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Report: Reserve Deputy's Training Records Falsified; Aaron Hernandez Sentenced to Life in Prison; Clinton Lays Out Timeline for Policies; Chris Christie Charm Offensive Resonating? Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 16, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, there are a lot of questions about the 73-year-old. In fact, days after this shooting people had questions about his training record. I can now tell you that the "Tulsa World" report is now saying that supervisors at the county sheriff's office were told to falsify the training records for Bates. In fact, the "Tulsa World" reports that three of Bates supervisors were reassigned after refusing to sign the training documents. Now, the report does not say who asked the supervisors to allegedly falsify the records.

Now, people have seen this video. They heard Bates say he's sorry after saying he was reaching for his Taser and had instead pulled a gun and shot this man, who later died. But like I say, records show in the last seven years Bates has taken a variety of courses, everything from weapons training, including Glock, Taser and Rock River training.

Now, all these training records were supposed to show that Bates was ready to be out there on the streets with his gun and with his Taser training. But now all that's coming under question.

We've tried to contact that sheriff's department to figure out exactly whether or not this report is true. They are saying right now they are going through all the records they have to try to put all this together. But obviously, it's going to need more examination after these new reports have come forward and this video has surfaced.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ryan. Rock River and some of those other things are obviously the types of weapons that he was supposedly trained on. More information to come on this story. Ryan, stay on it for us. Appreciate it.

Now, in full disclosure, we invited the Tulsa sheriff's office to come on this morning. They declined. They did call the "Tulsa World" report unsubstantiated and deceptive. Earlier this morning, we spoke to the reporters behind this reporting, and they say they stand by what they've found. Here's what they said to us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZIVA BRANSTETTER, REPORTER, "TULSA WORLD": You would think the sheriff's office if, in fact, there has been -- has been no pressure applied, no falsification of records and that they would be forthcoming with these documents. We certainly hope they are. We've asked for them. They've said that they don't believe they're public records.

There are hundreds of hours that may have been falsified, at least three supervisors that may have been -- that our sources said were transferred, were disciplined, because they refused to sign off on training that Bates never received, including weapons training.

CUOMO: The trainers who said we got pressured and they moved us, was that recently, or was that back when he was originally trying to get on as a deputy?

BRANSTETTER: It was back when he was trying to get on as a deputy. He'd already been accepted in the program. Then there was the falsification of the field training records initially, then the handgun qualification records after that is what we understand.

So it was, you know, back several years ago. And then ever since then, he was named reserve deputy of the year in 2011. Ever since then he's been going on, he said, a hundred or so undercover operations.

CUOMO: Do you know why he was reserve deputy of the year? Did he do anything in the field, any kind of exemplary service or something like that?

BRANSTETTER: You know, he may have. We don't have any records of that. We do know that, during that time and a year or two before that and at that time he had given the undercover unit five automobiles. Donated that -- those automobiles to the unit, as well as surveillance equipment.

CUOMO: So in terms of motivation here, Dylan, your sources on this point, are they telling you that this was about trying to get the sheriff's pal certified to do what he wanted? I mean, what do they think was going on here?

DYLAN GOFORTH, REPORTER, "TULSA WORLD": I mean, that's been the allegation since they brought us his name originally. Was that this was just someone who, you know -- the sheriff had called him a long- time friend that he'd taken on fishing trips. Someone that the sheriff liked and that they wanted him to be able to do what he wanted to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: They wanted him to be able to do what he wanted to do. What will all that mean now?

Let's bring in retired LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey. She's also the author of "The Creation of a Manifesto: Black and Blue."

It's good to have you with us. Sergeant, as always, what is your take on this situation? Let's start with have you even heard of anything like this before? Like, just to get a reserve/auxiliary deputy onto the force these types of shenanigans, if true?

SGT. CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED FROM LAPD: No, you know, I've never heard of such foolishness. And but for the fact that someone tragically lost their life, this would be comedy.

To falsify the credentials of someone and put them in a sting operation because he just wants to play cop, you know, like I said, it's unconscionable.

And what kind of person -- what does that say about Mr. Bates, that he would want to -- he knew that he was dis -- was unqualified, that he, by his own admission, according to his written statement, had not fired his service revolver since the fall of 2014. Why would you want to insert yourself into -- into such a highly charged environment? Who does that?

