Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pressure Mounts to Rescue Nigerian Girls; Outrage over Rapist Sentence in Dallas; Terrified Passengers Tossed Around in Plane

Aired May 05, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Pressure is mounting for Nigeria to rescue over 200 girls who have been kidnapped by an Islamist extremist group called Boko Haram. The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility and made outrageous promises to sell the women. The girls were taken last month from a school in the northern Nigerian village of Kouba (ph). Protests have erupted around the globe over the slow response of government officials.

But the real story here is not about the abductors. It's, of course, about the victims and the ordeal their families are going through.

CNN's Vlad Duthiers is here.

Vlad, we have heard from one of the young girls who escaped, right?

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Martin. As you said, this story is now about the heartbreak that the parents are going through, having heard this video from the leader of Boko Haram who says he plans to sell the girl.

Here's what one girl said about the night they came to get her fellow classmates and how she made it out of there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL (through translation): We thought they were soldiers and my friends and I jumped from the vehicle and ran back home because we realized they don't look innocent to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUTHIERS: And so, that, Martin, you can see there, that young girl was able to escape. The parents that we have been speaking to have told us that this is the worst fears realized, that their children may be sold outside of Nigeria, probably neighboring, Niger, Chad or Cameroon. In fact, they say that they saw convoys filled with young girls and what they say are militants going across the border on a road leading out of Nigeria into Cameroon.

For the Nigerian government's part, yesterday, the president appeared on television, the first time in three weeks, to say -- sounding confident that he would find these girls but he also admitted, Martin, that he had no idea where they were. SAVIDGE: You know, you noted it was three weeks after the fact. There have been reports that Nigeria's president also implored them to help with the investigation. Is there a lack of cooperation? Are they afraid to help?

DUTHIERS: That's a good question. This area, where supposedly Boko Haram has taken the girls, is a Boko Haram stronghold, a heavily forested area bordering Cameroon and Niger. This is where, in the past, the Nigerian military has used air attacks to take out terrorist enclaves because it is a very difficult operation to launch an offensive movement. Now there are hostages. The militants -- many of the parents feel if there is even kind of movement from their end, they could see the children killed. The parents told us, over the course of the last three weeks, they themselves have risked their own lines trying to go in armed with machetes, sticks and rocks to do the job they say the Nigerian military is unwilling to do.

To give credit to the military, they say they have been conducting a search-and-rescue operation. They have been saying that since the first day that this happened. But, again, parents on the ground saying they don't see much movement and they're trying to take matters into their own hands without a lot of success -- Martin?

SAVIDGE: Vladimir Duthiers, thank you very much for the update. We will continue to follow it closely with you now. Thanks.

Violent turbulence rocks an airplane, sending shoes and other items flying. One passenger said it felt like a roller coaster. What can you do with this type of extreme turbulence? Can you avoid it? That's coming up.

But first, a rape case in Texas sparking outrage, and it's easy to understand why, over the sentence that was handed down to the rapist and the judge's comments regarding the victim. We will explain that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Listen to what was said about a victim of rape, who was just 14 years old. Reporting now from the "Dallas Morning News," "She wasn't the victim she claimed to be." Who said it? The rapist maybe? How about the rapist family? No, it was the judge, Janine Howard. She has since recused herself from this case, but there is a lot more to this decision that is sparking outrage.

CNN's Nick Valencia has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Dallas district judge is under fire this morning after handing down what some say is an inappropriately light sentence in a rape case. The 20-year-old Sir Young pleaded guilty to raping his classmate in a room at booker T. Washington High School in 2011. He faced up to 20 years in jail, but was instead sentenced to five years in probation and a 45-day stint in jail. ANDREA MOSELEY, PROSECUTOR (voice-over): We are concerned about the message that is being sent to victims of sexual assault that they will feel safe in coming forward and reporting these crimes.

VALENCIA: But it wasn't just the sentence that shocked the community. Judge Janine Howard implied the victim was promiscuous and not the victim she claimed to be. She said she based the sentence in part on medical records, which indicated the girl had given birth to a baby and had had three sexual partners. She stands by her ruling, telling the paper that Young was not your typical sex offender.

The victim denies the claims and said, since the verdict, she regrets coming forward about the rape.

UNIDENTIFIED RAPE VICTIM: I was shocked that a judge, someone that I trusted with this case would go behind my back and make these allegations that she knows nothing about.

VALENCIA: Adding to the fire storm was another condition that stunned rape advocates. Young was ordered to serve 250 hours of community service at a rape crisis center, a condition that changed after the center said he was not welcome there.

BOBBIE VILLAREAL, DALLAS RAPE CRISIS CENTER: Just having a criminal defendant in the office could be triggering for many clients. So it's just not appropriate.

VALENCIA: Following public backlash, Howard recused herself from the case. A new judge will oversee the case moving forward, including a motion filed by prosecutors to add more strict requirements to his probation. Young is currently serving his 45 day jail sentence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: That is CNN's Nick Valencia.

