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Teen Girl's Cleared in Classmate's Suicide; Matrimony for Manson; Are Selfies Good for Self-Esteem; Jennifer Lawrence "Catching Fire"

Aired November 22, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Criminal charges against 13- and 14-year- old girls accused of bullying a classmate who ended up killing herself, those charges are now dropped.

But one of those young girls, 13-year-old Katelyn Roman, is speaking out. Roman says she feels bad about the death of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick, who she said was once her best friend.

As she talked this morning with Chris Cuomo of "NEW DAY," she said she wants to turn the tragedy into something positive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATELYN ROMAN, CLEARED OF CHARGES IN CYBER-BULLYING CASE: Yes, there's some things I could have changed, but I didn't really do anything wrong.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": When you say you didn't do anything wrong, is that you didn't do anything you thought would make this happen?

K. ROMAN: Yes.

CUOMO: What do you think you have learned here, because of everything that's happened?

K. ROMAN: Well, maybe you should watch what you say. And words do hurt. And you should use them carefully and try not to hurt people's feelings.

CUOMO: And certainly, this is a hard thing for you to live with also, right?

ROMAN: Yes, it was very hard to deal with this.

CUOMO: And what do you do? What do you tell yourself in terms of how to move forward with this, how to live your life, because you're so young?

K. ROMAN: I want to stop bullying, and I want to help anyone who's getting bullied because I don't want this to happen to anyone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Roman's attorney, Jose Baez, says the sheriff who filed charges against her asked recklessly in this case when he released her mug shot in a news conference last month.

But Grady Judd, he stands by his actions. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GRADY JUDD, POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA: Florida public records law says when you commit a felony, your name and your face is public record. Bullying is a national epidemic.

This went even beyond bullying to cyber-stalking. Let's don't lose focus that we have a 12-year-old child that's dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sheriff Grady Judd joins me on the phone from Florida. Thank you so much for taking a couple minutes with me here today.

You know, we heard your explanation. It's perfectly legally, obviously, under Florida law, to release these young women's photographs.

Now that we know that prosecutors refuse to charge these girls, did you make a mistake?

JUDD (via telephone): No, Brooke, I didn't make a mistake. In fact, if the same set of circumstances presented themselves today, and our detectives did a great investigation like they completed, we would do the same exact thing.

Understand, these girls didn't get away Scot free. What occurred and what we said from the very beginning is these girls need an intervention.

They need counseling, they need help, because this very fragile child was bullied and bullied, and ultimately, she jumped to her death.

So we made an arrest based upon probable cause, which was agreed to by the state attorney's office and by the judge the next day after the arrest at the first appearance hearing.

What we did in concert with the state attorney's office is agree, and I'm in total agreement with what occurred.

When you do a diversion, you refer kids to counseling, it's an action to keep from going to court. Therefore, the charges are dropped.

So I agree 100 percent with what we did in this case. We took care of the problem.

BALDWIN: I hear you standing by it. I hear you also talking about the probable cause. You stand by the judge's decision.

Yet when you hear from this defense attorney, Jose Baez, he said there was zero evidence of Roman cyberbullying anyone.

We heard from her mother saying because of this, she received death threats, because of your choice to release this photograph of her teenage daughter.

This is what they told CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE BAEZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I have gone through all of the evidence, the thousands of pages of discovery that are clear, and the one thing that is clear is that Katelyn, there's not one single incident of her cyberbullying anyone. You don't make arrests first and get evidence later.

MICHELLE GILL, DAUGHTER CLEARED OF CYBERBULLYING CHARGES: My kid has been put up with another child as one of the most wanted criminals in the world.

I've had people at my house. I've had death threats on my child. I've had to be afraid to come back to my own home, all because her photo was released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sheriff Judd, I don't know if you're a father, if you have children, but if you were to sit next to that mother and look her in the eye, given what she just said, what would you tell her?

JUDD (via telephone): I would tell her that her child committed the act of felony stalking.

You notice the defense attorney talked about cyberbullying. We charged her with stalking.

That defendant that was on CNN beat down the victim that died. So let's don't forget, we're dealing with a 12-year-old child that Katelyn jumped on and beat down.

I can tell you, quite frankly, that the defense attorney's job is to do a good job on this case, and he did, but at the end of the day, we got them counseling, we did an intervention.

We made the arrest, we stopped the conduct, and that's what we're interested in. Bullying is a nationwide epidemic.

