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Defense Rests in Joshua Young Case; Coach Accused of Sexual Abuse; 3 Winners in Powerball Jackpot; Allegations DEA Covered-Up Investigations; Woman Lies to Cops, Gets Arrested.

Aired August 08, 2013 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A 17-year-old boy on trial, accused of helping his own dad as they killed a 14-year-old step brother. Joshua Young's defense has rested its case and it did not take long, after less than 20 minutes of testimony. That's it, 20 minutes today. The victim was beaten behind a high school in Louisville in May of 2011. His own stepbrother, that young boy sitting there, Joshua Young, could face life in prison if he's convicted of the alleged role in the crime. He may look really young but he is 17. The defense did call two witnesses, out of order, sort of in the middle of the prosecution's case. That's not unusual. So prior to today's 20 minutes, it was only about 10 minutes more. So all in all, only about a half hour in the defense case. Much of what you're hear sums up much of what we heard this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE SCHULER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I have a question for you. To your knowledge, was Tray afraid of the dark?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

SCHULER: Can you describe Joshua Young's demeanor in the car going to the funeral?

CYNTHIA GUENTHER, JOSHUA YOUNG'S AUNT: Very sad, very distraught, teary-eyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I want to bring back criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Jeff Gold, CNN legal correspondent, Jean Casarez, as well.

Jean, I want to start with you.

You've been reporting on this case. When you look at that young- looking face in court -- he's 17. He was 15 years old when the crime was committed. This reminds us of cases like the King brothers in Florida where these are baby-faced defendants. He had no plan or taking the stand?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I don't think so. Many of his statements were played in court. I think the defense used a lot of the prosecution's case, cross examinations to develop their case. He's charged with complicity to commit murder, that he helped, assisted, aided and encouraged his own father. His father was a witness in this case. As the evidence has come out, it's amazing, Ashleigh, because I don't see the evidence for complicity to commit murder. But I think there is evidence that he committed murder. The big argument in court today was, is he going to be charged as a principle in this at all.

His father said I did it alone, my son wasn't there, but if you look at the evidence that unfolds, it doesn't point to the father. One example, the father says, I smoked pot with Trey, the victim, who was 14 years old, right before I killed him. There was no pot in his system -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Jeff, weigh in on this for me, if you will. It's not conspiracy, it's complicity. When I think about a 15-year-old acting and doing something with his dad, I think all 15-year-olds are complicit when it comes to what their parents are doing. Is that criminal?

JEFF GOLD, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, it could be criminal but you're exactly right, how do you fault a 15- year-old? The dad, a month after the murder says, "My kid did it." The reason he did that is because he's a juvenile and could game the system. If he's a juvenile, he wouldn't get much time. When the state of Kentucky upped it and indicted him or had his charged criminally as an adult facing life, dad does a flip and says, I did it all. The kid had nothing to do with it. He's gamed the system. And this poor kid is in the middle.

I don't know much about the kid, other than what I read in the paper. You're exactly right, Ashleigh. Every 15-year-old looks up to their dad. If you're a juror, how do you find beyond a reasonable doubt when the dad said he did it alone.

BANFIELD: I'm going to go out on a limb, you two, and make a statement I don't know many news anchors would make, but I'm going to go ahead and do it. This kid, whose mother died in 2010, was moved into foster care, apparently, was doing pretty well. His daddy got out of prison and got custody of this kid. That, to me, is the crime that was committed, because only months later, Zwicker was killed. And now we're in a murder case involving father and son. There you are, I said it.

Jeff Gold, Jean Casarez, thanks.

Stick around. I have more questions on the legal side of things. A shocking story about a youth coach. This one is all too familiar. He's now in jail and he's charged with molesting six boys, including one he allegedly slipped a sleeping pill to. Details right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: It has been just over a year since former Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of sexually abusing a number of children. Now a Kentucky youth coach is facing 14 charges of sexually abusing six boys. In one case, the coach, 46-year-old Michael Schweitzer, allegedly slipped a sleeping pill to one of the boys before molesting him.

We've got more on this developing story from Tony Mirones, with affiliate, WCPO.

TONY MIRONES, REPORTER, WCPO (voice-over): Imagine your reaction if your neighbor was charged with sodomy, unlawful sexual transaction with a minor and sexual abuse. A neighbor where your son had visited to play. Look at the property from satellite imagery, a ball field, play set and trampoline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike didn't seem like out of the ordinary. He didn't seem he would do that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Spence was down here playing. They played whiffle ball in the back yard. They seemed very nice, very normal.

