Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
What Went Wrong with Michael Dunn Verdict?
Aired February 17, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, what went wrong? Shock waves from the sensational Michael Dunn mistrial echo coast to coast tonight. As Florida`s "stand your ground" appears to have become a license to kill. The jury hung on the most serious count and could not agree that Michael Dunn murdered a 17-year-old African-American named Jordan Davis.
The mistrial left millions baffled. The Florida man fired ten times at the teen`s SUV, hitting Jordan three times. We heard no evidence Jordan or his friends had a gun.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.
Tonight, prosecutors vow to retry Dunn for murder one. So I hope they`re listening. Because we`re going to tell you, prosecutors, exactly how you screwed up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the murder charge, no verdict.
ANGELA COREY, FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY: We intend to retry him, retry Michael Dunn on first-degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of attempted second-degree murder.
MICHAEL DUNN, PROSECUTED FOR SHOOTING JORDAN DAVIS: I became even more fearful at that point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of attempted second-degree murder.
DUNN: I thought I was going to be killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of attempted second-degree murder.
CORY STROLLA, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL DUNN: There was no winners. Everybody lost something in this.
RON DAVIS, FATHER OF JORDAN DAVIS: He must be remorseful for the killing of my son.
LUCIA MCBATH, MOTHER OF JORDAN DAVIS: And we will continue to await for justice for Jordan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s Jordan Davis` mom.
I say "stand your ground" has to step down. The infamous Florida law amounts to a license to kill. But the problem isn`t just the law. It`s also Florida state attorney Angela Corey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, Angela Corey has to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Angela Corey failed to prove the case against Neighborhood Watch shooter George Zimmerman and now Michael Dunn. She appears to be in deep denial after the verdict, as she insisted she will fight the case for murder one again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY: Retrying a case is something that we`ve all had to do, and we will continue to have to do. And we`ll give it the same full attention. We don`t back off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sorry, Angela. Sorry, my dear. I don`t mean to be mean, but Angela Corey, you`ve got to go.
When you lose the two biggest cases of your career on a national stage, in back-to-back years, you ought to have consequences.
Even without a murder conviction, Dunn probably faces the rest of his life behind bars. The 47-year-old software developer was convicted of second-degree murder, one for each of Jordan Davis`s friends he fired at, as they were driving away. Each count carries a minimum 20-year sentence. Here`s what the defendant Dunn`s daughter told ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBECCA DUNN, MICHAEL DUNN`S DAUGHTER: He`s my best friend. I can`t imagine my life without him. He`s just protecting himself. If he sees no other way than, you know, bring out a gun, that`s what he`s going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what do you think was the prosecution`s biggest mistake? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to my Lion`s Den debate panel and my very special guest, Natalie Jackson. You represented the family, the African-American teen George Zimmerman killed. He walked. Now these same prosecutors get a mistrial on the murder of a second African-American teen. Angela Corey is "O" for two on two high-profile cases. Do you think Angela Corey she should step down?
NATALIE JACKSON, ATTORNEY: No, I don`t. I think that she`s a good prosecutor. I think she`s kept on trying.
One of the things that I will say with the George Zimmerman case is that that is a special case where the Seminole County prosecutor couldn`t do the case. They were asked to step down. And Governor Scott appointed Angela Corey. She took a case that was very unpopular. And she took it because she believed in it.
I actually had a chance to talk to her, and I do know that she believed George Zimmerman was guilty. And I have not talked to her about the Dunn, but I do know that she is a very tough-on-crime prosecutor.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what did she do wrong?
JACKSON: I think that, like many people, the problem that they -- that I felt that they were uncomfortable talking about race. And they omitted race, and they did it to make their case clean. But many times trials are not clean. And you have to put every issue out there. And during jury selection, that is the time to really talk about racial biases. And I don`t think they did that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Our poll shows 73 percent of those polled believe that the jurors got it wrong. Let`s put the poll up again. Seventy-three percent disagree with this verdict, which is a mistrial in the major count. OK? People are upset about this.
Anybody on my panel think that Angela Corey should step aside and let somebody else get a crack at -- let somebody else take a crack at it? Anybody? Let`s see our panel.
DR. WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Jane, I think so.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s see our panel. OK. Who`s talking?
WALSH: That`s Dr. Wendy Walsh.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, go.
