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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Murder Trial Underway; Murder Investigation; Uber Meltdown; Guilty of Murder-For-Hire. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 14, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has got to stop.
JEAN CASAREZ, HOST, CNN: It has happened again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will hunt this person down until we find them.
CASAREZ: A fourth person gunned down, and police believe they are all related.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone came up from behind and shot him.
CASAREZ: The victim this time a man reportedly at church to feed the homeless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he was left in the street.
CASAREZ: Four people in one Florida neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call Tampa Police Department with any ideas, any suspects that they may have.
CASAREZ: But investigators say they are no closer to finding the man who is pulling the trigger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need the neighborhood`s help.
CASAREZ: A young woman raped and killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We truly feel sorrow, sadness for Sasha`s family.
CASAREZ: Inside her own apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s a young, beautiful, vibrant woman.
CASAREZ: And prosecutors say it is surveillance video not to mention fingerprints and footprints.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used his access to prey on someone who was very vulnerable.
CASAREZ: That connects a security guard with the crime. And now he`s on trial for her murder.
A woman considering leaving her husband winds up dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our belief is that the baby was in the house at the time of the murder.
CASAREZ: While he looks to be playing the part of the grieving spouse. Well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is adamantly denied that he committed this crime.
CASAREZ: Police say he was anything but.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then he met a dealer and bought a hundred dollars` worth of cocaine from him.
CASAREZ: Now he`s facing murder charges, accused of stabbing her to death and trying to clean up the crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would he be bleaching the house?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want the cops to come so that they can (muted) you up.
CASAREZ: A prosecutor fired after this video goes viral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma`am, please.
CASAREZ: The assistant D.A. berating...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to go home so badly, but you`re so stupid.
CASAREZ: And cursing at an Uber driver.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m an assistant district attorney so shut the (muted) up.
CASAREZ: During the ride home from hell.
JODY WARNER, ASSISTANT DISTRICT PROSECUTOR, DALLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY`S OFFICE: I just want to apologize for my language.
CASAREZ: Why her attorney says the video does not tell the whole story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are two sides to every story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez in for Ashleigh Banfield. Thank you so much for joining us. This is Primetime Justice.
Tonight the people of Tampa`s Seminole Heights neighborhood are facing terror once again. Another innocent man gunned down tonight, this time 60-
year-old Ronald Fenton, a father of three, reportedly at church at 5 a.m. this morning to help feed the homeless. They did this twice a week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t believe it. I still can`t believe it. Because he don`t bother nobody. All he do is try to help people all the time. They
distribute food every Tuesday and Friday. And he always comes up here to the church around 2.30, 3 o`clock to set up. And let the other people out,
you know, in line and stuff standing up against the fence. And they heard the shot, and they just said it was a tall guy dressed in black. That`s all
they know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Fenton is the fourth person to be shot and killed in what the mayor is calling a 10 to 15 block area where a killer seems to have been
haunting residents since October.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
BOB BUCKHORN, MAYOR, TAMPA, FLORIDA: We have a neighborhood that`s been held hostage. We have good folks live in this community that are scared to
death. The PPD has been in here for the last month. You couldn`t go a hundred yards without being stopped by an officer.
You know, I feel for the men and women of the department. This is personal for them. They want this guy as bad as the neighbors do.
(END VOICE CLIP)
CASAREZ: Police had previously released video of someone who was spotted near the scene of the first shooting which happened five weeks ago. But
after this morning, they now have a better description, more specific.
A black male between 6 and 6`2", thin build and light complexion. They believe he could be hiding in one of the many homes that they`re searching,
and they ask residents to stay locked inside.
HLN anchor Mike Galanos now joins us from Tampa police headquarters. Mike, what`s happening tonight?
MIKE GALANOS, ANCHOR, HLN: Tonight, I think you said it at the outset, Jean, it`s a community in shock, it`s a community that`s strong and they`re
going to stick together. But everyone is wondering when is this going to end?
[20:04:54] You mentioned at the top, you think at this man, Ronald Fenton, a good hearted man, up early to help the homeless. And from what we gather,
again, this is the middle of the night basically or very early in the morning, 4.51 to be exact. He was crossing the street from the church in
this area of the food pantry where he was volunteering and he`s gunned down in cold blood.