But we sat down with that mother of that child that committed that felony, and we talked to her. But what they've got to do is not be in denial, and recognize that what she did was wrong, and there was an intervention in the juvenile courts because we didn't want her to go to juvenile court.

The outcome was the state attorney's office and the defense office wanted, counseling for her child.

She recognizes and is remorseful. The next night after Rebecca jumped to her death, they took Katelyn over there to apologize, personally apologize. So the parents recognized the gravity of what occurred.

BALDWIN: The little girl said this morning that she wants to help fight bullying.

But I think at the end of the day, what we all need to recognize, and, Sheriff, I think you'll agree with me, we have a 12-year-old who jumped to her death because of this, Grady Judd, just to put that in perspective for everybody.

Sheriff Judd, thank you for picking up the phone today.

Coming up here, convicted killer Charles Manson could be getting married? You heard me right.

You'll hear from the woman who says she is his bride-to-be. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Charles Manson, you know his name. You know his infamous murders, his cult following, his prediction of "Helter Skelter" and apocalyptic race war.

But what you probably don't know is that one of the most notorious men in the world has a girlfriend. And here she is, 25-year-old "Star," these pictures posted to fan website, mansondirect.com.

That name, by the way, "Star," Manson thought that up himself. She has been seeing Manson, now 79, ever since she was 19. The news today, she says they plan to marry.

CNN's Ted Rowlands talked to her a while back and asked her why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"STAR," CHARLES MANSON'S GIRLFRIEND: Well, because I love him.

And somehow, I've got half a brain that I can see that he is the one that knows what's going on.

He's the one that is in the truth whenever nobody else is and --

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is it about him compared to other people you have met in your lifetime that makes him so unique and different?

"STAR": Charlie always tells the truth, no matter what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Charlie, she says.

Ted Rowlands, I was looking closely to see if she had the "X" carved in her forehead, because she has since done that for her love.

Tell me more about her and why she want to do this. ROWLANDS: Well, you know, she's a unique young lady, that's for sure, Brooke. I met her when she was 21 out in coke Corcoran. She moves from the Midwest to be closer to Charlie. She said she was attracted to Charlie because she was attracted to his readings and writings on the environment. She said she didn't really realize this guy had been accused of all the crimes.

BALDWIN: She didn't realize that?

ROWLANDS: She said it was all about the environment. She picked on it quickly, and it didn't dissuade her.

Here's what she says about Charlie and the environment and her attraction to both.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"STAR": Charlie is all about ATWA, air, trees, water, animals, and he's been talking about it for over 40 years.

And none of the TV shows have ever picked that up. I don't know why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Now, one thing, Brooke, for sure is she's not doing this necessarily for the attention. I mean, she really loves Charlie Manson.

Bottom line, having met her, I can say that, unequivocally, it is what it is.

BALDWIN: OK. I'm just going to keep my thoughts right in here and ask you this. How much time do they actually have, one-on-one, when she visits him in prison?

ROWLANDS: Yes, he's at Corcoran, a maximum security prison in California.

She talks to him on the phone many times a week and gets to see him on the weekends, and sees him most weekends, at least once a week on Saturdays.

BALDWIN: There you have it. Thank you, Ted.

Coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM, you may know her, you may love her, as Jennifer Lawrence. A lot of people call her "J-Law."

And with the second installment of "The Hunger Games" just out, you could say her career is "catching fire." More on Miss Lawrence, coming up.

But, first, teens and selfies, they go together like peanut butter and jelly, right? Many parents are wondering what good could come of teens and tweens taking pictures of themselves?

Apparently, a lot. We're talking selfies and self-esteem, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Love him or hate them, you can't escape them. I'm talking about selfies, Oxford Dictionary's new Word of the Year.

And let me school some of you, for those of you not familiar. Here's one. It's our team honoring the occasion with our own selfie this week, come on, because we had to. I love these guys.

Needless to say, longer arms are a plus in the art of self-snapping. What's a selfie if it's not immediately uploaded to social media?

Celebs love it, but is the stream of selfie postings a good thing, particularly when we're talking about fragile self-esteem of our kids.

My next guest says yes. Kelly Wallace, CNN digital correspondent and editor-at-large, joins me now.

And, Kelly Wallace, you are a mother.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE, CNN DIGITAL: Yes.

BALDWIN: Tell me why this could be a good thing.

WALLACE: Thankfully, my kids are not posting selfies just yet. I might have a different feeling if they were.

But here's the thing, Brooke. We did a recent story talking to a family about the conversations they're having about social media, and the mom of a 13-year-old said, yes, most of the kids are posting selfies.