WALSH: Listen, Jane, I think missing out on the race issue was very important. As the late Johnny Cochran once said, "You give me one black juror, I`ll make sure I get a hung jury." In this case, there were two African-American women on that jury, and the race card was not played even though it was an integral part of this particular crime.
JACKSON: Well, I disagree with playing the race card. Because the reason that I think race should have been mentioned is to weed out any racial biases from blacks or whites.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen, here`s the thing. Either it`s about race or it isn`t. If it`s about race, the issue of race should have been in the trial. Or it`s not about race. OK? Because the jurors, OK? Didn`t hear anything about race issues. Or prejudice. OK?
JACKSON: Well, they did from Michael Dunn. They did.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, explain that.
JACKSON: When he got on the stand, he insinuated that they were thugs, basically.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But...
JACKSON: That they were thugs that he was afraid of. Because of who they were.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But nobody connected the dots. We`ve had a national conversation about how the word "thug" is code word for racism, for the "N" word. The discussion never entered the courtroom. The discussion we`ve all been having for months, OK?
JACKSON: It`s never overt. These race issues and how people feel and biases, they`re not overt. You won`t hear it in the courtroom. You`ll hear insinuations.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, maybe we should hear it. Yes, jump in, Wendy.
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Can I just say -- can I just say look, we talked about this last week. What she did wrong -- and it`s not a reason for her to step down. It is a reason for her to grow a spine for the next time.
JACKSON: I agree.
MURPHY: Don`t just charge murder; charge it as a hate crime.
JACKSON: I agree.
MURPHY: Because then you can`t not talk about race. It will be a key factor. You can bring up everything about race and get the air in the room to focus on the issue.
She didn`t do it because she`s afraid. She didn`t like what happened with Zimmerman. You know, when Al Sharpton showed up and everybody was angry, she`s worried about that. But you know what? A guy is dead. It`s OK to be angry along racial lines in this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: If it`s part of the case, then make it part of the case.
MURPHY: Exactly.
JACKSON: I agree.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Remember, the defense insisted this case was not about race. OK? But, of course, millions of -- millions of people thought it was about race.
So I want you to listen to the shocking allegations by the defendant, Michael Dunn`s, former neighbor. These are claims the jurors never got to hear, even though the prosecution knew about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES HENDRIX, FORMER NEIGHBOR OF MICHAEL DUNN: In my opinion, he believed that black people and Hispanics were beneath white people. That this country was being taken over, and that white people needed to stand up. That was -- those are his words, not mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Rolonda Watts, jurors never heard that. They never saw the racist letter Dunn wrote in jail. Quote, "The jail is full of blacks. They all act like thugs. This might sound a bit radical, but if more people would arm themselves, and kill these bleeping idiots when they`re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior," end quote.
You cannot blame jurors for not seeing racial implications if this evidence never got in.
ROLONDA WATTS, BLOG TALK RADIO HOST: Listen, there is -- there`s -- there are racial implications everywhere, and everyone knows that. It`s the big elephant in the room, as you say.
And I`m going to tell you what. They left out the racist tinges. They also left out the victim, Jordan himself. We never even heard about him. His mother wasn`t even allowed to testify what a good child he was.
And I believe that those prosecutors should have come in there like tigers, should have come in like lions, and made them prove with reasonable -- what`s reasonable -- what was so reasonable about them believing that this kid was a thug. Where was the thug evidence? I saw plenty of evidence of murder.
MURPHY: This is...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead, Wendy.
MURPHY: This is exactly why they couldn`t -- this is why they couldn`t reach a verdict. I think it`s so obvious. There are clearly race based feelings on that jury that this was only an execution, premeditated, hate-filled, boom. And guess what? There are similar race-based feelings, probably, on the part of some of the white jurors, looking at the evidence and saying, "Hey, I saw kinds like that and a car like that, and I thought I saw a gun. At a minimum, this is second -- at a maximum, this is a second-degree murder."
I guarantee you they were fighting about whether this was first versus second. Not an acquittal. And when you feel that strongly, you don`t vote for the other guy because you`re white, they`re black. This is all about race.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Eric Schwartzreich.
ERIC SCHWARTZREICH, ATTORNEY: You know, first of all, there -- race is definitely a part of this case. But the issue is that it`s self- defense. Race is going to be here, because we have an African-American young man that was killed. But this case is about the justifiable use of self-defense and whether or not it was a justifiable use of self-defense.