Now this is the first of the four killings that there are witnesses. And they say the suspect then ran off just halfway down the block, about 20
yards and went down the street, Mcberry.
The hope is he knows the neighborhood, he`s in the neighborhood and authorities are closing in. I talked with police Chief Brian Dugan and ask
him. That`s one of the questions. How do you know they`re linked? Here`s the chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN DUGAN, POLICE CHIEF, TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Look at the proximity. Look at the four victims now were all alone probably distracted. It`s --
I`m convinced that they`re linked together. Whether we have all the evidence that says that, we don`t have that.
But I`m comfortable -- you have to understand I don`t want to create a panic by linking four murders together, but I also have an obligation to
the citizens and the residents of these communities to tell them they need to be careful out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALANOS: And what more do we know, Jean, that authorities are going door to door. We saw ATF agents walking through the neighborhood. They brought
out dogs trying to calm a community but yet letting them know once again they`re there for them and they`re in this together.
And their hope, again, is that they`re closing in. One other thing when you think about how does a community react to this. There`s an owner of a
florist who is right there. And you think she`s closed her doors? No. What did she tell me? Yes, I`m terrorized, this is horrific. But we`re not going
to be held captive and held hostage by this person.
We`re going to keep our doors open, we`re going to stand strong, we`re going to be alert, we`re going to look out for each other and do what
authorities say. If you are going to be out at night, be together, do not be alone. Because those are some of the things that authorities are piecing
together, the victims alone, distracted, we heard that from the chief. And that`s what folks are looking out for.
CASAREZ: Mike, tell us a little more about the victim. Because his name is Ronald Fenton -- Felton, 60 years old. He`s older than the other victims.
But such a worthy cause is why he was up at that hour.
GALANOS: Yes. You know -- and I was right there at this food pantry. It`s a church. Food pantry is connected. They give food to those in need
Tuesdays and Fridays. He shows up early. From what we gather the same owner of the florist shop knew Ronald. Had a couple of interactions with him
before his death. Just a good hearted guy, smiled a lot rode his bike there.
That`s the kind of heart he had to where he was going be up early and from what we gather from witnesses as well, he was on the phone with his twin
brother Reggie right before the shooting. And from what we gather they were so excited, they don`t got to see each other a lot, but yet they were going
to work together to help the homeless on this day until Reggie found out his brother had been shot down in cold blood.
CASAREZ: You know, Mike, today, you spoke with the police chief and also he spoke to the community in regard to guns. Guns that people may have in
their home. We want people to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUGAN: If you own a gun and it`s in your home, I want you to go to your home right now in your house and find out if your gun is still there. If
you own a firearm, any type, we need you to go verify that it`s where it`s supposed to be. And if it`s not, we need you to call us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And joining us tonight is the Tampa Mayor, Bob Buckhorn. He joins us, obviously, from Tampa. Mayor, thank you for being with us tonight.
BUCKHORN: Sure.
CASAREZ: All of these victims were shot, am I correct? And the way they were shot, was it all the same? Is there a similar modus operandi here?
BUCKHORN: Jean, there`s a lot of similarities in these cases. All of the victims were shot. Some were shot more than once. Most of them were
basically ambushed. I mean, this is a guy who is a coward. He can`t face somebody face-to-face, that he has to sneak up on them and shoot them from
behind, but yes, they were all shot.
CASAREZ: Do you have at this point a profile at all, a personality profile? Because you can shoot and miss, you can shoot and injure, this
person has killed each and every victim.
BUCKHORN: He has, but we think it`s partially because these victims were distracted. Certainly the first three, many of them apparently were looking
at their phones. The first victim had headphones on.
This victim last night, we have yet to determine what exactly happened. But he ambushed them from behind generally in very, very close quarters. So he
knew exactly what he was doing. He picked out an unsuspecting victim, somebody that was just walking down the street minding their own business
and basically ambushed them.
[20:09:53] CASAREZ: Why are you asking people if -- to check their guns, to see if they have all of their guns? Have you had burglaries in the area
where guns have been taken? Do you believe that he could have someone`s gun from the neighborhood?
