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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Interview With Corey Thomas, War Machine`s Other Beating Victim. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 16, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST (voice-over): The case against War Machine--
911 CALLER: Stop! Stop! Stop!
BANFIELD: --loaded with sickening details.
CHRISTY MACK, VICTIM: He looks at me, and he says, Now I have to kill you.
BANFIELD: What happened to that porn star, beaten within an inch of her life when caught in bed with another man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incidents that I saw, I really wish I would have shot you.
BANFIELD: The MMA fighter`s lawyer shows a chokehold in court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is (INAUDIBLE) here.
BANFIELD: Will it fail to crush the pile of evidence stacked up against him?
Plus a primetime exclusive.
COREY THOMAS, BEATING VICTIM: War Machine jumped on top of me and was pounding on my face with his fists.
BANFIELD: That other man found in bed with Christy Mack, Corey Thomas, beaten senseless inside that very room. But he escaped to tell his story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was going through your mind?
THOMAS: Try not to die.
BANFIELD: He`s here tonight with a firsthand account.
Hotel rapist -- a man caught breaking into a room and raping one of the guests. He is literally caught with his pants down. Now the survivor is
suing the hotel and the front desk clerk seen handing over a key.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I need an ambulance right now.
BANFIELD: A man makes a rambling 911 call, but police say he just shot and killed his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, she`s injured!
BANFIELD: He claims it was an accident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s got a gunshot wound.
BANFIELD: Why officers and forensics say that doesn`t add up.
Plus, a teacher accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student, and now she`s missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could be anywhere. We want her home. We want him in custody.
BANFIELD: Investigators say Elizabeth Thomas is in real danger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing that we have learned to this point has diminished our concern for this young girl`s wellbeing.
BANFIELD: Get a good look at Tad Cummins fueling up before skipping town.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
His name is War Machine, his legal name. But he could end up being known as simply inmate after a jury is finished with him. It is the case of a
former MMA fighter who found his porn star ex-girlfriend in bed with another man. That man is going to speak with us live in just a few
moments.
Christy Mack and Corey Thomas were left hospitalized from near lethal beatings that lasted hours. The jury`s deciding 34 charges against War
Machine, including rape, assault, and attempted murder with his bare hands. Details of escalating violence between War Machine and Christy Mack were
laid bare for that jury, moment to moment details of what happened the night she nearly died and bloody details from her broken teeth to her
broken bones were listed out amid stories of wild and dangerous sex.
Christy on the stand cried as she recounted her violent life with War Machine, not to mention escaping the beating, running bloody and naked to
the neighbors. The defense not so much denying what happened, but really giving an alternate version of the events. And now the man who made his
name inside Bellator`s (ph) MMA cage is about to find out if he will be caged for life in a prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACK: Jon came in and turned the lights on. He set his things down, and then he started yelling at Corey. I didn`t want them to get hurt, so I set
the dogs outside and I closed the door.
And at this point, he starts hitting Corey. He jumps on top of him and starts hitting Corey in the face. So they`re both on (INAUDIBLE) laying
down, and Jon just starts hitting him. Eventually, they start rolling around and fall to the floor. And I called 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout this entire fight, were you concerned about your safety?
THOMAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was going through your mind?
THOMAS: Try not to die.
MACK: I remember at some point, while I was laying there, feeling the tooth on my tongue! I just remember being (INAUDIBLE) right in front of
the shower, like I was about to (INAUDIBLE) And he kicked me in my ribs so hard that I fell over.
He looks at me and he says, Now I have to kill you. I`ve gone too far. You can`t be seen like this. Everyone`s going to know!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Rachel Stockman. She`s the editor-in-chief of Lawnewz.com. She`s been following this trial gavel to gavel. And since
you`re gavel to gavel -- we`re almost at verdict watch. They almost have the case.
RACHEL STOCKMAN, LAWNEWZ.COM: Yes. At last check -- and I was just checking in with our live feed -- the prosecution was giving their rebuttal
and they`re about -- the jury is about to get the case.
BANFIELD: OK, as for what the prosecution said to this jury in closing, I want to play for you a little but about how they summed up what this jury
has been watching. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:04]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Now I have to kill you" is the last words Christy Mackinday heard on August 8th, 2014, from the defendant, War
Machine, aka Jonathan Koppenhaver. They`re the last words that she heard from the man she spent 15 months on and off again with.