CUOMO: Now, when we talk about excessive force, and you know in fair reporting on this, we don't know that it's true yet. We hear the reporting. We're vetting the reporting. But if it is true, people could look at this and say, "Well, this isn't what the problem is with excessive force. You know, this is something else."

However, do you see a through thread in how the police departments deal with situations when they come up, about whether they close ranks or whether they're open to this scrutiny?

DORSEY: Absolutely it's about excessive force. And we understand that the problems that we see, like I said, they're systemic and they're cultural, right? And they are from the top down. When I say "top down," I'm talking about the chief of police.

Because he understood what this man's situation was before he allowed him to go out into the field with these deputies on this sting operation. And then to hear that he's deputy of the year, are you kidding me? He's deputy of the year because he's the sugar daddy for that police department. And I just think it's terrible.

And then I understand that, initially, there was going to be no review of this program. How many other pay-to-play deputies are out there. How many other volunteer deputies are out there that are unqualified and are daily jeopardizing the lives of the real police officers, as well as putting the community in harm's way?

CUOMO: Now, you also pointed out early on that, while we're focused on Bates, you say, you know, there was another guy involved in this, an undercover guy that, after Harris was shot, he had his knee on his head. And when Harris was saying, "I'm losing my breath," he said, "'F' your breath." To you that's just as indicative of what we saw with Bates, why?

DORSEY: Well, listen, because it speaks volumes to the inhumanity of those officers. Those officers understood that this man was possibly taking his last breath. They knew that he had been shot. And then for them to be dishonest and say they never heard him say he couldn't breathe when he hear him screaming lets me know that they can't be trusted, as well. And at the very minimum, we have an administrative disciplinary situation, because it's unprofessional. It's callous. That's somebody's son. That's somebody's father.

And to know that they spent the last moments of their life, and the last thing they heard was someone tell their loved one, "'F' your breath," unconscionable.

CUOMO: Now, let's flip the scenario of perspective. You were on the job. You know the fear. You know the risk. You know the concern about whether or not you're going to get home to your family. That's what we're hearing from people in law enforcement, is that, you know, you're looking at that guy with his knee on his head: "I have to cuff him. I don't know if he's still dangerous. He just sold a weapon. He may have another one. You know, horrible things happen all the time. I'm in the moment. I'm scared. I'm angry that this guy's running from us."

Are we not giving -- when people criticize the actions of officers, are they not giving them enough credit to the stress in the situation?

DORSEY: Listen, that's why we have the training that we have. And that's why we practice with one another before we go out into the field to conduct these kinds of operations.

And so if you're scared, then maybe you should call the police, right? You don't get to do something that's inappropriate and then try to minimize and mitigate it by saying that "I want to go home."

I promise you Mr. Harris had no gun in his neck. I've never seen a suspect in all my days carry a gun in his head. I've worked South Bureau Operations Crash, where we dealt with gangsters; we did search warrants; we did sting operations. And like I said, escalation, de- escalation of force. You use that force necessary to take that person into custody. Once you have them contained, then you de-escalate. And you can take them to jail and allow them to have their dignity.

CUOMO: Right.

DORSEY: How about that?

CUOMO: Eric Harris, on that issue the police say, well, they thought he may have had one in his belt, that he wouldn't move his hands away from his waistband. Not obviously they thought he had it around his head or his neck. You're saying that, because that's where the officer's knee was. One last point though, Sergeant.

People will say don't run. You run, you trigger a series of events with a police officer that winds up bad nine times out of ten. Is that a fair criticism?

DORSEY: Well, criticism, I don't know. But I always say comply, because you never know which officer you just pulled out of that bag of tricks. You don't know if you have a Tim Loman, like the one that killed Tamir Rice, or a Darren Wilson. So I always say comply and do what the officers say.

But I mean, he did a bad thing, and he was trying to get away. So that's inherent to police work. We know that people don't want to go to jail. We've got to take them into custody, but we've got to do it professionally, ethically and morally right. And there's a way to do that. It happens every day. Police officers are doing their job the right way. And these few are giving the profession a bad -- a black eye.