BUCKHORN: Well, we just don`t know. It may not be from the neighborhood. It may be from somebody who lost their gun in an auto burglary, it may be
someone who lost their gun in a home burglary. You know, sometimes folks don`t even realize that their gun has been stolen. That`s hard to imagine,
but sometimes that happens.
So we just want people to check to see if their guns are in the same place where they should be. If they`re missing, let us know. We`re not going to
ask any questions, but let us know. Let us know what the description of the gun is, the caliber of the gun, the serial number if you have it. You know,
that`s just one more arsenal in our tool box and we`re just asking the community to help.
CASAREZ: So you believe this guy lives within the perimeter or at least in the neighborhood where this all is happening?
BUCKHORN: We do, Jean. And there`s a lot of reasons why we do, the proximity of all of these murders, the fact that they`re totally unrelated.
The fact that within a 12 or 15 block area all of these things occurred.
The similarity in which the victims were ambushed. We do seem to think that this person lives in close proximity. His ability to know the nooks and the
crannies of the neighborhood even though we have cut every alley, we`ve cut over every hanging branch, we`ve added street lights, this person seems to
know the currents of the neighborhood and where to go and where to hide and how to move through fences, which houses are abandoned, which ones are not.
That`s what makes it so challenging, but that also kind of puts a perimeter on where this person may be, which allows us to concentrate and saturate.
CASAREZ: Now, I assume you still have the perimeter set up tonight that you established this morning?
BUCKHORN: The perimeter has just been broken down. We were in there all day. I was out there at 5.15 this morning. Our tactical units, the FBI,
ATF, Hillsboro County Sheriff`s Office, the dog units, the blood hounds, all of them were in the perimeter going door to door.
We have already knocked on 1,900 doors, Jean, before this occurred last night, so we know where the cameras are, we know who has cameras, we know
who has registered those cameras with us. So we know where to go to get the video. And that`s exactly what we were doing today.
We were sweeping through the neighborhood, obviously, we were heavily armed in significant overwhelming force and we went door by door, house by house
knocking on doors asking people if we could search the house, asking people if they have video and the neighbors have been amazingly good partners in
all of this.
CASAREZ: So a lot of people then allowed you to search their homes?
BUCKHORN: They did. They have been, this, Jean, this neighborhood has been amazing over the last month. They`re not going to let this person take over
their streets. They`re scared, but they`re united. And they`re not going to let evil win.
And so they have joined with us almost to a person in this effort. They know the police are out there doing what they can. They know for us it`s
personal. But this is their neighborhood and they`re not going to let this take over their neighborhood.
They`re going to turn in whoever they have to turn in. They`re going to give us whatever tips they have to give. They`re going to let us search
whatever we have to search on their properties.
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: But I guess...
BUCKHORN: They`ve been amazing partners for us.
CASAREZ: And I know that. I guess the reality is that he`s still out there. And one last question I want to ask you, the video that was released
a couple of weeks ago that we have that is hard to discern if it`s male or female but it does seem to be a slim build, a person that seems to be
taller than shorter. Do you believe that that fits the description of the witness this morning that saw the man that killed the current victim?
BUCKHORN: We do. The description was strikingly similar. It was a better description than what we`ve had before. All of us that have seen the video
know that you can`t determine race or ethnicity, you can`t determine facial features.
You can get a general idea of the build and sort of the gait of his run. The witnesses today were much more forthcoming, much closer. It was in a
far more public area. And so we think we`ve got better descriptions. We think there will be more cameras that will be deployed along the route that
he ran, and we think hopefully out of this will come more video evidence that will allow us to narrow this search down and narrow the focus on an
individual.
CASAREZ: Right. Well, we`re with you and Ronald Felton, 60 years old. He was just helping at the food bank for this morning gunned down in the
middle of, I understand a very busy street. So the shooter is getting bolder, not the side streets but the main street.
[20:15:01] Mayor, thank you so much. We will stay on this. We are with you.
BUCKHORN: Thank you, Jean.
CASAREZ: We are also learning more details tonight about a deadly shooting spree in California. Sheriff`s officers confirm a gunman killed four people
and ten others were hurt including children in a shooting rampage this morning in Rancho Tehama, California, that`s about 55 miles southeast of
Redding.
