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Charges Filed in Porch Shooting Case; Supreme Court to Rule on Mifepristone; Deadly Driveway Shooting; FOX News on Trial. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired April 18, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

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REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: She has a right to do that.

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Senator Sinema has yet to announce her reelection plans.

Next hour, President Biden will sign an executive order to make childcare more affordable and more accessible. The order includes 50 directives across nearly every Cabinet agency to fix the so-called care economy. The president, you will remember, could not pass a sweeping childcare bill through the Congress last year.

Thanks for your time on INSIDE POLITICS. We will see you tomorrow.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Felony charges. The 84-year-old white homeowner accused of shooting a black teenager over a wrong address is now facing two felonies. What police say happened after the 16-year- old rang Andrew Lester's doorbell, as the teen's family says he was profiled, judged by the color of his skin.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: A fatal turn. A homeowner opens fire from his front porch, killing a 20-year-old woman, after a group of friends just took a wrong turn into his driveway. Now that homeowner is charged with second-degree murder.

The details from the police are chilling. The sheriff says the suspect has not show any remorse.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And high-stakes showdown. Dominion Voting Systems gets its day in court, shining a spotlight on FOX's election denialism and whether the network should pay $1.6 billion for its coverage.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. SCIUTTO: Just one wrong turn turns into a tragedy in Upstate New York

a woman shot and killed after the car she was riding in accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway. Officials say 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis -- you see her there -- and three other people were looking for a friend's house Saturday, when they got lost.

After realizing their mistake, the group began to leave. That's what authorities say 65-year-old Kevin Monahan fired two shots at the car from his porch. One struck Gillis. She later died.

CNN's Brynn Gingras, she's been following the story.

Brynn, and the circumstances of this shocking. I can only imagine how her family is absorbing this. Tell us what we know.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim.

So I just actually got off the phone with the defense attorney of the man who is charged with second-degree murder in this case, Kevin Monahan, 65 years old, and he has appeared before a judge, arraigned on that charge. And he's still waiting for a bail hearing, actually.

The judge who was supposed to hear that case is actually his neighbor. So they're still waiting to get a new judge in that case. But as far as the circumstances of this case, you kind of laid it out there. Authorities say that this group of kids who were in a car went down the driveway of Kevin Monahan, and realized, because cell service is so terrible in that area in Hebron in New York, that they were in the wrong area, and decided to turn around.

And that's when shots were fired, allegedly, by Monahan, one striking this 20-year-old victim, Kaylin Gillis. And, actually, authorities say they had to drive almost five miles just to get to an area where they could get cell phone reception and call 911. And when paramedics arrived, she died at the scene.

I want you to hear more from the sheriff who was on our show at 11:00.

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JEFFREY MURPHY, WASHINGTON COUNTY, NEW YORK, SHERIFF: He has not made any statements. He obtained a lawyer before he came out of the house. And he has not made any statements and, quite frankly, has not shown any remorse in this case.

He was not threatened at all. The kids didn't get out of their cars. They didn't say anything. There was no words exchanged. They were turning around, as I said, leaving. So there certainly was no threat. So I'm hopeful that we will be able to get a successful prosecution in this case and that justice is served for the Gillis family and for Gillis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Now, Jim, as I said, I just spoke to the defense attorney, who paints a very different picture. He says, actually, his client called him while authorities were at his

door. He wasn't aware that he actually hit anybody or actually hit that car when it showed up in his driveway. As far as still why he fired any shots, his attorney essentially says that there are no trespassing signs on his driveway. It's about an eighth-of-a-mile- long.

He -- you know, in his view, according to his attorney, he did feel threatened so different picture there. But, certainly, this is something that will play out in the courts, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, yes, one more family has to deal with someone lost to gun violence.

GINGRAS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And I can only imagine that five-mile-drive they have. Tell us what we know about how the family and friends are receiving this.

GINGRAS: Yes, so the family does have a GoFundMe page for Kaylin.

The sheriff actually said that this was a young woman who was excited to study marine biology in Florida. I talked to a community member who said that she took senior portraits of Kaylin, and she will never forget that smile. That's how she's being most remember to some people.

[13:05:01]

But, as far as a community, Jim, they say it's a shock. There's a spectrum of feelings from disbelief, disgust, and just shock and sadness.

SCIUTTO: Understandable.

Brynn Gingras, thanks so much for us.

GINGRAS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Seems like we're telling stories like this every day.

SANCHEZ: It does.

And, right now, police are waiting for the man who shot an unarmed black teenager in Kansas City to turn himself in; 84-year-old Andrew Lester is charged with shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl after the team rang Lester's doorbell by mistake. Yarl was trying to pick up his younger brothers, but he went to the wrong house.