Those words were spoken about two hours after Ms. Mackinday watched the defendant pummel and beat her friend, Corey Thomas. Those words were
spoken only a few minutes before this photo was taken, after she had endured nearly two hours of beating, hitting and other forms of punishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So Rachel, listen, that picture is just jaw-dropping to see, and it wasn`t the only one. All and all, the prosecution`s case pretty clear
with the witnesses, with the evidence, with the, you know, exhibits. Did they give a clear picture of what happened?
STOCKMAN: They did. And they had to go through the 34 charges that they charged War Machine with. So they had to kind of meticulously go through
each one to try to prove their case.
BANFIELD: I had been very confused. I`m not going to lie. I`ve been watching your coverage, and you seemed somewhat flummoxed, as well,
watching the defense. It seems like it`s just been all over the map.
Let me play a real quick moment from the defense closing argument, see if they were trying to button any of these weird mysteries up. Let`s have a
look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) critical questions. Why not run and hide if the police are coming, even though -- even if you leave the phone, you
take the phone, whatever you do? If Jon truly had this history, you don`t just stay there. She was watching a fight cage side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: No, I`m still confused. What was their point? What did the say to this jury? What did they leave the jury with?
STOCKMAN: OK, here`s the bottom line. Basically, we`ve heard all different things throughout this trial from the defense. What they said
today was, Yes, we admit War Machine did some of what he`s accused of doing, but he didn`t do all of it and it`s not as severe, and he never
tried to kill her or sexually assault her.
BANFIELD: But there...
(CROSSTALK)
STOCKMAN: But he did hit her in the face and cause these bruises, basically.
BANFIELD: Oh, how about that? How about that? So are they conceding that -- are they going to concede to some of those 34 counts?
STOCKMAN: Yes, they are. Yes, they are.
BANFIELD: OK. So effectively, we know that.
I want to bring in Corey Thomas, if I can. Christy Mack`s ex-boyfriend Corey Thomas was a big, big part of this trial. He was on the stand. Why?
Because he was in that room.
He`s live in Las Vegas. Corey, thank you so much for joining us. This is your first interview, television interview about what happened that night.
Our audience has seen you in two versions, what you look like now and what you looked like after that night. And the picture of you battered bloody
is harrowing.
I wanted to get from you your feelings about what has transpired since that horrible night.
THOMAS: Well, he`s going to receive the energy that he put out into the world, and that`s what`s happening today. You know, the people that were
involved, we spoke our mind and we told the truth. And now the jury of his peers is going to find him guilty. That`s exactly what`s going to happen.
BANFIELD: How are you doing, by the way? How have you healed?
THOMAS: My life`s wonderful. You know, I`ve got my businesses and a girlfriend, and you know, wonderful friends and family, and you know, life
keeps going on. It`s been two-and-a-half years, so that happened a while ago. But today is a new day.
BANFIELD: Today is a new day. But you know, a lot of people, they suffer residual psychological effects if they have gone through a trauma like you
went through, a PTSD sort of scenario. And I just wondered if you have -- if you are over what happened to you, if you`ve really moved on from it.
THOMAS: Today, I believe I am. I remember after the incident, you know, immediately after the incident, a couple of times I woke up in the middle
of the night thinking that I heard noises, which is nearly impossible because I had lived on the 43rd floor of a double security, you know,
building, and it`s just- but I thought I heard something. I went to the door, and of course, nothing`s there. And I can understand...
BANFIELD: Hard to believe...
THOMAS: ... how that, you know, affects you.
BANFIELD: It`s hard to believe I`m speaking to the same person that we`re seeing in the images that we`re seeing, all of those photographs of you
just after the attack.
Corey, if I can do something -- and I hope you`ll permit me. I want to take the audience through the 911 call that Christy made secretly as she
alleges War Machine -- that`s his legal name -- had broken into the bedroom where you and Christy were and set upon you, set upon you first.
[20:10:08]And for anyone who hasn`t heard this call, it`s very disturbing. Children shouldn`t be in if you`re going to listen. What you`re be hearing
in the backdrop is not Christy saying anything. This is in secret. She didn`t want War Machine to know she was on the phone to 911. But there is
a lot of thudding and banging. And Corey, that`s you. That`s you being beaten. And I want to play for our audience the sound of it.
And I`m going to -- I`m just going to -- I`m going to watch you as we listen through this, if you`ll permit me. Let`s listen to it for a moment.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911 emergency.
