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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Chilling Video; Dramatic High Speed Chase; Shocking Shootout; Sore Loser?; Star`s Big Battle; Green River Killer; CNN Heroes
Aired June 01, 2017 - 20:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a kid who drowned in the pool.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST (voice-over): He didn`t have to die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No movement. He was blue.
BANFIELD: Just 3 years old, one of four little babies, why was he alone in a back yard pool?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hands was wrinkled. His feet was wrinkled.
BANFIELD: Why was Mom gone for 14 hours?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God! Come on! Oh! Come on, baby, breathe!
BANFIELD: Now Mom is up on murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wasn`t saying anything.
BANFIELD: Deadly Texas shootout -- bounty hunters find their target, who opens fire on them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to arrest him, and then the shooting started.
BANFIELD: Bullets fly, customers dive for cover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m hiding in the bathroom. Please hurry!
BANFIELD: How a car dealership became a bloody war zone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone is shooting in the building.
BANFIELD: Dog the Bounty Hunter weighs in on what went wrong and how two of his own lost their lives on the job.
On the big screen, he`s a funny man of a million faces. But Jim Carey`s real life is no laughing matter. A wrongful death suit against him is full
steam ahead with sordid details of STDs and dirty texts wiping out the laugh lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most serial murder cases are stranger homicides.
BANFIELD: He terrified the country and mystified police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thought was anything is possible with this guy.
BANFIELD: His murders so recognizable, he was called the Green River killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serial killers don`t stop.
BANFIELD: How they hunted the hunter, and how modern DNA took down Gary Ridgeway (ph) beyond a reasonable doubt.
How not to make your getaway from police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a loud boom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I heard the helicopters coming.
BANFIELD: Ramming his car and swarmed by cops, this murder suspect pops out like a jack-in-the-box.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so scared!
BANFIELD: But look closely. It seems his phone call mattered more than all the guns he was facing.
And take him out of the ball game! The beloved Mr. Met shows a nasty side, flipping the bird at a fan. But which one of those four fingers did he
flip?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
There is a certain shade of blue that you can only see when you`re under water looking up. You know that view. It is blurry, but it`s beautiful
and you can only see it for as long as you can hold your breath.
And it`s very likely the shade of blue that was the last thing a little Georgia boy ever saw before he ran out of air and that blue turned to
black. Three-year-old Jagger Settle (ph) drowned in his back yard pool, and there was no one there to save him. His 4-year-old brother couldn`t do
it. Too young. His twin 1-year-old brothers couldn`t do it. Too small.
And his mom -- she couldn`t do it, either because she wasn`t there until it was too late because police say she just wasn`t there, not for the
proverbial second, they say she was gone for 14 hours.
Four kids under the age of four, and Bobbie Prather was allegedly somewhere else for 14 hours. And it`s because of that Bobbie Prather is in a lot of
trouble, the worst kind. She is mourning the death of her 3-year-old boy wearing a jail jumpsuit. Authorities have charged her with murder.
Here is the neighbor`s 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Emergency 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a kid who drowned in the pool.
911 OPERATOR: Are they breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma`am.
911 OPERATOR: Have they got them out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s on him, but he`s not breathing. He`s cold.
911 OPERATOR: Do you have the child out of the pool?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he`s out of the pool.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Is the baby breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he`s not. He`s cold. He`s cold. Oh!
911 OPERATOR: Tell me, is the child breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No -- is he breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, isn`t breathing. No. He`s not breathing!
911 OPERATOR: How old is the child?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s 3.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s 3.
911 OPERATOR: 3-year-old! Is it a male?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a girl or boy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boy.
911 OPERATOR: All right. Get the baby on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is. Come on, baby!
911 OPERATOR: All right. Lay...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God, come on! Oh! Come on, baby, breathe. Breathe, baby!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, baby. Come on, baby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Tina Douglas is an anchor and reporter for Newsradio 106.7. She joins me live from Atlanta. Tina, where was this mother for this alleged
14-hour hiatus?
[20:05:00]TINA DOUGLAS, NEWSRADIO 106.7: That`s the question so many people are asking. And I believe investigators probably know where she was
and what she was doing, but because it`s part of the investigation, they have not really made that information public.
BANFIELD: So there -- just so that I am completely clear, there are twin 1-year-olds in that home.
DOUGLAS: Right.
