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WAPO: Following a Miscarriage, an Ohio Lady Accused of "Abuse of corpse"; Interview with Defense and Trial Attorney Misty Marris; After CNN's Exclusive Revelation, A Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination was Filed Against Navy Federal; Sandra Day O'Connor. Aired 10:30-10:45a ET

Aired December 19, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: A woman in Ohio is being criminally charged for how she handled the remains from a miscarriage she suffered at her home. A detailed report from "The Washington Post" says Brittany Watts is being investigated by a grand jury for a felony abuse of a corpse for allegedly wrongfully disposing of the fetus. Watts was in and out of the hospital days prior to her miscarriage at nearly 22 weeks. And according to "The Post", doctors confirmed her pregnancy was not viable.

When Watts woke up on September 22nd, she felt intense pain in her abdomen and miscarried in her bathroom. Once she was taken to the hospital, she told the nurse she had left the fetus outside her home. The nurse contacted the police and they showed up two weeks later to arrest her. Watts' lawyer said in this statement to CNN, there is no law in Ohio that requires a mother suffering a miscarriage to bury or cremate those remains. The prosecution of Ms. Watts is tragic, it is unjust, and we will continue to fight.

Joining me now, Defense and Trial Attorney Misty Marris. Thank you so much for being here. How does this get charged in the first case when you have the doctor saying that the fetus was not viable? And you also have a medical examiner said there was no abuse or anything to the fetus at all afterwards either.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: Right. So. this is a case that, I think, is near and dear to many people's hearts. A lot of people have experienced this horrible, horrible situation of a miscarriage. So, in this particular case, the statute that she is being charged under is abuse of a corpse. And we had a lot of insight as to what the prosecution was looking at when bringing these charges because there was a preliminary hearing.

And at the preliminary hearing, prosecutors essentially said it was irrelevant whether or not the fetus was -- whether or not there was a live birth, whether or not the fetus died in utero, which was confirmed by those very medical reports that you spoke of. They were focused on everything that happened after and the -- and what happened with that fetus after the fact.

Now, the defense on the other hand, focused on everything that happened. The totality of his circumstances. That this woman had gone for medical treatment. She ultimately did not get the medical treatment. She, for three days, she'd waited eight hours, ended up going home, had a miscarriage like many others have experienced and is now being charged with abuse of a corpse, which seems to be something that this would not be the legislative intent of that statute.

And that's what we're going to see as this case --

SIDNER: Play out here.

MARRIS: -- move forward. Those are the primary legal arguments from a defense perspective.

SIDNER: She is going through one of the most, the worst times in a woman's life. Having to mourn a baby. Having to go through this pain. I want to ask you if this is statute has been used before in a case like this or another case?

MARRIS: There's actually been a case in Ohio back in 2019 that resulted in probation. Keep in mind, this is a felony charge that can result in up to one year in prison. So, it has been used previously in this way, however, we're in a whole new world here because now we are post the Supreme Court decision Dobbs. And so, there is a lot of uncertainty about the way these statutes are going to be used and there is less constitutional barriers that were in place under Roe.

So, this is certainly a case to watch. And again, they are going to be looking at this state statute. And some of the primary issues will be the legislative intent. This statute, the intention, is for grave robbing, you know, all the way to mistreatment of a corpse. So, does this situation fall into it? A lot of people are going to say, no.

And then the other piece of it is that definition of corpse. Would it -- under this circumstance, is this going to fall --

SIDNER: The unviable fetus.

MARRIS: -- under this from a legal perspective?

[10:35:00]

And again, that is a hot button issue that loops us back into the whole discussion of Dobbs and rights moving forward with respect to abortion.

SIDNER: Politics is at play and this woman's life is ruined at this point in time. We'll see what happens. Misty Marris, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Coming up still for us, a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination filed against the largest U.S. credit union following in a CNN exclusive report.

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[10:40:00] BOLDUAN: The largest credit union in the country, Navy Federal Credit Union, is facing a class action lawsuit after an exclusive CNN investigation which published last week. The complaint alleges the company, which lends to military service members, defense personnel, veterans, and their families, discriminated against black and Latino applicants.

The credit union approved conventional home mortgages for white applicants more than 75 percent of the time. And less than half of black applicants were approved for the same type of loan. CNN's report found the credit union had the widest disparity in conventional mortgage approvals between white and black borrowers of any major lender last year, but it did not prove discrimination.

CNN's Rene Marsh and her team is behind this new reporting. She joins us now. Rene, what is in this lawsuit?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning. This is a lawsuit filed by three law firms, including Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump's law firm. They filed it in federal court in Virginia this weekend, and it accuses Navy Federal of violating federal housing discrimination laws.

This class action seeks to represent a broad range of potential plaintiffs, including minority applicants who applied for Navy Federal residential loans from 2018 to present and had their applications denied, approved at higher interest rates or subject to less favorable terms compared to non-minority applicants. As well as those who may have had their application process dragged on and take unusually long.

One of the attorneys behind the suit says that the goal is to obtain economic justice for black and Latino borrowers who were denied their piece of the American dream. And I do want to note since our report, CNN has learned that Navy Federal has hired a civil rights attorney to review its mortgage lending practices. And coming out of Washington, D.C. HERE, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who -- she -- who is the ranking Democratic member of the House Financial Services Committee. Yesterday, she called on Navy Federal to explain both to Congress and their members how such practices took place. And she's also calling on federal regulators to investigate, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Rene, what is Navy Federal saying about this?

MARSH: Well, we reached out to them regarding this lawsuit, and they did not comment directly to CNN on this. They did put out a press release, generally speaking, about their commitment to equal and equitable lending practices. They continued to deny the findings, as far as CNN's findings of their wide disparity and who they approved and denied. But again, the latest from Navy Federal is that they have acquired this civil rights attorney to review their practices. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Great reporting, Rene, thank you.

MARSH: Thank you, Kate.

SIDNER: Thank you so much for joining us. This is "CNN News Central with Wolf Blitzer." Don't we love him? He is anchoring our special coverage of the funeral service of Former Supreme Court and trailblazer Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. That's ahead.

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