MACK: (INAUDIBLE) Stop! Stop!
911 OPERATOR: Can you hear me?
MACK: Stop! Stop it! Stop it!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
MACK: Stop it!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I`m trying to think, Corey, of what you think when you hear that and you know that was the beating that you endured.
THOMAS: Well, the lights came on, and you think to yourself, OK, what are we going to say now? I mean, this is unexpected. And before I knew it, I
couldn`t even -- couldn`t even react. Just, I`ve got this guy on top of me, just pounding my face. And that`s how you wake up in bed, with a guy
that`s a trained killer to pound your face. What`s your next move? What do you do?
And you know, some of my other friends who are ex-fighters and big, tough guys, they`re, like, I don`t know if I could have done much better, given
the situation, you know. So I just did what I knew I could do, and I tried to protect myself and cover. And I tried to find a way out of the
situation.
As the fight progressed, we just got more tired and more tired. And you know, I could tell he tried to kill me, he just ran out of gas. I ran out
of gas. I mean, go 12 minutes in a fight with no intervention, with no police, you know, nobody to help. And that`s why I said in court the whole
training to be a jujitsu fighter or an MMA fighter or boxing or anything, it all changes when your life`s at stake and your adrenaline is at an all-
time high. You do what you can do, and that`s it.
BANFIELD: Corey, did you think that you were going to die or did you think you were going to get out of there?
THOMAS: At the second choke, I thought I was going to die. I thought, OK. I remember looking up at the bathroom, and he had a rear naked choke on me.
There was no seatbelt choke done. I researched all the chokes after, you know, the court and -- he had a full rear naked choke on me. The only
thing I escaped it is because I had trained it with John Lewis (ph) over at his jujitsu. And we had got out of them, and I had been choked to the
point where I couldn`t, you know, swallow food for a week. I knew how serious that was, when you get it in deep (ph) and how to react quickly.
BANFIELD: And I`ll tell you, coming up in a few moments, we`re actually going to show that. We`re going to show the rear naked choke is because
his lawyer demonstrated it in court. We are still unclear as to why, but we`ll show that in a few moments.
And then I have this question for you, Corey. I`m going to let you think about it for a moment because it`s a very serious question I think a lot of
our viewers have, as well. You negotiated with War Machine to get the hell out of there. And you did. You got out of there.
THOMAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: And the reporting is that...
THOMAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: ... you were threatened. War Machine would set upon you with his Navy SEAL friends, his Hell`s Angels friends, if you called the police.
And you did not. I think a lot of people wonder how on earth you could have left the situation knowing full well there was a 5-foot-1, 105-pound
girl left in your wake.
I want you to think about it for a moment. I`m going to go to commercial break for a couple of minutes. I want you to get real clear on your view
now and your view back at that moment. I`m going to get what you answer is in just a couple of moments. That OK?
THOMAS: Yes. Absolutely. Have a great answer for you.
BANFIELD: OK. A few minutes from now -- well, a lot of people say, God, I mean, this is playing with fire, dealing with a woman like that. She had
just texted a naked picture 20 minutes before you arrived to her house to War Machine and that they had something still going on. So I`m going to
ask that question in a moment.
And then later on in the show, as well, we got another story that we`re working on. A district attorney has done something pretty significant, has
decided that she`s not going to seek the death penalty against an accused cop killer.
[20:15:06]Why that decision has fueled outrage all the way to Florida`s governor`s office. That`s next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Tonight, closing arguments in the War Machine trial, famous MMA fighter War Machine -- it`s his real name, legal name -- facing 34 charges,
including attempted murder and rape, as well as a beating to his porn star ex-girlfriend and her friend, Corey Thomas. Victim Corey Thomas is with us
live. We`ll continue our interview in just a moment.
And there is also this. Caught on video a wanted teacher from Tennessee. Here he is gassing up before investigators say he lured a 15-year-old
student into going on the run with him. Why the TBI agents are becoming more and more desperate and why they fear that young Elizabeth Thomas could
be in extreme danger with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:24]BANFIELD: Attorneys in the process of finishing their closing arguments in the War Machine attempted murder trial among 34 other charges,
as well, 33 plus the attempted murder. While prosecutors were methodical in laying out over several days of testimony and exhibits the utter
brutality of the case against the MMA fighter, the defense, in its closing, was pretty realistic about the amount of evidence against this client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you- are you ready for the spoiler alert? We are intending upon conceding a fair amount of counts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Corey Mack (sic) is still with me live in his first primetime television interview. The allegations are that he suffered mercilessly at
the hands of War Machine before War Machine turned his attention to Christy Mack.