Lester is now facing two felony charges, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The team band student is fortunately now out of the hospital, recovering at home from gunshot wounds to his head and arm.

And we should point out, just a short time ago, students at his high school led a unity walk to show support for their injured classmate. Let's take you now live to Kansas City and CNN's Lucy Kafanov, who has

been tracking this story for us.

Lucy, charges have been filed in the case, but Lester is still not in custody, and Yarl's family attorney says that is a huge mistake.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the million-dollar question, Boris.

This is Andrew Lester's home. We have been here for the past two days. And it does not appear that anyone's been home at all during this time. We are trying to figure out when exactly it is that this man is going to turn himself into police custody.

He is, as you point out, facing two charges, the first of which, armed criminal action, could earn him three to 15 years behind bars. The more serious charge, which is first-degree felony assault, could see him spend the rest of his life in prison.

Now, the community here has been demanding justice. You showed those pictures of his classmates, Ralph Yarl's classmates, staging that peaceful march today outside of their classroom. They're describing this as a unity walk. He's been loved by fellow classmates and teachers. He played four instruments, classmates describing him as a kind, smart young man, a humble man who did not brag.

The incident unfolded on the porch of this home behind me. The teen, as you point out, made a mistake. He was supposed to be picking up his younger siblings at 115 Terrace. That home was actually a block away, the gray home past the yard behind me. This is 115th Street.

We know, according to court documents, that Ralph Yarl rang the doorbell -- this is according to Lester, what he told the police -- on the evening of April 14. Lester said that he had just laid down to go to bed. He heard the bell rang. He grabbed his .32 caliber revolver and shot this man because he said he thought it was somebody trying to break in and he was afraid for his size.

The young man now recovering at home, but the road to the emotional recovery, the trauma recovery, that's going to be a very long one -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Lucy Kafanov reporting in Kansas City, keep us up to date with the latest details -- Brianna, over to you.

KEILAR: Still a lot of legal questions to go through here.

For that, let's turn to CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Joey, thank you so much for being with us on this felony first-degree assault and felony armed criminal action. Do these charges fit the alleged crimes here?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, for now, it appears to. And let's talk about why.

Good to be with you, Brianna.

With respect to this actual case in Missouri, we know that the actual victim is not dead. As a result of that, what the DA did, that is, the district attorney, is, they prosecuted for the first-degree assault. What does that mean? The assault charge in the first-degree indicates that you were either attempting to kill him or attempting to inflict serious bodily injury.

As a result of that, you get to that charge. With respect to armed criminal action, if you commit any felony, and you have a weapon, then there it goes. That meets with that. And to the extent that he could face life in jail, we know that is significant.

The only open question, Brianna, is whether or not there will be a hate crime charge added to this, as a result of the press conference wherein the prosecutor indicated that there was racial animus.

KEILAR: Yes, because, as of right now, as you mentioned, he's not being charged with a hate crime, even though authorities did mention there is a racial component to what happened here.

Does that make sense to you?

JACKSON: Well, I think, as the prosecutor described it, what his rationale was, was that the highest charged here is a felony.

And to the extent that he could be charged with that crime and spend the rest of his life in jail, the prosecutor reasoned yesterday during the press conference that that was sufficient. However, having said that, I think charges that are leveled against someone need to meet with the factual components of what their actions were.

And if the action was motivated by racial animus, then that's something that the prosecutor needs to consider. Those charges, I should note, act as enhancements. And I think what the prosecutor was saying is, to the degree that it's enhanced already, I'm not charging it.

At the same time, however, I think a community demanding of justice for an individual who was simply ringing the wrong doorbell, you need to consider what actions led to this. And if there was racial animus, then why not charge it? It would only be appropriate for the family and the community.

[13:10:11]

KEILAR: Joey, Ralph Yarl, the boy who rang the bell, he told police that he did not touch the glass storm door.

Lester, the homeowner, says Yarl was grabbing the exterior handle. Why does that detail matter?

JACKSON: You know, it's -- every detail matters. But as it relates to defending your home, I think the critical issue for the defense is going to be whether that threshold was passed. You have to -- at some point, if you're a defendant in a case, and

you're arguing self-defense, you have to lay out what you were defending. Were you defending yourself? And, if so, were you in immediate fear of death or serious physical injury? Well, certainly, depending upon the actions of the person who was -- you ultimately shot, you want to know what that individual was doing.

So, if they didn't cross that threshold, what were you fearful of? What was the immediate threat that would compel you to discharge a firearm, not once to the head, but another to the arm? And so that's a critical issue. The other issue, Brianna, of course, is stand your ground.

I just should note that stand your ground is not a license to kill. It's not a license to shoot. It's not "I will shoot because I feel like it and the law protect me." It enables a person who believes that they're in immediate fear of death or serious injury to protect themselves.