Police say the shooter stole a truck and fired shots into several homes before crashing the vehicle. Investigators say he then carjacked a Sedan
and fired shots into another car hitting a mother who was driving her children to school.
One of those children was hurt but is expected to be OK. The mother is fighting for her life.
Then officers say he targeted an elementary school, but he couldn`t get in because all of the doors were locked. So what did he do? He fired several
shots into the building wounding a student. All told the shooter opened fire at people at seven locations. There are seven crime scenes here with a
semiautomatic rifle and two handguns.
Deputies shot and killed the unnamed gunman not long after he left the school. Investigators say it appear he randomly picked the victims and so
far they don`t have a motive. The investigation continues.
Next, a beautiful Florida woman -- and I mean beautiful young woman -- she`s killed in her condo. And a security guard in her building, yes, is
now charged with her murder.
[20:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: Apartment security guards they`re supposed to make us feel safe but one in Orlando is accused of raping and killing a beautiful young woman
who lived in the building where he worked. Michael Duxbury said he has never went inside Sasha`s Samsudean`s apartment. He just helped her get
there because when she got home that night she had a little bit too much to drink.
But according to prosecutors his thumb and footprints were both found inside the apartment and his DNA was on the victim`s body. Other details
aren`t helping his case either like the injuries on his arms that look like bite and scratch marks.
And the video that shows him carrying trash bags to the garage where he parked his car. All evidence the prosecution says may put him away for
life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we have elements in this case is going to show is that this defendant crushed Sasha Samsudean`s larynx,
literally crushed her throat. After doing this and killing her, he went into her bathroom and dumped her cleaning supplies on her wrapped her up
like a tootsie roll in her own comforter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: But as much evidence as there is against the former security guard, there might not be enough to proof that he did it. And day one of
the trial that`s what the defense is banking on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s none of Mr. Duxbury`s DNA on the bed sheets on the comforter. They find a condom wrapper under the bed. None of Mr.
Duxbury`s DNA is found on that. Conversely, they take Mr. Duxbury`s clothes, what he was wearing, none of Ms. Samsudean`s DNA is found on that.
None of her hair, none of her skin, nothing is found on that. None of Mr. Duxbury`s skin was found under her nails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Primetime Justice producer Justin Freiman has been working on this story all day. He joins us now tonight from New York. OK, Justin, this
is a classic circumstantial case. They got a jury today. They`re in trial now. This is Orlando, Florida, and there is a lot of evidence.
I think it`s best to start with the timeline. She was coming home after a night with friends in downtown Orlando, she gets home to her apartment
complex about what time?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, PRODUCER, PRIMETIME JUSTICE: About 1.45 in the morning. And she can`t get in. She can`t find her keys and she can`t find that her
keys fob that actually gets her into the complex.
CASAREZ: Right. So what happens then?
FREIMAN: So then what happens is this security guard sees her trying to get in, but she can`t get in, then somebody else happens to let her into
the building. But then she`s wandering the building even on the fourth floor when she was on the third floor.
But he is also seen with her, and this is also been captured on video, him tailing her and walking around with her, even chatting with her at times.
But then he says that she also went to her door, but she didn`t have the key, she couldn`t get in. There`s always keypad on that door lock. He
couldn`t get in there.
And he claims he then left her there to continue doing his rounds. But again that`s her not even being able to get into her apartment. He leaves
her stranded according to him, in the hallway and continues doing his rounds.
CASAREZ: Right. And then he goes out to his car, right, and he does a little bit -- according to prosecutors -- of research on the internet?
FREIMAN: That`s right. He does research on that exact lock and how to get around it. Basically how to bypass that lock and open it. And so according
to prosecutors, he was very successful in that search which they found on his phone and was able to get himself into her apartment according to the
prosecutors and ended up killing her there.
CASAREZ: Right. According to prosecutors. And this is not an easy case, folks. This is not easy. I`ll tell you who the defense attorney is in a
minute.
[20:25:02] But from 5.14 a.m., Justin, until 6.36 the key pads in that building -- because the security guard, right, goes in and out and so you
can sort of see his path, but he`s unaccounted for an hour and 22 minutes, right?
FREIMAN: That`s right. And then when he is accounted for again around 6.30 in the morning he is seen carrying two white garbage bags out to the garage
where his car actually is. Those bags are actually the same type that she has in her apartment. A few minutes later, a few moments later he comes
back into the building without the bags, goes and gets what seems to be his work bag and then leaves.