CUOMO: Well, it is a good perspective to have there. The overwhelming majority of officers, like when you were doing the job, are doing it the right way. We're focusing on the bad apples, because that's how you cause change.

Sergeant Dorsey, thank you very much. We'll continue the conversation -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it is day one of a life sentence for Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL star convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison without parole during the dramatic conclusion to his lengthy trial. Now the jurors, following seven days of deliberations, are speaking out about why they made the decision they did.

Susan Candiotti was in the courtroom through it all. She joins us this morning in Fall River, Massachusetts -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Poppy.

You know, the question you keep hearing time and again is why did Aaron Hernandez do this? Why did he commit murder when he seemed to have it all?

Well, despite that guilty verdict, or because of the guilty verdict, he is waking up this morning in a place, in a prison where he was once close by -- sorry. He wakes up in a prison that is close to Gillette Stadium, the place where he was once a rising star with the New England Patriots.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): "They got it wrong." Aaron Hernandez's words during his transfer to a state prison Wednesday. That prison close to the stadium where he once played as a New England Patriot. A law- enforcement source saying Hernandez telling his jailers, quote, "I didn't do it," hours after being sentenced to life without parole.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of murder in the first degree.

CANDIOTTI: Hernandez grim-faced as he heard the verdict, with his mother and fiancee in tears and just feet away from the family of victim Odin Lloyd, no less emotional.

Hernandez pursing his lips and appearing to mouth the words, "You're wrong" and then telling his family, "Be strong," and "I'm OK," watching them weep.

A jury finding Hernandez guilty of the 2013 execution-style murder of Odin Lloyd, shot six times. Central to the case: surveillance videos that show the victim on the night of his death getting into a rented Altima with Hernandez and two other men. Other video showing the same car at the industrial park where Lloyd's body was found. And minutes later, that car back in Hernandez's driveway. Hernandez's own surveillance cameras capture him holding what

prosecutors say is the murder weapon. That .45 caliber Glock was never found.

Surprising to the jury, the defense team during closing arguments admitting Hernandez was at the crime scene, saw Lloyd killed but did not shoot him.

After sentencing, jurors tell reporters they found out from the judge that Hernandez now faces trial for double murder in Boston.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That we did the right thing. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That we did the right thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

CANDIOTTI: After the verdict Lloyd's mother addressed her son's killer.

URSULA WARD, ODIN LLOYD'S MOTHER: I forgive the hands of the people that had a hand in my son's murder. And I pray and hope that someday everyone out there will forgive them also.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And after leaving the courthouse, family and friends of victim Odin Lloyd went to his gravesite releasing balloons in his memory -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Susan Candiotti in Fall River. Thanks so much.

Hillary Clinton giving the first hints of policy positions for her presidential campaign. What did she say, and when will we get more than just hints? Let's get answers from CNN's political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, following the Clinton campaign in Des Moines for us this morning.

Good morning, Brianna.

KEILAR: Hi there, John.

I think you're going to have to wait a while. I think, as you said, hints at what it's going to be for a little bit.

Hillary Clinton met yesterday with Democratic lawmakers here at the state house in Des Moines. She talked about a number of topics: immigration, education, incarceration. She talked about money and politics and national security, did not take any questions. But this was a visit that is key to her campaign strategy in Iowa, which is really to rebuild, from a very local level, the Democratic, the Iowa Democratic Party. It was music to these lawmakers' ears. In fact, some of them who had

been on the fence about whether to support Hillary Clinton told CNN they have now moved to her corner. This followed another event -- this followed another event where she met with small business owners. And she really continued her message of fighting for the middle class and taking on big money and corporations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to do more than just get by. We need to get ahead and stay ahead. As individuals, as families, as businesses and as our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The big policy headline came from her campaign yesterday. So through her campaign, Hillary Clinton going farther on same-sex marriage than she ever has before. She said that it's a constitutional right, the Supreme Court should rule as such. And before, she had said it should be left up to states.

So looking back on her couple of days here, she really was making herself available to Iowans in a way that a start-up candidate might. But not so much her availability to the press modeled on that of a start-up candidate. We'll see if that changes a little bit as she goes to other swing states, Chris.

