Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Larry King Live
Yeardley Love's Ex-Boyfriend Charged with Murder
Aired May 07, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM MORET, GUEST HOST (voice-over): Tonight heartbreak on campus. A caring daughter, sister and friend murdered. A life full of promise ended in violence.
Was 22-year-old senior Yeardley Love killed by accident or was her death planned and carried out by her one-time boyfriend, now charged with first-degree murder?
George Huguely admits shaking her. Were there death threats? Other violent encounters?
The University of Virginia is reeling, and many on campus and off are asking tonight could a tragedy for all have been prevented?
Next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MORET: Good evening. I'm Jim Moret from "Inside Edition" sitting in tonight for Larry King.
Let's go right to Keith Daniels in Towson, Maryland. He's a reporter for CNN affiliate WBFF-TV.
Keith, a second of two viewings of Yeardley Love is scheduled to be at the end of this hour.
Keith, what's the latest? What can you tell us? How many people are there, the family and so forth?
KEITH DANIELS, REPORTER, WBFF-TV: Well, Jim, those evening services are wrapping up here now. That's right. It's the last of two services held here today.
Family and friends gathered at the Rock Funeral Home here in Towson, Maryland in the same neighborhood where Yeardley attended high school.
She was a student at the Notre Dame Prep School for Girls before going off to the University of Virginia. Now many of her schoolmates from the prep school and many of her lacrosse teammates from the university were here for the viewing. They say the mood inside was of course somber, but they told us that they wanted to concentrate on Yeardley's life. They're celebrating her life. They say she was an attractive, intelligent, caring young lady, and good at lacrosse, too.
And tonight those who cared about Yeardley say they had to be here. The funeral is tomorrow morning at 10:00 at the Cathedral of Mary, Our Queen in north Baltimore.
Meantime, again, family and friends here just can't believe that her former boyfriend is now the accused killer -- Jim.
MORET: Are there any representatives from the university there? I know that there's some criticism about why this pattern of violence with the former boyfriend wasn't caught earlier.
Anybody speaking out at all? I know they're focusing on this young woman's life. But this is such a tragedy for her family and for the school.
DANIELS: Well, many of the people here who are going in and out of the funeral home, they're not stopping, frankly, to speak with us. So whether university officials are here or not, there is no formal way of knowing that.
Again, a lot of people who did -- some of those people, rather, who did speak with us were from her high school. We did see about two or three buses pull up. We're told that those were members of the lacrosse team. But again, they did not stop to speak with us as well. These people are for good reason are in pain.
MORET: That's Keith Daniels, reporter for CNN affiliate WBFF. Thanks for joining us, Keith.
And Keith mentioned Yeardley's former school, the Notre Dame Prep School in Baltimore where she attended. They have established the Yeardley Love Memorial Fund.
Joining us now Liz Palka, reporter for Charlotteville's "Newsplex." She has been covering the Yeardley Love murder case since it broke.
And there are clearly a lot of questions tonight, Liz. What is the very latest?
LIZ PALKA, REPORTER, CHARLOTTESVILLE NEWSPLEX: Well, Jim, there are a lot of rumors flying out. There has been different stories that we've been hearing all week about George Huguely's past possible anger issues or just signs of abuse that may have happened.
Earlier this week we heard about an incident that happened in Lexington, Virginia where he actually acted out against a police officer when he was intoxicated in public and ended up getting tasered as a result.
We're also learning today, according to the "Washington Post," a UVA teammate came over -- came out, a former UVA lacrosse teammate that Huguely actually attacked another teammate while he was sleeping because he allegedly kissed Yeardley Love while they were dating.
So there's a lot of stories that we're hearing coming out every day. Meanwhile, the Charlottesville Police are still leading this investigation. They're looking at these rumors and they haven't confirmed that they're true yet.
MORET: Liz, are there any talk about these allegations that George Huguely may have attacked Yeardley in an incident in North Carolina?
PALKA: Yes. We're hearing that. Once again, the Charlottesville Police has not confirmed it yet, but there is a report that he may have attacked Yeardley in public, and that two UNC lacrosse players actually had to pull him off of her.