BANFIELD: There is a 4-year-old in that home. And this little victim is a 3-year-old. And somehow, over the course of a 14-hour period, no one was
there watching these four children under the age of 4 with a pool in the back and allegedly, the door left open in the back?
DOUGLAS: That is what it looks like. And from what we have gathered before, this is something that has happened before with this woman, Mrs.
Prather.
BANFIELD: She`s got an arrest record from 2008...
DOUGLAS: Right.
BANFIELD: ... that shows three counts of cruelty to children, as well as possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and abandonment of
dependent child three counts, as well. What happened in those cases?
DOUGLAS: We don`t have a lot of the details on that, what happened in that incident. But we do know that the charges were eventually dismissed
against her, and part of the reason for the charges being dismissed as far as the drug charges were concerned is that the investigators did not take
care of the urine sample that they had gotten from her.
BANFIELD: A screw-up. It was a screw-up, seriously?
DOUGLAS: Yes.
BANFIELD: These things were dropped -- these charges were dropped because they screwed up?
DOUGLAS: Basically, yes. They did not take care of the urine sample, and it was not in -- given to the lab in time to get it...
BANFIELD: Tina, I`m looking at this video of her in the courtroom. And I have a very, very small piece of audio from this courtroom, but I think
it`s very telling she does not seem to get the severity of what`s happened. I want to just run this moment where the judge asks her if she understands,
you know, what she`s facing at this point. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you understand what your charges are?
BOBBIE PRATHER, CHARGED WITH MURDER: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Doesn`t understand that she`s being charged with felony murder? They don`t get more serious. That`s a death penalty crime.
That`s unfortunate for her and everyone involved for her to come across as not understanding what`s going on and the severity of what`s happened with
her child and the other three children that were in the home.
BANFIELD: So Tina, I was sort of surprised all the way through until I became more surprised to learn there`s a daddy. There`s a daddy who lives
there.
DOUGLAS: Exactly.
BANFIELD: And these were his four children, too. So where was he? And if he wasn`t around, why is he not facing the exact same charge that she would
be?
DOUGLAS: Those are a lot of questions a lot of people are asking. The mother did appear on the scene when this child was pulled from the pool.
Whether he was around at that time is unknown. But as I mentioned earlier, as part of the police investigation, a lot of this information probably is
being withheld until they get all of their evidence together to make the charges stick.
BANFIELD: So hold for a minute. There`s a witness who described what this scene was like, one of the neighbors, who talked about the image, that the
picture, what she saw with this little boy, little Jagger. He she is on the phone with 911 describing that.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No movement. He was blue. Hands was wrinkled. His feet was wrinkled. He had been in there for a while.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: He had been in there for a while. Dr. Lee Norman is the chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital. He joins me live
from Kansas City. Doctor, thank you so much for being with me.
DR. LEE NORMAN, UNIV. OF KANSAS HOSPITAL: Good evening.
BANFIELD: There is the supposition that this child had been under water for at least one hour. Is it possible for authorities to know how long
that child had been in the pool?
NORMAN: It`s going to be difficult to know to the exact minute. We know that in experimental situations, it takes about 30 minutes for fingers and
toes to get wrinkly. We know it only takes about four to six minutes for irreversible brain damage and death to occur. But an hour sounds certainly
plausible, certainly more than 30 minutes.
BANFIELD: And look, little Jagger was 3 years old. There are 3-year-olds who know how to swim. But you know, really, what are the odds with a child
that young, keeping in mind his 4-year-old brother and two 1-year-old brothers, as well. What are the odds that they could actually get
themselves out of a pool if they fall in?
NORMAN: I don`t think they`re great at all. There`s over 3,000 deaths per year in swimming pools, and a good portion of those occur in children under
the age of 5. So unless parents take a very active role in training their toddlers how to swim, it`s very unlikely. They don`t have the upper body
strength to pull out of the water onto the pool side usually. So it`s not a formula for child welfare.
[20:10:00]BANFIELD: Can I ask you just on a personal note, from a medical- - the M.E. that is going to have to deal with that case -- I know they deal with bodies every day, but they don`t typically deal with 3-year-old
bodies. How difficult is this for the person who has to actually come up with cause of death?
NORMAN: Well, you`re asking two questions, really. How difficult is it emotionally for them and how difficult is it technically for them.
