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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
At Least Five Dead In Newspaper Shooting; Drunk Attorney Plows Down, Kills Woman. Aired 6-8p ET
Aired June 28, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are five fatalities that we know of, there are several other persons that are gravely injured. This is a very fluid
scene. You can see that we have over ten plus allied agencies assisting with Anne Arundel County police. The investigation has just started. We
are here quickly we came into the building very quickly, we received the call as an active shooter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Good evening, I`m Ashleigh Merchant, I am filling in for Ashleigh Banfield. Breaking news tonight, an active shooter opens fire at a Maryland
newspaper, law enforcement saying a shotgun was used and there are multiple fatalities and wounded. Joining me now CNN correspondent Rene Marsh,
Washington D.C. freelance reporter Chuck Carroll, HLN Producer, Justin Freiman, former NYPD detective Tom Verni and defense attorney Troy Slaten.
Thank you all for joining me tonight.
So I want to start with you, Justin Freiman, can you give us an update on what`s going on in this breaking news situation? Give us an update as to
what the law enforcement knows at this point.
JUSTIN FREIMAN, SR. PRODUCER, HLN CNN: Absolutely. What we know is in Annapolis, Maryland, there was a shooting that happened at the "Capital
Gazette Newspaper" and they are now saying that there are five dead. That building has officially been cleared. They say that they evacuated at
least 170 people. And they recovered what is thought to be an explosive device.
MERCHANT: Do they know anything about the suspect at this point?
FREIMAN: We`re hearing that the suspect did not actually have I.D. on him, but they say it`s a white adult male, that he had a long gun, and that he
is currently being interviewed by officials.
MERCHANT: Justin, is he cooperating with officials, or just they`re trying to interview him at this point?
FREIMAN: Well, early word was that he was not cooperating. And at the latest press conference, they did say he is being interviewed at the
moment, but they are not saying just how cooperative he is being. They did note that there was actually no gunfire exchanged between the suspect and
actual public safety officials who actually arrived only about 60 seconds after the shooting happened.
MERCHANT: Does anyone have any idea as to what the motive might be or if there`s any connection with this newspaper?
FREIMAN: Currently they don`t have any motive. We do have a little glimpse about what happened inside during the shooting, because a reporter
with the "Capital Gazette" was actually tweeting and he actually tweeted that a gunman shot through the glass door on the office, and open fired on
multiple employees. Can`t say much more and don`t want to declare anyone dead, but it`s bad. And as we know now of course, there are at least five
dead.
MERCHANT: And I think that we know that a witness saw this shooter, and actually told us they were on a phone -- on the phone with a client. I
think we`ve got something on that where the witness actually saw the shooter?
FREIMAN: Yes, there are a few witnesses now that are coming out and saying they`ve seen the shooter. But as of now, there`s no actual I.D., at least
not given to the public.
MERCHANT: OK. All right and we also have Rene Marsh with us, from CNN, she is a CNN correspondent. Rene, are you with us?
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I`m here.
MERCHANT: Hi Rene, I understand you`re at the reunification center. Is this a center where families are trying to find their loved ones?
MARSH: There is a massive mall here in Anne Arundel County, so we are here at the mall. We know that it is being called the reunification center. We
just left there. Inside of the mall, they essentially have people who may have been in or around the building at the time of the shooting, perhaps if
family members are looking for their loved ones this is a place that they would come.
I will tell you, in spending our time there inside, we mostly bumped into people who happened to be inside of the building at the time. And let me
just set the scene for you. The Newsroom where the shooting happened happens to be -- and again this information is from people we spoke to, it
happens to be housed inside of a larger building where there are doctor`s offices and other offices. So the people we spoke to inside the
reunification center said they were inside the building. They heard the shots. One man told me, he heard about three shots. And then they saw
police swarm in.
Obviously these individuals were not inside of the Newsroom so they couldn`t tell me much about the shooter and whether the shooter is dead or
anything, but they were able to tell me what they heard. And again, one of the witnesses telling me he heard three gunshots as he was inside of that
building. At this point, we know that the shooter is in custody on our air today. An official from Maryland did tell us that they do have the
gunman`s name. However, officials are not releasing it at this hour.
So that is all that we have right now.
[18:05:04] I can tell you the people I spoke to, extremely shaken up, still very emotional, visibly shaken at what they had witnessed. One woman was
holding onto her son as she recounted running out of the building after hearing the gunshots. She described running by a woman who was on the
ground. She was uncertain whether that woman was alive or not. And, you know, obviously she made it out alive, but was still, at this hour,
extremely shaken up.
MERCHANT: Rene, while we still have you, I want to ask you, does anyone know any motive or any reason that he might have gone to this particular
location? Any indication of that?
MARSH: No. At this point we don`t. I know that at this point the individuals who were inside of the Newsroom at the time, they`re being
questioned by authorities, because that is the major question that remains outstanding at this hour. Why was this done? What connection did this
person have to the Newsroom, if any, at all? All of those questions are unknown, at least to us at this hour. So we don`t have any indication what
led to all of this.
MERCHANT: And you mentioned a lot of different shots fired. Do we still believe that it`s a shotgun that was used, or is there any update on that?
MARSH: That we don`t know. The witnesses that I spoke to, again, they were not in the Newsroom. So they were not able to see anything, but they
certainly heard the gunshots. And so the number I`m hearing, from at least the people I`m speaking to, is that they heard three gunshots. What type
of gun was used, we just don`t know at this point.
MERCHANT: Thank you. I want our viewers to listen to the witness who actually saw the shooting describe the shots that he heard. Do we have
that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I was on the phone with a client. And heard a loud noise, like an incredibly loud bang. And I poked my head around the corner
of my desk so I could see out our front door into the front door of the "Capital Gazette," and I saw a guy -- I saw a guy holding a gun. The door
of the capital had been blown to pieces. It was shattered all on the carpet. This guy was holding what looked like a big shotgun and moving
across the entrance of the "Capital Gazette" office, pointing the gun deeper into the office, like he was targeting people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: I want to bring in Tom Verni, you`re a law enforcement expert and a former NYPD detective. When I heard this, the first thing that
struck me is a shotgun. Because that is not what we normally see in this type of situation. What does that mean to you when you hear it was a
shotgun is what they believe was used in this case?
TOM VERNI, FORMER DETECTIVE, NEW YORK POLICE: Good evening. My condolences to those who have lost someone in this horrific incident. Yes,
I mean, if this is a shotgun, that would be kind of going a little bit away from what we`ve seen in a lot of this active shooter type situations where
for the most part we`ve seen AR-15s being used and in some cases a handgun. Yes, shotguns and long guns, for that matter, rifles, are easy to get. So
anyone can get one of those. You can walk into a Walmart and get those types of guns.
So yes, those are possessed by a lot of people. I would imagine at this point authorities are looking to find out whether or not this individual is
connected with anyone else, if there`s a second shooter that they need to be worried about. Really, I know they`ve cleared the building of any other
devices, which is a good sign. And yes, so that -- that is the other part, too, is that they want to find out, what about this device they found?
What kind of device was it and how did he get the means to assemble a device that potentially could have been used to take out more people?
MERCHANT: Right.
VERNI: So there`s a lot of questions still unanswered here.
MERCHANT: I was going to ask you about that, that device, there`s been some reports that there was a device found. Do we know anything further
about what that type of device was, or how it was made or anything like that?
VERNI: Yes, I did hear, I`ve been reading some reports that have mentioned a device. I haven`t seen anything that has specifically talked about what
kind of device it was, whether it was a grenade or a pipe bomb or something of that nature. So, I guess that still remains to be seen, but I have
heard, and correct me if I`m wrong, that they have, you know, clear it had building itself of any other devices, as well as any other shooters at this
time.