CUOMO: I can hear her supporters now saying, well, both positions are consistent. If it's a constitutional right, it will be up to the states to figure out how to put it in effect. Get ready for that, Brianna. I'll bet your lunch on it.

KEILAR: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right. So New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says, "Don't forget about me." He went to New Hampshire, talking tough as always about what he would do as president. So how did it go?

Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns joins us with more.

Joe, he was talking about policy. We haven't heard a lot about that from his side of the party.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a little refreshing, I think, Chris.

Chris Christie really turning on the charm in New Hampshire, looking for a restart in a state that's been known to give politicians second chances. He's been dogged by the Bridge-gate scandal, taking ribbing from voters on it even in New Hampshire.

But later Christie appearing in the kind of forum he sees as highlighting his strength, a town hall attended by about 200 people: laid out a bunch of policy positions on fixing Social Security, opposing the administration's move on Cuba, on vaccinations, and he took a big swing at Hillary Clinton. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Read somewhere today that Secretary Clinton said she wants to -- she intends to raise $2.5 billion for her campaign, but she wants to then get the corrupting money out of politics. It's classic, right? It's classic politician speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: By the way, he also said he would be a better president than Jeb Bush, if he got the opportunity.

Christie sounds a lot like a candidate, but he told that audience you just saw there that he's not going to make a decision on whether to get into the race until late spring or early summer -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Joe Johns reporting for us. Thanks, Joe, appreciate it.

Right now in Iraq, the key city of Ramadi is said to be even closer; we're hearing within hours, possibly, of falling to ISIS. An official in Anbar province says the situation has deteriorated so rapidly and so much that, unless reinforcements arrive soon, remaining forces will pull back, essentially, the Iraqi forces will give up.

In a CNN exclusive, our Arwa Damon followed hundreds of civilians desperately fleeing for their lives, many of them heading to Baghdad in search of safety.

BERMAN: Listen closely if you buy Beech-Nut baby food. The company has issued a voluntary recall of more than 1,900 pounds of baby food after a consumer found glass in a jar and reported an oral injury. The affected food, Stage 2 Beech-Nut classics sweet potato and chicken, sold in 4-ounce glass jars. The baby food was made in December and shipped across the country.

CUOMO: High-speed chase through the streets of Houston playing out on live TV, ending with police fatally shooting a suspect. Authorities say 41-year-old Trey Shephard -- he's the one in the lead car there -- refused to stop when officers tried to pull him over for making unsafe lane changes. The chase lasted some 30 minutes, and then Shephard slammed into the other car, as you see. He jumped out of his vehicle.

Here was the key moment. He reached back inside the vehicle when officers were telling him not to. That's when they opened fire.

HARLOW: Wow.

Coming up, from NFL star to convicted murderer, what is ahead for Aaron Hernandez in prison as the family of victim Odin Lloyd tries to move forward after that verdict? We're going to talk to a corrections official who came to know Hernandez very well in jail leading up to the trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:44] THOMAS QUINN, BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Aaron Hernandez may have been a well-known New England Patriots football player. However, in the end the jury found that he was just a man who committed a brutal murder. The fact that he was a professional athlete meant nothing in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The verdict is in. Aaron Hernandez will spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder.

One man with unique insight into Hernandez's personality, the conditions the former football star can expect in prison, is Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hudson. He joins me now.

Thank you for being with me. So our viewers know, you run a correctional facility where Hernandez was held for about eight months before he went to trial. And I understand you got to know him very, very well.

One thing that stood out to me is that you say that Aaron Hernandez's trigger, real trigger, is being disrespected.

TOM HUDSON, BRISTOL COUNTY SHERIFF: Yes. You know, during my -- the course of my time, I spent some time with him talking over his incarceration with us. And it became more and more clear to me that his narcissistic wound is really around being disrespected. His dad was somebody who commanded respect from the entire family.

And I think, you know, losing his dad at 16, clearly from my perspective, I think that that was a devastating time for him. That was the person that kept him on the straight and narrow. And I think in some ways he sort of -- that's the part of his father's memory he's held onto. And if you disrespect him, I think in some respects you're disrespecting his father, who he was so close to.