Technically, it won`t be hard to -- more than likely, to come up with the cause of death. But everybody that`s a medical examiner, usually, they
have families of their own. They are well acquainted with children. It`s always a tragedy. And one, no matter how professional, how detached they
try to be, cannot divorce themselves from the tragedy of a toddler dying.
BANFIELD: So felony murder is an extremely serious charge. As I said earlier, in Georgia, it carries with it the death penalty. And to that
end, Sergeant Jonathan Rogers had this to say about that particular charge and this particular case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN ROGERS, BARTOW COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: In Georgia, felony murder is willful or intentional commission of a felony, which results in the
death of another person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Joey Jackson and Caroline Polisi, who are with me. So here is what I was slightly confused about. I get it. If
it`s proven that she was somewhere else for 14 hours with four little kids under the age of four in that home and a pool in the back yard -- I get
that that is just horrible neglect. What I`m struggling with is the underlying felony, cruelty to children. Can you explain this to me,
Caroline, why cruelty to children?
CAROLINE POLISI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You`re exactly right. I -- my instinct here is that this could be prosecutorial overreach here.
BANFIELD: Really.
POLISI: It is a reprehensible act of criminal negligence. To prove the felony murder charge here, the state of Georgia is going to have to prove a
predicate offense, the underlying offense, which you noted cruelty to children. That is a very mens rea standard, a mental element here. You`re
going to have to prove that she willfully caused this young man`s death.
BANFIELD: Do they, Joey? Do they...
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Listen to this. This is the statute in Georgia for cruelty to children, and that`s the underlying felony here that she has to be found
guilty of in order to get to death penalty murder, right? "A parent, guardian or other person supervising the welfare of or having immediate
charge of custody of a child under the age of 18 commits the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when such person willfully deprives
a child of necessary sustenance, to the extent that that child`s health or wellbeing is jeopardized." Is sustenance safety and supervision?
JOEY JACKSON, HLN/CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I`m glad you read that because that is sort of like a jury instruction. People are listening now,
right, and these are our jurors. Our viewers are listening and they`re going to follow the instruction on the law when they`re charged, right,
when this happens.
And so there`s the critical question, is this just not providing for the safety and security of a child, which is one thing, or sustenance, which is
quite another? So I think you have that legal argument, to be fair. And I think you have the legal argument which Caroline raises, which is a very
good one, and that is -- you know, prosecutors overreach. Now, we want blood, of course. Look at that beautiful child, Ashleigh. Look at the
beautiful child...
BANFIELD: Dying in the worst way.
JACKSON: ... who`s no more. And the worst way, of course. Just envision -- and that jury will be instructed. Could you imagine? And the fine
doctor just said in response to your question, Ashleigh, Could this child have saved himself? Would there have been enough -- you know, could the
child at that age have possibly done it? The answer is no.
But do we really want to charge the mother with murder here, even if legally, you could? And just to be clear very quickly, felony murder -- if
you`re engaged in the commission of a felony, and the felony here being cruelty to children, and the child then dies, it constitutes felony murder.
If you could do it, should you do it, or should it be something less, like involuntarily manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, which would be
more appropriate.
BANFIELD: So here`s what`s weird. And this jury is going to see this woman -- today for her first court appearance, she was unemotional. She
was yawning, kicking off her sandals, obviously answering the judge, No, I don`t understand.
This is going to be one hell of a case for the people of Georgia to have to get their hands around. And once again, there were three other children.
She`s facing four counts of cruelty to children, and she`s going to have to face the music on that, as well. Those children are now with child
protective services.
We will see if Dad ends up being charged, as well, because clearly, Dad wasn`t there, either. So why it falls on the mom right now -- not going to
pass judgment because we don`t know the story with Dad, but that will be coming out. They`re continuing to investigate.
Hold your thoughts for a moment, guys, if you will. Tonight, we got a first look at Tiger Woods in handcuffs in a Florida police holding cell
after they found him asleep at the wheel in his 2015 Mercedes on Memorial Day. And this is really sort of a telling part of his condition because
you can see on the video why officers thought that he was either drunk or certainly under the influence of something. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, will you please state your full name.
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: (INAUDIBLE) Tiger Woods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your address?
WOODS: (DELETED) Florida 73445.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your date of birth?
[20:15:00]WOODS: 12/30/75.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your height and weight?
WOODS: 6 foot, 185.
BANFIELD: Your hair not (ph) colored?
WOODS: Mostly brown and fading and -- brown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your age?