MERCHANT: And I understand we have some breaking news, Justin Freiman, has a story as to the capture of this actual suspect.
FREIMAN: That is right. We already knew there was no gunfire exchanged between him and the police. But we are now learning that he was actually
trying to evade law enforcement. He was hiding in the building at the time when he was found. He was actually under a desk with the -- and we were
told also that the weapon was on the ground and not in his immediate proximity.
MERCHANT: Do we still think it was a shotgun though?
[18:10:00] FREIMAN: They`re saying -- right now they`re saying a long gun, which could possibly be a shotgun. But they`re going with long gun.
MERCHANT: Long gun, OK, but he is definitely in custody. Do we know if he is cooperating anymore now that he is actually in custody, even though he
started to evade originally?
FREIMAN: Yes. We haven`t been given further word on that. But we are hoping to hear something at 8:00 p.m., there is another press conference,
which we will be following.
MERCHANT: OK. And I know we have Chuck Carroll here from Washington, D.C., he is a freelance reporter. Chuck, you`re in the D.C. area. Can you
describe what you`re seeing there, and just the scene, and what you`re feeling?
CHUCK CARROLL, FREELANCE REPORTER, WASHINGTON D.C.: I mean, this is really just kind of a surreal situation. In the neighboring county not long ago
there was a school shooting, and that was a very big mass response there. And then to have this happen just a short time later, a number of months
later, it`s really just a tragedy. Never in the history of Annapolis, as long as I can remember, has there been a situation quite like this, let
alone one that occurred in the Newsroom, especially for the journalists here. Everybody is covering the story, but they`re covering it with a
heavy heart knowing that among the dead, very likely, are a number of our own.
MERCHANT: And tell me more. Since you are in that area, tell me more about this newspaper. Is it a local newspaper, is it a large newspaper, I
mean, what type of newspaper are we talking about here?
CARROLL: Yes. This is very much a local newspaper, one that is geared heavily toward the Annapolis, Anne Arundel County community. These id the
kind of paper that you turn to get information about a local elementary school, what are the high school scores for football games on Friday night.
This is a very local newspaper with centuries old roots. The publisher first came about in the state way back in the 1700s. And the Capital
Gazette first published its first edition way back in 1884. That is how far this newspaper goes. And it has always been ingrained in the local
community.
MERCHANT: Wow. It will be interesting to see if there`s any connection between this shooter and that newspaper, someone that worked there. It`s
just tragic. But we will be following this story. And thank you so much for being with us.
Up next, he is charged with vehicular homicide after a hit and run, but a Miami personal injury attorney finds himself in a courtroom as a defendant
staring at a possible lifetime behind bars. Will surveillance video be the key to a potential conviction? That is up next.
[18:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MERCHANT: There`s no good kind of hit and run, but it`s especially bad if the driver is a personal injury lawyer. Miami-based attorney Marcos
Gonzales Balboa is accused of killing a young woman who was just crossing the street. And tonight we have incriminating new video that could help
put him behind bars for life. Because prosecutors say it proves he was drunk, just minutes before killing 26-year-old Tatum Holloway.
Police were able to track him down, thanks to his busted up bumper. And now he is in court as the defendant. Because prosecutors say he didn`t
just trying to get away from the crime, he tried to get away with the crime.
Joining me now, David Ovalle, a reporter with the "Miami Herald," David Bianchi, an attorney for the family of the victim in this case and defense
attorney Troy Slaten. Thank you all for being here tonight.
I want to start with you, David, can you tell us, you`re a reporter for the "Miami Herald," can you tell us a little bit about what impact this has had
on the community? I mean, this is an attorney, this is supposed to be a pillar of the community who took the girl`s life and then didn`t take
responsibility for it and then went and hid and tried to cover it up. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
DAVID OVALLE, REPORTER MIAMI HERALD: Well, it really is a story that is all too common and all too tragic in Miami. Miami is one of the epicenters
of hit and run accidents, of traffic fatalities. And it`s one of many that happened any given year. And particularly in this city, it`s actually the
city I live in, called Miami lakes, it is a suburban, very family-oriented town. This case was unsolved for a while. So the fact that a young woman,
who was visiting from out of town and was just hit on the side of the road, and the only reason that a passerby happened to see what happened, because
it was the middle of the night, was that the french fries she had gotten from the nearby McDonald`s just littered the entire road. That is what,
you know, got the passer-by to see it. And you know, unfortunately, it was too late, but no, it`s an outrageous story and one that a lot of people
have really paid attention to.
MERCHANT: It`s just mind boggling, that this lawyer, this person, who is part of this community, just went off like nothing had happened and tried
to hide it. Was he well-known in the community? What was his reputation?
OVALLE: Well, he wasn`t well-known throughout all of South Florida. He wasn`t someone that was -- you know, had billboards around town, but he was
someone that was pretty well respected, had a good, clean record and in the Miami lakes highly area was someone that was well-known.
[18:20:12] That was the area which he worked. But yes, you know, there`s a lot of lawyers in town. And I think that it was pretty shocking to see,
you know, a member of the Florida bar appearing in court charged with vehicular manslaughter.
MERCHANT: Yes. I mean, it boggles my mind. I want to talk to David Bianchi. He is the attorney for Tatum`s family. David, are you with us?
DAVID BIANCHI, ATTORNEY FOR TATUM`S FAMILY: Yes, I am.
MERCHANT: Thank you so much for being here. Is it -- you`re in the same legal community as the defendant in this case. Did you all know each
other?
Well, not only are we in the same community geographically, and have represent families in cases like this, but it turns out we took the bar
exam on the exact same time and the exact same room. And I am disgusted by this guy. I think it`s outrageous what he did, because he didn`t just kill
Tatum Holloway, but he then took his car early the next morning up the Coast of Florida to essentially a shop that would replace his windshield.
He claimed that a coconut has fallen on his windshield. That was why it was broken.
And he got the shop to put in a new windshield. And to their credit, they called the police. And the police -- the man went to this guy`s house,
because they had a part from his Mercedes after he killed her, and they matched the part to his car. And that was the dispositive proof that he
was the one who did it. And then we found out that he had been drinking at a bar in Coral Gables and had paid for at least 20 drinks and somehow
managed to drive himself from Coral Gables to where he killed Tatum Holloway.
But this is just -- it`s always bad when there`s a hit and run with a fatality, always, but it`s disgusting that it was a lawyer who did it. And
that it`s a lawyer who tried to hide the evidence to get away with it. That is what`s really disgusting. He will never practice law again in the
State of Florida, never.
MERCHANT: Well, I was going to ask you about that, I was going to ask if there had been any bar repercussions yet, if there was a hearing, or if
they`re going to wait until the criminal case is resolved.
BIANCHI: Well, yes, the bar will disbar him. The Florida bar, the Florida Supreme Court will disbar him. There`s no question about that. He will
never practice law again. And it`s a black mark on the entire legal profession to have a fellow lawyer not just drunk driving and kill
somebody, but try to cover it up by hiding the evidence. That is what`s so disgusting.
MERCHANT: Right. Well, I read that Tatum is actually from Australia and was here visiting. She was on vacation. How is the family doing after all
of this?
BIANCHI: Well, actually she is from South Africa, not Australia. The family is devastated by this. I can tell you that in nearly 40 years of
practicing law, this is one of the finest families I have ever represented. Mr. Holloway is the head of the school in South Africa. And the family who
knew that you were going to be doing this program tonight said to me, please let people know that we want justice, but we want justice tempered
with forgiveness. And that is the kind of people that they are.
MERCHANT: Wow.
BIANCHI: They are -- they are wonderful people. Tatum was an angel. And this is one of the finest families I`ve ever represented.