But she said what she was really taken by surprise were the comments. Most of them, oh, you're so awesome, so great, you're beautiful.

And she said as much as we think there can be a lot of negative about social media, and there is, there is a little bit there that she said and other people agree that helps build self-confidence.

BALDWIN: It's great to hear the self confidence boost, but let's be real. I feel for every happy story, we have horrendous heartbreaking stories of cyberbullying, not always positive.

WALLACE: No. Definitely. There are so many tragic cases like the case you were talking about earlier in your show.

But you know what's interesting. For every one of those cases, there are probably so many more cases where kids are sort of using it in a positive way, even for social good.

And the group Common Sense Media did a survey last year of teens, asking them about social media, and teens, 20 percent say, it makes them feel more confident. More teens say they feel more outgoing. More teens say it helps their friendships than hurts them. They view it as more positive in their lives than negative.

BALDWIN: This is what I loved about your CNN.com piece. You say this is the memo to parents, have the talk. Not the kind of talk people are thinking about.

WALLACE: Right. But you know, in a way it's like the sex talk. You can freak out about it and say no, no, no, I don't want to have the talk.

Or you can get with the program and realize this is the reality, your kids are in this world, you need to learn about it, you need to understand it and you need to talk to your kids about it.

And they probably might be a little more savvy than you think if you start that conversation.

BALDWIN: Kelly Wallace, thank you so much for joining, as always.

Check out Kelly's stuff. It's always great, CNN.com/opinion.

And if you have -- speaking of teenagers, you probably know this. The new "Hunger Games" movie is in theaters.

It is called "Catching Fire" and the star of the movie, Jennifer Lawrence, she is hot, hot, hot, on fire as well.

We'll hear from her, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD SUTHERLAND, ACTOR, "THE HUNGER GAMES": This is the 75th year of "The Hunger Games."

The tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors.

WILLOW SHIELDS, ACTRESS, "THE HUNGER GAMES": Katniss!

JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ACTRESS, "THE HUNGER GAMES": I get to say goodbye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The highly anticipated sequel entitled "Catching Fire" could break box office records. It has already banked more than $25 million after its midnight opening. Wow.

And then there's the film's hottest star, Miss Jennifer Lawrence.

CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner talked to the 23- year-old about how she is handling all this newfound fame and word that she commands nearly as big a paycheck as Angelina Jolie does.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke. You know, there won't be anything close to "The Hunger Games -- Catching Fire" this weekend. This film could potentially bring in more than $150 million, domestically, $300 million-plus, worldwide, over the weekend.

It's showing in more than 4,000 theaters. Most of them had 8:00 p.m. screenings last night.

The first "Hunger Games" made $152 million in its opening weekend. That was back in March of 2012. The first movie overall made $691 million. I know.

It also made Jennifer Lawrence a superstar. She is the "it" girl in Hollywood, no doubt about it.

She's only 23-years-old. She already has a Best Actress Oscar, and, according to "Forbes," she's the second-highest paid actress in Hollywood, just behind Angelina Jolie.

She made an estimated $26 million last year. Also for the first "Hunger Games" she was paid $500,000. For this "Hunger Games," $10 million. Talk about a raise, right?

As far as loving the limelight and all the spotlight she gets, she's really still trying to figure all of that out.

We talked about it when I sat down with her last week. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Literally, the day the movie was released I had no idea I was like famous yet or that anybody had seen it.

I don't actually think I knew the movie came out that day. I was at Whole Foods, had the worst experience of my life, so I will not go to a Whole Foods.

TURNER: What happened? That's hilarious.

LAWRENCE: Whole Foods had to call the police, and I had to go down to like the cargo elevator and I was crying. It was really sad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Geez.

LAWRENCE: Yeah. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whole Foods makes me so happy.

LAWRENCE: And I saw my ex-boyfriend there and he's like, How's your life? And I was like, Really bad.

He was like the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: So I wonder what that fellow is talking about now, huh? By the way, Jennifer Lawrence is also the new face of Dior, Miss Dior Handbags. It is reportedly another eight figure deal.

Brooke, you know, she's money. That's no doubt about it. In Hollywood, that is gold. Believe it.

Back to you.

BALDWIN: She's incredible. She seems like the real deal. And anyone who can pull off that kind of up-the-stage sort of fall down in a beautiful gown, pick herself back up and win that award, pretty awesome in my book.

Nischelle Turner, thank you so much.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me on this Friday. Have a wonderful weekend, but don't go anywhere.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.