WOODS: 41.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am now requesting that you submit to a (INAUDIBLE) test of your breath for the purpose of determining your alcohol content.
Will you submit?
WOODS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need you to make a tight seal with your lips and blow directly -- watch, look -- directly into that tip until I tell you to
stop. Blow. Blow out. Blow out. Don`t suck it, blow out.
WOODS: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Take a breath in. Now blow out. Blow out. Good. There you go. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Blowing. Keep blowing. Keep blowing. Keep blowing. OK, that`s
good. All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Both of the tests that he recorded read the same thing, three zeros, and that indicates no alcohol on his breath. Woods is charged with
DUI, but he says it was a, quote, "unexpected reaction" to prescribed drugs that led to his arrest. He`s set to make his first court appearance on
July the 5th.
A terrifying shootout at a Texas car dealership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got him (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: All holy hell breaks out, but this is no random act. A bounty hunter was trying to apprehend that guy and something went wrong. We`re
going to dig into that in just a moment.
First, though, there is a new show on HLN premiering this Friday, "BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT." It goes deeper inside the world of forensic
investigations than ever before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For years, they got away with murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Serial killers don`t stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the evidence they left behind...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time was not on our side. It`s going to be a cold case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is coming back to haunt them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Suddenly, we had physical evidence that placed someone there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The devil is in the details. "BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT," an all-new true crime series Friday at 9:00 on HLN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:21:50]BANFIELD: There is a certain kind of rage that lurks just beneath the skin of a man who assaults a police officer, kind of a devil
may care, nothing to lose, you know that type. And it`s that kind of guy who was on the run but being chased by two bounty hunters in Texas this
week. His name, Ramon Hutchinson. Undoubtedly, when he walked into a car dealership near Dallas, he looked like any other customer. But when two
bounty hunters who`d been waiting for him there moved in to grab him, he turned that dealership into the Wild West, shooting everything that moved
and landing way too many of those shots.
Remarkably, someone was rolling video on an iPhone and caught all the action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did they find out (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up! Back up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got it (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down! Hold on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Amid that chaos, 20 shots were fired in just six seconds. And when the gunfire stopped, Ramon was dead in a pool of blood, but so were
the two bounty hunters, two men who were doing dangerous work trying to reel him in and keep the rest of us safe.
Duane "Dog" Chapman is a bounty hunter. He was star of "Dog the Bounty Hunter," and he joins me live now from Honolulu. Duane, thanks for being
with me on this very sad occasion, I am sure for you. You have lost one of your own. What was your reaction when you heard about this?
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER: I was very sad, Ashleigh. I`m glad that you started the show by introducing the fugitive as who he really was,
a fugitive that had nothing to lose, had already assaulted a police officer and had a gun in his waist.
BANFIELD: Dog, as I understand it -- it`s hard to watch this video knowing that all three of them within seconds will be dead. But you knew one of
these bounty hunters. You worked with him.
CHAPMAN: Yes, absolutely. Ashleigh, in the state of Texas, you have to -- in order to apprehend an individual who as skipped bond from another state
you have to be originally from Texas and licensed in Texas and either be a bail bondsman or a private eye. So the fugitive left Minnesota with a drug
charge and assault to a police officer and ran all the way to Texas. No one from Minnesota could grab him because of the strict Texas law. He had
to hire local fugitive hunters to be able to have him arrested.
BANFIELD: Dog, you -- your first reaction that I`ve read on this story was, quote, "Not another one." Do you hear this a lot? I mean, we hear
about the valor and the bravado that bounty hunters have to, you know, display, but we don`t often hear about them being murdered.
[20:25:10]CHAPMAN: Well, that`s exactly what I said. You know, just listened to the sound. I haven`t looked at the video because I can`t
handle that kind of stuff. But you know, we try. We risk our life to bring these guys in, and sometimes we don`t make it.
BANFIELD: Duane, it`s known that some of the most dangerous apprehensions are guys like this one, Ramon Hutchinson, and it`s because he had assaulted
a police officer and had drug offenses. You know that going in. How do you alter your work if you know you`re going after a guy who has nothing to
lose and would assault a police officer, and there you are about to take him in?
CHAPMAN: Well, you`re right. You never -- if he`s got a drug charge, you don`t know what the drug is going to tell him to do. And if he`s already
assaulted a police officer, what is a bounty hunter or a private eye? Nothing. He`s going to assault you.