MERCHANT: Hearing that gives me goose bumping, knowing that they want it tempered with justice. That is amazing. Have you been able to serve this
lawsuit? I heard we may have some problems with the service and that maybe this fine, upstanding lawyer is evading service. Have you been able to
serve him?
BIANCHI: Well, we have filed the lawsuit against him. And when you file a lawsuit, you have to have a process server or a sheriff personally hand the
papers to the person you`re suing. Now, in this case the defendant is hiding in his house with all of his hurricane shutters closed around the
windows and a sign posted on the front door that says "private property, no trespassing."
So our process server was actually afraid to go to his front door for fear that something could happen to him. So we have begun a process under
Florida law to get him served without actually having to hand him the papers. So we`re going to get him served one way or the other.
MERCHANT: But this man, who knows the law, it sounds like he is using the law to try and hide and evade service and make it harder on this family
that he is already victimized.
BIANCHI: I think that is exactly right, yes.
[18:25:02] MERCHANT: That is a shame. I want to bring in Troy Slaten. Are you with me, Troy?
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m here, Ashleigh, thanks for having me.
MERCHANT: Hey, Troy, yes, thanks for coming, thanks for being on. I want to listen to Mr. Gonzales Bamboa on his bond hearing. He actually talks --
I want to listen to it and I want to chat with you a little bit about what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re charged with driving under the influence with manslaughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think the bond is a little bit high. I think a bond with 50,000 with home detention is more than reasonable to assure his
presence in the community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I was just checking the back of the courtroom to make sure we didn`t have the have it your way sign up today. It`s not that
one. Like burger king.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need to be able to wind down my practice so I can concentrate on this matter. My clients -- it`s going to be very difficult
for me to do that from home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it`s going to be very difficult for you to do that from jail as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: Troy, I know I cringe when I hear that. Because if I was in court with him, he just doesn`t sound like he has any remorse. How would
you defend someone like that?
SLATEN: Well, look, first of all, my heart goes out to the family of this beautiful young girl whose life has been cut short, but look, as an
attorney, you want to try and get your client out of custody so that way he can help defend the case. Here he is lucky, he is out on $75,000 bond and
electronic home monitoring so he can assist in his defense. And there are a lot of defenses to this DUI manslaughter case, because this wasn`t a
traditional DUI arrest. There`s no field sobriety test. There`s no forensic chemical test.
MERCHANT: Yes, I mean, but this guy, he fled the scene, he is on camera, clearly intoxicated, flees the scene, doesn`t even stop, goes home and then
later on tries to cover it up by driving to some shop and getting his car fixed so that maybe people wouldn`t know he had done this. I mean, what
are you going to do when that information is in front of the jury?
SLATEN: So look, at first, I`m going to try and work out the best possible deal that I can for my client and try and bring all the mitigating factors
to bear. There are some aggravating factors in that over the last 20 years, he is had 22 tickets, and two DUI cases dismissed. So those are not
-- those would not work in our favor, but there could be mitigating factors. And that maybe he didn`t drink all these 19 drinks that he
bought. Maybe there were other people that he was buying drinks for. Maybe he has some sort of medical condition that caused him to have an
unsteady gait. Maybe he didn`t know he hit this woman. Maybe she contributed to the accident. And I don`t mean to shame the victim here.
Maybe she contributed to the accident by walking into a drive-through and walking into the middle of the street where there wasn`t a crosswalk.
MERCHANT: I have a hard time thinking she could possibly have contributed to this accident. And his behavior after when he just tried to hide and he
didn`t stand up for it, it`s just disgusting, but I want to talk to you for a minute about his website. I went on his website earlier today.
SLATEN: So did I.
MERCHANT: When I read it, it said our firm represents people in all types of motor vehicle accidents. And we help them to receive justice that they
deserve for pain and suffering. What do you think about that, and what do you think is justice for him?
SLATEN: Well, this is the type of attorney, like you said, that somebody would hire if they were a victim of a DUI accident, or the family here in
what`s going to be a wrongful death lawsuit against him. This is the attorney that you would hire to go after the suspect, after the person who
did it, or after their insurance company.
So the attorneys for the family are going to argue that he owes a special duty to the community, that he knows how dangerous it is to drink and
drive. And knowing this, he did it anyway, showing a depraved indifference to human life. That he knew what he should have done and disregarded it,
and therefore we should hold him to that higher standard.
MERCHANT: I agree on that. I agree that he should held to a higher standard, because he knew more than anybody what he was doing was wrong,
and he knew the repercussions and the possible outcomes.
But up next, Deborah Knewell found the man of her dreams. He treated her right. He showered her with attention, but soon enough it turned into a
nightmare. Deborah Knewell joins us live next.
[18:30:00] [18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Tonight, we are talking about the dreamy online date that turned into a real life nightmare, as the
woman who married a fraud opens up about just how he fooled her, how he tore her family apart, and how the relationship turned fatal.
Joining me now, Debra Newell, a victim of John Mehan, featured in the new "Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo," and defense attorney Troy Slaten. Thank you
both so much for being here.
Debra, I am so excited to get to talk to you about what happened. I read that you met John on "OurTime," a dating service. I guess it`s run by
Match.com but it`s for folks that are over 50. And that he just swept you off your feet. So, tell me how that happened. How did he sweep you off your
feet?
DEBRA NEWELL, VICTIM OF ONLINE PREDATOR: He said everything right. I believe that he had read my profile, and then he decided to be all those
things on that profile that I wanted.
MERCHANT: Yeah. I mean, it just sounds like he was manipulative and took advantage of you. I also read that he had just gotten out of prison. I
think two days, he`d been out for two days when he first met you. Was it when he met you or when he first put his profile up?
NEWELL: I believe he put his profile up the day that he got out.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: And I met him a couple -- or I was in contact with him a couple days later.
MERCHANT: OK. I was wondering that. I was wondering if he had this profile somehow in prison or if he waited until he got out. It`s just -- it`s
crazy. How long did it take before you sort of thought something was up with him?
NEWELL: Well, obviously there were red flags that I ignored.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: But I would -- but I would say probably in March, after about four months of marriage, I started to see some -- some pretty bad things.
MERCHANT: What really tipped you off first? What made you start to doubt this man that you had married and you trusted?
NEWELL: Well, we had cameras in our home. And he would tell me he was going to work. And I`d see him in his scrubs. And he was leaving. But then
he didn`t realize that having the cameras, I could also see. So I`d see him come back home. And so I questioned him, obviously. And he would say they
canceled, you know, the operation or whatever. So there was always an answer.
MERCHANT: So, Debra, at this point, you thought that he`s an anesthesiologist and that he`s leaving the home to go do this work as a
doctor. And these cameras showed that he came back into the home and was just hanging out all day?
NEWELL: Basically.
(LAUGHTER)
MERCHANT: Wow! Did he have a job at all?
NEWELL: Yeah.
MERCHANT: Did he have a job?
NEWELL: No, he did not.
MERCHANT: So, I mean, how did he get a paycheck? How did he make money? How did he support the family?
NEWELL: That`s still a question I have, but I`m going to say he was either selling drugs or stealing. I had a certain amount of cash. And I assume he
went through it and would take money from my safety deposit box.
MERCHANT: Oh, my god. So, you think he might have been selling drugs. Did you ever see any indication that he was using drugs while you were together
or that he might be selling drugs or anything like that?
NEWELL: Well, what I did see is he took a lot of medication for back pain. And so I assumed he needed it. I didn`t question him. But he had a lot of
opiate pain pills.
MERCHANT: Oh, OK. So you think maybe he was selling things like that and that was how he was paying the bills or making money?
NEWELL: I believe so. He went around to a lot of different doctors` offices. And he would get prescriptions. And he`d use different social
security cards from what I could see.
