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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Gaza Cease-Fire Announced; New Audio of Brown Shooting; James Foley's Executioner

Aired August 26, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And we have breaking news this hour, a new cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that was just announced.

CNN reporter Ian Lee joins me live from Gaza City. And, Ian, what is going on there, and what are the terms of the cease-fire?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deborah, you may be able to hear behind me a lot of the honking horns, a lot of celebratory gunfire in the air. We're moved in a bit. It is a lot of people down on the street. Five people have been injured from the celebratory gunfire. But when you look down there, large numbers of people celebrating the cease-fire.

This is an open-ended cease-fire. Unlike previous cease-fires, there's no expiration date on this one. Hours ago, we had a flurry of text messages and e-mails from different Hamas leaders saying that this is a victory for the organization, a victory for the Palestinian people.

Well, this victory did come at a high price. Over 2,100 people were killed. Over 10,000 people were injured.

And this claim of a victory is going to need to see real change on the ground here in Gaza, at least for the people of Gaza. What they're going to want and what they're going to need is immediate relief, relief being brought in here, and we're hearing this is part of that cease-fire agreement.

They're also going to need reconstruction -- first, reconstruction of basic utilities, the electrical systems, the sewage, the water supplies have all been severely damaged during the fighting. They're going to need that.

These are the things they're going to need, essentials needed right away, Deborah.

FEYERICK: And, Ian, is there any indication they're going to be opening the borders? And, also, this reconstruction, who is going to be responsible for it? Who's going to be infusing the money needed to rebuild that area now?

LEE: There has always been a large group of donors. People have been willing, countries have been willing to come forward with the reconstruction. The United nations has also said they would be willing to step in, help with the reconstruction, especially the U.N. has been leading, bringing a lot of this in for the people. We're expecting them to take a lead role too.

The one thing Hamas has been putting in their conditions is the opening of the airport and seaports. No word on that yet.

We're also hearing that, when it comes to the borders, the border with Egypt particularly, will have a free flow of goods and people. People will be able to leave there as well. Goods will be able to come in.

And that has been crucial, and really, when you talk about a victory for Hamas, if Hamas is -- Hamas as they see it, it's going to be these conditions.

FEYERICK: All right, and, Ian, it's fascinating because we want to clarify this is a cease-fire that started at noon today. The Palestinians and the Israelis agreeing they're going to open the border crossings for humanitarian and medical aid. That is a big deal.

They're going to extend the fishing limit off of the coast to six miles. And then both sides will come back to Cairo to talk.

And we can hear the celebration going on behind you. Clearly, 50 days of conflict, now it seems that there's a resolve -- or it seems a resolution. It seems like both sides will be able to move on.

Ian Lee, thank you so much, there for us in Gaza City.

And moving now to the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Missouri, we've heard a lot of witnesses talk about what happened to Michael Brown.

Now for the first time we're hearing what could be the actual shots. We're going to play you the audio, coming up next.

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FEYERICK: A newly released audio recording could hold clues in to what led up to the shooting death of Michael Brown in Missouri. The FBI questioned a man that says that he recorded audio of gunfire at the same time the police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed Brown. The man lives near the site of the shooting. His attorney says he was close enough to have heard the gunshots.

Now before we play this for you, keep in mind, we can't actually verify the authenticity of the audio. The man who's voice you're about to hear was speaking to a woman on a video chat service, so you'll hear him talking to her, and in the background, listen closely, because you're going to hear a quick series of shots as he speaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are pretty. You're so fine. Just going on some of your videos ... FEYERICK: Well, the forensic audio expert Paul Ginsberg has analyzed the recording and has said that he detected at least 10 gunshots. There's a cluster of six and then if you hear, there's a pause, follow by four more shots.

He spoke on CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "NEW DAY" this morning on the impact that it could have on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL GINSBERG, AUDIO EXPERT: This will test the credibility of the officer and whatever else is included in the official report as to how many shots were fired, what type of weapon was used, was it reloaded, and was it from the same gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And Stephanie Elam is live in Ferguson, Missouri. Stephanie, what is the most important part of this audio regarding?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's definitely some interest in that pause, Deb, that pause between the two groups of shots. The question being, what is happening during that moment?

Now, we know from the police department that, according to Officer Darren Wilson, the officer involved in the shooting, that he believed that there was a struggle for his weapon, that Mike Brown was trying to take his gun.

So is that happening in that moment? Are those first few shots inside of the police car? These are the questions that are out there.

On the other side, witnesses in that neighborhood are saying that Mike Brown was already removed from the police vehicle and that he was surrendering and showing that he was unarmed. So you have a case of he said/they said at this point, and what the real truth is, we're wait to hear what this evidence shows us.