Before the break, Corey, I asked you that question about leaving and about not calling the police. Do you feel guilt? Do you feel shame? Why did
you not contact the police regardless of what threat he made against you?
THOMAS: So during our fight, while we`re still fighting and towards the end of the fight, as I changed the -- started the conversation, you know,
she`s in the background, telling him that she loves him, that she was going to marry him today and that he`s -- she`s his man and vice versa, you know,
that whole conversation.
And so I say to myself, Why aren`t the police here? Why hasn`t she called the police? And I say to myself it`s time to start finding out what`s
going to happen. You want to kill me? You want to let me go? Because there`s really two options. You either get busy and you get to killing me,
or this is over. And if it`s over, then we fought. And if she`s your girl, then you guys obviously have some serious issues to work out.
BANFIELD: So are you telling me, Corey-
THOMAS: But the way I was raised...
BANFIELD: ... then, when you left, you were under the impression she was going to be OK?
THOMAS: Yes. Two guys fight. That`s the end of it. I`ve never hit a woman in my life. I never will. I was raised with three sisters and a
single mother.
BANFIELD: But Corey, you...
THOMAS: You don`t do that.
BANFIELD: You were a good friend of hers. Had she never told you anything about their relationship? I mean, this was one rocking and rolling
relationship.
THOMAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: She`d been beaten, she`d been bruised, she`d been cut. You didn`t think that a guy who`d done that to her before might just take the
boots to her after you?
THOMAS: That was a complete secret. And we were a lot more than friends at the time. We had been seeing each other and sleeping -- you know, two
months, I mean, two months of serious dating and kept it all a secret from me, all of it, even to the last text of her picture to him right before we
got into bed, all came out in court. So that`s complete misdirection on her side.
BANFIELD: It`s incredible. When you ultimately went into her hospital room -- I think I read somewhere you were in the same hospital not far
away, actually, from her. When you went into her hospital room and you saw...
THOMAS: We were in adjoining rooms.
BANFIELD: Adjoining rooms, dear God. When you saw the condition that she was in...
THOMAS: When I saw her face, I couldn`t -- I couldn`t believe it. I just was -- and I walked over to the bed, and she was trying to open her eyes to
see me and she just said, I`m sorry, I`m sorry, I`m so sorry, 10 times apologizing. And if I had any inclination, any clue, this could have been
completely avoided. It could have had a completely different outcome. This was...
BANFIELD: Did you feel any guilt at that point? Did you feel any remorse? Did you feel any blame that you had left that apartment and she ended up
like that?
THOMAS: Oh, absolutely. At the moment that I saw her and I realized what this guy was, all bets were off. I mean, it wasn`t two guys that had a
fight and I was the wrong guy in the wrong bed. Now it was now all bets off. You hit this little girl, and you`re going down all the way.
BANFIELD: OK. So the bed part -- that is an intriguing part of a lot of this. I think a lot of people have seen the headlines. You were found in
bed with Christy Mack by War Machine, that he lost his cool, obviously.
Did you have a relationship with her? Because 20 minutes before you got there, she was sending naked pictures to War Machine and saying, It`s all
yours, baby, effectively.
THOMAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: And I just wonder, if you had this relationship with her, didn`t you know that you were playing with fire, knowing what kind of person --
you know, volatility he was capable of?
THOMAS: You know, once it came out in court and I got to watch the relationship that they had with text messaging and their conversations, it
was a complete contrast from our relationship. Ours was on the white side, theirs was on the black side. Ours was -- everything was spelled out
correctly, and our text messages very respectful. We always got along, did many common things together, like running errands and just doing the
normal, you know, boyfriend-girlfriend style of stuff. Their side was crazy when it came out into the courtroom. And I was, like, Who is this
girl? Completely different.
[20:25:07]BANFIELD: So let me ask you something to that point because Christy on the stand was very, very clear, very articulate about that wild
and dangerous sex life. And in fact, in the closing, the defense mysteriously displayed or demonstrated that rear chokehold that you were
talking about. We have all been trying to figure out why. Legal watchers who have been in the business forever not entirely certain.
Let`s see if we have the video that we can play of the defense demonstrating that rear chokehold. We`re sort of at a loss as to why they
would do this. And you talked about having been in this chokehold. So it almost...