And that danger, that threat that Michael Dunn felt, it didn`t have to be real.
Where the prosecution went wrong in this case is where they overcharged. This was never a murder one. This isn`t about malice; this isn`t about premeditation. This was a passion type of killing.
MURPHY: Of course it is. Come on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on.
SCHWARTZREICH: When you overcharge, this is what`s going to happen.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.
MURPHY: He shot ten times. That is not a first-degree. Ten shots.
SCHWARTZREICH: I concede the ten times, but the issue is -- No, it`s not, because there`s no premeditation.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
SCHWARTZREICH: There`s no time frame on it. This is a heat of the passion type of...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, please. There were pauses between the shots, Eric.
SCHWARTZREICH: As long as they keep charging cases in first-degree murder cases...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s show the gunfire. Let`s show the gunfire.
SCHWARTZREICH: Let`s not charge first-degree murder.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There are pauses. There are pauses between the shots.
SCHWARTZREICH: It`s not legally first-degree murder.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Director, let`s take a look at the gunfire. If you have -- if you have time to reflect...
SCHWARTZREICH: Overcharged is there lost that count.
JACKSON: It`s not overcharged.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s take a look at the gunfire.
OK, hold on.
SCHWARTZREICH: The prosecution still won.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to roll up to the gunfire. We`re going to roll up to the gunfire, because we all know premeditation can occur in the flash of an eye, in the blink of an eye.
So here you see Tommie going to buy -- he was the guy in the front seat, the driver. He bought gum and cigarettes. He leaves.
Now this is the witness who said he heard Michael Dunn say, "You`re not going to talk to me like that." Apparently, they didn`t believe him either.
And then we`re going to see the girlfriend of Michael Dunn come up and buy some wine. And then she -- while she`s buying wine, we`re going to hear the gunshots. I want you to listen, you at home, very carefully, there`s a pause in between the shots. That`s time to reflect. Let`s listen.
(GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh, somebody`s shooting. Somebody`s shooting out of their car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s a pause between the gunshots.
SCHWARTZREICH: But Jane...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s an opportunity to...
WATTS: Not even to mention that...
SCHWARTZREICH: This is not a situation where Michael Dunn...
WATTS: There`s a whole series of actions -- there`s a whole series of actions that it took to get the gun out of the glove compartment. There was a lot of premeditation.
JACKSON: There was not just a pause. Michael Dunn even admitted himself that he repositioned himself.
SCHWARTZREICH: Whether he repositioned himself, what does not show, is someone lying in wait? I don`t think anyone thinks that Michael Dunn went to the convenience store, planned that on that day he was going to kill somebody.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: No. Let me say this.
SCHWARTZREICH: I think that escalated in the heat of passion.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: No. On the other side, I`m going to tell you what the prosecution really did wrong. They never got inside the defendant`s head.
On the other side, I`m going to tell you what was going on in the defendant`s mind and why this was a perfect storm. Why he lost it. They said he just lost it. They didn`t explain why. They did not connect the dots. They didn`t use the psychological approach.
You can`t just recite facts to a jury. You have to convince their mind, you have to convince their heart, open their hearts, make them sympathize with the victim, and you have to hit them in the gut. They didn`t hit them in the gut. They didn`t hit them in the heart. That`s on the other side, and we`re taking your calls.
Coming up, a pregnant woman missing in paradise. Her charred car has been found. Where is she? I will talk exclusively in just a few minutes with her desperate father.
And is this teenager a serial killer? She claims to have murdered something in the neighborhood of 20 or more people. What?
But next, more on the verdict that sent shock waves coast to coast. How did this open-and-shut case get so screwed up?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Dunn, guilty of three counts of second- degree attempted murder in the 2012 shooting that killed Jordan Davis. A guilty verdict for each of Davis` friends who were with him that night. But on the charge related to the 17-year-old`s death, the jury could not agree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on the jury`s inability to reach a verdict as to count one, I declare that mistried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUNN: He said, "I should kill that (EXPLETIVE DELETED)."
(GUNSHOT)
DUNN: It wasn`t just my life I was worried about.
