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Amber Alert Along Entire Pacific Coast for Kidnapped Girl; Florida Teenager Dies from Tasering Following Confrontation with Police; Sick Child Dies after Parents Attempt Prayer Cure Instead of Hospital; Flooding Extends into Tennessee; Fort Hood Shooter Intent on Receiving Death Sentence, Attorneys Claim

Aired August 08, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, nice to have you with us. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Let's get started.

We're going to take you first to the West Coast where the desperate search for two missing children in California has changed. It has spread to Oregon.

An Amber Alert has now been issued there for 16-year-old Hannah and eight-year-old Ethan Anderson, of course, prompted by a possible sighting of a vehicle that's wanted in connection with this case.

Authorities suspect that 40-year-old James Dimaggio abducted at least one of these children after their mother's body was found in a burned- out house. A child's body was also found but so far authorities have not released an identity on that child. The children's father, Brett Anderson was on CNN's "NEW DAY" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT ANDERSON, FATHER OF MISSING CHILDREN: I believe the hardest thing emotionally is still to come when I have to go and start cleaning out their apartments and rooms.

But I have a lot of support here with me and we'll try to get through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN's Paul Vercammen is following this story live for us.

So first off, the most important part, did that tip on the vehicle that took us to Oregon end up panning out, Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, the sheriff's office here was saying at one point that it did not pan out, and there were tremendous gymnastics between the sheriff's department here and Oregon authorities.

But one thing that we can tell you, in Modoc County, that's where the city of Alturas is, no less than the undersheriff told us that a business owner there wrote down a license plate number that matched that of the suspect's vehicle. So they are now actively trying to pursue this with, of course, an Amber Alert now in Oregon and Washington.

The timeline fits because the first sighting was in Alturas, California, in the extreme northeast corner of the state, then a second sighting to the north on Highway 395, that in Oregon, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And, Paul, we've been hearing the father refer so often to just his daughter in the appeal for this man to release the daughter. Of course, the remains of that child haven't been identified in the burned out house, so we don't know the whereabouts of the young eight- year-old Ethan yet.

But there is some other information that's come to light and it's unusual. It's about the relationship between DiMaggio and this teen- age girl, Hannah. What exactly is it?

VERCAMMEN: Well, from what we understand, these families were so close, the DiMaggios and the Andersons, that they considered DiMaggio to be an uncle. He had known these children since childbirth.

We also had a neighbor say that he believes that DiMaggio and the 16- year-old girl had taken a recent trip to Hollywood.

Now let's listen to Brett Anderson. He said that there was nothing on his radar that would suggest that in some way DiMaggio had some sort of other linkage to the girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I have come up blank. I have been through every scenario in my brain. There was nothing ever to show any indication of this.

He -- everybody you could even talk to loved him. He would give you the shirt off his back. And he was there to help at any time you called, and nothing ever like this indicated anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And a little bit about her, Hannah, the 16-year-old said to be 5'7", 115 pounds, blond-haired, blue eyed. She was a member of the dance team.

When I talked to some of her friends at the high school the other day, they said fun-loving, just a great girl. They wouldn't suspect anything like this of her, being willingly run away with anybody.

So it remains to be seen, Ashleigh, how this will all unfold.

BANFIELD: And then again these strange reports coming from friends saying that Hannah had said that DiMaggio creeped her out, that he'd even suggested the crush, but the dad, again, as he said, didn't know anything about it.

Paul Vercammen, following this for us, live, thank you for that. And I also wanted to just let you know, with that interview that you saw, it was extraordinarily emotional, obviously, for that father. He was unable to actually speak at one point.

I want to show you another part of the interview. It's from this father talking about who these kids are. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Ethan wore his heart on his sleeve. He would give -- do anything for anybody, loved everybody. He was just my buddy.

We spoke quite often since I've been in Nashville and he would tell me his daily routines. He was just getting back into football for a second year.

And Hannah was just a beautiful, beautiful girl, very, very good student, hundreds and hundreds of friends and there is nothing bad to say about my kids.

