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Girl, 15, to Testify Against St. Paul Boy Accused of Rape; FDA Approves Drug to Boost Female Sex Drive; Authorities Investigating 2nd Plague Case in Yosemite. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 19, 2015 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[11:31:42] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just in on the Jared Fogle case, the Subway pitchman pleaded guilty to child porn charges. His wife released a statement through her lawyer saying, quote, "Obviously, I'm extremely shocked and disappointed by the recent developments involving Jared. I'm in the process of seeking a dissolution of the marriage. My focus is exclusively on the well being of my children. Neither I nor my family will have any further comment on the matter. I appreciate respect for my family's privacy during this difficult time."

New this morning, a 15-year-old student at the prestigious St. Paul's prep school in New Hampshire faces her alleged attacker in court. She accuses 19-year-old Owen Labrie of raping her as part of a decades-old tradition called the Senior Salute, where senior boys compete to have sex as many younger students as possible. He's pleaded not guilty. He said their encounter involved kissing and hugging and no sex.

And listen to what lawyers for both sides are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE RUFFLE, ATTORNEY: He did this in violation to the duty that he owed her and that he committed that act purposely.

J.W. CARNEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It was a source of pride for girls at the school to be asked to participate with a senior in a Senior Salute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In a statement, the school's director said, "Current allegations about our culture are not emblematic of our school, our values, our rules, or the people who represent our student body, alumni, faculty, and staff."

I want to bring in former prosecutor, Wendy Murphy.

Wendy, there's two issues here. Was there a rape, what there a rape that took place, and what was going on with this tradition, the Senior Salute, the idea where upper classmen, seniors, try to sleep with freshmen girls as possible? Does the tradition really matter when it comes to legal aspects of the rape case? WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: It's an interesting question in

terms of what the jury might think, but I think there's no doubt when the culture incentivizes the behavior and a guy clearly acts on it. I mean there's an awful lot in writing and he says he's going to slay as many victims as he can. You know, it's pretty hard to accept the defense claim that his reference to Senior Salute is irrelevant or doesn't mean he actually had sex with her. They're relevant. It creates the context and the jury should absolutely consider it. He says they kissed and hugged. You know, a 15-year-old can lie down naked and say have at me and the obligation of the adult is I can't, no, that's against the law. That did not happen. For your the defense to say she consented to kissing and hugging, maybe she did, but how kid his DNA end up in her underpants and she had a genital injury.

BERMAN: He says they did not have intercourse. But there's text messages between the victim and the defendant. Let me read them to you. The victim writes, "Did you use a condom?" He says, "Are you on the pill? I think you're OK. I put it on halfway through."

[11:35:25] MURPHY: Yeah.

BERMAN: There it is, in his own words.

MURPHY: Right.

BERMAN: Does that suggest to you they did have intercourse?

MURPHY: Yeah. John, among the many pieces of evidence establishing his connection, his admission that there was sexual penetration, why else would you put on a condom and ask about birth control unless you did the act. This is not a defendable case because of her age. A lot of people have said, I like you and I enjoyed it and I want to hook up. She also said, "I'm a kid and I thought what he was asking me do was kissing, making out heavily even. When he went on to bite me on the breast and rape me, and when there was sex involved, I said, what are you doing." The notion that somehow she could consent or did consent to me is absurd in this case, absolutely absurd.

BERMAN: Wendy Murphy, thanks so much for your insight. Appreciate it.

MURPHY: You're welcome.

BERMAN: The hunt for an alleged killer. The police say the suspect did not act alone in the deadly Bangkok attack. Can they track down the man you have seen in the video, the man wearing a yellow shirt?

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[11:40:24] BERMAN: New information this morning. The suspect believed to have carried out the deadly bombing in Bangkok, a taxi driver says he may have ridden in his cab and handed him a note with the name of a park in English in the Thai capital. He described the suspect as having a long chin, white pale face, and talking on the phone in unfamiliar language. Thai police say they're also looking for accomplices of the suspect. They say he did not act alone. 20 people were killed in the act.

I want to bring in CNN's global affairs analyst, Bobby Ghosh; and CNN's counterterrorism analyst, Phil Mudd.