CASAREZ: Justin, we`ve seen this before. I can guarantee you there will be experts in this trial on plastic bags, and I`ve seen that in courtrooms
before, looking at the finer points to see if it`s from the same lot or not.
Justin, today were the prosecution openings and they`re really relying on forensics inside that apartment. Let`s listen to what they think may be is
the smoking gun here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They get a preliminary hit on that one on the toilet seat matching the defendant. So given that he says he`s never been inside
her apartment and on the 19th they`re hearing that there`s a fingerprint inside her apartment on the toilet seat from the defendant, now focus
shifts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So Justin, she`s a female. She lives alone. And her toilet seat is up. That`s very big circumstantial evidence that a male was with her
shortly before she was murdered.
FREIMAN: That`s right. Police point out that when they got to her apartment, it was spotless. It`s a very clean apartment. But yet as you can
see the cabinet was open to the -- in the bathroom where the cleaning supplies were and the toilet seat was up.
And it`s just her living there, just one woman living there and his finger print, according to the prosecution, is the one on that toilet seat and on
a nightstand next to her bed.
CASAREZ: Right. Not good. Joining us also tonight former federal attorney and defense attorney Emily Compagno joins us tonight. Thank you so much for
being here.
Here`s what I want to ask you. There`s a lot of forensic evidence. His DNA is found on her, his DNA is on the toilet seat. They got shoe prints from
inside the apartment, and he originally gave them shoes, not a match. But then when they got the search warrant to search his apartment and his car,
they found shoes the prosecutors say actually matched the prints. Where does the defense go here?
EMILY COMPAGNO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s tough on those facts. And what the defense needs to do at this point is focus on the beyond a reasonable
doubt. The defense needs to have an answer for everything, for every single piece of evidence, they need to present an alternative theory, the
explanation or the reason why it doesn`t hold water.
And to present a strategy, a comprehensive strategy to the jury so that they have so much doubt that they can`t convict. And that many of the
jurors today, for example, had a difficult time because they`d heard of this. This trial has been well publicized.
So moving forward defense counsel are thinking well, who we have amassed, they know nothing about this case. They`re not necessarily the ones who
watch TV on a nightly basis or who remain engaged in social media. So it`s important to them to really rely on the procedure and the process so that
these jurors understands the weight that is on their shoulders. That`s the kind of thing you emphasize here.
CASAREZ: And let`s tell everybody one of the defense counsel, you know him, Cheney Mason, who was Casey Anthony`s attorney, he`s very good at
reasonable doubt. He`s smart. He thinks between the lines, and he has convinced more than one jury that there`s reasonable doubt.
Let`s listen from the other co-counsel, the defense opening today, what they`re going to rely on in part for this reasonable doubt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: December 28th, a bag is found on the uptown apartment place by the grounds keeper. In that bag is Sasha Samsudean`s credit card,
a Chick-Fil-A, like a customer card, a wine club card and some other miscellaneous like customer loyalty cards along with keys and the fob to
open the door. When that`s found Mr. Duxbury is already in jail.
And as we were talking about we have no idea who junked it off and how it got there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So as you just heard, the thing is, the defense is saying that this bag is dropped at the complex. We don`t know at this point if it`s
outside or inside, but it has all of the personal effects of hers, and he was in jail already. So the defense is going to rely that it`s somebody
else out there. He couldn`t have done it. He was locked up.
COMPAGNO: Exactly. These are the kinds of inconsistencies and holes in the prosecution`s theory that the defense needs to emphasize. They need to
shout it from the rooftops so that when the jury -- the jury goes to deliberate that`s all they can think about.
[20:29:58] You know what, I just -- I couldn`t convict because I couldn`t get it out of my mind the fact that he was in jail already. Those kinds of
things. That`s what crucial. And know too who works for defense counsel, Casey Anthony herself. She`s employed by him actually as a research
investigator. So, if anyone knows the kinds of things --
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN AND HLN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We don`t know if she`s currently --
CAMPAGNO: Working on this case. But he`s amassed a team that really knows what they`re doing. And if anyone can find the way beyond reasonable doubt,
it`s that team.