They never did anything to anybody. They were always wonderful. We were pretty tight-hitched even though I was a couple thousand miles away.

I don't know what to say. It's surreal to me right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And we'll continue to follow this story as the information comes in to CNN.

We've also heard this, that Taser guns can kill. That's exactly what a south Florida teenager's family says happened to 18-year-old Israel Hernandez.

They say he was spray painting an empty building in Miami Beach on Tuesday morning. His friends apparently acting as look-outs.

But when police spotted him, he ran. They say that he hid, he jumped a fence and did not cooperate or listen to the officers' commands.

So when the officers got to him, they tased him. This is when it gets difficult. His friends say that the officers started laughing and congratulating each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I seen my friend lay down on the floor and they were just high fiving each other and laughing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's brutal. That's just brutal. He's a kid about my size and there was about 30 cops on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Hernandez was pronounced dead after he was taken to the hospital.

Our Nick Valencia has been live on this story investigating. He's at our CNN Center.

Nick, this is really distressing to hear this, that this young man is now dead. Do we have any other details on either the medical side of this or maybe the legal side of what's happening?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is distressing, Ashleigh. And this is story that has so many people upset locally, not just his friends and family.

Israel Hernandez was a very popular teenager in Miami Beach. He was known locally for his graffiti-ing, other people call it tagging and that's what he was doing at about 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

When cops confronted him, he was graffiti-ing or tagging an abandoned building, an abandoned McDonald's. They asked him to stop. They confronted him, at which point he took off running.

They were able to catch up to him. And they say, Ashleigh, police say that they had to tase him in order to arrest him.

Now, obviously, as I mentioned, a lot of his friends and family very upset about this.

But, of course, there are critics. There are critics that say this teenager was a vandal, he was defacing private property and he should have stopped when cops told him to stop.

I talked to his girlfriend earlier this morning and I asked her to respond to those critics.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF ALEXANDRIA, ISRAEL HERNANDEZ'S GIRLFRIEND: You know, Israel was (inaudible).

He ran because he was scared, you know. He's just a kid. He only weighs probably like 120 pounds.

He was just a child in so many ways. And he's so -- he's such a pure and innocent person and he'd never do -- he's the farthest thing from a (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: For their part, police released a statement which read, in part, "In order to effect his arrest, an officer deployed his Taser. The subject was placed into custody."

Now you asked about the medical history of this teen, if there was anything played in that. Autopsy and toxicology reports are pending.

But on that note also, Ashleigh, we asked his girl friend if he had a history of drug abuse, if he was on narcotics, perhaps, at the time of his arrest. She said no. This is a straight-edge kid, Nick. This is somebody that didn't even like drinking or smoking pot.

He went by the name "Reefer." I asked him if that had anything to do with his drug use. She said, no, he's from Colombia. His friends teased him about his heritage because of the infamy there of drug cartels, but he was a straight-laced kid.

And that's according to his friends and now he's dead after doing what he loved to do.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Well, they're certainly continuing to investigate this. In fact, the police already sending out their condolences, but saying the investigation is open and ongoing.

Nick Valencia, thank you for that.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BANFIELD: Happening right now, widespread flooding in central Tennessee, including the city of Nashville, no stranger to flooding there.

Parts of the Interstate 24 which run through the city are now under water, and some people have been forced to flee to the roofs of their homes.

Chad Myers joins us live at the Severe Weather Center with the very latest. I'm only thinking it was, what, not even two years ago that Nashville was an absolute mess. It was under water.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. And many of the river flood levels now are second only to that flood in 2010.

And here we go, Nashville, in the past six hours, six-to-10 inches of rainfall, in parts of Davidson County, officially, in six hours, six- and-a-half inches of rain. It doesn't matter where you live, you're going to get flooding if you get rain that fast.

South of Branson, Missouri, that white area there, that's 10 inches of rain or more in the past 24 hours. And Branson proper, I've been there many times, big tourist trap, tourist town here, Branson at eight inches of rain, six-and-a-half to Madison, that is Tennessee proper.