(GUNSHOT)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe you had shot into a car of four unarmed teenagers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Four shooters in a car that just threatened to, "I should (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill that (EXPLETIVE DELETED)." Not only screaming, "This is going down now."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The prosecution`s biggest mistake: the prosecutors never told the story of what was really going on inside Dunn`s head the night of the shooting.
The defense had a clear narrative. Dunn was scared for his life. Terrified.
The prosecution said Dunn got angry because Jordan disrespected him. Compelling narrative. I believe the shooting was the result of a perfect storm. Dunn and his girlfriend had just come from his son`s wedding, his first-born child from whom he had been estranged for years. His son even testified that he had seen his dad just three times in 15 years. That`s a heavy burden. Dunn had to have been experiencing some emotional turmoil at the wedding.
He had three or four rum and Cokes, plus a champagne toast. So he was buzzed when they left. And they left early. Dunn gets to the gas station. Then he hears the loud thumping music from the victim`s SUV that he considers to be thug music. Jordan shouts some "F" bombs, and suddenly all the turmoil internally, the internal strife, maybe the guilt, maybe the feelings of alienation from the wedding that he had been suppressing, explodes. But the prosecution never connected the dots for the jury.
I`m going to throw it out to Wendy Walsh. You`re a psychologist.
WALSH: Jane, today, you`re sounding like a good psychologist. I think you`re right: feelings of potential alienation at the wedding. I don`t think he was necessarily the most welcome person at that wedding, if he`d been a deadbeat dad most of his life. The feelings of perhaps shame and guilt.
And then you add alcohol to exacerbate it all. He was probably even driving drunk.
So of course, he sees these teenagers thumping away, and that`s the one thing he missed with his own son`s development, is that teenage phase. So in one fell swoop, he`s suddenly going to parent them with a gun?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ooh, fascinating. Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor, I believe that all prosecutors should at least have psychology courses or sit on the therapist`s couch as I have, and otherwise, you`re flying blind. Ninety percent of all our behavior is motivated by the subconscious, the unconscious mind.
MURPHY: Yes, yes. I mean, this will be a Wendy verse Wendy discussion, because she might be right. But here`s the problem. In a criminal case, you`ve got to only deal with the evidence the judge lets you use. And much of what you`re worried about, Jane, you can`t put in there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, no, you`re wrong. You`re wrong. You`re wrong. You can. Every single thing I said was in evidence. The drinking was admitted.
MURPHY: But I`m trying to say...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but not the feelings. Sadly, not the feelings.
MURPHY: I`m talking about your feelings about your family and blah, blah, blah. You can`t do that. because it`s not relevant and it`s not probative and it could be prejudicial.
However -- however, where I think you`re right, Jane, is that he was motivated at least in part, and I think a large part, by hatred, by racism. And the way you connect the dots in a case like that with this jury is you first have to tell the judge it`s relevant. It`s not always relevant. It`s relevant if you charge it as a hate crime. So those dots will be connected next time. But only if Angela Corey has the guts to charge this as a hate crime.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Go ahead, Natalie.
JACKSON: Wendy, I`ll say it again, that there was an opportunity to introduce the thug letter that Michael Dunn wrote. And that was when he testified that he never uses the word "thug." There was an opportunity to bring that letter in, on rebuttal. And it never happened. No one brought it in.
WATTS: I also believe because...
MURPHY: But they`re trying to keep the heat down. Angela Corey said they`re keeping the heat down. Which makes no sense. This is a case about race.
WATTS: Well, that...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.
WATTS: Well, that was the problem. That racism was relevant to everybody but the prosecution. And while those letters were not admissible in court because they were written from the jail after the shooting, the prosecutor still had that information. I believe they could have used that information, the information from that neighbor who gave a shady side of Dunn.
As soon as somebody got on that stand saying that Dunn was all this wonderful guy, he should have slammed in, even with the knowledge that he had, whether he put the guy on the stand, in terms of the way he shaped his questions. Maybe to pull it out of Rhonda, the girlfriend. Maybe to pull it out of the sun. But he should have used the information he had whether he could use the evidence. He had the information psychologically to ask the right questions, to get the kind of information, if -- if they were going for the race issue.
JACKSON: And the -- and the judge said, and that`s the problem, but they had an opportunity to impeach him with that letter, and they did not impeach him with it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But you still think that they did a great job, to the point where you...