THOMAS: It was a rear naked choke. It was not a seatbelt.
BANFIELD: OK, rear naked chokehold.
THOMAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: We`re still trying to figure out why...
THOMAS: It`s the same choke that War Machine used for seven out of his 14 wins in his MMA record. If you look at all of his wins, half of them were
with the rear naked choke.
BANFIELD: So Christy on the stand had talked about sort of fantasy rape scenarios between War Machine and her when they were a couple and being
choked and actually being choked out. I want to play a little moment of that testimony and ask you a question about it in a moment. Have a listen
to Christy on the stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would agree part of the problem, the idea behind rape, is surprise?
MACK: Yes, that is correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did Jon respond to the idea of the rape fantasy?
MACK: Well, we obviously never acted it out. So I did not -- I don`t remember how exactly he reacted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, did he seem disgusted by it and, No, I would never do that?
MACK: No. I don`t believe he would ever say anything like that sexually, ever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MACK: He`s very open-minded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of what you like is to be choked?
MACK: Sexually?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MACK: Yes, I do request to be choked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So Corey, you said to me earlier that you were unaware of the domestic violence that had escalated between War Machine and your friend,
Christy. There she is on the stand talking about...
THOMAS: She kept that all a secret.
MACK: Well, what about the sexual preferences because that is a -- I think by a lot of counts a very unusual preference, wanting to be choked out.
Did she ever share any of that information with you? Did you know about any of these fantasies before, as you were dating?
THOMAS: No. No. That was never, never...
BANFIELD: Did you learn this in trial, or did you learn it at another time?
THOMAS: I`m sorry. It`s hard to hear you. What did you say?
BANFIELD: Did you learn about this all during the trial while Christy tearfully was testifying and saying all this on the stand, or did you find
out at another time?
THOMAS: Yes, I learned about it during the trial.
BANFIELD: At the same time we did?
THOMAS: There`s been so much not said about the past until it was in the hospital. That`s when we found out, OK, War Machine used to beat her. For
a lot of their relationships, he beat her and that was all kept a secret by her.
BANFIELD: Well, and at times that she invited...
THOMAS: Understandable.
BANFIELD: ... some of the choking, as well. I mean, that was -- that must have been a bit of a shocker.
THOMAS: Yes, there`s a -- when I saw the trial, that`s a big difference between having sex and liking it a little rough and a little choke, versus
beating someone. There`s a clear distinction between the two. And if you can`t figure that out...
BANFIELD: Can I ask you -- I`m curious about your relationship with Christy Mack now. I mean, you must have been going through an absolute
roller-coaster that night and then the aftermath and then in the hospital room and then finding all of this history. Are you guys good? Are you OK
together? Are you speaking?
THOMAS: We don`t actually speak. We haven`t spoken in over a couple years now. And you know, after the hospital, we spent time together. I took
care of her. And then about a month or so after that, then stopped speaking, and it`s just kind of gone on from there.
So I don`t think we really have much to say to one another. I mean, we want the same thing, we want the guy that is responsible for this to get
locked up and get what he deserves. And at the end of the day, it`s unfortunate, you know, all of this. So I don`t know what could really left
to said. You know, we were both there. We both saw what happened. We both understand.
BANFIELD: Yes, and I guess my -- I`m curious. Do you not speak by design, out of animosity? Or do you not speak because it`s ended, there`s nothing
left to say?
THOMAS: No, I mean, she`s gone on with her life and I`ve gone on with my life, and that`s just how things work, you know, at times. There`s no -- I
don`t think there`s any animosity. It would be fine to say hello and -- you know, and give her a hug, and you know, hope that she`s well. I just
always hope the best for her, and I`m sure she would the same.
BANFIELD: So I`m assuming that this would have been difficult for you to watch her on the stand in the emotional and grueling examinations that she
went through -- .
MACK: Yes.
BANFIELD: ... and the information that she imparted on -- on everybody, so publicly, too. I do have this question about some of the doctors. The
defense put a doctor named Dr. Steven Saxe, and he testified that Christy exaggerated all these injuries. It`s hard for me. I`m not a doctor. But I
see those photos. She looked like she`s been in a truck wreck. This doctor however sort of minimized it to could have been somewhere around maybe two
punches or so. I want to listen to a piece of his testimony for a moment and ask you about that. Have a listen to Dr. Steven Saxe for defense.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are the injuries that Ms. Mack sustained to her face consistent with two blows in rapid succession?