CASAREZ: The defense also attacked the forensics head-on. I want to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if you believe that those are his prints, all they do is show you he was there at some point. They don`t tell you who, what,
where when and how. They don`t give you any greater back story than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: All right, so attacking the forensics. They`re going to try to dirty her up. She`s a young girl, not married. She was found wrapped in her
comforter. There was other DNA on her bed, around her bed. Is a jury going to take offense to that?
CAMPAGNO: If they do it in a respectful way, if they toe the line correctly, then the jury should not be offended. What should be
communicated to the jury is that, look, here`s the alternative theory. Here`s the reason why it is not this defendant. There was another man
there.
They need not disparage her to get their point across that it was someone else. But it takes tack and it takes a delicacy, but it`s incumbent upon
this defense team to have so that the jury isn`t offended, and so they don`t feel that the victim is being shamed or blamed in any way. That`s the
crucial distinction that the defense needs to do.
CASAREZ: But the facts are, she was murdered that night because she was seen alive shortly before that. Nobody else was seen coming into that
apartment complex. There was surveillance video. So it pins it on him.
CAMPAGNO: Defense may have a tough road.
CASAREZ: All right. Thank you very much.
Next, a beautiful mother of a one-year-old baby asks her husband for a divorce. And weeks later she is brutally murdered in their home. Now, he`s
charged with her death, and police are combing through his secret life.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: Andrew MacCormack spent his first court appearance in tears as attorneys talked about his wife Vanessa, an adored second-grade teacher,
found in their Boston area home beaten, stabbed, and suffocated to death. And prosecutors say he`s the one who did it with their one-year-old baby in
tow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stab wounds on her neck. She had signs of both manual strangulation and suffocation. The latter possibly from a trash bag that
appeared to have been put on her head at some point. He didn`t try to revive Vanessa or even turn her over. She was face down on the bedroom
floor. He said he simply checked her neck for a pulse, and she was cold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: He`s denied again and again that he killed her though prosecutors say his drug habit was driving Vanessa to divorce and that was too much for
him to handle. But Andrew`s own dealer confirmed he was buying cocaine the day Vanessa died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He went to East Boston, left the baby in the car briefly to take $100 out of an ATM, then he met a dealer and bought $100 worth of
cocaine from him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So he`s saying no, it looks like. Well, the evidence shows otherwise. Prosecutors say Andrew killed his wife before cleaning up the
crime scene, pouring bleach all over the house, but his defense attorney argues that bleach, that`s proof that he`s actually innocent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His DNA and his fingerprints are going to be all over the house. So, why would he be bleaching the house? I think it`s a lot more
likely that an assailant from outside the home bleached the house than he did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Boston talk show radio host Sandy Shack joins us now tonight. This is such a sad case because this is a young couple, 29, 30 years old, a one-
year-old baby. She was a second-grade teacher. And Sandy, this happened on a Saturday, so she wasn`t teaching, which I think is an important fact
right there, waiting until she gets home.
[20:40:00] What are the facts that we know them at this point?
SANDY SHACK, BOSTON TALK SHOW HOST (via telephone): This is just such an incredibly sad case. And most victims tend to grow halos after they die,
you know, from a horrific crime such as this, but this woman apparently was universally loved. She was just a lovely, lovely woman.
It looks like he killed her, then he left the house with the baby, and the baby was in the house when she was killed. He left the house, went to a
friend`s house to help with a carpentry project, and then pretended to text her. And he texted her, he called her mother.
And she was already dead at that point in time when he was doing that. Then he goes home. He`s talking to her mother on the phone going, oh, gee, look,
there she is, it looks like she`s really badly hurt on the floor of the bedroom. And the mother is becoming hysterical saying do something, help
her. And he said oh, it looks like she`s dead and doesn`t do anything.
There is the poor woman. She has, you know, a horrible massive blood trauma to her face, her nose is broken, her teeth are broken. She had five stab
wounds to her back and side of her neck. She had three long slash wounds across the front of her neck and her neck bone and cartilage were broken
with signs of a strangulation.
And her head is in a used trash bag. I mean, he didn`t even take the trash out of the bag, her head is in this bag. Then it looked like there was
bleach. There`s no sign, by the way, absolutely no sign that anyone broke into the house. And her blood is in his car.