Flash flood warnings for Nashville, all the way here, that's the I-24. You see that. The rain continues here and it's going to continue for much of the day, could see flooding in parts of Georgia, still into Missouri, also into Tennessee for all day long.

It's a stationary front like a stationary bike; it doesn't move, the same rain showers, the same storms in the same places for the next couple of days, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And, Chad, it bears repeating. Say it with me. If you're driving and you see water on the road ahead of you, what do we do? MYERS: Stop.

BANFIELD: Don't drive.

MYERS: Exactly.

BANFIELD: Stop.

MYERS: And I don't want to take too much of our time here, but you think the road is still there, but this flooding has been so bad for so long, the roadway actually may not even be there.

There may just be water and you're going to drive off into the creek that's now a new creek and then get pushed down and you're going to be in trouble and then rescuers are going to have to come.

BANFIELD: So dangerous.

MYERS: Yeah.

BANFIELD: OK, Chad Myers, keep an eye on it for us. Thank you.

A fast-moving wildfire burning unchecked in California. Look at these pictures, 10,000 acres now engulfed in Riverside County. That's west of Los Angeles.

There are mandatory evacuations in effect for several communities. About 500 firefighters and three airborne units are trying to fight this one right now. So far we can report three people have been hurt in this wildfire.

A jury deliberating the fate of James "Whitey" Bulger goes into its third day now. Among those charges against the reputed mob boss, RICO, racketeering, involving 19 murders.

It all happened during a 20-year reign of terror in south Boston. At 83, if Bulger's convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A couple tried to use prayer to help their sick child get better. That child didn't get better; the child died. And here's what's really disturbing, it is not the first child who has died this way under their care.

Now they're charged with murder. Our legal experts are going to weigh in on this heartbreaking case after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Instead of rushing their sick baby to a hospital, a Philadelphia couple instead decided that prayer might work better.

But after several days prayer didn't work at all and that child died. And now a judge is upholding murder charges against the parents involved.

Our national correspondent Gary Tuchman has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this north Philadelphia cemetery, most of the graves are marked, but not this spot where two small children are buried, two children who would be alive today, say authorities, if their parents gave them medical care.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible are charged with third-degree murder following the death of their eight-month-old son Brandon this spring.

SETH WILLIAMS, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Instead of caring and nurturing him, they ultimately caused his death by praying over his body instead of taking him to the doctor.

TUCHMAN: And unbelievably, this isn't the first time this has happened to the Schaibles. In 2009 their 2-year-old son Kent died. The parents did not seek medical care to treat him.

JUDGE JOANNE PESCATORE: I tried the previous case two and a half years ago and the circumstances to that case to this case are eerily similar.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): In the first case the Schaibles were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Kent. The prosecutor asked for prison time, but the judge instead opted for probation and allowed the couple to move back to their home with their seven other children.

The judge did order them to seek medical care for their children in the future.

Joanne Pescatore prosecuted the case then and will prosecute this case as well.

TUCHMAN: When the judge gave probation, you must have been very upset.

PESCATORE: I was upset. I was upset at that and I was upset because I felt that they just didn't get it and they weren't going to get it. And now here we are, standing here again two and a half years later, another one of their children is dead and they still don't get it.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Which is why they've been charged with the more serious count of third degree murder this time around for the death of their baby, Brandon.

So what's with these parents? Authorities point to Philadelphia's First Century Gospel Church, where the Schaibles belong, a church that declares its trust in God alone for physical healing.

TUCHMAN: This church lists many of its core philosophies on its website. Relevant to this case is one particular belief that I will quote in part, "If we are trusting in pill prescription or medication, Satan is able to hinder our victory from God."

TUCHMAN (voice-over): So why is this type of faith healing preached?

We wanted to talk to the church's pastors.

TUCHMAN: Hi, my name is Gary Tuchman with CNN.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The daughter of the chief pastor said he did not want to speak with us.

TUCHMAN: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

TUCHMAN: Good. Is the pastor home?

