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Color-Blind Or Color Biased?; Ukraine's President Flees Capital; Juror: Dunn Trial Wasn't About Race

Aired February 22, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Top of the hour. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

One week ago tonight on the show, there was a lot of outrage and lot of debate over the Michael Dunn verdicts in the death of Jordan Davis. Now, a prank posted on YouTube has exposed the ugliness of race relations in the country again, specifically how black men and white men raise suspicion in certain situations or not raise suspicion in certain situations.

Many say it's 2014, we have elected a black president twice, so things must be better, right? Wrong.

I want to have you check out this prank posted from Simple Misfits. It was posted on YouTube just a few days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Figure out the difference between how people react when he tries to break into a car versus I try to break into a car. Let's find out.

(CAR HONKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Well, apparently, nobody cares. I have been here for 30 minutes, and there was a cop here at one point, and he didn't try to stop me. Now, let's see what happens when Quinten tries to give it a try.

(CAR HONKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, that is my car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands on the hood. Is this your car?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So let me just point out that Quinton was not arrested, and perhaps it is because his friends with were there to, you know, vouch for him, but he was cuffed for about 40 minutes, and the police ran a background check, and it took a while, and the guys were able to prove to the cops that it was just a prank, and that they owned the car. So, the guys that you saw on the video, Jason Roberts and Quentin Byrd, they are we me now.

It's a great experiment. It was funny. I was watching it on the way to work today and I said, this won't take me long, because it takes me about 30 seconds to get to the train and between my house and the train, you got arrested.

So, listen, the prank was your idea. You called it a social experiment.

Why did you want to do it?

JASON ROBERTS, CO-HOST, SIMPLE MISFITS: Well, first of all, I want to point out that I am a prankster, and I make viral videos for the channel Simple Misfits.

Did I expect it to blow up this much? No, not in a million years.

The reason as to why this -- why I did this social experiment in the first place is that it stemmed from a live situation, and what happened is that I locked my keys in the car and I had to call AAA. AAA came, and he was wearing the AAA jacket and he is obviously a professional and breaking into the car and when I started noticing is that everyone around me was giving us dirty looks as if we were breaking into a round of a person's car.

And then it hit me, the AAA worker happened to be a black guy. And after that, I just figured I have to recreate the scenario and see if this is a one-time occurrence or is this like an everyday thing.

LEMON: A lot of times people don't realize, you know, they're deniers who don't believe that this happened, until they're with a friend or a partner or a lover, wife or husband, and then it happens and they witness it. And so, for you, it was witnessing the reaction to this AAA person.

Quinton, you know, it took two minutes for the police to respond to you, and you were giving side eye. We could see five officers in the video, but there were about seven or eight officers who were responding and you were cuffed for 40 minutes, and then they ran a background check.

Is that the reaction that you thought that you would get? And, by the way, I should say, there was a cop car Jason that drove by when you were there and didn't -- never even stop. So, Quentin, go ahead.

ROBERTS: Yes, he didn't even turn my direction.

LEMON: Did you think that you would get this reaction, Quentin?

QUENTIN BYRD, CO-HOST, "SIMPLE MISFITS": We didn't think that it would be that extreme, but we thought a couple of looks from the crowd who was passing by, but nothing as extreme as ten cops pulling up, and there is five cop cars and they come with their guns already out of the holsters, already ready, aiming. And it was like really extreme. We didn't anticipate this at all. It was good. You can't pay for that type of incidents to happen.

LEMON: I remember watching a similar one not long ago and I don't know if you have ever seen it on the program "What Would You Do" when they leave the bicycle, and have you guys seen that one?

BYRD: No.

ROBERTS: I have, yes.

LEMON: Well, they leave a bicycle in the park, and they get a white girl to go get the bicycle and everybody is trying to help her get the bicycle. And they do a white guy, and very few people are suspicious.

And then they do the black guy, and it's like the first person is like, what are you doing with that bicycle? It's very interesting the different responses that people have and different reactions that we subconsciously have that we don't realize that we're having.

I want the show you some of the comments posted on YouTube. On your YouTube page, and said, "To be fair, the white kid is about 100 pounds, fitted clothing and had a juvenile look on his face. The black dude is a grown man and about 150 pounds heavier and baggy clothes, some people can find this threatening. Although, of course, there is an air of racism, however, I'd like to see a similar scruffy huge white guy wearing the same clothes do the same thing."

Quentin, what do you make of that?

BYRD: Well, I think that the point is valid with the same clothes, I guess, and you could make that point. But also, why would I have to change my clothes or who I am just to please someone else or to fit into society? I don't think that you should have to do that and the guys all of the time wear, and if I were coming from the gym and I didn't have anything else to wear, that would be what I'd be wearing.

So, I don't -- I get where he is coming from, but I think that it also was about the race, because he went 30 minutes and not a single call and nobody came up to him, and you only saw two minutes of my thing, but you really -- there's more like, it was about seven minutes, but we keep getting looks from the moment that I started trying to get into the car.