MERCHANT: Had he ever actually had a job or had a career or was he just always a scammer, selling drugs and stealing?
NEWELL: He had a job. I`m going to say in 2000.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: So it had been quite some time, 18 years. And I believe he had that job, I may be wrong, but for about a year and a half, two years total.
MERCHANT: OK. And I know that what sort of tipped you off to this initially was your daughter. And she did some investigation.
[18:40:00] NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: I want to take a listen to when Chris Cuomo asked you about your daughter and her resistance to this new boyfriend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Your daughters aren`t buying it?
NEWELL: No.
CUOMO: They have a real problem with him?
NEWELL: Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually stopped talking to my mom for a month or two because he kept on telling her that I only loved her for her money.
NEWELL: I said you just don`t know him. Just try to get to know him. You`ll find out that he`s a really nice guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: So when your daughters were telling you this, you still believed that he was a good guy, you still believed that he was a guy worthy of your
hand in marriage. What finally convinced you to listen to your daughter?
NEWELL: Well, I think because I fell in love, I didn`t want to listen to my daughters. But they -- because of the past, my daughters didn`t really
like anyone I dated or had a relationship with. So I thought, OK, within time they`re going to like him and everything will be OK. Obviously that
didn`t work. I just felt as though I had to listen to them eventually.
MERCHANT: Well, as harrowing as this story is, the terror of what happened to you, what you went through, is just the beginning.
NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: John drove a wedge right through you and your daughters, pitting them against each other, coming up next.
[18:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Mehan`s presence had completely changed the dynamic in the Newell family. Tara (ph) remembers a constant feeling of
dread.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had dreams of him a lot. I just -- I thought he could hurt people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Debra`s daughters decided to take action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: We`re still talking about the successful California designer and mother of four who found herself married to a fraud. Debra Newell`s
relationship with John Mehan started online. And it moved fast. But it ended with a fatality. And now, it`s a cautionary tale.
Back with me, Debra Newell. She was the victim of John Mehan, and is featured in the newest episode of "Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo." And
defense attorney Troy Slaten joins me from Los Angeles. Thank you both for being here.
Debra, I know we were talking a few minutes ago and what I`m curious about is what your daughters finally did to convince you that this man was a
fraud.
NEWELL: Well, they hired a private investigator, and they revealed who John was. There were a lot of papers showing that he had been in prison,
that he had stalked people, he had restraining orders, many, many, many papers, over 400.
MERCHANT: And ultimately you tried to get a restraining order against him, but the judge told you, you didn`t have any immediate danger and denied the
request.
NEWELL: Right.
MERCHANT: Why? Why did the judge deny that request?
NEWELL: Well, first of all, there was no mark on me.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: And so if you don`t have a mark on you, it`s harder to show that you`ve been hurt or that you`re going to be hurt.
MERCHANT: Right.
NEWELL: And there were no direct threats also.
MERCHANT: No direct threats. And so the stalking and all of the evidence of all the other things and the lies and manipulation, that wasn`t enough
for the protective order?
NEWELL: Not for me.
MERCHANT: OK. Well, I want to talk about how we can prevent this and what can happen to help this -- help folks in the future. I mean, this is an
online dating service. So, do they not do any background checks?
NEWELL: There is no background check at all.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: And I believe that that`s something that should be enforced or at least take it in our hands and have us do a background check.
MERCHANT: And -- but there`s a site, I think it`s called WomanSavers, that you have --
NEWELL: WomanSavers.
MERCHANT: WomanSavers. You`ve been on WomanSavers with Tanya (ph), who is the former wife of John Mehan.
NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: Let`s take a listen to you all talking about WomanSavers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWELL: There was a site called WomanSavers and they talked about him on the site, that he had literally taken fur coats from women, money from
women, stalking women, so on and so forth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would convince you to take nude photos. And then he does that very early in the relationship. And then if anything happens
after that, he`s got you.
[18:49:59] And he would use those photos as a weapon against you to get you to do things, give him money, continue to have sexual relationships
with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: Troy Slaten, criminal defense attorney, I want to talk to you about what people have to do to find this information out. Isn`t there
something else, like this WomanSavers group or, you know, you and I know how to use a private investigator. We know how to dig up dirt.
But the average citizen doesn`t know how to do that. So what can be done to help these people to find this information when they`re online dating?
TROY SLATEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, you have to have a little bit of the caveat emptor, which is buyer beware in Latin. If the
website isn`t going to be doing any type of background check, there`s a lot of things that people can do to protect themselves.
Aside from hiring a private investigator like you and I do in our practice all the time when we want to know something about a victim or a witness or
someone that we`re bringing into court, there are websites that are dedicated to doing background checks, just like employers use when they`re
screening a prospective employee.
There are websites where you can pay a nominal amount of money and with just a little bit of information get so much information back about
criminal records, traffic, credit, all the information is online. And it`s available to avoid what happened to this woman.
MERCHANT: And Debra, I want to ask you about that. So if you were going to a website like this, if there had been an option where you could click and
you could pay extra to do a background check, do you think that that would have helped avoid something as awful as this happening?
NEWELL: Most definitely.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: I wouldn`t have even clicked on his name.
(LAUGHTER)
MERCHANT: I mean, if that was available, let`s just say the website doesn`t do it on their own, but you at least have the opportunity to do
that or, you know, something that`s easy that you can click on to get a background check, that could help people know about things like this. Is
this website called WomanSavers, is that doing this? Is that helping people?
NEWELL: No. That was just to show who John was and all the women that had reported him. There are many other websites that would look up his record
and so on.
MERCHANT: And -- but if those had been available, and you had known about those, was that something that you think you could have -- that you would
have known to use to help avoid something like this?
NEWELL: I should have. I didn`t. I didn`t even think about it at the time. Obviously in the future I will.
MERCHANT: Right. Well, and obviously there`s nothing you can do to avoid becoming a victim to him. I`m just trying to think, you know, to help other
people because I know that was your motivation in starting this, to help other folks not go through this.
NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: This has a very tragic ending. If you want to see the rest of the story, Sunday, July 1st, it`s going to be 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific
time. You can watch "Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo" and hear all of the details of this. Hear more from Debra and hear the tragic ending to this
case.
An aspiring rapper takes his act on the road or should we say the freeway? One more thing, up next.
[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MERCHANT: When this week`s CNN hero learned kids in his community were sleeping on the floor, he went from businessman to bedmaker. He is now
helping thousands of children across America. Meet Luke Mickelson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE MICKELSON, CNN HERO: Mattress and sheets. I`m just a farm kid from Idaho. I grew up here. What I didn`t know was there`s kids next door who
are struggling. They had kids sleeping on the floor. I was making a six- figure salary, but I fell into this need that I discovered wasn`t being filled by anybody.
I quit my job because I wanted to do this full-time. The need I have isn`t financial. The need I have is seeing the joy on kids` faces, knowing that,
you know, I can make a difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: That`s awesome. I love hearing that. Go to CNN Heroes to watch the full story or nominate someone you think could be a CNN hero.
One more thing tonight, an aspiring rapper, who calls himself Dephree, took center stage on a Los Angeles freeway sign the other morning. But it gets
stranger than that. He was dressed only in his underwear, displaying three banners and ranting through a megaphone about god, love and the
environment. He ended up shutting down traffic.
[18:59:58] After a while police moved in and he did a back flip off the sign onto a big air mattress. The L.A. Times reports the man`s name is
Alexander Dunn. He reportedly was booked for delaying an officer, trespassing, and failure to obey a sign.