COREY: No, no. I didn`t say that. I didn`t say that. I`m not a defender of the prosecution. That`s not my job. But I do say that you don`t ask someone to step down from a job from one case. Because it`s not fair.
SCHWARTZREICH: Michael Dunn is going away for probably 75 years. He may not die of the cancer, but he`s going to die of the cirrhosis of the liver. Jordan Davis might not have gotten his justice, or his family or his day in court, but he`s going to prison.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is not about Michael Dunn. It`s about America. It`s about the world we want to live in. It`s not just about...
SCHWARTZREICH: We talk about "stand your ground" has always been cited in this case and Zimmerman. And not once in Zimmerman did they ever file a "stand your ground" motion, or in this case file a "stand your ground" motion. This case is about self-defense.
And Wendy happens to be right, if they filed this as a hate crime, then perhaps they could have gotten into these issues and made them relevant about race.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ll be right back.
SCHWARTZREICH: But without that, it`s more prejudicial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: He needs to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son, that it was not just another day at the office. My son will never be just another day at the office, where I can leave the scene and be stoic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUNN: I feared for my life, absolutely. I`m in a panic. I put the pistol up into the window and cocked it.
"This (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is going down now" is the last thing he said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you shooting only to defend yourself?
DUNN: Yes, I was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How did the prosecution end up with a mistrial in what was called an open-and-shut case?
Out to the phone lines. The very patient Ronny, Maryland, what have you got to say? Ronny.
CALLER: Hi, Jane. It`s so nice you taking my call.
I want to make three quick points. First of all, we`ll never know what happened at the wedding. We don`t know.
I want to say this, though. That two trials now, Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, no black males on the jury. I have a problem with that.
And last but not least, John Guy on cross-examination let the defendant say whatever he wanted to say instead of saying, "Judge, please instruct the witness to answer my questions yes or no without adding any commentary. The question was, was it self-defense." He would just add in whatever he wanted. That`s not good. He needs to learn how to cross- examine people.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you. And I want to go to Rolonda Watts on that. We talked about that. And I was just like, he was just grabbing this ball and running with it, and getting all sorts of things in and essentially arguing with the prosecutor.
WATTS: He should have been like a lion on a mouse from the beginning. And you`re right; he just let him go on and on and make himself more amenable to the self-defense thing. He just let him go. He didn`t hammer him in with the information that he had.
And, you know, if he didn`t pull the race card, or pull even racism in there, there wasn`t a lot to deal with. And so what little he had, he needed to be really hammering home with. And I just think they just kind of let it go. I just -- there were times I thought, well, is this system so screwed up that it has melted into the prosecution? Is the prosecution helping the defense here? What`s going on? I mean, at some point, it just looked like his hands were tied and he didn`t know what to do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Let me ask you, Rolonda, did you think that Angela Corey should step aside?
WATTS: I hate to say anybody should step down from their job. But I tell you what. I think she needs -- she`s got a lot of explaining to do. I don`t know really if it`s the system...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy.
WATTS: ... that it`s so intrinsic with...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy.
MURPHY: The system is terrible. I have a whole book on the topic. The system is terrible, but it does let defendants do crazy things. Do we remember Jodi Arias talking about her sex life for six days? And it was a murder case. Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Juan Martinez challenged her. But prosecutor Martinez challenged her.
MURPHY: But why are we not angry with the jury instead of the prosecutor?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Because they didn`t know anything about the race issue.
MURPHY: Oh, please. That`s not the only problem.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One at a time.
MURPHY: You have black -- you have black jurors who see this evidence and think first-degree execution, premeditation. You have white jurors who might say, "I would have been scared, too. It`s only second degree because of provocation." You`re never going to get them to agree on that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What about Angela? What about Angela?
SCHWARTZREICH: That`s how people perceive the world. When we question jurors, when we do voir dire jury selection, we know about people`s biases and perceptions.
MURPHY: You think you do. You think you do.
SCHWARTZREICH: An African-American versus a Caucasian might have different views or have different experiences. But people do have their own biases.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Remember, these jurors, even though they`re sequestered, remember one thing...
SCHWARTZREICH: Different juries come to a completely different verdict.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Remember one thing.
WATTS: And because they do, it should have been brought up.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: These jurors, even though they`re sequestered, have to go back to their communities and live in their communities, and everybody in their community has figured out they`re on the jury. So that`s another aspect.