MIRONES: That "normal" changed yesterday when Michael Schweitzer, a known youth coach, was indicted on these crimes. He's in the county jail on a half-million dollar bond.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shocked that it's so close to home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's weird. You wouldn't expect it.

MIRONES: Spencer goes to Connor High School, so I asked the schools if Schweitzer has ever been affiliated with any of the sports programs. They said he's never been on the payroll.

Spencer's mom, Terry, said it's a great time to talk to your kids about inappropriate relationships.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes you want to keep your kids at home and really be careful about whose place you send them to and who they are with.

MIRONES: According to neighbors, Schweitzer's wife and children moved out more than a month ago when allegations first surfaced.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And again, our thanks Tony Mirones and our affiliate, WCPO, for that report.

I have an update on some of the breaking news that we have been talking about in Tampa. If you're one of those people who is stuck in a shelter-in-place order by a Tampa court because of noxious fumes, a mystery, I've got an update for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: For those people south of the Tampa port who are stuck in their homes in a shelter-in-place order, you can leave now. That shelter-in-place order has been lifted. Apparently, the noxious fumes have dissipated. It was a mystery. Nobody really knew how this happened or what the fumes were, but at this point they're not as concerned as they were when they ordered everybody to stay inside. Again, all those folks who were stuck south of the port, a couple thousand people, in fact, you don't need to be stuck inside anymore.

Although, I do encourage you to wait on this next story because this is a good one.

Before you leave the TV, were you one of the people who won the Powerball? Because we have a winner, three winners in fact, in that huge Powerball jackpot. Here's the information you need to know if you think it might be you. Two of you are from New Jersey, one from Minnesota. Here are the winning numbers. Write them down, check your ticket twice.

CNN's personal finance and business correspondent, Zain Asher, is live from Brunswick, New Jersey.

This is the kind of state where if you win, you can't creep away quietly into the sunset. You need to come forward and be public about it, right?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You can't be anonymous. The winning ticket was sold at this Stop & Shop here. There is really so much buzz here. There is a massive cake saying "congratulations Powerball winner" with all the numbers. So there is a lot of buzz.

Yeah, you take $448 million, you split that three ways, you walk away with about $150 million, certainly not chump change by any stretch of the imagination. But in New Jersey, you cannot be anonymous. There are some states out there where if you decide you don't necessarily want the whole world knowing you just won $150 million, you can keep it private. Not in New Jersey. A lot of the reasons is lottery officials believe if you have a real name and face associated with the winnings, it does encourage playing.

Going back to the rules in New Jersey. You have about a year to collect your winnings.

I did speak to the folks at Stop & Shop who said they're really excited about their commission. They're expecting a $30,000 commission. That's what you get when you sell the winning ticket. I asked them, how are you going to spend it? They said they plan to give it to charity. So --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Oh, that's really nice.

I just wanted to let the winner know --

ASHER: I know.

BANFIELD: -- if you're watching you don't have a year to collect that cake because that would be nasty. (LAUGHTER)

I hope you see the winner.

Zain Asher, thanks. Thanks for that.

(LAUGHTER)

We have another story coming up. A big controversy that's come out this week over allegations that the Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA, is covering up some of its investigations. It's not a joke. It's so bad that the Department of Justice is looking into this right now. So we're going to ask the question, is it possible that people who are convicted over the years by this practice or at least because of this practice, might get a free ticket out of jail because of the cover- ups? We'll have that story for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So you have probably heard before that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spies on Americans, essentially, kind of oversees, or at least who are connecting with people over seas. They do it all sorts of ways, the NSA intercepts, domestic wire taps, informants and the database with their phone records. Here is what you might not know. They take the information and then they pass it along. They funnel it to the IRS, to the NSA, and to other agencies, so that those other agencies here can actually launch their own criminal investigations.

All of this is from a Reuters report release this had week. The report says the DEA is then instructing its folks, its own agents to lie, lie about where that original information came from. The practice is now under investigation by the Justice Department.

But what about those who have been prosecuted as a result of the origination of this data that was cleared away, wiped away? "Parallel construction" they call it. Is it possible that people could be set free from prison if the root of the investigation is deemed to be illegal?

Our CNN legal correspondent, Jean Casarez, is the perfect person to ask this.

I think it may have even been you who explained to me what "fruit of the poisonous tree" means. Does it apply here potentially, Jean?