STEVEN SAXE, SURGEON: I believe that this is very possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, Corey, when you heard that, that it could be just, you know, one or two punches, ultimately the cross-examination was able to elicit,
hell no, it could have been a hundred. You must have been livid.
COREY THOMAS, EX-BOYFRIEND OF CHRISTY MACK: I think does it really matter if it was one punches or 100 punches, should a guy like that be hitting a
girl that is 5`2", the size of a small child? No, absolutely not. It doesn`t matter what it was. He did it. That`s what matters.
BANFIELD: So I`m assuming the fact that you don`t speak to Christy, that you don`t have a relationship with her anymore, doesn`t underscore how you
feel about this case. I`m assuming after what you want through and this court and this trial that you want War Machine to be found guilty of all 34
charges, is that correct?
THOMAS: Absolutely. And if he serves a day or he serves 100 days or 100 years, if he wants to come out of that and he wants to see what it feels
like to be abused, I`d be happy to stand him up in a one-on-one real match in an octagon anywhere and let him understand what it feels like to be
abused.
BANFIELD: Corey, it`s been really good of you to talk to us tonight. You`re very strong. I don`t think I could have held up listening to that 911 call
knowing that`s me being pummeled nearly to death with those blows. Thank you so much for being a part of this. And good luck as you all navigate
your future and living on with your life. I hope things go well for you, sir.
THOMAS: Thank you, Ashleigh. I appreciate it.
BANFIELD: Corey Thomas joining us live from Las Vegas. Really a remarkable interview given the fact -- given what he went through and what Christy
went through and what they`re all going through right now as we at 8:32 eastern time expect to be in verdict watch possibly by this evening.
We all know Erin Andrews, beautiful, sportscaster. Beautiful host of "Dancing with the Stars." She won $55 million after a man took pictures of
her through peep holes at a Nashville hotel. But you ain`t heard nothing yet. Because a California woman is suing the hotel for a heck of a lot
more. Actually giving the man a copy of a key to her room and he did a whole lot more than look. There is a rape case that ensued and a guilty
verdict. I`m gonna tell you a little bit more about that, show you the pictures as well.
And a husband calls 911 after his wife is fatally shot tragically, right, and then you hear the rambling story. Certainly does raise a lot of
suspicions about who may have actually fired and it just keeps unraveling.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My -- my wife, there was an accident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She got, we just went to the store.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: You know her face. She is everywhere these days and she`s delightful. The beautiful and talented Erin Andrews. A reporter on the big
NFL game every week. She`s one of the hosts of wildly popular "Dancing with the Stars." You`ll probably know that a jury also awarded Ms. Andrews $55
million a few years back after she sued a hotel chain for allowing a stalker to secretly record her naked in her room through that peep hole.
Now a woman in California is also suing a hotel over a case of sexual assault. In her case it was one big difference, she wasn`t just stalked or
photographed, she was actually raped. And the guy who did it pleaded guilty. He`s actually caught on video. Jonathan Padilla. You can see him on
surveillance talking to the hotel employee of the Holiday Inn Express in southern California.
According to the court document, he`s trying to convince the employee to give him a spare key to the victim`s room, and he is seen getting the key.
She hands it over. And then he`s seen going to the room. He makes his way down the hallway, fiddles with the room`s peep hole, before using that key
to get inside.
And here he is leaving pants down around his ankles. Because while inside, he sexually assaulted that woman who was asleep. He pleaded guilty. He was
sentenced to three years in prison. Didn`t have to serve a whole lot of time though. It looks like maybe not even a full year. Now the victim is
taking her case to civil court and suing not only Jonathan Padilla who did it, but the hotel chain and several of the workers
[20:40:00] who were on duty at the time. Brian McCormack is the attorney for that woman who claimed that she was sexually assaulted at that Holiday
Inn. He joins me from Bakersfield, California. Brian, thanks so much for being with me. This looks pretty clear. We have video of him going in and
out of that room. He was convicted of rape. He went to prison. Sounds like a no-brainer. But to me, I say bring your wheelbarrow to the settlement
talks. Why have you not brought the wheelbarrow? What`s holding this up?