SCHWARTZREICH: He`s going to serve 75 years probably.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But that`s not the point.
SCHWARTZREICH: Let`s not forget that. But it is. It`s the reality.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I understand. But it has nothing to do with Jordan Davis. If they weren`t there, he would have walked, quite possibly, on the Jordan Davis killing.
SCHWARTZREICH: He`s not walking. And he`s probably going to come out of Florida state prison in a pine box.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The three other teens, too.
SCHWARTZREICH: But he`s going to come out of there in a pine box. And that has to give the Davis family some consolation, some feeling of justice. This was not a win for the defense.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They say they felt a little bit of closure, but they want to see it retried.
SCHWARTZREICH: The defense...
MURPHY: And you know what`s going to be difficult? The defendants in this country -- defendants have a constitutional right to select racist jurors. The prosecution can`t. The defense can. And that`s the hard thing to fix in a case like this.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok, I`ve got to --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- hold on. I know we want to talk about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we can`t -- we just can`t challenge a juror because of their race. I mean that will be overturned.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side.
MURPHY: Not if the defense does it. Not if the defense does it. Only if the prosecution --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hello? Hello? Ok.
Listen, on the other side, we have a very desperate father. His daughter, this is his beautiful daughter, she`s five months pregnant. She disappeared a week ago yesterday. Cops found her SUV charred. This is all happening in Hawaii.
He wants to talk to us. He`s desperate to find his daughter. And it`s a total mystery. We`re going to talk to him exclusively on the other side. Stay right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to know, everybody just wants to know at this point. Finding things the way they`ve been found are terrifying in the least. I almost have no doubt that somebody out there knows what happened to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother-to-be missing in Maui.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need any and all information, whether it be large or small. She could be just, you know, incapacitated, tied down on the side of the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carly Scott, five months pregnant, missing in Maui.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not anything like what she would ever do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the different signs and things coming in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a wonderful person. She takes care of everybody around her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trouble in paradise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, a bone-chilling mystery in paradise. Right now, a family desperately searching on the Hawaiian island of Maui for this beautiful five months pregnant woman who seemingly vanished without a trace. Her distraught father joins me exclusively in a moment.
27-year-old Carly Scott, known to friends as Charli, disappeared eight days ago after she told her sister she was heading out to help her ex- boyfriend, the father of her unborn child, get his car out of the ditch at 8:30 at night. Her ex claims Charli helped him out then simply disappeared from his rear view mirror as the two were driving on the Hana Highway Hawaii in separate cars.
In a stunning new interview, the ex-boyfriend admits he failed a polygraph test. We`ll ask the missing woman`s dad about that. In an incredibly strange twist, Charli`s car was found two days after she went missing, totally burned out, laying on its side near a surf spot called "Jaws". Clothing and a blanket belonging to Charli were found in a beach area off Hana Highway. And her precious dog, Nala, was found wandering the streets in a town 30 miles away.
Could her abandoned car, her clothing and her precious dog help unlock this terrible mystery? Here`s Charli`s distraught sister on "Good Morning America".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIONA WAIS, SISTER OF CARLY SCOTT: I just want to know -- everybody just wants to know at this point -- finding things the way they`ve been found are terrifying in the least. I almost have no doubt that somebody out there knows what happened to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joining me now in a primetime exclusive, Charli`s father, Robby Scott. First of all, if I may call you Robert, I`m so very sorry for the nightmare you`re enduring right now. I know that none of us can even imagine what it`s like. We want to help, sir.
First of all, tell us about your missing daughter. What is she like?
ROBERT SCOTT, FATHER OF CARLY SCOTT: Oh, gosh, Charli`s just a light in the room. She`s always one that`s more concerned with those around her even more than her own welfare -- always cooking for people, willing to do anything for anyone else, and rarely asking for much in return, if at all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, her mother, presumably your wife, I`m learning all the details, it`s a breaking story, but her mother told cops every Monday morning, Charli would drop off her laundry at home. So when she didn`t show up last week, she knew something was really wrong. Let`s listen for a second.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMBERLYN SCOTT, MOTHER OF CARLY SCOTT: I think the hardest thing for me as her mother to live with is the idea that if she`s all right, she`s waiting for us to find her.