The next hour of CRIME & JUSTICE starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrible shooting incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did this individual show up with a shotgun?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are five fatalities that we know of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seemingly a specific area of the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigation has just started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Launched this devastating attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a body in the corner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are charged with driving under the influence with manslaughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Miami Lakes lawyer accused of hitting and killing a woman, then leaving the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It going to be very difficult for me to do that from home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it`s going to be very difficult for you to do that from jail as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think John lied about almost everything. I find that he was definitely in prison. Not just once, but twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had been sent to prison in Michigan in 2002 for drug theft. Since then, most of his crimes centered around women.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MERCHANT: Good evening. I`m Ashleigh merchant, filling in for Ashleigh Banfield.
Breaking news tonight, an active shooter opens fire at a Maryland newspaper. Law enforcement saying a shotgun was used. And there are
multiple fatalities and wounded.
Joining me now, CNN correspondent Rene Marsh, Washington, D.C. freelance reporter Chuck Harrell, HLN producer Justin Freiman, and former NYPD
detective Tom Verni and defense attorney Troy Slaten.
I want to start with some breaking news. I understand that we have an update. Justin, do you have an update for us?
FREIMAN (on the phone): Yes. We are starting to learn a little more about the shooter who they say walked into the "Capital Gazette" newspaper,
opened fire and killing at least five people, injuring others.
We are hearing that it is a white adult male who had a long gun. He didn`t have ID on him. But he is being questioned. And we are hearing that
officials do have his ID. They know who he is, but they are not saying who he is. And we are also hearing he`s not necessarily being that
cooperative.
We have also learned a lot more about his capture. We are hearing that when police went in there was no gunfire exchanged between the shooter and
the police and that he was actually hiding under a desk. And that long gun was on the floor.
MERCHANT: But he was in -- actually in the newsroom when he was captured, hiding under a desk in the newsroom?
FREIMAN: Well, they are saying he was in the building. They won`t confirm what room he was in, but they are saying he was under a desk when police
went in there.
MERCHANT: OK.
And I know Rene Marsh, can you tell me a little bit more about this building, about what all was there? Because it wasn`t just a newspaper,
right. THERE were other people and other businesses in this building?
MARSH (on the phone): Right. So that`s my understanding in speaking with witnesses that inside the office building where this newsroom was located.
There were other offices, like doctor`s offices, things of that sort.
So we spoke with about four witnesses, two of which were inside of a doctor`s office. And from the doctor`s office they heard the gunshots.
They told us that they heard three gunshots. The nurses then barricaded themselves in the office. That is when they started to see law enforcement
swoop in. They then described being told to come out of the building with their hands up. One lady told us that she walked by a woman who was on the
ground. She wasn`t sure if that woman was alive or perhaps she was hurt. And that`s why she was on the ground. It was unclear of that woman`s
position.
But I can tell you all of the witnesses that I spoke to, they were extremely, and understandably so, just extremely shaken up. One woman`s
hands were still trembling as she was kind of rehashing exactly what she had gone through.
Again, they are hearing these three gunshots. Because they were not in the newsroom, they did not see the shooter. They only heard the sounds. One
man saying he heard shattered glass. And the next thing he saw was law enforcement, relatively quickly, swooping in and then escorting everybody
out, told to get their hands up. So that`s what we have here. As far as the actual individuals who were in the newsroom, we are told that they are
being interviewed by police.
MERCHANT: OK. And I think we have got some footage of one of the witnesses who actually saw one of the folks that was injured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see anyone get hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did. I did. I looked around the corner a second time and I saw a young woman who looked like she`d been hurt. She was on
the ground.
[19:05:06] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Injured?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there was a bunch of blood on the floor, so I assume so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the shooter get shot, or did you just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I saw him move across the entrance of the office, and that was it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: Now, Rene, you are close by, but you are in a spot where the victims can reunify. Is that something that they have got set up and we
have got a lot of people coming in and out and tried to find loved ones?
MARSH: So what they have done is turned a section of the mall here into an area where people can come and find loved ones if they are having a tough
time locating them. I had my producer in there just a short time ago while we were out here going live. And she says at this hour she doesn`t see
much activity. But I can tell you earlier people, witnesses, this is one of the first places that they were brought if they were not inside the
newsroom, but they were in the building, they were brought here to this reunification center. But like I said, the people who were in the heart of
this, at the newsroom, inside the newsroom, those people were told are with law enforcement and so likely they are reuniting with their family members
there.
MERCHANT: OK. And I think we have some sound also from the police chief that they have got a suspect in custody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL KRAMPF, ACTING CHIEF, ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY POLICE: Our criminal investigation division has one person in custody. That person is at our
criminal investigation division down in Crownsville. And we will be speaking with that individual quite frequently -- well, shortly I should
say, and get the information.
The building is secure from a tactical standpoint. That means that right now we believe that there are no other shooters in the building. But it is
not -- it has not been cleared from an investigative standpoint. So once the QRT and the members of the SWAT team leave the building, the
investigators will go in. And then we will start the process of putting the investigation together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: And I understand we have some breaking news. We`ve got CRIME & JUSTICE producer Justin Freiman. Do you have an update for us?
FREIMAN: Yes, I do. We are actually learning that how they were able to ID this suspect. They are saying -- we have law enforcement sources saying
the suspect`s fingerprints appear to have been altered, which makes it extremely difficult to identify him. What they ended up using was facial
recognition software. And that`s how they got the ID. Because we already knew that he wasn`t actually carrying any sort of ID when he was captured
under that desk.
MERCHANT: Wow. OK. So we know that he has got altered fingerprints. And it sounds like we believe it was a shotgun, definitely a long gun. Do we
know anything else about him?
FREIMAN: We don`t except for that he is a white male. And that you know, there`s no motive as of now. So we don`t know if he was targeting
something from the paper that they had been reporting, if he was targeting somebody who works at the paper, or possibly even in another business in
that building. We just don`t have the answers yet. He is currently being interrogated, but we`re just not certain he is being very cooperative.
MERCHANT: OK.
I want to talk to Tom Verni, a former NYPD detective, law enforcement consultant.
Tom, what does this tell us when you have got a suspect who altered his fingerprints, you have got a suspect it sounds like used a shotgun, what is
law enforcement doing at this stage?
VERNI: Good evening. And my condolences to those who are family and friends of this -- of the victims in this horrific tragedy.
Yes, this guy clearly put some thought into this from what we have been able to extrapolate so far based on what we know, right. So, he-- you
know, altering your fingerprints, right off the bat, is something that you have to kind of put some thought into doing that before you commit a crime
to try to be able to get away with that crime. As it is, we`re hearing, by the reports I`ve read and heard, that he attempted to evade police
initially when they confronted him in the building, although no gunfire was exchanged, to my knowledge. But he was hiding under a desk from what we`ve
been told. And attempted to evade them. But luckily this came to a peaceful end with no one else getting hurt. And the building being cleared
of any other shooters or any devices.
MERCHANT: I understand, though, that we have heard from acting Chief Bill Krampf, he is the acting chief of the Arundel County police, that there
were five fatalities so far, five fatalities that are confirmed. I think we have got sound from the acting chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. RYAN FRASHURE, ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY POLICE: We can confirm that five have been -- are deceased. And we are still working on injuries for you
guys to get a good number. So we`re working on that. But it`s estimated around three.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
FRASHURE: I don`t know how many were in the newsroom, but I know we have approximately 170 that we were able to safely evacuate out of that building
and transport safely over to meet with family and friends over the Annapolis mall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:10:11] MERCHANT: Troy Slaten, criminal defense attorney, you get a call from someone like this. What can you -- what do you tell your client
to do at this point?
SLATEN: You tell him to not talk to anybody and to invoke his right to remain silent.
Look, this is absolutely horrific. And my heart bleeds for all the victims. But as far as from a defense perspective, he needs to be analyzed
from a psychological perspective. This is not something that somebody who has all of their faculties together does. So that doesn`t mean that he
necessarily meets the level of insane, but that`s obviously one thing to look at as well as what happened, what was it that brought him to this
point?