This adds just a new texture, a new layer, to the investigation as the FBI continues to look at this. We know the FBI is looking at this, or listening to this audio, and they're going to determine whether or not it is authentic to the actual time the shooting took place.

CNN hasn't done that yet, but we are waiting to hear back. We've asked for some comment from them on that. But that is why this audio could play a key role in the investigation, Deb.

FEYERICK: Stephanie, all the witnesses that have been out there, talking about what it is they saw, how does this either support or contradict some of that testimony?

ELAM: Well, that's exactly -- this is what makes this crucial, right, because if the timing lines up, if some of those people are saying he was removed and he was facing away -- Mike Brown, I'm talking about -- but the shots were coming from a different direction based on what we're hearing here, it could change the stories. But what is interesting is that now you have people who are here who have witnessed this and they may now respond to their thinking of what happened that time to make it fit with this sound that we now hear of these bullet shots.

So they'll be a lot more investigation into this, and if it turns out to be real, I would expect that the grand jury will be listening to this, as well as the FBI, again.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. The grand jury has a lot of evidence that it has to listen to for -- on both sides.

And for the legal view, I want to bring in HLN legal analyst and defense attorney Joey Jackson and CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin.

Joey, from a defense perspective, you listen to these shots, OK, how do you defend what it is you're hearing on that audio recording on behalf of the police officer?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure, here's what's going to happen, right?

So, when you evaluate this evidence, there's really a three-step process, right? The first thing is, was their a threat being posed at the time the shots were fired, OK? In the event the answer is yes, then you look to, Deb, the immediacy of that threat, OK? And then you look at the proportionality of it, meaning, how many shots were necessary?

So, a good prosecutor is going to turn that another way, and I know you'll get to Sunny shortly for that point of view, but from a defense perspective, what you're going to say is that the officer was under attack at the time. In other words, there was a necessity to fire based upon him feeling that he was subject to immediate attack. He was subject to fear. He was subject to harm. That's what the defense will say. You look to the issue of the pause. Why was that necessary?

FEYERICK: Right.

JACKSON: Because police are trained to shoot until the threat is terminated, OK. And from the defense point of view, they will argue that the defense -- he was not terminated -- the threat was not terminated, which required the ne necessity, Sunny's champing at the bit, to shoot and shoot and shoot again, and that's what the arguments will be.

FEYERICK: So, Sunny, let me ask you that question, because you listen to the first six shots, what sounds like six shots, OK, that technically would have been to try to stop somebody who was maybe approaching, somebody who was running away. Why the other four shots? What do you argue as a prosecutor?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that's the question and I think we can't underestimate if this is accurate, if this is authentic, the value of this kind of evidence. And that is because we've had several eyewitnesses, and we've had all these conversations about how eyewitness testimony isn't credible. I've always begged to differ because perhaps a sole eyewitness testimony isn't as credible. But when you have four or five or six people saying the same thing -

JACKSON: Corroboration, right.

HOSTIN: That means something. And so we have five witnesses that are saying they saw a struggle at the car, but then they saw Michael Brown run away and crucially saw him turn around, hands up. Police officers can't necessarily shoot to kill because the threat, if indeed he put his hands up, would be over. If the threat was other and he had four seconds to evaluate -- remember, police officers are trained to evaluate threat. They're supposed to deescalate. If his hands were up and shots happened after that, that's a problem.

FEYERICK: But that's assuming that Michael Brown did not attack the officer, which other witnesses have said -- which the officer himself -

JACKSON: Right.

FEYERICK: Came out saying that, in fact, this is somebody would came at him, who slammed the door, and there have been -- there's been testimony that essentially supports that. So the officer may have felt that he himself was at risk. In which case, according to the district attorney's I've spoken too -

JACKSON: Right.

FEYERICK: Then the officer would have been justified to stop the fleeing felon effectively.

JACKSON: See -

HOSTIN: But not - right, right, there is that fleeing felon protection. And so officers, of course, are supposed to arrest. And if there was this altercation and an assault on a police officer, that's assuming this account is accurate, he has the right to arrest and shoot. However, however, the fleeing felon exception falls away when someone surrenders and raises their hands and that is going to be crucial.

JACKSON: And that's going to be - sure, it will.

FEYERICK: And it also depends on what timeframe too, because that was a split second. It's going to be a little bit tricky as well.

JACKSON: One hundred percent. And it deals with what's necessary, right, number one.

HOSTIN: Right, what's reasonable.

JACKSON: And what's reasonable, number two.

HOSTIN: Right. JACKSON: That's what it all comes down to.

FEYERICK: All right. Well, Joey Jackson, Sunny Hostin, thank you so much.

JACKSON: A pleasure.