You know, I -- that`s why I have trained my children and anybody I train, within the first five seconds, Ashleigh, is when something bad can happen.
You say hands in the air. If you don`t see hands in a second-and-a-half, bam, you tase them. And they are down. You don`t take a chance. You
don`t -- you know, you can`t -- if -- you could never guess why they did it public like that, why the police were not there, why did they do that?
The two guys that -- they lost their life, Ashleigh. They`re dead. You know, they were sitting at home and got a call from someone that said, Can
you help me out? This guy`s hurt a cop. Would you go grab him? And you know, to us, that`s one of the greatest things to do is arrest someone who
has hurt a woman, a baby or a police officer. So they said yes. They put their life on the line, and they`re not here today.
BANFIELD: So Fidel Garcia is one of those bounty hunters who lost his life, and Gabriel Bernal, 33 years old, lost his life in this effort, as
well.
There was a 911 call that came in, Dog, as this was all unfolding, and you can really hear in the voice the terror of one of the people in that
dealership witnessing all of this and trying to get police help. Have a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Greenville 911. What`s address of the emergency?
CHAPMAN: Jesus! Greenville, at the Nissan dealership, there`s been a shooting. I`m hiding in the bathroom. Please hurry.
911 OPERATOR: Someone is shooting in the bathroom?
CHAPMAN: No, someone`s shooting in the building. I`m in the bathroom. Please hurry.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
CHAPMAN: Please hurry!
911 OPERATOR: Can you still hear shots?
CHAPMAN: Not at the moment, but I hear a woman screaming.
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) Don`t hang up, OK?
CHAPMAN: Please hurry!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Dog, what do you want people to know about Gabriel and Fidel?
CHAPMAN: Well, I`d like people to realize that, you know, they tried. They -- they tried to do their best. That`s what they picked to do for a
living. And at any time, we know we may not come home to our wives, our girlfriends or children. But they were the good guys, Ashleigh. They
weren`t the bad guys.
BANFIELD: And they lost their lives trying to get that bad guy. Dog, I`m sorry we`re meeting under these circumstances. I sure appreciate you
weighing in on this, and I`m sorry you lost your friend.
CHAPMAN: Yes, ma`am. Sorry for crying on your show!
BANFIELD: I think it`s understandable in these circumstances. We`ll meet again under different circumstances. Duane...
CHAPMAN: Yes, ma`am, please.
BANFIELD: ... Chapman.
I want to bring in Caroline Polisi and Joey Jackson on this. It`s really hard. You think about how they take these chances. But listen, these guys
are human. Dog lost a brother in this.
Is there any liability for, you know, the company that employs the bounty hunters? I think they said they were federal agents at one point. Dog has
always said, Don`t ever tell them you`re a cop. You have way more leeway when you don`t. But do they face any liability at that point, the company
that employed them?
JACKSON: No. I mean, the harsh reality is, is that they put their lives on the line. And for that, certainly, they deserve our respect for what
they do in terms of rounding up people who shouldn`t have absconded to begin with. But this is the career that they`ve chosen. And just -- you
know, to think about 10 percent of the bond that they get, how much money or how little money that is to lose their life.
BANFIELD: Right, Caroline? Because we often see the bravado and the running and the charging, but I don`t know that a lot of people know it
ends in this kind of murder.
POLISI: Well, to your point, the bail enforcement industry is an industry that really operates in the shadow of our criminal justice system. It`s
there all the time. We just don`t hear about it until things like this happen.
To your point, it is a wildly unregulated industry. It`s state by state. Different states have different laws. Doug alluded to that.
And it`s really the wild west out there which is why it`s so dangerous. And I think that there could be some -- you know, there is perhaps a deed for
some greater regulation in the area for safety.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST OF PRIMETIME JUSTICE: Our thoughts go out to the families of Fidel Garcia and Gabriel Bernal. And our thanks also to Doug
for weighing in on this. Obviously very emotional time for him, as well.
I want to take you to Oklahoma City right now. High-speed chase for a murder suspect that ended with a hell of a flare. The suspect losing
control of the SUV, slamming right into a telephone pole, knocking the pole down. Seven officers had been waiting for 23-year-old Christopher Lamont
Carter to crawl out of the wreckage and wouldn`t you know, he puts his hands up, but he`s on the phone.