LEMON: What do you make of the comments and you have similar ones like that, Jason?

BYRD: Oh, yes.

ROBERTS: Well, I mean, when people ask, is it race-related, I don't honestly know, and maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Like he said, there were a lot of variables to consider, the location was different. The clothing was different. The time of day was different. So, honestly, I don't know.

LEMON: Yes. What is your gut telling you? Come on, you're not -- ROBERTS: Yes, I mean, it is tough. It is tough to refute.

LEMON: And you just don't want to say it or otherwise you would not have done the experiment. But anyway --

ROBERTS: Yes.

LEMON: Good luck, guys. Thank you. It was a prank, but in humor it is spoken in jest and we learn things in humor as we do every night with "The Daily Show" and with "Colbert Report", a lot of truth comes out of that.

Thank you, guys. Appreciate you. Good luck to you.

Coming up here on CNN, the jury of the Michael Dunn case could not decide if he was guilty of murdering Jordan Davis, while some say the murder of loud music was all about race. One juror sees it differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUROR: I never once thought about, oh, this is a black kid, and this is a white guy, because that wasn't the case.

(END VDIEO CLIP)

LEMON: And exclusive interview with juror no. 8 next.

But, first, he is one of the most powerful drug lords on the list of "Forbes" magazine most powerful people. After more than a decade on the run, police have busted him again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: He has been named public enemy number one by U.S. crime fighting group, and tonight, El Chapo is in police custody. Joaquin Guzman is a legendary boss of Mexico's biggest drug cartel. It has taken police nearly 13 years to catch him since he escaped from prison. He's even made Forbes Most Powerful People list in 2009.

His arrest early today stemmed from a joint operation involving agencies in both the U.S. and Mexico. Guzman is still wanted in the U.S. on multiple drug charges, and a former DEA worker says he fears if El Chapo is not extradited soon, he could escape.

The word "coup" is popping up in a bitter fight to control a nation that was part of the old Soviet Union. I want you to look at this video. It's a protest reportedly taken over Ukraine's presidential palace.

Ukraine's president says he left the capital because of a coup after refusing to resign. CNN has confirmed the president tried to leave the country by plane but was stop by security forces.

Protesters are celebrating now. (VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: A prominent prisoner set free today says Ukraine is done with its dictator. She is the former prime minister and the bitter rival of the president.

An online child pornography Web site with thousands of registered users has finally been busted. Thirty-six people have been arrested and charged around the country, including the alleged creator of the Web site.

CNN's Rosa Flores joins me now.

Rosa, this Web site taught people how to lure children? Tell us what else they found out?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to these court documents, 27-year-old Jonathan Johnson was arrested and charged for running two child pornography Web sites from his home in Abita Springs, Louisiana, which is 45 minutes north of New Orleans.

These are the details, folks. We learned from these court documents there are two types of users of these Web sites, members and uploaders. Now, they could both write comments, they could share direct messaging.

But they could also do this -- uploaders could upload video and with that came tips on how to lure children and they pretty much said, go to social media Web sites, and make fake female profiles and then entice the children to participate in these particular videos.

So, they also added one more thing, which was how to avoid law enforcement.

Rachel Wulff, a reporter at our affiliate WDSU, spoke to the mother, and this is the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERYL JOHNSON, SUSPECT'S MOTHER: We didn't know until ten days later that he told us. I am upset with him, and mad at him for doing it, too, but it is like, what is done is done, and there ain't nothing that you can do about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And now, court documents also revealed the magnitude of this Web site. Twenty-seven thousand members around the world, 2,000 videos, 160 children identified and rescued, Don, which is important to note.

LEMON: That is very important.

Can you give us more details about how he was caught?

FLORES: Well, this was all part of a big national bust. It's called Project Safe Childhood. It's through the Department of Justice and pretty much is an effort from state, local and also federal authorities. They are out looking for and prosecuting people who exploit children around the country.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Rosa Flores. We appreciate your reporting.

Candid remarks from a juror in a Michael Dunn murder trial. Ahead, why the woman known as juror number eight says race played no role in their decision.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One of the jurors in the Jordan murder trial -- the murder trial of Michael Dunn, I should say, is breaking her silence. A Florida jury convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting into an SUV, carrying four black teenagers, but they could not agree on the murder charge stemming from the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

CNN's Alina Machado sat down with the woman known as juror number eight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRESHUNA MILES, JUROR NO. 8: I never once thought about, oh, this was a black kid, this was white guy, because that was -- that wasn't the case.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, the people who say here's another white guy who got away with shooting and killing a black kid, what would you tell them?

MILES: I would tell them that they really should knowledge themself on the law.

MACHADO (voice-over): Creshuna Miles is setting the record straight.

MILES: I just wanted to bring justice to whoever it was.

MACHADO: The 21-year-old was juror number 8 in the Michael Dunn murder trial. She sat down exclusively with CNN to talk about the case and the heated deliberations.