Again, you know, a lot of people are not coming forward about this out of fear of just this story in general, out of fear of -- the fact that Yeardley Love was murdered in such a brutal way, and one of their own is behind bars right now. So there is a lot we still don't know and a lot, you know, that we don't have confirmed.
MORET: Liz, is there shock in and among -- in and around this area just at the picture being painted of this young man?
PALKA: Absolutely. I mean, this was a star lacrosse player here at the University of Virginia. You know this lacrosse team is well- known throughout the country. And we are hearing these things that he may have had this facet the school wasn't aware of, that maybe others weren't aware of.
But students are shocked by this. They're confused. And as a result, they're not talking.
MORET: Liz Palka reporter for Charlesville's "Newsplex." Thank you very much for joining us.
With us now Jack Bird, sports editor for UVA student newspaper "The Cavalier Daily."
Jack, you've interviewed George Huguely in the past. What was your impression of this young man when you talked to him?
JACK BIRD, SPORTS EDITOR, THE CAVALIER DAILY: Jim, you know, like many of the other athletes on the lacrosse team, he was always polite and friendly when I interacted with him professionally.
MORET: Did you ever interview Yeardley Love?
BIRD: No. I only had a chance to watch her play in, you know, several games. I never got a chance to interview her.
MORET: What's going on with the lacrosse team? There have been talk -- there's been talk about this code of silence that the teammates don't want to talk about this fellow teammate that now faces first-degree murder charges.
BIRD: Well, I have to imagine that there is a lot of confusion for the members of the lacrosse team. Having a teammate involved in something so traumatic. I know that the Athletic Department, of course, is taking every precaution to make sure that judgment is reserved until things can be confirmed.
But I know that right now they're just focused on dealing with their season and the upcoming NCAA championship.
MORET: Jack, I'm looking at a figure here. It's hard to believe. It's been reported eight of the 41 players on the current UVA men's lacrosse team have been charged with alcohol-related offenses during their career at the school.
What do you know about this?
BIRD: You know, what I can tell you is that Coach Dom Starja has -- at the beginning of this season -- took a stance against, you know, the drinking and he made a rule that the team was required to only drink once a week on Saturdays.
Now obviously it's unfortunate to hear that, you know, there are so many that were apparently -- you know he suspended a couple at the beginning of the season for that -- you know, violating that.
But, you know, I guess it's never good when you find out that eight people were involved in that.
MORET: And Jack Bird, sports editor for UVA student newspaper, "The Cavalier Daily." Thank you for joining us.
Robin Givens has a few things to say about Yeardley Love's death. She's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORET: We welcome back Robin Givens to LARRY KING LIVE. She is an actress and author, currently starring in the play "Church Girl." She is the ex-wife of former boxing champ Mike Tyson and spokeswoman for the National Domestic Violence hotline.
Thanks you for joining us tonight.
ROBIN GIVENS, ACTRESS: I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
MORET: Robin, I want to first jump and get your reaction to the death of Yeardley Love. I know this is an issue that you're passionate about. And I know you have strong feelings about this.
GIVENS: Well, you know, it's always so upsetting and disheartening and -- when you think of a young woman with so much promise in her life, just all ahead of her, of course, and for it to just be taken so easily, is deeply upsetting to me. And very personal to me because I was very much in a situation like this. So it sort of becomes emotional and brings back memories. But I think it also points up -- or we should use it as an opportunity to know that we have to make people aware and keep yelling and shouting and talking about domestic violence as an issue.
And make -- create an atmosphere where victims can come out and speak about domestic violence, speak about their fears, speak about their discomfort and know that it's safe for them to do so, and that they have understanding and compassionate listeners.
MORET: But with so many people talking about this issue for so long, yourself included, you can still have a young girl who may be intimidated. I watched, for example, your 1988 interview with Barbara Walters. And you were talking about your then husband Mike Tyson, and how charming and gentle he could be.
But then you said there is a side of him that's scary, that you became afraid. And he was intimidating. And now given what you know, can you put yourself in the position of a young girl who still might be afraid to come forward and say something?
GIVENS: Well, for me, you know, that interview and, you know, it's been some time ago, but you know, before that interview, I had a man tell me -- my husband that I loved very much tell me that he was going to kill me and he was going to get away with it, and nobody would care.