MERCHANT: I can`t even imagine getting a call like that.
Chuck Carroll, you are a freelance reporter in Washington, D.C. That`s right next door to where this newspaper is. I want to learn a little bit
more about this paper and about what type of paper it was.
CARROLL (on the phone): This is a local paper. This is not "the Washington Post." To give you an idea of just how localized the "Capital
Gazette" in Annapolis, the lead story on the "Washington Post" on Monday was about immigrant children being separated from parents at the border.
On the top of the Gazette homepage, it was about a choir from a local community college that is now offering a class teaching students how to
sing the national anthem.
And to give you an idea of just how the roots also (INAUDIBLE), the naval academy which is nearby in Annapolis tweeted its condolences, following the
(INAUDIBLE) condemning the shooting, and said with gratitude that the paper is often the first to tell its stories. And Governor Hogan even recently
just called it his hometown paper. This is a very local, community paper with deep ties to the Annapolis area.
MERCHANT: That just breaks my heart because, you know, that local paper like that, that is the link to the community. I mean, that`s just
something that ties a community together. So knowing that it`s a local, hometown paper, I`m sure the community is just shaken up.
Thank you so much for being with us.
He is charged with vehicular homicide after a hit and run. But a Miami personal injury attorney finds himself in a courtroom as a defendant
staring at a possible lifetime behind bars. Will surveillance video be the key to the potential conviction? That`s next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:35] MERCHANT: There`s no good kind of hit and run. But it`s especially bad if the driver is a personal injury lawyer. Miami-based
attorney Marcos Gonzales Balboa is accused of killing a young woman who was just crossing the street.
And tonight, we have incriminating new video that could help put him behind bars for life. Because prosecutors say it proves he was drunk just minutes
before killing 26-year-old Tatum Holloway. Police were able to track him down, thanks to his busted up bumper. And now he is in court as the
defendant. Because prosecutors say he didn`t just try to get away from the crime, he tried to get away with the crime.
Joining me now, David Ovalle, a reporter with the "Miami herald," David Bianchi, an attorney for the family of the victim in this case and defense
attorney Troy Slaten.
Thank you all for being here tonight.
I want to start with you, David. Can you tell us, you are a reporter for the "Miami Herald," can you tell us a little bit about what impact this has
had on the community? I mean, this is an attorney. This is supposed to be a pillar of the community who took a girl`s life and then didn`t take
responsibility for it and then went and hid and tried to cover it up. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
OVALLE: Well, it really is a story that is all too common and all too tragic in Miami. Miami is one of the epicenters of hit-and-run accidents,
of traffic fatalities. And it`s just one of many that happened in any given year. And particularly in this city, it`s actually the city I live
in, called Miami Lakes, it is a suburban, very family-oriented town.
And this case was unsolved for a while. And so the fact that a young woman, who was visiting from out of town and was just hit on the side of
the road. And the only reason that a passer-by happened to see what happened, because it was the middle of the night, was that the French fries
she had gotten from the nearby McDonald`s just littered the entire road. And so, that`s what, you know, got the passerby to see it. And you know,
unfortunately, it was too late. But no, it`s an outrageous story and one that a lot of people have really paid attention to.
MERCHANT: It`s just mind boggling that this lawyer, this person, who is part of this community, just went off like nothing had happened and tried
to hide it. Was he well-known in the community? What was his reputation?
[19:20:03] OVALLE: Well, he wasn`t well-known throughout all of south Florida. He wasn`t someone that was -- you know, had billboards around
town. But he was someone that was pretty well respected, had a good, clean record and in the Miami lakes area was someone that was well-known. That
was the area which he worked.
But yes, you know, there`s a lot of lawyers in town. And I think that it was pretty shocking to see, you know, a member of the Florida bar appearing
in court charged with vehicular manslaughter.
MERCHANT: Yes. I mean, it boggles my mind. I want to talk to David Bianchi. He is the attorney for Tatum`s family.
David, are you with us?
BIANCHI (on the phone): Yes, I am.
MERCHANT: Thank you so much for being here. Is it -- you are in the same legal community as the defendant in this case. Did you all know each
other?
BIANCHI: Well, not only are we in the same community geographically, and have -- represent families in cases like this, but it turns out we took the
bar exam on the exact same time and the exact same room. And I am disgusted by this guy. I think it`s outrageous what he did because he
didn`t just kill Tatum Holloway, but he then took his car early the next morning up the coast of Florida to essentially a shop that would replace
his windshield. He claimed that a coconut had fallen on his windshield. That was why it was broken. And he got the shop to put in a new
windshield.
And to their credit, they called the police. And the police then went to this guy`s house because they had a part from his Mercedes after he killed
her, and they matched the part to his car. And that was the dispositive proof that he was the one who did it. And then we found out that he had
been drinking at a bar in Coral Gables and had paid for at least 20 drinks and somehow managed to drive himself from Coral Gables to where he killed
Tatum Holloway. This is just -- it`s always bad when there`s a hit and run with a fatality, always. But it`s disgusting that it was a lawyer who did
it. And that it`s a lawyer who tried to hide the evidence to get away with it. That`s what`s really disgusting. He will never practice law again in
the state of Florida, never.
MERCHANT: Well, I was going to ask you about that. I was going to ask if there had been any bar repercussions yet, if there was a hearing, or if
they`re going to wait until the criminal case is resolved.
BIANCHI: Well, yes, the bar will disbar him. The Florida bar, the Florida Supreme Court will disbar him. There`s no question about that. He will
never practice law again. And it`s a black mark on the entire legal profession to have a fellow lawyer not just drunk driving and kill
somebody, but try to cover it up by hiding the evidence. That`s what`s so disgusting.
MERCHANT: Right. Well, I read that Tatum is actually from Australia and was here visiting. She was on vacation. How is the family doing after all
of this?
BIANCHI: Well, actually she`s from South Africa, not Australia. And the family is devastated by this. I can tell you that in nearly 40 years of
practicing law, this is one of the finest families I have ever represented. Mr. Holloway is the head of a school in South Africa. And the family who
knew that you were going to be doing this program tonight said to me, please let people know that we want justice, but we want justice tempered
with forgiveness. And that`s the kind of people that they are.
MERCHANT: Wow.
BIANCHI: They are -- they are wonderful people. Tatum was an angel. And this is one of the finest families I`ve ever represented.
MERCHANT: Hearing that gives me goose bumps, knowing that they want it tempered with justice. That`s amazing.
Have you been able to serve this lawsuit? I heard we may have some problems with the service and that maybe this fine, upstanding lawyer is
evading service. Have you been able to serve him?
BIANCHI: Well, we have filed the lawsuit against him. And when you file a lawsuit, you have to have a process server or a sheriff personally hand the
papers to the person you are suing. Now, in this case the defendant is hiding in his house with all of his hurricane shutters closed around the
windows and a sign posted on the front door that says "private property, no trespassing." So our process server was actually afraid to go to his front
door for fear that something could happen to him. So we have begun a process under Florida law to get him served without actually having to hand
him the papers. So we are going to get him served one way or the other.
MERCHANT: But this man, who knows the law, it sounds like he`s using the law to try and hide and evade service and make it harder on this family
that he`s already victimized.
[19:25:06] BIANCHI: I think that`s exactly right, yes.
MERCHANT: That`s a shame. I want to bring in Troy Slaten. Are you with me, Troy?
SLATEN: I`m here, Ashleigh, thanks for having me.
MERCHANT: Hey, Troy, yes, thanks for coming, thanks for being on.