FEYERICK: I'll tell you, we've heard a lot of evidence. It's going to be very interesting to see what the defense attorneys also do to pick it apart.

JACKSON: We're going to hear a lot more, Deb.

FEYERICK: Because they know what's coming. All right. Thank you both very much.

Well, how do you track down a masked man wanted for a brutal execution when you have very few clues? That's what officials are up against right now. They're trying to determine who killed the American journalist James Foley, whose death is effectively triggering U.S. action in Syria. We're going to be learning a lot more about the man behind the black mask. That's coming up straight away.

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FEYERICK: Well, he's one of the most wanted men in the world. The identity of James Foley's executioner, however, remains a mystery. British authorities say that they're close to identifying him and they've focused a lot of their attention on the man's British accent. CNN's Brian Todd reports on the other subtle clues that authorities are picking apart in the pursuit of Foley's killer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Intelligence officials are on the cusp of identifying the man who may have killed James Foley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are close. But forgive me if i can't go much further than that at this point.

TODD: Is it the man seen in this video? One British official tell us they're picking apart the video, looking at the background, the terrain, and, of course, his voice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic Caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.

TODD: CNN has had language and voice analysts examine that audio. Some believe because the way he speaks generally about Muslims, he could be a convert to Islam, possibly from south London or that city's east end.

JOHN OLSSON, LINGUIST: He comes over as very well educated and from what you would loosely call a middle class professional background. The voice seems to me to be somebody under the age of 30. TODD: But Matthew Levitt, former counterterrorism analyst with the

FBI, says intelligence officials will look at other physical traits.

MATTHEW LEVITT, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: The first thing you're going to look at is his height, his build. You're going to see, as you play the video, that he's left handed. You're going to get a close look at his eyes.

TODD: But there are still doubts. The video is edited and goes dark at the purported moment of the murder. You don't actually see him killing James Foley.

LEVITT: Some are even speculating that this individual didn't do the actual murder, he's just being used as the spokesperson because of his fluency in English and his British accent.

TODD: Other communications could give clues. A letter from James Foley to his family, written while he was in captivity, gives a small hint of the size of at least one place he was held. "Eighteen of us have been held together in one cell," he writes. But even when authorities identify Foley's killer, how will they respond? Various reports say the killer is likely in Syria with ISIS, probably moving around, but U.S. officials say no one's out of reach.

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We've made very clear time and time again that if you company after Americans, we're going to come after you, wherever you are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And I want to bring in Brian Todd live.

And, Brian, you know, you look at the possibility that perhaps there were two people.

TODD: Right.

FEYERICK: One of them a very literate, well-spoken person for ISIS, but the other person who may have done the actual killing. What is it that we know -- why are they speculating that? There's a dark moment in the tape, correct?

TODD: That's right, Deborah. The tape does go dark at the moment the purported murder, right, when he's apparently being killed, and then it doesn't come up again until after James Foley is dead. Now, one forensic expert named Ross Patel (ph) has told CNN that he believes that the person who appears on the second part of the video, after it goes dark and it comes back up, is different from that man you're seeing right there, is a different person. He says that he noticed subtle changes in the person's build and physical appearance and he believes there's another man in that video.

And again, that's just one expert, Deb, who is giving us this opinion. We don't have official word from law enforcement intelligence officials that they believe that there is a second person in the video. That is speculation right now. But experts from all around the world are really parsing this video. They're looking at the man's build, the voice, everything. And in the opinion of one forensics expert, Ross Patel, he believes that the person who comes up after the video goes dark in the last part of that video is a different person from the person who speaks right before James Foley is killed.

FEYERICK: Which is going to be fascinating to watch and also as they get closer to identifying who that person is. Brian Todd, thank you so much for that report for us.

TODD: Sure.

FEYERICK: And as the search for Foley's killer continues, the American journalist freed by his captors Sunday has been transported out of Syria. According to the White House, Peter Theo Curtis is headed to Tel Aviv after spending two years in captivity. He should be reunited with his family soon. His mom, Nancy, got a chance to speak with her son on the phone and she says that he was in good spirits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY CURTIS, MOTHER OF PETER THEO CURTIS: It was wonderful. Usually he doesn't have a whole lot to say to me. He's, you know, typical guy. Hi, mom, yes, everything's fine. But he was so excited and he was saying, mom, they're being so nice to me, and they put me in this 12 star hotel. He was over the top excited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And Nancy Curtis also told ABC that she wrote James Foley's mom an e-mail immediately after finding out that her son was OK so that Mrs. Foley would not have to hear the news from someplace else but would hear it directly from her.

Well, thank you for watching. There's going to be a lot more coming up after the break on the Israel-Palestinian cease-fire, along with a lot more news. "Wolf" starts right after this quick break.

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