BRIAN MCCORMACK, ATTORNEY FOR THE WOMAN WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY RAPED: Well, you described it very well. It couldn`t be clearer. Jonathan Padilla got the
room key from the hotel employee. The industry standard is very clear. And also it makes a lot of sense. You don`t give a room key to someone until
you checked their I.D. and made sure that that is their room. But Laurie Sharon (ph), the employee that was on duty, and just to clear at one thing
that you just said, she`s the only hotel employee who is named as a defendant.
Laurie Sharon (ph) had never worked at a hotel before. She started at the Holiday Inn just a couple of months before this incident on April 19, 2014.
And she was never trained on how to check I.D. from a guest, if they say they lost their key or they locked it in their room. So when Jonathan
Padilla came up to her and asked her, he identified himself as Chris Davits (ph), the victim`s boyfriend, and he correctly articulated the room number
and that was what as far as it went.
BANFIELD: We see it. We see her handing the key over. Real quickly, have you been in any settlement talks with this hotel? Is it -- have you given
them a dollar figure that they are balking at?
MCCORMACK: The answer is yes, but I don`t believe I can share that figure. And I think part of the reason is there is some squabbling going on between
the defendants. There is a defendant MRSS hospitality that owns the hotel and who actually hired Laurie Sharon (ph). They agreed to indemnify
intercontinental hotel group or IHG. IHG owns many hotels like the Crown Plaza, things of that nature. So I think there is some.
BANFIELD: Some corporate wrangling. I can see that. I can see that. In the meantime, though, do you expect given what Erin Andrews was awarded by a
jury in a highly publicized trial, which is never good for a hotel chain, 55 million, do you expect that if you went to trial, you would actually win
more?
MCCORMACK: Well, I believe that our victim deserves more. Our expert on the case is a gentleman by the name of Fred Del Marva. Fred was the expert
witness for Erin Andrews in her case. Fred came out to Bakersfield just Monday of this week, Monday the 13th. He and I did a full site inspection
of the hotel, checked all of their security procedures, and Fred said this case is much more egregious than the Erin Andrews` case.
BANFIELD: You have the video. I`d be interested to follow this. Thanks so much for being with me, Brian. Look forward to talking to you again and see
how this case goes. Real quickly, I want to bring in Robert Schalk and Heather Hansen. Heather, quick comment.
HEATHER HANSEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, if it doesn`t settle, it`s going to settle. You have defendants fighting among each other and probably fighting
about money. He wants as he said more than 55 million, that might be hard to settle.
BANFIELD: Bob, I want to talk to you on the other side of the break because we got a husband that is in southern Florida. I know you know this case.
Stumbling around, calling 911, stating there is a gunshot wound to his wife, and he says it`s an accident. But the police say yeah, no, no.
Forensics say, no. That`s next.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When a Florida man recently called 911, it seemed he just would not get to the point. In fact, it took him about a full minute of
stuttering and stumbling before he revealed the actual nature of his call.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My -- my wife. There was an accident. She is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh, she got uh, we just went to the store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me what happened with the accident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, I need an ambulance right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand but I need to know that to send. Sir, what happened to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, she`s injured. She`s got a gunshot wound.
BANFIELD: Yeah, it`s kind of a big deal. Dwight Luton`s wife had been shot, and he initially told the police that his wife, Ashley Balius, accidentally
shot herself while taking a gun out of her purse. But the police were not so sure. While they did find the bag with a gun in the couple`s driveway,
they say the gun hadn`t been fired.
But what convinced officers to charge Dwight Luton was the home`s own surveillance video. They say it shows him reaching inside the car just
before Balius was shot, lighting himself off, making phone calls, all the while she`s dying. He`s now charged with murder. He`s charged with
tampering with evidence. Roseanne Brown is the PIO for the Riviera Beach Police Department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: She joins me from Riviera Beach, Florida. Roseanne, thanks so much for being with me. I need you to help me with something because
[20:50:00] this surveillance video, while we don`t have our hands on it, and it hasn`t been released yet, we know the play-by-play. So bear with me
as I go through some of this. You have to tell me if I get any of it wrong.
ROSEANNE BROWN, RIVIERA BEACH PIO: All right.
BANFIELD: The video shows -- you can see Ashley actually being shot and falling over and the first act of her husband is to go through his back
back, correct?
BROWN: That`s correct.
BANFIELD: Okay. And the next thing you see is that he actually gets back in the car, he gets in the passenger seat where she has allegedly fallen over.