He is on the phone as he pops out of that door. And they had to yank at him even with the phone in his hand. After the officers booked Carter and
searched his residence, they realized that he was actually an armed robbery suspect as well, so double whammy on catching him.
Police say Christopher Carter is in this video. They say he had an accomplice, holding up various convenience stores all around town. They say
they are still searching for the other armed robbery suspect.
a Miami man has been arrested for allegedly using an AK-47 to shoot at passing vehicles on the Palmetto expressway. The police say Horvin Ruiz did
a U-turn on oncoming traffic on the highway and then just began to open fire on anything and everything that went by. One eyewitness saying she was
with her kids, described the terrifying scene.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It actually went through a couple layers of the door, so the bullet is inside the van.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Fired 108 rounds and if you sort of squint, it looks like tennis balls all over the freeway. Yeah, that`s not tennis balls, those are shots,
markers, police markers to show you all of the different shots.
Apparently, he quit firing only because he ran out of ammo. Horvin Ruiz is facing 48 felony charges including attempted murder and aggravated assault
but luckily, despite all of those bullets, 108 efforts, no one was hurt. Pretty shocking.
Many of us have been there wanting to flip someone off who just, you know, who just couldn`t take it anymore. Turns out that was sort of the situation
last night for Mr. Met. Mr. Met I think had the met down -- melt down. He`s got four fingers but sure used them. There he is doing the middle finger or
if there is a middle finger to some unknown fan.
True the mets are off to a rough start this season. There is no word on what drove Mr. Met the mascot to lose his cool and pick up one of the
fingers. The organization actually issued a statement on this. They are pretty serious about it.
They said, we apologize for the inappropriate action of this employee. We do not condone this type of behavior. We are dealing with this matter
internally. There were some reports that fella got the boot and he won`t be doing that costume gig anymore. Four fingers. How do you call that the
middle finger salute, right? Think about it.
Jim Carrey, super funny guy, right? Life off the silver screen though has been very strange and twisted lately after his ex-girlfriend committed
suicide and now a judge is ruling that the case against him can go to trial and the details in it are lurid.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CARREY, ACTOR: Yeah, I don`t know. You know, I`m sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: He`s the man of a million faces and most of them very, very funny. Jim Carrey`s blockbusters include "Liar Liar," "Dumb and Dumber,"
"Bruce Almighty," and "The Mask."
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot him!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, hi, hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got me, partner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: He is a funny, funny guy. But Jim Carrey is living off script right now and it is a very ugly drama. Nowhere close to being funny. It`s
kind of a sick sorted tale of drugs and STDs and suicide in the form of two wrongful death suits launched against him by the family of his former
girlfriend. And an L.A. judge just ruled that dirty laundry can in fact be aired in court.
It means Jim Carrey is going to face allegations in civil court that his ex-girlfriend, Cathriona White, overdosed on a lethal cocktail of
prescription drugs that her family said were Jim Carrey`s drugs. And that her death followed news that Carrey had given her three sexually
transmitted diseases.
One suit claims that Carrey harassed her into signing papers that cleared him from anything that might have happened while they were together. Kind
of strange. Goes on to accuse Carrey of dumping Ms. White when she confronted him about the STDs. It also alleges she was scared into silence
over the matter and that she struggled emotionally before overdosing.
Alison Triessl is the founder of WildAboutTrial.com. She joins me from Los Angeles. So while all this sounds very sad and definitely like a troubled
relationship, is it hard to make the leap that all of those things actually were the cause of a wrongful death?
ALISON TRIESSL, FOUNDER OF WILDABOUTTRIAL.COM: This is going to be a very hard case for the plaintiffs to prove that there was a connection between
him providing her with the medication or the drugs and her suicide because he
[20:40:00] very clearly claims that he didn`t provide it to her, that it was stolen by her. And remember, this is a suicide. So they are trying to
argue this drug dealer liability act which really was meant for people that are drug dealers selling to people on the streets to stop that behavior and
a wrongful death claim.
What is interesting is you have two people suing him, one is the estranged husband who really they had no relationship at all. It was allegedly a
marriage made because of immigration needs. And a mother who had very little contact with her who is now suing Jim Carrey as well.
BANFIELD: Weird.
TRIESSL: But there are very sordid details here. There are very toxic allegations. The STDs that they are talking about occurred in 2013, and
there was a breakup. But by many accounts, they had reconciled. They were very much in love. And her suicide note talks about Jim Carrey as being her
family.