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The wife of the assistant pastor said the same thing.

Herbert Scheibel remains in jail. But Catherine Scheibel has been released to live with her parents. The remaining children are in state custody.

TUCHMAN: Ms. Scheibel, do you feel you did right by God?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No comment.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is Herbert's Schaible's attorney.

BOBBY HOOF, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's sad, he's still in a grieving mode. I looked at him this morning. He seemed to have lost weight. But in terms of holding up, he's a standup guy.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Certainly that's a most controversial characterization.

We wanted to show you pictures of Herbert's and Catherine's two little boys, but lawyers on both sides say they don't know of any pictures of them in life. All they have are their autopsy photos, taken shortly before they were buried in their unmarked graves.

TUCHMAN: A lot of people say you have no love for your child because you've let two children die without medical help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No comment.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: So many questions, legal questions particularly about this. I want to bring in my legal panel, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Jeffrey Gold and also attorney Brian Kavateck joins me live.

Jeff, I want to begin with you. I think a lot of people would say aren't we allowed to parent the way we want?

Am I allowed to use faith, if that's what I believe is the most powerful tool to heal a child?

What does the law say?

JEFFREY GOLD, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the law says just because you have a religious belief that sacrificing children is part of your religion, you can't do it. And that's what's going on here, Ashleigh. These people knew about it.

I question probation who was supposed to watch over these people and perhaps ask them a few questions as time went on as to what their religious believes were as to this child. This case will come down to the defense saying it was only three days that the 8-month-old child was sick and that that's not enough to know. The prosecutor will say, wait a minute, we have a prior bad act. You just did the same thing before. You can't sacrifice your children and that's what these people did.

You mentioned, it it's astounding that 10 years probation and perhaps ask them a few questions as time went on as to what their religious beliefs were as to this child. This whole case will come down to the defense saying it was only three days -- three days that the 8-month- old child was sick and that that's not enough to know.

And the prosecutor will say, wait a minute. We have a prior bad act. You just did the same thing before. You can't sacrifice your children and that's what these people did.

BANFIELD: And you mentioned it. It's astounding that 10 years probation was all they got for the death of that child, who died in almost identical circumstances.

They have seven additional children, who are now being looked after by the state.

Brian, maybe tell me this, why would you only get 10 years' probation for what was considered involuntary manslaughter back then when nowadays -- and I get it; there's the prior bad act. They're being charged with murder in the third degree.

BRIAN KABATECK, ATTORNEY: I don't know. It seems to me to be a very lenient sentence for somebody who did something that's pretty horrific with respect to their children. Of course the first time a case like this comes up, there's all kinds of defenses you can raise at that time. You can say we didn't know the child was that sick, we had belief in our faith, we thought the child was going to turn around, was going to turn the corner. There's almost like an ignorance defense. We didn't know any better.

But this judge put them on 10 years of probation. And one of the terms of that probation was that the kids get routine medical care. If the children get sick, they get to a doctor as quickly as possible. These people had seven children. This child, an 8-month-old child, was sick for three days. I don't think the defense that the husband's lawyer, the father's lawyer is trying to assert here, which is three days, hey, he didn't know any better, he just thought the child would turn the corner, is going to fly, especially in light of probation. Once you're on probation, that is a court order.

BANFIELD: Well, and just real quick, Jeff, if you've got about 10 seconds on this, in that state, the third degree statute requires that you prove malice.

Is anyone in a court of law going to be able to prove that these grieving parents -- I think they're grieving. I think that's fair to say they're grieving -- were actually acting with malice when they prayed?

GOLD: Well, I think what they're going to find is that the state will be able to use the prior act to show that they had intent -- maybe not malice per se, but intent, that they knew what they were doing. And they had experience. The other child died as well. So I think they can show intent in this case.

BANFIELD: All right. Thanks very much.

Brian and Jeff, both of you, if could you stay put for a second. I have a little bit of breaking news. I'm going to revisit you guys in a moment.