HARLOW: But no excuse at all for -- for this. However, it goes to the issue of what could have motivated this, right? A thing that was at play and at question throughout the trial.

Let me ask you this: He was under your eye for eight months. And you got very close to him. You said you had sort of a fatherly relationship with him at points. What do you make of his reaction in the courtroom yesterday. When some legal analysts were saying he was flat, his reaction. Paul Callan, a CNN legal analyst, said that indicated he may be psychopathic. What did you make of his reaction when the verdict was read?

HUDSON: Well, I think that, you know, my feeling is he is probably a sociopath. He's somebody, though, that I ran a criminal division, and I've never seen anybody as good as him being able to compartmentalize. He's excellent at compartmentalizing things and sort of pushing things he doesn't want to look at away. And that's, I think, what we saw in the courtroom yesterday. He just doesn't want to face what he's dealing with in reality. And he just chooses not to look at it. HARLOW: And I wonder if you think he believes he truly didn't do

this, is responsible for this. Because yesterday our Susan Candiotti reporting, as he was walked out of that courtroom in handcuffs, that he said to one of the deputies there, "I didn't do it. They got it wrong."

HUDSON: Well, it's hard to know what he's actually thinking, if deep down inside he really believes it. But as I said, he has a way of being able to compartmentalize things and not look at them. So he can be in self-denial, but --but I think probably deep down inside when he gets that glimmer of light, he'll recognize it.

HARLOW: Again, I reiterate that the headlines are about Aaron Hernandez, because it was this huge fall from grace superstardom, but what about the victim, Odin Lloyd, someone who had been his close friend for years? Did he ever talk about Odin Lloyd and that friendship? Anything about him in those eight months?

HUDSON: No. And I was very careful not to talk about anything to do with this case or anything associated with this case. I really spent a lot of time sort of digging into him, what he was about and about his family history and so forth.

[07:25:22] HARLOW: But he's moving -- moved from your facility to another facility, where he'll spend the rest of his life without a chance for parole. Give us a sense of what the conditions will be like there, what he's walking into.

HUDSON: Well, he's going to walk into a life -- well, of course he went into a stadium where he was cheered by thousands of people in a very different kind of a uniform. He'll go into this prison where he won't get anybody cheering for him, and he'll be living a very simple life. He'll have -- be told when he can eat, what he's going to eat, and how much he can eat. And there will be no moving around, except when he's permitted within the schedule to do that. It will be a very simple life and one that won't offer a lot of -- of amenities.

HARLOW: I know you were surprised your facility was keeping him sort of separated at the beginning there. And you were surprised actually that he initiated this fistfight while he was under -- under your watch there.

HUDSON: Yes. We were. Actually, we were trying -- being a high profile inmate, you want to make sure that you're protecting them from any predators that want to try to get some stature within the facility. And in this case, we realized that actually we had to, not thinking about it at the time, but we had to actually protect the potential predators against him in this instance, which we didn't expect.

HARLOW: Right. Let me ask you this, Sheriff. You have sort of had this rise in terms of your profile in the media. You've been all over the place. Your face has been across the media outlets. And sometimes said this is about advancing your own career. Let me ask you why you've spoken out so much. And do you have higher political aspirations? Is that part of this? HUDSON: You know, they've been saying that about me since I've been a

sheriff for 18 years, because I speak out on a lot of issues. But you know, the fact of the matter is, no, this isn't about politics. This is -- and what CNN has done, and what a lot of these news stations have done by digging in and wanting to know what is life like and putting it on television, looking at the cells and so forth, that's -- I can't think of a better lesson for children, to see a guy who they revered, how quickly making bad choices can end you up in a place like a prison with no choices in your life.

HARLOW: I just hope that Odin Lloyd's family gets as much attention as Aaron Hernandez. Remember the amazing move by his mother yesterday to say, "I forgive you." In a mother who has lost their child, that is pretty extraordinary. Thank you so much.

HUDSON: Thank you.

HARLOW: Good to have you on the program.

HUDSON: Have a great day.

HARLOW: Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Poppy.

Here's a question for you: What is more important for Chris Christie? Social Security, the so-called third rail of politics, or the third lane on the road to the George Washington Bridge? John King goes "Inside Politics" next.

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