON: I feel like somebody in that house knows who did it. There has to be somebody in the house that knows who did it. Like, there`s not that
many people in the house for no reason.
BANFIELD: Do you know who she lives with? I mean, there were three people, as I understand, living with her. Is that correct?
THOMPSON: Yeah. It was her sister and her sister`s boyfriend and her son.
BANFIELD: Her son, her baby, her 4-month-old baby, her sister, and her sister`s boyfriend living there. Then do you have any idea how many people
were over for that get-together and were still there when the shots rang out at 3:00 in the morning?
THOMPSON: No, I have no idea.
BANFIELD: Does her sister know as a resident living there, does her sister or her sister`s boyfriend know who was there?
THOMPSON: No. They weren`t even home at the time.
BANFIELD: Well, do you know what kind of friends she would have had over with a brand new baby and also six weeks pregnant?
THOMPSON: Not people that I would expect to be there. I can tell you that right now. I don`t -- I don`t know anybody that would be able to do this
to her. She so loving and now her 4-month-old baby is left with, like, nothing, but her dad.
BANFIELD: There is one sort of strange twist to this. And Katelyn, I want to get your thoughts on it in a moment. Her sister, Cassie, had said Amber
had bought a car the night before. Amber was about to get a tax return back and that maybe somebody out there knew that Amber was slightly flush
with some, you know, with some money. I want you to hear her sister, Cassie, as she describes this. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASSIE BAKER, AMBER BAKER`S SISTER: She bought her car the night before and the only thing I could think of is everybody could see she had money.
Everybody knew she got her taxes back. And honestly that is the only reason. That is the only thing I can think of because my sister was just
too nice. She was too kind-hearted. She loved everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Katelyn, where is that little baby now?
THOMPSON: With his dad and his aunt.
[20:40:00] BANFIELD: And still no information at all. You`re not hearing anything about a lead in this case?
THOMPSON: No.
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Danny and Paul real quickly on this. Is this a case where they`ll be just mystified or they will find people, because
surveillance tapes and videos are all over the place and you just start squeezing everybody until somebody talks?
PAUL MARTIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Somebody knows what happened in that house. That is obvious. Someone, if you put enough pressure on them and
let them know they`re going to go to jail for a long, long time, I`m sure will get the truth out of someone who was there.
BANFIELD: Danny, first person to squawk gets the least amount of time?
DANNY CEVALLOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Of course. This is the standard operating procedure. They`ll go to whoever they perceive to be the weakest
of mind and hard and make it very clear to them that they`ll charge everybody as accomplices, everybody in a conspiracy and somebody will break
and hopefully what they give them will be the truth. Sometimes it isn`t.
BANFIELD: If they can find whoever was at this get-together.
MARTIN: They can. They can. Nowadays you cannot walk the earth without leaving a digital wake in your path.
CEVALLOS: There you go.
BANFIELD: We`ll continue to watch that story.
In the meantime alleged white supremacists go on a convoy that terrorizes a whole community and then decides to end at a very bizarre location, a
birthday party, for a group of African-American children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: They just pulled up to our party. They got knives and guns.
DISPATCHER: Knives and guns?
CALLER: Yes. And tire irons
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:46:35] BANFIELD: South side of Atlanta, what started as a first amendment parade with confederate flags on display quickly got out of
control and very ugly and incredibly menacing. For the most part, these white supremacists were met by what appears to be sarcasm from the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. Bye. Have a good day. Bye. Bye. Have a good day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, we hear you, too, baby. We see you, too, baby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a threat. That is a threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Things got a lot worse from there. This became a confederate parade of ugliness after threatening people across the town and ascended on
a party, not just any party, but a children`s birthday party, an African- American children`s birthday party. There were snow cones and bouncy castles and more and barbecuing and all of a sudden the parade showed.
Partygoers ended up on the receiving end of a slur, one after the other. Racial slurs. And then they ended up staring down the barrel of a shotgun
and other weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were having a party and these white guys pulled up with rebel flags and stuff, pulled shotguns on us and stuff. They`re
pulling rifles out on us, a truck of white guys, rebel flags.
DISPATCHER: What`s your name Honey?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please send somebody. Please send somebody before somebody gets shot. Have to send somebody --
DISPATCHER: We`re going to send some help out there to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They got guns.
DISPATCHER: Are there people fighting or just pulled up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they just pulled up on our party.
DISPATCHER: Ok. I can`t hear you because you`re yelling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They pulled up on our party. They got knives and guns.
DISPATCHER: Knives and gun?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. They got knives and guns. Yes. Yes. And tire irons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So turns out there is nothing about free speech that covers any of this. Two defendants, Jose Torres and Kayla Norton, were hauled into
court where they learned just how awful their actions were. And how do you think they feel about it now?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLA NORTON, DEFENDANTS: We didn`t go home. I don`t know why. I want you all to know that is not me. That is not me. That is not him. I would
never walk up to you and say those words to you and I`m so sorry that, that happened to you. I am so sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Lot of crocodile tears in court. That is now, of course, because Miss Norton was sentenced to at least six years behind bars and 13
for her partner, Torres. Once they`re released, there`s another little addition to the sentence. The judge said they are never to set foot again
in that county. They are literally banished. Want to bring in CNN national correspondent Nick Valencia, Nick, that is a very strange
sentence. "a," it is real steep, and "b," they`re banished. Is the judge saying why he went this far?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It is a strange sentence, especially when you consider in Georgia it`s one of three states in the
U.S. that does not have a hate crime law. So -- or judgment claim to give one year more than what was recommended by the state to each Norton and
Torres sends a big message to the court, 13 years for Torres, 6 years for Kayla Norton for making terroristic threats. Street gang act violation.