He was seen wiping down the dash and throwing small objects out of the car, out into the driveway and the surrounding grass, and later on it was found
that it was brain matter that was thrown out or at least had been landed out there. He`s then seen wiping himself down after he gets out of the car.
And he`s seen holding a gun on his pinky finger while making a phone call.
There is blood visible on his right hand, if I`m not mistaken. He walks to his front door, he disappears inside for about a minute. He comes back, he
opens the driver side door where Ashley is dead or at least dying. And ultimately then renders aid. There is no gunshot residue or very, very
little if any on her hand. If she shot herself, that would be a hard one to swallow. And there is minimum blood found on her hands as well. Did I get
that right?
BROWN: Well, with the exception of actually he walks to the side of the -- the passenger side and reaches over so that he can open the driver side
door before he goes over there.
BANFIELD: Did he make any comments to you that basically would have incriminated himself given what the story the video told?
BROWN: Well, as far as comments, his story was that, as you said, that she shot herself accidentally while she was attempting to remove a gun from her
purse. However, the physical evidence did not support what he was saying. There was a purse on the driveway that did have a gun in it but there was
no evidence that that gun had been fired. Additionally.
BANFIELD: Also, Roseanne, if you think about it -- if you think about it, if you reach into your purse and pull your gun out and kill yourself, how
do you get it back in the purse and then it ends up on the driveway? It seems like a -- let me bring in Bob Schalk at this point because that seems
to be the kind of thing that is a boon for the prosecutors. You`re a former prosecutor. Can you get out of this one?
ROBERT SCHALK, FORMER PROSECUTOR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As a defense attorney, no. I mean, you think about it as an individual who has a surveillance
camera on his own home and decides the place that I`m gonna commit a murder is in front of my house, on camera. And then I`m gonna say it`s an accident
only a minute after I go inside then called the police and get around to it all.
And then you have ballistics, you have gunshot residue as you saw and pointed out. You have common sense. Again, the gun will not fall back into
her purse, which will all refute any claims that the defense is gonna have. I think is an airtight prosecution.
BANFIELD: Roseanne Brown, just real quickly, I really mean quickly because I`m 30 seconds to the end of the show. They had an abusive relationship.
There is evidence of arrests before, right?
BROWN: There is.
BANFIELD: That`s very sad. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for helping me clear it up. I hope we get the video at some point. Can you tell your
bosses to help us out?
BROWN: I will give them your request and thank you for helping us and sharing information about this story.
BANFIELD: All right. Forensics, they can be real troublesome. Roseanne Brown, joining us live from Riviera Beach Police Department. My thanks as
well to Bob Schalk and Heather Hansen who have been very, very patient throughout this entire program. We`ve had a lot going on. Thank you, guys.
We`ll have you back, I`m sure.
There is this brazen robbery inside a discount store. It was all caught on video. But what makes this story even scarier is that the robber actually
waited until the store was closed and then sprung into action.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: You`ve heard of a BOLO, a BOLO, beyond on the look out? We have one of those because there is some surveillance video from a robbery inside
the dollar general store in California. I want you to take a look at it. There is a man wearing a hooded jacket. He walks into the store, looks like
any other customer, right? This is just before closing. This happened the other night. And he heads all the way to the back of the store. And then he
does something odd.
He actually works his way into what looks like a stockroom. He hides in there actually for a while and then jumps out and surprises the store clerk
just as she`s sweeping the aisles. He forces her by gunpoint to the register at the front of the dollar general. And once she gets behind the
register, her hands are up, the gunman leaves another worker behind the counter. That woman has been forced to empty the cash drawer.
So she then actually puts it all in a yellow store bag. She empties the second register, and a safe, putting all the cash into the bag as well. And
then the robber orders one of the workers to put the bag of money outside the front the door, picked it up, got away. And despite all this amazing
video, clear surveillance video, the police have not had any luck in tracking this suspect down.
The dollar general workers didn`t get a good look at him because he had his hood up the whole time, had his face covered. But you know what, you can
run, but you can`t usually hide for too long. Is that what they usually think? Back in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: So I want to wish you a happy Saint Patrick`s Day tomorrow. You`ll be in the city.
[21:00:00] HANSEN: Thank you.
BANFIELD: Be aware, be careful. Bob Schalk and Heather Hansen joining me live for the show. Thank you, everyone, as well for watching tonight. It
has been great to have you here. We will see you back here Monday night at 8:00 for "Primetime Justice". Stay tuned now. "Forensic Files" begins right
now.
END