I want to listen to Mr. Gonzales Balboa on his bond hearing. He actually talks -- I want to listen to it and I want to chat with you a little bit
about what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE VICTORIA SIGLER, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COURT: You are charged with driving under the influence with manslaughter.
MIGUEL DEL AGUILA, ATTORNEY FOR GONZALEZ-BALBOA: I do think the bond is a little bit high. I think a bond with 50,000 with home detention is more
than reasonable to assure his presence in the community.
SIGLER: OK. I was just checking the back of the courtroom to make sure we didn`t have the -- have it your way sign up today. It`s not that one like
Burger King.
MARCOS GONZALEZ-BALBOA, DEFENDANT: I need to be able to wind down my practice so I can concentrate on this matter. My clients -- it`s going to
be very difficult for me to do that from home.
SIGLER: And it`s going to be very difficult for you to do that from jail as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: Troy, I know I cringe when I hear that. Because if I was in court with him, he just doesn`t sound like he has any remorse. How would
you defend someone like that?
SLATEN: Well, look, first of all, my heart goes out to the family of this beautiful young girl whose life has been cut short. But look, as an
attorney, you want to try and get your client out of custody so that way he can help defend the case. Here he`s lucky, he`s out on $75,000 bond and
electronic home monitoring so he can assist in his defense. And there are a lot of defenses to this DUI/manslaughter case because this wasn`t a
traditional DUI arrest. There`s no field sobriety test. There`s no forensic chemical test.
MERCHANT: Yes. But I mean, this guy, he fled the scene, he is on camera, clearly intoxicated, flees the scene, doesn`t even stop, goes home and then
later on tries to cover it up by driving to some shop and getting his car fixed so that maybe people wouldn`t know he had done this. I mean, what
are you going to do when that information is in front of the jury?
SLATEN: So look, at first, I`m going to try and work out the best possible deal that I can for my client and try and bring all the mitigating factors
to bear. There are some aggravating factors in that over the last 20 years he has had 22 tickets, and two dui cases dismissed. So those are not --
those would not work in our favor.
But there could be mitigating factors. And that maybe he didn`t drink all these 19 drinks that he bought. Maybe there were other people that he was
buying drinks for. Maybe he has some sort of medical condition that caused him to have an unsteady gait. Maybe he didn`t know he hit this woman.
Maybe she contributed to the accident. And I don`t mean to shame the victim here. Maybe she contributed to the accident by walking into a
drive-through and walking into the middle of the street where there wasn`t a crosswalk.
MERCHANT: I have a hard time thinking she could possibly have contributed to this accident. And his behavior after when he just tried to hide and he
didn`t stand up for it, it`s just disgusting. But I want to talk to you for a minute about his Web site. I went on his Web site earlier today.
SLATEN: So did I.
MERCHANT: And when I read it, it said our firm represents people in all types of motor vehicle accidents. And we help them to receive justice that
they deserve for pain and suffering. What do you think about that, and what do you think is justice for him?
SLATEN: Well, this is the type of attorney, like you said, that somebody would hire if they were a victim of a DUI accident, or the family here in
what`s going to be a wrongful death lawsuit against him. This is the attorney that you would hire to go after the suspect, after the person who
did it, or after their insurance company.
So the attorneys for the family are going to argue that he owes a special duty to the community, that he knows how dangerous it is to drink and
drive. And knowing this, he did it anyway, showing a depraved indifference to human life. That he knew what he should have done and disregarded it,
and therefore we should hold him to that higher standard.
MERCHANT: I agree on that. I agree he should be held to a higher standard because he knew more than anybody what he was doing was wrong, and he knew
the repercussions and the possible outcomes.
But up next, Debra Newell found the man of her dreams. He treated her right. He showered her with attention. But soon enough it turned into a
nightmare. Debra Newell joins us live next.
[19:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:34:57] DEBRA NEWELL, VICTIM OF ONLINE PREDATOR: I think John lied about almost everything. I find that he was definitely in prison, not just
once, but twice.
CHRIS CUOMO, HLN HOST: He had been sent to prison in Michigan in 2002 for drug theft. Since then, most of his crimes centered around women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Tonight, we are talking about the dreamy online date that turned into a real-life nightmare as the woman who
married a fraud opens up about just how he fooled her. How he tore her family apart and how the relationship turned fatal.
Joining me now, Debra Newell, a victim of John Meehan, featured in the new "INSIDE EVIL WITH CHRIS CUOMO," and defense attorney Troy Slaten. Thank
you both so much for being here. Debra, I am so excited to get to talk to you about what happened. I read that you met John on OurTime, and that`s a
dating service, I guess it`s run by match.com but it`s for folks that are over 50, and that he just swept you off your feet. So, tell me how that
happened. How did he sweep you off your feet?
NEWELL: He said everything right. I believe that he had read my profile, and then he decided to be all those things on that profile that I wanted.
MERCHANT: Yes. Well -- and I mean, it just sounds like he was manipulative and took advantage of you. I also read that he had just
gotten out of prison, I think two days, he`d been out for two days when he first met you. Was it when he met you or when he first put his profile up?
NEWELL: I believe he put his profile up the day that he got out.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: And I met him a couple -- or I was in contact with him a couple days later.
MERCHANT: OK. I was wondering that, I was wondering if he had this profile somehow in prison or if he waited until he got out. It`s just --
it`s crazy. How long did it take before you sort of thought something was up with him?
NEWELL: Well, obviously there were red flags that I ignored.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: But I would -- but I would say probably in March, after about four months of marriage, I started to see some pretty bad things.
MERCHANT: What really tipped you off first? What made you start to doubt this man that you had married and that you trusted?
NEWELL: Well, we had cameras in our home. And he would tell me he was going to work, and I`d see him in his scrubs, and he was leaving, but then
he didn`t realize that having the cameras, I could also see. So, I`d see him come back home. And so, I questioned him, obviously, and he would say
they cancelled, you know, the operation or whatever. So, there was always an answer.
MERCHANT: So, Debra, at this point you thought that he`s an anesthesiologist, and that he`s leaving the home to go do this work as a
doctor. And these cameras showed that he came back into the home and was just hanging out all day?
NEWELL: Basically.
MERCHANT: Wow. Did he have a job at all?
NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: Did he have a job? It`s just (INAUDIBLE)
NEWELL: No. He did not.
MERCHANT: So, I mean, how did he get a paycheck? How did he make money? How did he support the family?
NEWELL: That`s still a question I have, but I`m going to say he was either selling drugs or stealing. I had a certain amount of cash, and I assume he
went through it and would take money from my safety deposit box.
MERCHANT: Oh, my god. So, you think he might have been selling drugs. Did you ever see any indication that he was using drugs while you were
together or that he might be selling drugs or anything like that?
NEWELL: Well, what I did see is he took a lot of medication for back pain. And so I assumed he needed it. I didn`t question him. But he had a lot of
opiate -- pain pills.
MERCHANT: Oh, OK. And so you think maybe he was selling things like that, and that was -- that was how he was paying the bills or making money?
NEWELL: I believe so. He went around to a lot of different doctor`s offices and he would get prescriptions, and he`d use different social
security cards from what I could see.
MERCHANT: Had he ever actually had a job or had a career, or was he just always a scammer, selling drugs and stealing?
NEWELL: He had a job, I`m going to say in 2000.
MERCHANT: OK.
NEWELL: So, it had been quite some time, 18 years. And I believe he had that job, I may be wrong, but for about a year and a half, two years total.
MERCHANT: OK. And I know that what sort of tipped you off to this initially was your daughter. And she did some investigation.
[19:40:05] NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: I want to take a listen to when Chris Cuomo asks you about your daughter and her resistance to this new boyfriend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Your daughters aren`t buying it?
NEWELL: No.
CUOMO: They have a real problem with him?