In the event that Mr. Yarl -- I shouldn't even say Mr. -- he's a boy. He's 16 years old. The reality is, what specifically was he doing that led you to discharge your weapon? If that can't be established, stand your ground doesn't apply. And guess what? If it doesn't apply, how else are you going to justify your actions? If you can't, that equals assault in the first degree under this jurisdiction punishable by life.

KEILAR: So many questions still here.

Joey Jackson, thank you for taking us through that for us -- Boris.

JACKSON: Always.

SANCHEZ: Brianna, 12 jurors have just been seated in the biggest defamation trial in a generation. Dominion Voting Systems is seeking $1.6 billion in damages against FOX News, accusing the network of perpetuating false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 election against Donald Trump.

Legal experts say the benchmark is high for Dominion. They have to prove that FOX acted with -- quote -- "actual malice" when it peddled these lies of Dominion flipping votes.

Let's go outside the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, right now with CNN's Danny Freeman.

Danny, talk to us about the breakdown of this jury that was just elected.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so Boris, like you said, the headline of this morning is that we do finally have a jury.

They were sworn in at 11:00 a.m. this morning. And I want to tell you a little bit about the demographics that we're talking about right here. We have first 12 jurors in that primary jury pool and then 12 alternates. The judge said that he wanted a large amount of alternates because this trial is going to last very long.

So anything could happen in terms of people getting sick. And in terms of the specific makeup, we have six men and six women on that primary jury of 12. And then, according to our report and Marshall Cohen, who has been inside of that courtroom, at least nine of those people are people of color.

And I should remind you that all of these jurors are coming from New Castle County, where we are right here in Wilmington. Now, it's interesting. The judge was trying to implore the jury to try to shut out the outside world as long as you can, as much as you can when you're in this case.

The judge -- the judge even saying to the jurors, "You should fight human nature and avoid talking about this case before deliberations," and added, "Don't let rumors, suspicion or anything else influence you in any way."

But, of course, this is a media trial about media with all of the media out here. So it's going to be hard, you can imagine, for those jurors to truly sequester their minds from any outside content. But that's what we have today. And, again, the jury is set. We're in lunch recess right now, opening statements set to start 1:30.

SANCHEZ: So, Danny, let's talk about those opening statements, because even before the trial has actually started, there are already heated arguments between the two sides.

FREEMAN: That's right, Boris.

And all throughout the proceedings leading up to this trial, there have been back-and-forth between these two camps, Dominion and FOX News. Today, there was some discussion. There were objections, I should say, from actually both sides about some of the slides that each side was going to present at open -- in these opening statements.

But I can tell you now that those objections have been settled. The two attorney teams, they got together actually before the recess. They were able to work that out. So, now we have a green light and we should be saying opening statements this afternoon, as soon as this coming hour -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: A six-week trial that is expected to be rife with all sorts of fireworks and potentially very interesting testimony.

Danny Freeman from Wilmington, Delaware, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Still ahead: all eyes on the Supreme Court, as we wait for a ruling on whether American women will continue to have access to a widely used abortion pill. We will have details on that.

Plus, new details on the Pentagon's post-leak crackdown. The defense secretary just ordered a major review to ensure classified information is safe. Is it enough, though?

And one pizza guy delivered a whole lot want more than some pies. [13:15:01]

He delivered a suspect to police.

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KEILAR: We have this just in. A group of doctors suing to block access to the abortion pill mifepristone has asked the Supreme Court to uphold restrictions on the drug while other legal challenges play out.

The justices could be ruling as soon as today. The temporary hold on a lower court's ruling that limits access is set to expire at midnight tomorrow. About half of all abortions nationwide involve mifepristone, so this is an especially significant case.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is outside of the Supreme Court for us.

Jess, what are we expecting here?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we're going to we're likely to see a response from the Justice Department and the drug manufacturer Danco before the Supreme Court decides whether to step in yet again and stop those restrictions from going into effect on this abortion bill. That's all because the Supreme Court really does have until 11:59 p.m. to act tomorrow night.

[13:20:03]

So, what we're seeing in just about the past hour from these anti- abortion doctors is their filing telling the Supreme Court these restrictions should go into effect. These -- this group of doctors is saying that, over the past quarter-century, the government and the drug manufacturer here says -- quote -- "have brazenly flouted the law and applicable regulations, disregarded holes and red flags in their own safety data, intentionally evaded judicial review and continually placed politics above women's health."

So, that is the argument from the anti-abortion doctors. We will see how DOJ responds. Now, there really are two ways probably that Supreme Court could rule here. They could yet again decide to pause these restrictions as the appeals process plays out in the lower court, which it already is with oral arguments in the Fifth Circuit scheduled for May 17.