Phil, I want to talk about the investigation, first of all. The investigator saying it seemed like a white guy speaking a different language. What does that tell you?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I've got be clear, John. Seems like? We've got to be clear between what we speculate and what we know. I think the police are under a lot of progress and are make speculation but they of the pieces. This was, in fact, the bomber, that he had two accomplices, that the tacky driver picked him up. I'm not sure any one of these is a fact. Until we figure it out, we're still in the pretty early stages here with the police department that's on pretty thin ice.

BERMAN: And, Bobby, you think there's political pressure in a certain way to make it seem like this guy may be not from Thailand.

BOB GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Political affair -- not necessarily political pressure as much as cultural. You don't want this to be one of your own, right? Particularly in a country where you use terrorism. It's not easy to wrap your head around that somebody from the community did this. It's easy to reject this and say it's outsiders. I'm with Phil. The idea that we had a taxi driver saying the guy gave me a note in English but was speaking on the phone not in English. I think once the police brings up real clues or we hear from this guy or he's arrested, I have a feeling we'll find out that some of these are red hearings.

BERMAN: One of the things we were told by investigators, Phil, is they believe this man did not act alone. If that is the case, there were other people involved, that would change the complex quite a bit. It's a much different case when there's conspiracy.

MUDD: Sure, but I'm a little suspicious of that. If you have what they're describing initially as a conspiracy involved in trying to make a political statement, is that what you do? Those involved in the Subway bombings are going get a much bigger bang for their buck than this one. I think the police are out there speaking because they feel like they have to speak. One more quick comment about this, John, and that is if we're looking bad in let's say September, October, November, if the case broke on thursday, Friday, or Saturday, no one will remember how long it took, whether it's two days, three days, four days. When you're in the midst of it, it takes a lot of leadership and skill to say, calm down, guys, we'll figure it out, let's calm down. That's tough to do in the heat of the moment.

BERMAN: Get it right.

Phil Mudd, Bobby Ghosh, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

Rejected twice but now female Viagra has the green light. Up next, we'll speak with a woman who has taken it. She says it's brought the flutter back.

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[11:47:53] BERMAN: All right. Today is the first full day that a drug known as the female drug Viagra has the full FDA approval, a pill to help women regain their sex drive. The FDA has approved it after years of study and two failed attempts. The new drug works on the brain. One study says up to a third of women are impacted by low sexual desire.

Joining us now, a couple familiar with this drug, a couple that has tried it. Amanda Parrish is in Nashville. Her husband, Ben, joins us via Skype from California.

Thank you so much.

Amanda, let me ask you your feelings today now that the drug has been approved?

AMANDA PARRISH, FLIBANSERIN USER: I don't think I can adequately describe my feelings. I'm elated, excited. It's been a long, long five years since I was on Flibanserin or Addyi. So it was a long wait yesterday, but I'm absolutely flabbergasted and excited about the future for women, about the future for us, and about the FDA's finally approved the drug.

BERMAN: Ben, I'm going to ask you the same question and I imagine it's probably the same response. Your feeling today now that this drug has FDA approval?

BEN PARRISH, HUSBAND OF AMANDA: Yes, it is a very similar response. I'm very excited. It's been a long time coming. We know the drug works because Amanda was on the clinical trial. So we're very excited and can't wait for the drug to go on sale.

BERMAN: So, Amanda, I think the question that a lot of people want to know is what does it do? You've taken the drug. How does it make you feel? And, remember, this is a family program.

AMANDA PARRISH: I'll try to remember that. For me, what it did was take me back to where I was when Ben and I first started dating in the first several years of our relationship. It sort of returned my desire which had left. It made me want to be with Ben. It -- I just lost my drive to initiate and be an active participant. I found myself more of an obligatory participant. So Addyi gave me back what I had and wanting to want my husband.

(CROSSTALK)

AMANDA PARRISH: And it did so wonderfully.

[11:50:12] BERMAN: It's called the female Viagra but it's wildly different. Viagra, actual male Viagra, is a physical thing, whereas the female Viagra, this pill, Addyi, works on your brain. So it changes the way you thought? AMANDA PARRISH: That's right. Viagra is a functional product. For

women it's not so much that way. From the neck down my body responds fine. It's from the head up. For years we've been told it's fall our head. But it's a biological physiological problem and Addyi is able to restore that chemical balance back to where it was it literally is like a light switch. For me it was like a light switch turning that back on, which made our intimate times even more special.