CASAREZ: And he is pleading not guilty, and he is innocent until proven guilty.
SHACK (via telephone): He was kind of appeared a little more stoic this time in court. He was indicted on Halloween. And then arraigned today. And
her family was there horrified. And you heard one of her relatives shouting at him in the court, you know, he yelled scumbag. He said don`t even look
at us.
And then when the clerk magistrate denied the request for bail, one of the female relatives in the back gave a big fist pump in the air and said, yes!
That`s where we have it now. The defense attorney is just doing a defense attorney`s job, coming out and saying oh, there`s room for -- that`s what
he`s supposed to do.
But nobody in their right mind at this point in time can possibly think that somebody else came in that house and did that to her. That was a crime
of passion. That wasn`t somebody who broke into the house.
CASAREZ: Well --
SHACK (via telephone): That did that kind of damage to that poor woman.
CASAREZ: Right. And the prosecutor is going to use the texts that have been recovered between Vanessa and Andrew. Let`s look at those. Vanessa says,
quote, I hate you so much because you`ve ruined our daughter`s life because she won`t have her parents together. I`ll talk to agent, as in real estate
agent, tomorrow about listing the house and I`ll look into divorce lawyers.
Andrew, you`re crazy. I`m not signing anything to sell the house or get divorced. And then Vanessa says, you never did the things I said would need
to happen if you want me to stay with you like going to marriage counseling, stepping it up financially, communicating with my family.
Emily Campagno, did I pronounce your name right?
CAMPAGNO: Close, OK.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMPAGNO: You`re fine.
CASAREZ: Emily, you are a defense attorney, a former federal attorney. The defense is now saying, he didn`t do it. That`s where they`re going. He
didn`t do it. Is that winnable?
CAMPAGNO: It is only if they provide something more. First of all, we need a bit more confidence from those attorneys. You saw in that clip earlier,
he said, we think. It needs to be certain. That`s number one. Because juries are human.
They need to see confidence. They need to have an alternative theory proposed and the reason why every single aspect that the prosecution
presents does not hold water. They need to have a reason. And they can`t just say it wasn`t me. It must be someone else. They need to then paint a
picture of who that other person was. And it`s incredibly difficult in this situation.
Obviously, this case reads, frankly, like a slam dunk from what we know. So, it`s going to be incredibly difficult for the defense to surmount that.
And in Massachusetts, juries have to be unanimous.
So in a way, all they have to do is convince one juror member beyond a reasonable doubt or plant that doubt so they can`t surpass that standard of
evidence, but until then, it`s totally an uphill battle.
CASAREZ: Sandy, talk to me about the bleach, the cleaning that was done around this home.
SHACK (via telephone): Well, when the police got there, the whole scene smelled very strongly of bleach. And Vanessa`s body had chemical burns on
it that were consistent with bleach having been poured on her back after she was killed.
And he had a rash, too. He claimed to the police that he had the rash because she recently switched to a new detergent and that`s why he had the
rash, but there were no signs of new detergent and there were no bottles of bleach in the house.
[20:45:00] So it looked like he bleached her trying to get rid of -- everybody`s seen too many shows of "CSI" I think recently. He was trying to
remove something, some kind of evidence, and then threw the bottles away when he left the house with the baby.
And that`s where the bleach burns come in. There`s no reason for anybody coming into that house to do anything to her with bleach. And the defense
attorney --
CASAREZ: It shows an intent. It shows an intent, and there might be more charges in regard to tampering with evidence.
SHACK (via telephone): Oh, yes.
CASAREZ: This case has just begun. The arraignment was today. We will continue to follow it. Thank you, Sandy Shack.
An Uber meltdown. A rider yells, threatens and curses at her driver, and it was all caught on tape. Now, here`s the thing. It`s cost her job. She was
an assistant district attorney at a courthouse. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JODY WARNER, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I want to go home so badly, but you`re so stupid. I want the cops to come so that they can (bleep) you up.
SHAUN PLATT, UBER DRIVER: Ma`am, please.