Our sister network, HLN, has tried to reach Judge Howard. So far, no response.

The attorney for the rapist spoke earlier with CNN saying the sentence is said to be fair because while Sir Young is a rapist he's not a predator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTTIE ALLEN, ATTORNEY FOR SIR YOUNG: This kid is not your typical sex offender. We have an 18-year-old high school student who was very talented, very gifted, had scholarship offers to a couple of universities, who had a relationship with this young lady, and found himself in a position at school where he had had previous discussions with her about having sex and she had agreed to that. She just didn't want to have sex on the school premises. The sentence he received is anything other than a slap on the wrist. A five-year probated sentence will require him to service 45 days in, report jail every year on the anniversary of this incident. In addition to that, this kid, who had a very promising future, is going to have to register as a sex offender for probably the rest of his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: He is a convicted rapist, by the way.

I'm going to turn to CNN legal analyst, Sunny Hostin; and HLN host, Jane Valez-Mitchell.

I'm at a loss for words. So, Jane, I'm sure you're not. What bothers you? The sentence here? Or the judge? Which one bothers you the most?

JANE VALEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST, JANE VALEZ-MITCHELL: It all bothers me, Martin, but particularly the justification, a female judge no less, gave for handing down this decision, that she had previous sexual partners. Something she said. I don't know where she got that information. But I have had previous sexual partners. Does that mean it's OK to rape me?

The fact that she had given birth, something the prosecution and the girl says is not true? So what if she had given birth. Even if she had, it shouldn't make a difference? Then she says, well, this girl texted the young man and said she wanted to spend time with him and implied that she would like to have sex with him down the road. Any woman who says she might want to be intimate with you in the future, that gives a man carte blank to force themselves on them sexually any time they want? This is an outrageous decision and it sets women back. And it really is going back to the old days where women are like, she deserved it, she was wearing that skirt or she had too many drinks or she was at the bar herself. That's the mentality here in this decision.

SAVIDGE: Sunny, what do you think of this sentence? Was there anyway this could be deemed appropriate?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I want to say that I spent a lot of my career prosecuting child sex crimes, and that's exactly what this is. I have put a lot of people in prison for doing this. I do think that this sentence in and of itself does appear to be reasonable to me. Our prisons are overcrowded. They do no rehabilitate. When you look at the facts of this case -- and each case needs to be looked at factually -- I think it is reasonable. We're talking 45 days in prison, not a lot of time. Five years supervised probation and someone who has to register as a sex offender probably for the rest of his life. When you look at that, it is reasonable. He also has to go back to prison every October 4th, the anniversary of the rape, and serve more time.

I think we want our judges to be reasonable. I think we want our judges to be thoughtful. While everyone is outraged about her comments -- I haven't seen her comments and I don't know what context she made the comments. But the community service aspect where she wanted this defendant to go to the rape crisis center is also not completely unreasonable. Maybe ill advised. If you look at drunk- driving defendants, often times they work with MAD, those impact programs, and they go and meet with people that have been affected. So it is not unheard of to have someone perform community service in the area where his actions, his or her actions have been affected. Again, I preface this because I have a lot of experience in this. It is a reasonable sentence.

(CROSSTALK)

SAVIDGE: Is it just me and Jane? There are so many people that look at this and find wrong on so many different levels. And it seems that the judge in some way is saying this was an acceptable action of the young man.

(CROSSTALK)

VALEZ-MITCHELL: Martin, I have to say that "no" means "no," and this is sending a horrible message.

HOSTIN: Of course, "no" means "no."

(CROSSTALK)

VALEZ-MITCHELL: What about other women who have been raped having second thoughts of coming forward. This young lady said I wish I had never come forward.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: It's not a decision. It's a sentence by the judge.

VALEZ-MITCHELL: If you have to fear having your personal life and your previous sexual history exposed because you have been raped and you go to a court of law --

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: Again, Jane, again, let's look at this legally.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: When you look at it legally, it's not a decision, it's a sentence. The sentence is appropriate.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: The judge's comments --

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: I'm not saying her comments are reasonable. Again, I didn't see the transcript of the comments. I don't know if they were made in court, out of court, I don't know why they were made. Because I agree with you. Generally, when you have a rape victim, her sexual partners, unless consent is an issue, that should never come in. I don't know why the judge said that. I don't know if she said that during sentencing. I'm not taking issue with that because it isn't inappropriate. It does have a chilling effect. But when you look at the sentence, whether or not that sentence was reasonable, people are coming down on the sentence. I think the sentence is onerous. I think it's reasonable. And we don't want our judges just to send someone to prison for two to 20 years with no accountability and nothing else. I think when you look at the facts it appears reasonable.

SAVIDGE: Sunny, I have got to give Jane the final word.

You've got about 15 seconds. Go ahead, Jane.

VALEZ-MITCHELL: I don't want to send this young man away for 20 years. That's not the point. This decision goes far beyond these two individuals. This is about every woman in America and how they feel about their rights over their own bodies. This horrible decision really opens the door for other young men to say, she asked me on a date therefore she must want it.