BANFIELD: By the way, you know what? Let`s stop there. Her suicide, let`s be super clear on the dates here. Her suicide was September 2015. And a lot
of the evidence that details all the ugliness between them is from like two and a half years prior including this alleged contraction of the STDs.
I want to read if I can, Alison, a piece from the suicide note that Cathriona wrote I think addressed to Jim in which she says, I was
disrespected, degraded, called a whore, an opportunist, threatened our relationship, belittled. This has really changed my life forever. I`m 27
years old and all that was left of me was a shell and a damaged one at that. I will always be damaged goods and have a stigma attached.
Presumably referring to the allegations of the STDs. I keep going back, though, to the connection to Jim Carrey. I get it. Listen. I`ve been
(inaudible) and you feel awful.
TRIESSL: Right.
BANFIELD: But blaming him and actually getting causation for the suicide from two and a half years prior.
TRIESSL: And that`s the interesting legal issue. And his attorneys have been very -- they have said this was a shameless money grab. That`s all
that it is. And if we talk about everybody whose relationship falls apart and then they blame the person who breaks up with them on a suicide, you`re
going to open the flood gates to many cases.
BANFIELD: Yeah.
TRIESSL: But the real question here is, did he provide these drugs? He had used an alias. He had used the name Arthur King. Did he provide them to her
knowing that she was in this depressed state and she had a prior history of suicidal ideation? It is a very tough case.
BANFIELD: I want to read a few more of their communications coming from the legal documents, and I think they are trying to use this. And I don`t quite
understand why other than to show that their relationship wasn`t great. In February, again, 2013, two and a half years before the suicide, this shows
that the relationship was sort of on the outs.
Jim texts to her, thank you, Cat. I care about you deeply, that`s obvious, but this has been way too much for me to handle. I`ve been suffering with
constant and dangerous levels of stress and I do have to let go. I`ve come to the end, well, be well, X.
The response from Cat is, yes, you have been good to me financially and I am grateful, thank you. But, I, too, have been put through unimaginable
stress and suffering and pending what happens on Friday, which is the STD test, I won`t be able to have another relationship ever again. I`m hurting
more than anything right now. I think it`s better I don`t go to the shoot tomorrow.
She is a makeup artist. There is another series of texts that is not too long after that. March of 2013, where she`s angry with him about papers
he`s asking her to sign allegedly absolving him of any liability for anything that goes wrong in their relationship.
She says, I deserve better than how this is is playing out right now. And he responds, no, you really don`t. You`re being overly dramatic and
ungrateful and I don`t want to hear any more misery. You can choose to shift, grow up a little.
Joey Jackson, Caroline Polisi, that actually sounds like someone who is breaking up kind of respectfully, even though they might have had some
ugliness going on. How is that evidence in any kind of wrongful death case?
JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, CNN AND HLN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I think it`s problematic, but it`s a jury question, right? Because
jurors are going to be asking themselves, as you point out, what`s the timeline? You know, in every relationship, there are arguments, there are
discords, people that go back and forth.
And so because I sent you a text, Ashleigh, a year before, two years before, is that really the cause of what happened and even if, getting back
to the central issue which is the drug providng, right? Whose responsibility is that?
Certainly, you shouldn`t be providing anybody with drugs but the person who takes the drug and otherwise overdoses and here you have a suicide so that
complicates it even more. And then you`re going to sue me as a result of that? It`s a problem.
[20:45:00] POLISI: It`s a real slippery slope. The guy sounds like a real scumbag to be sure. I mean, it`s just the facts of the case.
(LAUGHTER)
POLISI: However, he shouldn`t be held liable. The fact is, most wrongful death suits are brought in the wake of a criminal prosecution because there
are some sorts of evidence. Here, we have nothing like that.
BANFIELD: I`ll come to his defense. I`m not so sure about the scumbag problem. I haven`t read the entire lawsuit, you know, cover to cover, but
from what I am seeing, this looks like a relationship that is breaking up and in any relationship that`s breaking up, things can get ugly, things can
be said, but I`m not so sure you can ascribe.
JACKSON: So should we start suing each other as a result of that?
BANFIELD: I think it will be an interesting case but I don`t see this one having a lot of merit. It is very tricky. We have to leave it there.
Straight ahead, we are going to go behind the scenes of the search for the serial killer, the Green River killer. He terrified women and girls and
really people all over the country but especially in Washington state because it went on for almost 20 years.