But first I got to tell that you down in Florida, in Tampa, there is a big group of people that are being ordered to stay indoors, and it all has to do with the picture you're seeing, fumes that are coming silently but deadly potentially from that port.

What are the fumes?

How are they leaking and how are they going to contain this?

We're going to update you on this breaking news in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

BANFIELD (voice-over): So I want to get you some of this unusual information that's coming from a very large port in Tampa, Florida. It is in fact the Port of Tampa, and there's something wrong and no one knows yet exactly what it is.

But there are dangerous, noxious fumes that are emanating from that port. And they are so bad -- look at the direction of the flag. People downwind of that flag are being told to stay indoors. And that's not just a few people, it is several thousand people, particularly if you live or know people who live in the area of Channel Side or Harbor Island, all of those people have been given a stay inside order to shelter. They're trying to contain this; they're trying to figure out what this leak is. They're trying to figure out what the fumes are. But they do say if you have any experience of irritation of the eyes or respiratory tract, that can lead to headaches and dizziness. You're probably going to have to get some medical attention at some point.

But in the meantime, everyone in that particular area south of that port, they are being told to shelter in place, stay indoors, keep your windows and doors closed and put on your TV and radio so you can stay in tune with those developments. We'll watch that as well and as soon as we know more, we will let you know as well. But what a bizarre situation, not knowing what it is and where it's leaking from, those fumes.

So another big breaking story, we've been bringing it to you from Texas every day. And in fact, on this show, every day this week, we've had a break in the Nidal Hasan case, that's of course the Army major who is accused of opening fire on his colleagues at Ft. Hood.

Our Ed Lavandera is standing by with yet another break, more breaking news in the case.

Yesterday everything shut down, Ed, because the backup lawyers to this man who wants to defend himself say they can't stand by any longer and watch him march himself to the death penalty.

What has the judge said in this case?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was another tense morning. The judge came out this morning first thing and denied those attorneys' request to modify how they would work with Major Nidal Hasan in his death penalty murder case here at Ft. Hood.

The judge denied that motion. And then it didn't end there. Basically the judge ruled that it was -- this was simply a disagreement in strategy, that Major Hasan is fully capable of representing himself, that he has a constitutional right to defend himself how he so chooses.

But then the lawyers didn't leave it there. They said that the -- it would be more -- the attorneys telling the judge, continued, kept hammering at the judge about this and said it would be, quote, "morally repugnant" to force them to allow Major Hasan to essentially, in their opinion, work with the prosecution to ensure that he get the death penalty.

Despite all of that and those strong claims from these attorneys, from what we could hear, sounded very angry and upset by the judge's ruling. But all of that continues. The judge has said that they have to continue working alongside Major Hasan, standing by his side. They are not the lead counsels. They do not make the decisions. Everything is up to Major Hasan and basically they have to stand there and watch him choose this strategy, which they think is ensuring that he gets sentenced to death.

BANFIELD: Well, you know what, as they say, Ed, you do have a right to defend yourself, even if you're defending yourself very poorly.

But I will tell you this, Ed, from the many cases I've seen, a lot of times those shadow lawyers, they have got to protect themselves, too, against some kind of case down the way, of ineffective assistance of counsel. So maybe that's at least on the record for them at this point as they move forward.

Keep us posted today on any other movements in the trial, will you, Ed?

LAVANDERA: I will.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Ed Lavandera there live for us at Ft. Hood. Thank you, you, too.

He's on it every day for us and we'll keep you posted.

Not even 11:30 in the morning Eastern time and the court case already done for the day in Joshua Young's trial.

Why? He's that 17-year-old baby-faced boy accused of helping his father beat his 14-year-old stepbrother to death. But his defense case only called two witnesses in this entire thing. It was so bizarre.

During the prosecution's case two witnesses and then just four additional witnesses this morning and then said we're done. All of it less than half an hour. So that's quick before you rest your case.

Can I remind you if he's convicted, he faces life in prison? So the question, did the defense do enough to save that boy? We're back in a moment.

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