(on camera): What was it like inside that deliberation room?

MILES: It was wild.

MACHADO: Wild as --

MILES: Like it was shouting. There was a lot of yelling.

MACHADO (voice-over): Miles even shared her impression about Michael Dunn and explain the partial verdict the jury returned.

(on camera): What did you think of Michael Dunn? MILES: I honestly think he was a good guy. I think he's a good guy. I don't think he hates everybody. I don't think he walks around wanting to shoot everybody. I think that he made bad decisions.

MACHADO: You still think he's guilty of murder, though?

MILES: Yes. I really think he's guilty of murder, but not the guilty as charged.

MACHADO: First degree, you don't he's guilty --

MILES: I think he's guilty of second degree.

MACHADO: How difficult was it for you to come back into that courtroom knowing that Jordan Davis' parents were there and that you couldn't agree on a charge related to his death?

MILES: It was hard. We were confident and cool with it. But when he sent us back, we were just like, OK, this is the decision we had to make.

But when he sent us back we got nervous. We got really nervous. Because we didn't know, do this means this throws out the whole case or is she going to retry him or is the court satisfied with just what happened? Is she going to do more? Is Jordan ever going to get justice?

We did not know. And walking back into there I got so nervous because I'm just like, what do we -- what if we completely messed up?

MACHADO: Do you feel like you messed up? Do you feel like the jury messed up?

MILES: No. I feel like we did what we were supposed to.

MACHADO: What would you tell Jordan's family?

MILES: I would tell them that from my end, I tried. I really did try. I tried to fight for his son. I saw the look on his dad's face when we were on the stand. And I know it hurts.

And it's like, oh, you got this wound to heal and then somebody slices it open again. Because now they got to go through that whole process all over again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Alina Machado reporting there.

A retired federal prison warden has spent most of his life around prisoners. Now, he wants to help their kids. His story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Unfortunately, kids of prison inmates are dragged into a similar life, but a retired prison ward en is trying to break the cycle.

Jean Casarez has the amazing story of one young man who was given the second chance to find the right path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you remember when you learned that your father murdered Jeffrey Dahmer?

CHRIS SCARVER, SON OF JEFFREY DAHMER'S KILLER: Yes. It was about 10:00, I saw it on TV, and that's how I found out. So, yes.

CASAREZ: So you suddenly see your father?

SCARVER: Yes, a big picture popped up, and I was just shocked at that point.

PERCY PITZER, CREATIVE CORRECTION ED. FOUNDATION: Fifty percent of the kids in juvenile detention have a parent incarcerated. And we're really trying to slow this down.

CASAREZ (voice-over): As a retired federal prison warden, Percy Pitzer has spent most of his life around prisoners, and now, he wants to help their children.

PITZER: It's a lot of pressure on a kid when a parent is incarcerated.

CASAREZ: His foundation helps the children of inmates get a college degree. One college recipient is the son of the man who murdered notorious serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, while in prison.

(on camera): Do you remember the first time that you heard the name Jeffrey Dahmer?

SCARVER: I heard it a lot growing up. That's all I heard. When I was younger, I didn't know what it meant obviously. But, you know, that name has been around me for my whole life. So --

CASAREZ (voice-over): Chris Scarver is senior at Bethany Lutheran College has lived with the secret his whole life, but is finally ready to talk about it. He was born just after his father, also named Christopher Scarver, committed a murder that would land him in jail with Dahmer. It was the cold-blooded killing of a job trainer in Milwaukee.

SCARVER: For a long time, I believe he was going to come home, man, you know? I always kept that hope. After a while, you know, I just said, I don't know, it just hit me that maybe it won't happen, you know? And I got mad, and that turned into anger.

CASAREZ: And then his father committed another crime that ensured he would never be coming home. He bludgeoned Jeffrey Dahmer and another inmate to death in the prison gym.

(on camera): Do you ever think about if -- because there's still a question as to whether guards may have set up your father because he should not have been left alone with the other two men in prison.

SCARVER: No. I think about that all the time. It makes me wonder if he even did it.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Chris understands, however, his father pleaded no contest to the murders and is now serving three life terms in Colorado. But Chris said he also knows something else. His father saved his life from becoming one of those statistics.

SCARVER: I was actually starting to go down the wrong road and I started to -- that's why I wrote him. I didn't know what to do. I needed some guidance.

And I just told him everything that I was going through and how I felt about me and his relationship, all those built up years, all that pain that I had. I finally just let it go and just talked to him.

CASAREZ: And his father wrote right back with advice. "Tough times don't last. Tough people do. And you are the toughest kid I know."

Chris so credits his father with putting him back on the right road, he keeps a prison photo of his dad on his dorm room door.

SCARVER: I hit the door like this just to say, OK, this is what you're doing this for.

CASAREZ: As the star of his college basketball team, Chris is now on track to graduate with a degree next fall.

Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Jean.

I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching. I'll see you back here tomorrow night.

A CNN spotlight "The George Zimmerman Interview" begins right now.