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: He`s considered the most prolific killer in U.S. History. Chew on that. Convicted of 48 murders, but boasted that his numbers were much, much
higher like close to 80 over two decades. Gary Ridgway was a truck painter by trade, but he certainly became more famous and feared as the Green River
killer. He was aptly named because many of his victims were found near the Green River in Washington state.
A pattern emerged as more and more victims turned up. Many were prostitutes, runaways. They were all strangled, all left in wooded areas.
And the case went pretty cold after years and years of detective work. But, then came a DNA breakthrough. Samples from three victims led straight to
Gary Ridgway. Another link. Paint, paint found on the victims suggested they had made contact with Gary Ridgway.
In it`s premiere tomorrow, HLN`s new original series "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" goes deeper than ever before into the world of forensic
investigation that solved the Green River killer mystery.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most serial murder cases are stranger homicides. There is no connection that you can investigate in the victim`s background that
will bring you to the suspect. They come together for the first time, and that`s usually the last time for the victim. That makes it difficult to
solve a serial murder case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you know you`re working a serial killer, a lot of things start running through your mind. The thought was anything is
possible with this guy. We don`t know if he`s a resident here. We don`t know if he`s a transient. And it`s always at the forefront of your mind
that the next day you could find another victim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think history has shown us that unless they are in jail or prison or dead, they don`t stop. Serial killers don`t stop. They
have to keep doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I can`t wait. Jenifer Smith is the director of the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences. She is featured in HLN`s "Beyond
Reasonable Doubt." She joins me now from Washington. Jenifer, thank you so much for being here.
I`m so excited because I`m a forensics junkie and I was so fascinated about the forensics that led to the Green River killer after two decades. Was it
because someone had the smarts to preserve something from some of those victims that ultimately they got a hit?
JENIFER SMITH, DIRECTOR OF THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF FORENSIC SCIENCES: Yes, absolutely. It`s critical that when the evidence is collected, it is then
preserved. And I think what is important in this case, this evidence was over 20 years old and the cases of these victims. And yet, we were still
able to -- they were still able to get DNA from those precious samples.
BANFIELD: So, the first killing that we really know of because God who knows if he`s telling the truth, he boasts, but who knows, is 1982. When
would it have been -- you (inaudible) that DNA would have been something to think about applying the Green River case?
SMITH: So, we really weren`t doing DNA testing in the United States until the late 80s, but even in that particular case, we had to have relatively
fresh samples and relatively large samples. So, with this case, it is very important that we didn`t consume all of those samples. So, the first DNA
testing may not have been the right procedure to use on this particular samples.
BANFIELD: It`s so creepy to think they brought the guy in because his truck was suspicious. So they had the sample from him. They just didn`t have all
the other samples from victims at that time and had we would have probably had a lot more women who were alive. Jenifer Smith, thank you so much. I
can`t wait to see the show and I can`t wait to see you in it. Thanks for being with us.
SMITH: Thank you.
BANFIELD: You`re not going to want to miss this one, "Beyond Reasonable Doubt." The Green River killer premieres this Friday 9:00 p.m. eastern and
pacific.
Over the last several years, San Francisco has seen a steady rise in its homeless population. For those living on the streets or in their cars,
getting just clean can be a daily struggle. Instead of looking the other way, this week`s CNN hero came up with an innovative way to reach those
people who are in need in that very way. Meet Doniece Sandoval.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
DONIECE SANDOVAL, CNN HERO: These are people who get turned away often, who get treated poorly.
[20:55:00] And our idea is just to open our arms. I think Josh has got you all set up. Hygiene connects you to your sense of dignity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ll feel better.
SANDOVAL: We learn their names. We learn their stories. We provide all these extra support by creating community around them. We call that radical
hospitality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Radical hospital. To see more about it in action, you can go to cnnheroes.com. And while you`re there, please nominate somebody you think
should be one of our 2017 CNN heroes. Back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Favorite story tonight, Mr. Met.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: I can see you litigating over a middle finger. There is no middle finger.
JACKSON: I had to think about that. You held them up.
BANFIELD: Thank you for watching, everybody. Caroline Polisi, Joey Jackson, thanks for being here.
JACKSON: Thank you, Ash.
[21:00:00] BANFIELD: We will see you Monday night for "Primetime Justice." Up next, "Forensic Files."
END