We just want her to know we haven`t stopped. And we won`t stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So look at these three bizarre clues found on the island. Charli`s ex claimed that she helped him get his car out of a ditch last night -- Sunday night, rather, a week ago from yesterday, 20-mile mark along Hana Highway. And then her car was found about seven miles away. And then her dog was found about 30 miles away.
Robert Scott, what do you know about this? This is very odd.
R. SCOTT: Well, let me clarify something. Kim and I have been apart for many years. But very much partners in Charli`s life. I do not live on the island. And so, you know --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you this. Let me jump in then because we have time problems here. And I want to get to crucial information to help your daughter.
R. SCOTT: Ok.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In a stunning interview with Hawaii news now, Charli`s ex-boyfriend claims cops told him he failed a polygraph test. He also told the local paper he was sort of excited about being a new dad, to Charli`s unborn child. Said it was unexpected. "She didn`t tell me right away but it was growing on me."
Robert Scott, your daughter`s five months pregnant. What about their relationship? Some people would find it odd you would ask a woman who was five months pregnant to help you pull a car out of a ditch, at night.
R. SCOTT: Yes. I`m very concerned. I don`t get that. I have not met Steven, and -- the ex-boyfriend. And, you know, I -- I`m kind of reserving my judgment. You know, we have thoughts, but it`s not something I want to put out there right now. It`s really concerning me -- who gets that -- asking a five-month pregnant woman to come help them and that. So to me, that`s a little suspicious or certainly just hard to understand.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me say this. We reached out and tried to find the ex-boyfriend and talk to him. We have not been successful. He is invited on our program anytime. And I want to stress, he`s not considered a suspect.
Just an odd thing, though. You`d think you`d ask somebody else, not a five-month pregnant woman to come pull your car out at 8:30 at night.
We`re going to take a short break. And then we`ve got one of the most famous private investigators in America, Vinnie Parco, who will analyze this case and tell us what he thinks happened to Charli and how we can help her family find Charli.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She takes care of everybody around her. This is not anything like what she would ever do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need any and all information, whether it be large or small. We`ve got to gather all that up. She could be just, you know, incapacitated, tied down on the side of the road.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Where is Charli? She`s lived in Hawaii for 11 years where she worked at a hair salon. Her family says she has absolutely no reason to run off. This is paradise but it`s turned hellish for the family of Charli. She`s five months pregnant. She goes to help her ex pull a ditch out of a car (SIC) at 8:30 at night.
I want to go to Joe Gomez, reporter with KRLD Dallas -- that was the last time she was seen. What have you learned?
JOE GOMEZ, REPORTER, KRLD DALLAS: What we`ve learned, Jane, is that the police have discovered possible evidence, they`re not saying what, in this charred-out vehicle. You know, it is very strange that her car was found abandoned and burnt out in an area where cars that are stolen are commonly dumped off.
This tells me that somebody was obviously trying to conceal some type of evidence. It`s good news, though, that her dog turned up at a marketplace, however far away it was, and that somebody else found some clothes belonging to her.
But she is five months pregnant, 27 years old, has been missing for days now. I mean this search is getting more desperate with every hour that passes, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Vinnie Parco, private investigator, what do you make of the dog turning up 30 miles away?
VINNIE PARCO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, this dog was found in very good condition. It wasn`t dirty. It wasn`t scratched from being in the brush. So it`s possible it`s someone who the dog knew drove the dog 30 miles away and dumped the dog.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In other words, what you`re saying is that somebody didn`t want to hurt the dog and decided to dump the dog somewhere where the dog would be found, which would imply that this is a person who knows Charli and the dog?
PARCO: Yes. The dog would feel comfortable. Now also dogs are very protective of their owners, so it`s kind of unusual that this dog would be that far away from Charli. And it`s possible that the dog was separated from her at some point in time.
What bothers me about this is the car was burned. And it looks like an insurance job. But of course, this car has no intrinsic value because it`s an old car. So it was probably burned to hide any kind of evidence. So it`s possible she might have been maybe hurt in the car, either by foul play, or I doubt it was an accident.
And it`s kind of unusual to try to fix a car at 8:30 at night. Especially it`s pretty dark at that time.
And what do we know about the boyfriend? He could be totally innocent. He could be just a victim of circumstances himself. But do we know anything about him?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I want to go back to Robert Scott, the father of this missing daughter. We only have a couple of seconds, sir. But what do you make of the fact that he said publicly that he failed a polygraph?