Or the Supreme Court could decide not to act at all and let these restrictions go into effect as of midnight Wednesday into Thursday. If those restrictions were to go into effect, there would be big changes in the way this drug is administered. First of all, women over seven weeks' pregnant would not be able to take the drug.

Right now, they can take it up to 10 weeks. And, also, women wouldn't be able to get this drug by mail or via telehealth with their doctors. They'd have to do everything in person. So, Brianna, we are waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. It's likely they won't rule tonight, because they will have all day tomorrow to decide what should happen here and whether or not these restrictions should go into effect.

So we will wait to see how the Justice Department responds and then wait to hear from the Supreme Court, Brianna.

KEILAR: Huge implications. Jess, thank you for that report -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: All right, also happening in Washington right now, President Biden set to sign a sweeping executive order at the White House aimed at making childcare more affordable and more accessible.

If you're a parent, you know all too well the high cost of raising a child. So let's take a look. The average cost for childcare for just one child ranges anywhere from $5,000 all the way up to more than $17,000. That's per year. That means some families are spending as much as 19 percent, one-fifth of their income, to provide childcare just for one child.

CNN's Phil Mattingly, he's live at the White House.

Phil, I'm curious, how far can an executive order go to provide relief here, given that legislative attempts to do so haven't gotten anywhere?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, there are very real limits. There's no question about that. That's something administration officials acknowledge.

And yet everything that you just laid out, all of the statistics, which have really been at the center of President Biden's domestic policy and economic team's focus over the course of his two-plus years in office, have made them kind of drive toward a decision to take executive action.

Now, as you noted, these issues, childcare, home care, paid leave, to some degree, were central elements of his sweeping legislative agenda in his first two years, central elements that did not make the cut, did not get across the finish line in the bills that ended up getting passed.

And now, with Republicans in control of the House, no clear pathway now at all for those to move through legislatively, so the president is going to act via executive order. And what he's doing today has a couple of different pieces.

The primary one is directing every single federal agency to try and find programs within the current scope of government, using the current funding streams, where they can think of grant programs, things like that, Medicare, Medicaid, where they can divert some of that money into lowering the cost of childcare, into incentivizing home care workers, childcare workers, trying to address, at least on the areas where they have some control, where they have jurisdiction, particularly with federal workers or companies that work with the federal government, to try and at least implement some of these changes on a smaller scale.

Now, the reality remains the case there's no clear pathway to the broad, wide-ranging efforts the president put into his initial proposals, but this serves two roles, one, to kind of lay out what they see as kind of the way this should work if they have legislative majorities that can pass things in the future.

But it's also a political move. There's no question about that. The president is nearing an announcement for a reelection campaign. This has long been central to his economic agenda. It will be central to any campaign agenda, and the president making clear in the Rose Garden with this executive order that his focus remains on this issue, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and there have been some signs of bipartisan support for something in the past, but clearly not enough.

Phil Mattingly at the White House -- Boris, over to you.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching for at this hour.

American journalist Evan Gershkovich will remain in a notorious Russian prison, at least for now. Today, a Moscow court rejected an appeal to change the terms of his attention espionage charges. "The Wall Street Journal" reporter appeared at the hearing standing in this glass case. His attorneys said they offered to pay more than 50 million rubles, 600,000 U.S. dollars, in bail money, but the court turned them down.

Their lawyers plan to keep appealing.

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TATYANA NOZKHKINA, ATTORNEY FOR EVAN GERSHKOVICH (through translator): In today's court session, our appeal against the measure of restraint was considered.

[13:25:02]

Most of you were present at the concluding part, and you saw that our appeal was denied. And, accordingly, for the time being, Evan will be staying in the pretrial detention center. We will continue to further appeal this measure of restraint.

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SANCHEZ: And we're seeing -- seeing newly released bodycam video of Jeremy Renner's horrific snowplow accident in January. The footage from the sheriff's department shows EMS crews attending to the actor after he got trapped under that snowplow outside his Reno home. Remember, Renner broke more than 30 bones and spent weeks in the ICU.

And you have got to take a look at this footage. A Pennsylvania pizza deliveryman is being hailed as a hero for helping to stop a suspected car thief. He tripped the suspect as he was running away from police. Watch this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Police!

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Incredible form there. The driver was able to delay the suspect just long enough for officers to catch him. And you will notice he did it all while holding onto that pizza.

SCIUTTO: All right, coming up, still no suspect or motive identified after the birthday party shooting that left four people dead, young people in Alabama.

Next, the sister of one of the victims talks about her brother's heroic actions.

Plus, Russia is struggling to replenish lost armored vehicles in Ukraine. Western officials say that Putin's army is -- quote -- "going backwards" and using tanks originally built after World War II.

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