CASAREZ: The origination of the investigation. Defense attorneys are saying it is a violation of due process and their clients did not get a fair trial. Why? Because the origination of the investigation, they don't know about, they weren't told. That deprived someone of their liberty.

What's interesting here is this program has been in place since the 1990s, so how many cases could it have affected within the DEA? And there is a Justice Department investigation, but the Justice Department reportedly knew about this program, so did they already pass constitutional muster in regard to the legality of this program or not? We'll have to see how this develops. But two leading Republicans are saying that this is hiding the ball and, constitutionally, it is not right.

BANFIELD: This group, called the Special Operations Division of the DEA, says there is nothing illegal about what they have been doing. And still what's weird is that they're asked to reconstruct the root, again, the origination of the tip so that there is a completely open and public investigation that they can pass onto prosecutors and judges and defendants, et cetera. But here is my question. If somebody who ends up guilty of a crime is legitimately guilty of a crime, who cares that the original tip may have been ill gotten if it is recreated and that original tip can be legitimate? Do you understand? It is a little complex.

CASAREZ: Yes. I understand exactly.

BANFIELD: The original tip is crappy but the recreated tip is actual, and the guy is guilty? Who cares?

CASAREZ: I think it is how close the causal connection is because we know tips are used in law enforcement all the time, right? Normally, it does form the basis of the investigation, that tip. So, number one, if you're not told the tip and you don't know about it, that's the number-one issue defense attorneys have. Number two, the causal connection. If you give the tip to somebody, go to this truck stop because a vehicle will be there at 2:00 in the afternoon and the vehicle is filled with drugs, but you can't communicate that tip, then you have to find another reason to pull somebody over, legitimate or not legitimate, you have to form that reason. You pull them over, you get the drugs, it forms the basis of the arrest. That's really the core issue here, I think. And this is only used for international drug cases and money laundering cases at this point. High, high- profile cases.

BANFIELD: And makes me mad only because it is a tip, it is not evidence. It is a tip. But I completely get where you are coming from. It is a little thing called our Constitution. Very important little thing.

Jean Casarez, you're awesome. Thank you.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BANFIELD: It is never a good idea to lie to the police. You know that. Wait until you hear what one woman said when she was caught speeding and how that was a domino effect that she now really wishes she never did.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I have a story for you here. You may have told a little white lie after being pulled over by the police. Maybe, maybe not. Some people do. A New Hampshire woman decided to tell a police officer a pretty elaborate lie all to avoid a speeding ticket. She didn't just say I have to go to the bathroom or I'm in a hurry. She said her father was on his death bed and she was rushing to see him before he died. The police officer let her go, but his Spidey senses were tingling, and he decided to Google the dad's name, and guess what? Turns out that dad did die. He died back in '08. He also found that she was driving on a suspended registration, which is a misdemeanor in New Hampshire. He decided to take some action. He went over to her house and he arrested her.

Our legal panel is back with me now, Jeffrey Gold and Brian Kabateck.

Jeff, I am surprised that all she ended up getting charged with once he did confront her was driving after a suspension of registration and speeding. How about obstruction and lying?

GOLD: Absolutely. The misdemeanor she has been charged with, and it is criminal in nature, and absolutely. I get your dog ate the homework, but this is lying to the police. You know, I have a lot of clients, and when you have pretty girls, they don't get charged with speeding as much as men. This girl went way out of the way to avoid that original ticket. I don't understand, though, why the cop didn't know her registration was suspended at the time. So there is a little bit of question in my mind, was he just cutting her a break and then changing the story later. But --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Maybe. Listen, if someone says their dad is dying, and she literally said he is only six breaths per minute now, giving serious detail, maybe he was trying to give her a break, yes.

Brian, however, some people say this is a vengeful cop. Is this someone seeking revenge, going to her house to cuff her, or is it great policing?

BRIAN KABATECK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't think it is either. I don't think it is great policing but almost every state has statutes about interfering with the police officer and the discharge of their duty and it is something they could have charged her with. She was clearly doing it. Once you're out there in the field and once the police officer out there, he controls the situation. He has broad discretion. He or she can make determinations about what to do under the circumstances and here lying to cops, bad stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Bad, bad, bad.

All right. Brian Kabateck, Jeff Gold --

KABATECK: Yeah.

BANFIELD: -- thank you both for being a part of the show today. It is nice to have you. Appreciate your insight.

And all of you watching, thank you as well. Great to have you.

Please Stay tuned. AROUND THE WORLD starts now.