That is what they`re officially charged with. What they were found guilty of. But there`s no hate crime law. It`s a really big thing for --
[20:50:17] BANFIELD: There were a lot of people who were deeply scarred by this, many of them little kids. I want to bring in Melissa Alford, because
Melissa was hosting that party when this parade showed up and when those threats were made. When the barrel of a shotgun was pointed right at them,
loaded I might add. Where racial epithets were hurled and where kids` lives were threatened. Melissa, can you hear me?
MELISSA ALFORD, BIRTHDAY PARTY HOST: Yes, ma`am. I can hear you.
BANFIELD: Thank you so much for being with me today on the program. I want to get your reaction to the sentence that was handed down and what
transpired with Joe Torres and Kayla Norton in court? How did you feel about it?
ALFORD: Well, at first it was a little emotional, still emotional. I think justice was served. I think Judge Bo McClain did what he had to do
at that moment. So I think he did what he had to do and I think justice -- I know justice was served, either way. Justice was served.
BANFIELD: One of your friends did something that was really remarkable in that courtroom. She stood up and she said, even though she and her
children were so affected that she forgave Torres and Norton. I want to play for you what she said in court that moment. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Affected my life and affected my children`s life. I forgive you. I forgive all of you. I do. I forgive you.
BANFIELD: Melissa, did you feel as forgiving as your friend.
ALFORD: Being a Christian woman, not saying I`m sanctified, Holyfield, yes, being a Christian woman, I did for give them because of my sins, and
the woman I am. They just have to learn to forgive themselves for their wrongdoing. I`m forgiving them. I will have my peace. I`m not going
around hating anyone.
BANFIELD: Melissa, how are the kids who were at the birthday party who had to suffer these unbelievable indignities and terror?
ALFORD: I mean, they are confused, I mean, they trying to figure out the difference of what transpired. I mean, one of my grand babies is white, so
how am I supposed to explain the difference between white and black when she doesn`t see that? How do the other kids supposed to explain white and
black when there`s white and black people at the party? There`s no color when you at my house. There`s no color when we`re at each other house.
Now we got to explain to them what happened.
BANFIELD: Yeah.
ALFORD: It`s like educating them.
BANFIELD: And they`re kids. I mean, they`re just --
ALFORD: And they`re kids.
BANFIELD: It`s, I mean, punishment or not, it`s really hard for them to understand that. Paul and Danny, I want you to come in on this just
because of the sentencing and what this judge did. Wow. I mean, 20 years for him, 15 years for her, less served, but ultimately that sentence and
banishment. I`ve not heard of banishment before.
MARTIN: Game of thrones.
BANFIELD: Yes. It does, doesn`t it? They bet on trial. Other defendants cut a deal and they`re not going away for as long, bad idea.
MARTIN: Bad idea for the defendant, good idea for the justice system. These people, they have no idea how much they scarred these young children.
And now they`ll have plenty of time to think about exactly the impact that they had on these helpless kids.
BANFIELD: Yeah.
CEVALLOS: These are unsympathetic defendants, but I think the sentencing here is a little high. First of all, this isn`t a hate crime. This is a
separate statute. It`s a street gang crime. The question is whether or not they were engaged in gang activity. And once that finding is made, and
look, you can see, let`s take a look at that video right there, we don`t see them brandishing any guns. The police aren`t rushing in to do
anything. And nobody`s fled the party. So if there is evidence that they pointed a gun --
BANFIELD: They did, they did.
CEVALLOS: At those people -- I don`t know if that gets you to the street gang terrorism act.
BANFIELD: They loaded the gun then pointed the --
MARTIN: There are children involved.
BANFIELD: Save some of the bullets for the little ones.
MARTIN: This is one of the situations where the video doesn`t show it all.
BANFIELD: The video doesn`t show it all, you`re right, you`re right.
CEVALLOS: But here`s the thing. The problem with statutes like this, they load up on mandatory minimums so right away you`re in a range of something
like 20 years and in this case, I just don`t know that that is valid, unless the guns were pointed directly at the children in which case it`s
valid.
[20:55:08] BANFIELD: They were. Melissa, if I can ask you quickly if you`re with me, the defendants were crying massive tears in court. Do you
believe they were sorry for what they did or do you believe they were sorry because they`re going away for a long time?
ALFORD: Well, to address that, I believe in my heart that they had sincere regret that they got caught, but I also want to address the gentleman that
was talking about this is not hate crime. I don`t understand how you`re not saying this is not a hate crime when they have been going around
terrorizing nothing but minority people.
BANFIELD: Yeah.
ALFORD: And they have been doing this for two days. So, and they used that word and they used a gun in a violent way. I mean --
BANFIELD: It`s hateful. It`s definitely --
ALFORD: They all admit that they used this language. They have been doing this. Even Kayla said that she had the option to not keep going.
BANFIELD: It`s hateful.
ALFORD: How you think this is not a hate crime --
BANFIELD: It`s hateful. Some states just haven`t actually written the hate crime into the books. It`s a technical thing. It is certainly not an
emotional thing. A lot of people feel it was pretty hateful. Paul, Danny, thank you. I want to thank Melissa as well. See you tomorrow night, 8:00
PRIMETIME JUSTICE. Stay tuned now "FORENSIC FILES" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