WARNER: No, no. Ma`am, please. Dude, you`re -- everything`s being recorded. I`m an assistant district attorney. So shut the (bleep) up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: In Dallas, Texas, an assistant district attorney is out of a job after she unloaded on an Uber driver who was just bringing her home. She
claimed she became alarmed when he took a route that she didn`t know, and she even accused him of kidnapping her. Unfortunately for her, that
meltdown was recorded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLATT: I`m asking you politely to please step out of my vehicle.
WARNER: No. Because now I`m pissed (bleep) off. Either drop me off at my house or we`ll wait for the cops because I`m not wrong.
PLATT: I am waiting for the cops.
WARNER: I want to go home so badly, but you`re so stupid, I want the cops to come, so that they can (bleep) you up.
PLATT: Ma`am, please.
WARNER: No, no. Ma`am, please. Dude, everything is being recorded. I`m an assistant district attorney. So shut the (bleep) up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: In the end, officers showed up. No one was charged with anything. And they took Miss Warner home. But once the audio of her rant went viral,
she was fired.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARNER: Whether it`s because of my experience as a prosecutor made me hyper-vigilant or whether I was justifiably uncomfortable, I can`t tell you
that. All I can tell you is what was in my heart. I felt uncomfortable with the route that he was taking me.
When we got finally close to my home, he turned down a different street, which is not what his GPS was saying to do. And that is when I finally
snapped at him and said where are you taking me? It escalated from there.
I`m very sorry for the language that I used. I`m not proud of it. You get in like a fight or flight mode. I think any prosecutor would tell you that
we`re usually going to get into fight mode.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Defense Attorney Emily Campagno joins us now. Emily, this is what -- I want to read this, what Jody Warner said, she claimed her Uber driver
was kidnapping her, OK?
"You know when you picked me up, I gave you a destination, you aren`t taking me there, so under the law, it`s recklessly keeping me from where I
was going and you haven`t done that. So you`re kidnapping me right now. You`re committing a third-degree felony." Then she said, what do you think
of that? What do you think of the interpretation of the law?
CAMPAGNO: I think from that audio that we`ve heard, she was clearly intoxicated. And his explanation which happens oftentimes in Uber rides, is
you told me to go a different direction. So there was a he said, she said, in terms of the route. And according to him, he pulled over.
Now, kidnapping means that she would not have been able to exit. And at that point, he has maintained and then was caught as part of the audio
later that he`s actually pleading with her to please exit the vehicle. So, in terms of that allegation on her part, it wouldn`t hold water. I mean --
CASAREZ: And what a privilege to be an assistant district attorney of Dallas County, Texas. That is an esteemed position. Many people vie for
that. Few get it. She lost it.
CAMPAGNO: I will say that that entire thing sickened me. I think it was a horrendous display of that privilege that she held and of that power
wielding that she was trying to enforce over him, her language was absolutely reprehensible. And her apology frankly was lukewarm at best.
She was defending herself and attempting to justify it by saying I`m in fight or flight and I`m just sorry for my language. And it really seemed to
me like she was still maintaining to the end, but it was her discomfort as the reason that she was berating him.
And that she placed a hand on him which in no way is ever legal. It is never legal to put your hands on someone else without their invitation to
do so. And at that level, it is she who could have been charged with something.
So not only are we held to standards of just decorum but also as an attorney and as a prosecutor, you are held to ethical standards. And her
license and her employment are absolutely subject to her complying with that standard. Frankly, she failed here. She should not have been employed
anymore.
CASAREZ: I think she needs to search her soul to see what happened here.
CAMPAGNO: Right.
CASAREZ: Because she`s got her whole professional life ahead of her. It is probably safe to say that no one is ever really ready to hear the word
"guilty" in a courtroom. But this defendant really, really wasn`t prepared for it.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: Drama in a California courtroom where a woman on trial in a murder-for-hire plot was so shocked when the jury convicted her. She passed
out cold as the bailiff read the co-defendant`s verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant Weldon McDavid guilty of the crime for conspiracy to commit
murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Wow. Diana Lovejoy was convicted of several counts related to the attempted murder of her ex-husband and could be sentenced to 25 years to
life in prison.
[21:00:00] Oh. Thanks for watching. I`m Jean Casarez. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night at 8:00 for "Primetime Justice". "The Hunt" with John
Walsh begins right now. Good night, everybody.
END