NEWELL: Yes, yes.
TERRA NEWELL, DEBRA NEWELL`S DAUGHTER: I actually stopped talking to my mom for a month or two because he kept on telling her that I only loved her
for her money.
NEWELL: I said you just don`t know him. Just try to get to know him. You`ll find out that he is a really nice guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: So, when your daughters were telling you this, you still believed that he was a good guy. You still believed that he was a guy
worthy of your hand in marriage. What finally convinced you to listen to your daughter?
NEWELL: Well, I think because I fell in love I didn`t want to listen to my daughters. But they -- because of the past, my daughters didn`t really
like anyone I dated or had a relationship with. So, I thought, OK, within time they`re going to like him, and everything will be OK. Obviously, that
didn`t work. I just felt as though I had to listen to them eventually.
MERCHANT: Well, as harrowing as this story is, the terror of what happened to you, what you went through, is just the beginning.
NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: John drove a wedge right through you and your daughters, pitting them against each other. Coming up next.
[19:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: John Meehan`s presence had completely changed the dynamic in the Newell family. Terra remembers a constant feeling of dread.
T. NEWELL: I had dreams of him a lot. I just -- I thought he could hurt people.
CUOMO: Debra`s daughters decided to take action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCHANT: We`re still talking about the successful California designer and mother of four who found herself married to a fraud. Debra Newell`s
relationship with John Meehan started online. And it moved fast, but it ended with a fatality. And now, it`s a cautionary tale. Back with me,
Debra Newell, she was the victim of John Meehan, and is featured in the newest episode of "INSIDE EVIL WITH CHRIS CUOMO," and Defense Attorney Troy
Slaten joins me from Los Angeles. Thank you both for being here.
Debra, I know we were talking a few minutes ago, and what I`m really curious about is what your daughters finally did to convince you that this
man was a fraud.
D. NEWELL: Well, they hired a private investigator, and they revealed who John was. There were a lot of papers showing that he had been in prison,
that he had stalked people, he had restraining orders, many, many, many papers, over 400.
MERCHANT: And ultimately, you tried to get a restraining order against him, but the judge told you, you didn`t have any immediate danger and
denied the request.
D. NEWLL: Right. Right.
MERCHANT: Why? Why did the judge deny that request?
D. NEWELL: Well, first of all, there was no mark on me.
MERCHANT: OK.
D. NEWELL: And so, if you don`t have a mark on you, it`s harder to show that you`ve been hurt or that you`re going to be hurt.
MERCHANT: Right.
D. NEWELL: And there were no direct threats also.
MERCHANT: No direct threats. And so, the stalking and all of the evidence of all the other things and the lies and the manipulation, that wasn`t
enough for the protective order?
D. NEWELL: Not for me.
MERCHANT: OK. Well, I want to talk about how we can prevent this, and what can happen to help this -- help folks in the future. I mean, this is
an online dating service. So, do they not do any background checks?
D. NEWELL: There is no background check at all.
MERCHANT: OK.
D. NEWELL: And I believe that that`s something that should be enforced, or at least take it in our hands and have us do a background check.
MERCHANT: And -- but there`s a site, I think it`s called WomanSavers that you have --
D. NEWELL: WomanSavers.
MERCHANT: WomanSavers. You`ve been on WomanSavers with Tanya (ph), who is the former wife of John Meehan.
D. NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: Let`s take a listen to you all talking about WomanSavers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. NEWELL: There was a site called WomanSavers and they talked about him on the site. That he had literally taken fur coats from women, money from
women, stalking women, so on and so forth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would convince you to take nude photos. And then, he does that very early in the relationship and then if anything happens
after that, he`s got you. And he would use those photos as a weapon against you to get you to do things, give him money, continue to have
sexual relationships with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:50:17] MERCHANT: Troy Slaten, Criminal Defense Attorney, I want to talk to you about what people have to do to find this information out. And
isn`t there something else like this WomenSaver`s group, or, you know, you and I know how to use a private investigator. We know how to dig up dirt.
But the average citizen doesn`t know how to do that. So, what can be done to help these people to find this information when they`re online dating?
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, you have to have a little bit of the caveat emptor, which is buyer beware in Latin. If the website
isn`t going to be doing any type of background check, there`s a lot of things that people can do to protect themselves. Aside from hiring a
private investigator like you and I do in our practice all the time when we want to know something about a victim or a witness, or someone that we`re
bringing into court, there are websites that are dedicated to doing background checks. Just like employers use when they`re screening a
perspective employee, there are websites where you can pay a nominal amount of money. And with just a little bit of information, get so much
information back about criminal records, traffic, credit, all the information is online and it`s available to avoid what happened to this
woman.
MERCHANT: And Debra, I want to ask you about that. So, if you were going to a website like this, if there had been an option where you could click
and you could pay extra to do a background check, do you think that that would have helped avoid something as awful as this happening?
D. NEWELL: Most definitely.
MERCHANT: OK.
D. NEWELL: I wouldn`t have even clicked on his name.
MERCHANT: I mean, if that was available -- let`s just say the website doesn`t do that on their own, but you at least have the opportunity to do
that, or, you know, something that`s easy and that you can click on to get a background check, that could help people know about things like this. Is
this website called WomanSavers, is that doing this, is that helping people?
D. NEWELL: No, that was just to show who John was and all the women that had reported him. There are many other websites that would look up his
record and so on.
MERCHANT: OK. And -- but if those had been available and you`d known about those, was that something that you think you could have -- that you
would have known to use to help avoid something like this?
D. NEWELL: I should have.
MERCHANT: OK.
D. NEWELL: I didn`t. I didn`t even think about it at the time. Obviously, in the future, I will.
MERCHANT: Right. Well -- and obviously there is nothing you can do to avoid becoming a victim to him. I`m just trying to think, you know, to
help other people because I know that was your motivation in starting this, to help other folks not go through this.
D. NEWELL: Yes.
MERCHANT: And this has a very tragic ending. If you want to see the rest of the story, Sunday, July 1st, it`s going to be 8:00 P.M. Eastern and
Pacific Time. You can watch "INSIDE EVIL WITH CHRIS CUOMO" and hear all of the details of this, hear more from Debra and hear the tragic ending to
this case.
An aspiring rapper takes his act on the road or should we say the freeway? "ONE MORE THING" up next.
[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MERCHANT: When this week`s CNN Hero learned that kids in his close-knit community were sleeping on the floor, he went from businessman to bed
maker. And what started as a single good deed, helping one family in Idaho, soon spread to helping 3,000 children across America get a good
night`s sleep. Meet Luke Mickelson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE MICKELSON, CNN HERO: I`m just a farm kid from Idaho. I grew up here. What I didn`t know was there is kids next door who are struggling, that
kids sleeping on the floor. I was making six-figure salary, but I fell into this need that I discovered wasn`t being fulfilled by anybody. I quit
my job because I wanted to do this full-time. The need I have isn`t financial. The need I have is seeing the joy on kids` faces, knowing that,
you know, I can make a difference.
MERCHANT: Go to CNN Heroes to watch the full story or nominate someone you think should be a CNN Hero.
"ONE MORE THING" tonight, a scene from the movie "La La Land," it was not. An aspiring rapper who goes by the name Dephree, climbed a freeway sign in
Downtown Los Angeles. He was dressed only in his underwear, displaying three banners and ranting through a megaphone about God, love, and the
environment. Police moved in and Dephree did a back flip off the sign on to a big air mattress. The L.A. Times reports the man`s name is actually
Alexander Dunn. He reportedly was booked for delaying an officer, trespassing and failure to obey a sign.
We`ll see you back here Monday night at 6:00 Eastern. Thanks for watching. "FORENSIC FILES" begins right now.