BERMAN: Ben, I heard Amanda say it put the flutter back. Did you notice it, Ben, right away?

BEN PARRISH: Definitely. When she went on the clinical trial, I had some questions. I was a little confused but it was very quick to work. And, again, she started initiating sex again. She was interested again and it definitely worked. There's no question about it.

BERMAN: Amanda, there's a lot of talk about the side effects here. It's not without them. There are warnings that you shouldn't do it if you're drinking. Did you suffer from these side effects?

AMANDA PARRISH: I absolutely did not. I was lucky that I didn't experience any of the common headache, fatigue, nausea, dizziness side effects. Having said that, I'll tell you that, you know, we're used to as Americans and humans taking all sorts of medications that come with a host of side effects. I didn't think of one drug out there that doesn't carry a number of side effects. As far as the alcohol is concerned, I am a social drinker and I drank while I was on Flibanserin. And it's dosed at night so I took it at night and I -- if I had any side effects I would have slept through them. But it absolutely was not an issue for me but as I said I'm used to reading warnings and, you know, taking precautions where side effects are concerned so it doesn't bother me one bit. I can't wait to get to my doctor and get a prescription.

BERMAN: Well, Ben, Amanda Parrish, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate a frank discussion about something that some people have difficulty speaking about. And I hope, for your sake, you get back together in the same city soon.

AMANDA PARRISH: We do, too.

(LAUGHTER)

BEN PARRISH: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, guys, thanks so much.

52 minutes after the hour.

Changing subjects here, a deadly disease that killed millions, we're talking about the plague. Is it back? New concerns this morning after a new case is tracing to Yosemite.

He was the face of Subway, but right now, Jared Fogle is in court pleading guilty to, frankly, shocking child porn charges that we're just learning about now.

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[11:27:01] BERMAN: Happening now, authority investigating a second likely case of the plague after a tourist visited Yosemite National Park. That's right, the plague, the same plague that killed millions centuries ago. Perhaps you thought it was gone. It's not. It's rare, but it's still deadly. The park is now treating the campground with a chemical that kills fleas. Fleas spread the plague.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now.

Elizabeth, the first obvious question is, really, the plague?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I know, it sounds so crazy, right. It basically never went away. Fleas still have it. You rarely hear about in the United States because, well, basically people don't live with rodents in their house for the most part so fewer rodents mean fewer fleas mean less plague. So let's look at plague 101, exactly what it is. So the plague is a disease carried by rodents and their fleas and people get it by being bitten by one of those fleas. You can also get it after handling an infected rodent. Now, thankfully, John, human-to-human transmission is rare because then you could possibly get an epidemic. It hasn't happened in the United States since 1924, human-to-human transmission.

BERMAN: Well, we're just talking one or two or a handful every year?

COHEN: Right. A handful every year. So let's look specifically at what's happened by the numbers. Four cases this year, seven cases annually approximately. It varies from year to year. Now California, if you look at California as an example, they haven't had a case of the plague in nine years, until now. So as you can see this is really very rare. As I said, partly because we're more hygienic than we used to be and antibiotics are helpful in combating this disease.

BERMAN: Seems you hear about it most in the West or the southwest. What are the symptoms? I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: That's right. That's right.

BERMAN: What do you look for if you're worried about having the plague?

COHEN: John, you'll see these symptoms and you and others will get nervous because they look so much like the symptoms of other things. Let's look at them and talk about why we shouldn't be too panicked. The symptoms of the plague are fever, chills, nausea, weakness, swollen limp nodes, but often big, like that size of a chicken egg, swollen. And, you know, you might look at that and think, well, gosh, I've had all of those things, maybe not as big as a chicken egg. So the CDC officially says contact your doctor if you have these symptoms. Of course not everyone will contact their doctor when they just have a fever. Experts have said look if it feels unusual for you, if it feels -- this is different, you should get checked out. If you've been handling rodents you should get checked out. You mentioned the southwest, if you live in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Colorado, that may be another sign that perhaps there's something more rare than the few.

BERMAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

That's all for us AT THIS HOUR.

"Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

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