(CROSSTALK)

VALEZ-MITCHELL: Therefore, I could rape her and get away with it. Maybe I'll get 45 days in jail. I may have to do community service at a rape crisis center. It's obscene.

SAVIDGE: Jane Velez-Mitchell, thank you very much.

HOSTIN: I couldn't disagree more.

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: Sunny, I respect your professional opinion on this as well. Thank you both for joining me.

HOSTIN: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Coming up, the CEO of Target -- I think you saw this one coming -- stepping down after the massive data breach affected thousands of shoppers. How much did this so-called Target hack play into his decision?

And next, terrified passengers tossed around in an airplane when extreme turbulence strikes them in mid flight. Is there anything you can do for an aircraft to avoid it? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: There were terrifying moments for passengers on a U.S. Airways flight that was bound for Orlando. The plane hit a patch of severe turbulence just moments after takeoff in Philadelphia and it forced the pilot to turn back. Six people were hurt and thrown around the cabin, including two flight attendants. One passenger hit her head so far it left a dent in the roof of the cabin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought we were going down. I really did. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going, and all of the sudden, there was a drop like you're going down on a rollercoaster, and things flew up in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw the lady three rows in front of me, she bashed her head like all the way up through the plastic. And to describe it, the plastic was broken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The airline says that the fasten-seat belt was on at the time.

Chad Myers is here.

Chad, passengers say that this plane was going through obviously a very difficult time on takeoff. That's the part that surprises me. I'm thinking you have got to be at great altitude. How high were they?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When they took off, 35-miles per hour at the surface, they were at about 16,000 to 17,000 feet. What I believe happened is there was a differential in the wind speed at 30,000 feet to where they were, 130 miles per hour here -- or 70 miles per hour, and there was a tumbling, turbulence, like a wake that you would see in a mountain area, but it was not a mountain, just a differential of wind speed.

Here is how it all worked out. Yesterday afternoon, down where they were taking off from Philadelphia, turning around and flying all the way down south to sunny Orlando, they got into this. About 60 miles- per-hour winds. But right above them, a jet streak occurred. That is 130 miles-per-hour wind right there. So what happens when you have severe wind above you, but you're not quite in it yet? So what happens when you have severe wind above you but you're not quite in it yet? let's say we have that 70 mile-per-hour wind here and we have the --make it a different color -- 130 mile-per-hour wind here. There is an area where this wind will tumble. It will tumble like this. And that plane was likely caught in one of those tumbles and eddies and pushed down to the ground.

I checked their air speed. There is something else that could have happened. The plane could have stalled. I don't mean the engine stalling like a car. A stall means you lose the turbulence of the wind that -- you loose that laminar flow over the top of the wing and the plane loses lift and that lift could go down. But even so, that plane still flies at 300 miles per hour. So I doubt that the plane actually stalled. It's like that weight turbulence, that all of the sudden you're going and, boom, like you're going down on the topside of the rollercoaster.

SAVIDGE: Obviously terrifying. Of course, you make it make sense.

MYERS: Keep the seat belt on all the time.

SAVIDGE: Yeah. Good advice. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

SAVIDGE: Coming up next hour of the NEWSROOM, the kidnapping in Nigeria of over 200 young girls that has shocked the world. Ahead, I will speak to a Nigerian whose father was abducted four years ago. He understands the heartbreaking pain the mothers are going through.

But next, the CEO of Target stepping down after 35 years with the company. How much of a big role did that massive data breach play in his decision? That will be next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: The fallout from last year's data breach may have reached the executive suite. Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel announced that he is leaving the company immediately.

CNN's Poppy Harlow joins me from New York with more.

Poppy, it's an obvious question. Is his departure related to that loss of computer data during the holidays?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question. We know this is a CEO that has been at Target for 35 years. He is stepping down. Pretty surprisingly, the CFO is taking over in the interim. They won't say if this is tied to that data breach. All they will says it's part of a, quote, "path forward."

But I can tell you, this data breach happened around Thanksgiving. It affected around 110 million Target customers who used their credit cards or their debit card, everything from their name, their credit card number, the code on their credit card, all of that was compromised. It has had a major impact on Target in terms of people trusting the company, willing to shop at Target and the earnings.

Take a look. Their sales in the U.S. fell 2.5 percent. After this happened, it cost them $61 million just to deal with the credit breach. Their credit rating was downgraded by one of the top rating agencies. Target telling us on the phone that 2013 was a, quote, "disappointing year for the company." They also had a really hard time expanding in Canada.

Trust is key. This company had a hard time. It's under the leadership of this CEO so he is stepping down, saying the right path forward is with someone new. There is an investigation still ongoing. No arrests have been made yet. But that is the latest, the head of Target is now stepping down.

SAVIDGE: It looks like they had to make a change and they did.

Poppy Harlow, thank you very much.

HARLOW: Thanks.