R. SCOTT: Well, I don`t know what questions or what failing the polygraph defines, you know, if they asked him a direct question or not, I would assume. Certainly it`s very concerning.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Have you been able to talk to him? Have you been able to talk to him?
(CROSSTALK)
R. SCOTT: No. Nor would I attempt to at this point. I would not, nor any of us would try to attempt to contact him at this point.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He`s the last one who saw her. Sir, we want to stay on top of this.
R. SCOTT: I know. Just in terms of, you know, the scrutiny he`s under, and the police investigation, I just don`t think it would be a good idea at this point. As much as I want to, believe me, it`s very difficult to not want to go and confront and get some direct questions answered.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mr. Scott --
R. SCOTT: I feel it`s best at this time to not made contact with him. That`s all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: My heart goes out to you and your family. You`re in our thoughts and prayers. We hope that we find your beautiful daughter, and we will keep her in the news. Thank you, sir.
Now, another very disturbing story. This woman is 19. She`s a teenager. She claims she`s been on a killing spree since she was 13 and has killed more than 20 people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 19-year-old said she wasn`t sure how many people she has killed in the last six years, since she was 13 years old admitting that she stopped counting at 22. Barbour also admitted that she not only killed here in Pennsylvania, but that she`d killed people from Alaska to North Carolina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day, send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane. Atticus, you`re my hero. Look at that shaggy look. Oh. And Magoo`s got snow all over his face. He`s having fun. Gracie, Brandy, Lucy -- posing like they`re in some kind of fashion magazine. And Kepuha - - I hope I pronounced your name right but you`re pretty darn cute Kepuha.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miranda and Elytte Barbour are accused of luring 42-year-old Troy LaFerrera through a Craigslist ad then stabbing him to death --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She now claims to be a serial killer with so many victims she can`t remember them all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said that if she got out, she would do it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight breaking news. Cops arrest this teenager for allegedly stabbing this man she met on Craigslist for sex 20 times and dumping his body. But now that could be the tip of the iceberg. Police say 19-year-old Miranda Barbour hasn`t confessed to one brutal murder, she`s confessed to killing at least 22 people from Alaska to North Carolina as a part of a satanic cult.
Cops say they arrested Miranda for stabbing 43-year-old Troy LaFerrara during a thrill-kill with her brand new husband as part of their three-week anniversary -- what a honeymoon. But once Miranda was behind bars she told a reporter this wasn`t even close to her first time committing murder. And worst she says if she gets out of jail, she will kill again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCIS SCARCELLA, REPORTER, "DAILY ITEM": She said she has done this before. I said, "What`s the actual number?" And she said "Under 100".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Under 100.
Miranda claims to have killed people in Alaska, California, North Carolina and Texas and says she can pinpoint the location of the bodies on the map. Is she telling the truth?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF STEVE MAZZEO, SUNBURY POLICE: I don`t want to discount her credibility. At this point, we`re taking her claims seriously and we are liaisoning with different state and federal authorities to determine whether or not there is validity to her statements.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to reporter KRLD, Joe Gomez. What do you know?
GOMEZ: Jane, we know that Barbour apparently started killing -- she claims -- when she was 13 years old which it was part of a Satanic cult in Alaska in a town called the North Pole -- believe it or not. She says that the cult leader had -- was trying to kill some men in the alleyway, had given her the gun, told her to do it. She didn`t want to do it, so he helped her by pulling the trigger with his hands on her hands.
That happened, she says, when she was 13. She`s 19 years old now, and she claims that she lost count of how many people she`s killed after 22, but it`s under 100.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Vinnie Parco, private eye. Miranda is officially charged with one count of murder. Do you believe she`s a serial killer?
PARCO: Yes, I do. People don`t usually confess to doing something like that unless they did it. She`s part of a satanic cult, so she`s not wrapped too tight. Neither is her husband. And -- yes, I would tend to believe that she could do that. She looks like the type of person not wrapped too tight, as I said before.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But I think she might be a pathological liar who`s seeking attention, and who actually hasn`t committed 22 murders. My gosh. I have to tell you -- we`re all over this. We`re going to continue it tomorrow.
This is an incredible mystery. We`re getting new information in, and I believe Nancy Grace is covering it, too. She`s up next.
END