And I believed him. I believed him. And I encourage every woman out there when a man tells you he's going to kill you, he means it. So I remember just sitting there wanting somebody to hear me and help me and save me, and what do I do?
And when I think about this young woman's situation, who is now not here to speak up, I very much feel obligated and a need to speak on behalf of women who no longer have a voice or who are afraid to speak up.
And this is an issue that we are -- well, you see, we are dealing with. In the most perfect situations. People can look from the outside and see people that look perfect or couples that look perfect. But there are usually things going on. And I encourage every woman, young woman out there, old woman out there, middle aged woman out there, to pay attention to the signs.
And I'll tell you this, Jim. I think that this issue will really begin to change and evolve, and we will come out of this sort of epidemic, if you will, when men get involved. When men start saying certain things are unacceptable.
When they are alone sitting at a bar, in the locker room or with the lacrosse team, and he says yes, I slap my woman, so what? And then it's unacceptable to the guys.
MORET: So do you think there is still a code of silence --
GIVENS: I think that'll (INAUDIBLE) and change.
MORET: Do you think there's a code of silence among men in particular that either they don't want to discuss it or admit it, or they think it's OK?
GIVENS: I think among certain groups of men. I think they think that your woman, you can do what they want with her, or certain things are still acceptable, if you will. I travel and I speak all over the United States. And I come in contact with different people that think different things.
And I'm surprised that they feel a certain way given this day and time. I do know still the shame that women feel, the guilt that they feel when they find themselves in a situation that they didn't think that they would be in. And feeling threatened and in danger by someone that you love. And I feel like I understand what this young woman was feeling.
MORET: When you talk about being in a relationship like that, your ex-husband Mike Tyson, after 22 years later, he was a guest on "The View" today. Were you surprised? Were you angered by that? What was your reaction?
GIVENS: Well, you know, it's really -- it's interesting for me, because it has been so long. And I don't want to live and dwell in the past. But I do have this feeling and this passion of wanting to make sense out of what happened to me and put it to good use. And to be a voice for women that, like I said, do not have a voice.
I have to say initially I'm going oh my god, it's a bunch of women, and you want the women, you know, to kind of stand up for you and stand up not only for me, but for all women.
I was on "Oprah" not too long ago. I guess it was the end of 2009. And there was some things that were said and she offered me a nice heartfelt apology. And, you know, it was really wonderful. I think that we as women certainly have a responsibility to stand up for one another. There's a sense of blaming the victim.
There was something that Elisabeth Hasselbeck had said about something else, Erin and-- you know, there's just this overwhelming sense of blaming the victim. And we particularly as women have to hold men accountable.
And I don't say this even for my own behalf, but on the behalf of a lot of women out there who just feel lost. And I know that feeling, a feeling sort of lost and helpless. And we have to stand up for them.
MORET: Robin, as I mentioned, is the spokeswoman for the National Domestic hotline. Their phone number is 1-800-799-SAFE. The number again for the National Domestic Violence hotline, 1-800-799- SAFE.
When we come back, Robin, I want to talk to you about what if you're on the outside and you suspect that a friend of yours is involved in a battering relationship. What can you do? More when we come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORET: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. I'm Jim Moret from "Inside Edition" sitting in for Larry. We're talking with Robin Givens.
Robin, what if you're on the outside and you suspected that friend of yours is involved in a relationship where they may be the victim of domestic violence? What do you do? What do you suggest?
GIVENS: I think you have to get involved. I think you really have to get involved. You can't sort of sit on the sidelines and believe that everything is OK. You have to listen. You have to encourage them to get out of the situation.
And I think -- I think what we're talking about tonight, the situation that we're talking about, with this young beautiful lacrosse player is the ultimate reason for stepping in and saying you've got to get out of this situation.
Love can be very confusing, I'm sure, oftentimes for young people, for us all. But you should never feel in danger. And you can feel that. You can feel that in the pit of your stomach. You can feel those red flags.
And I encourage everybody to pay attention to what you're feeling. Don't ignore it. You can't fix it. It's not your responsibility as a woman to fix it or to fix somebody else.
MORET: And you talk about getting men involved. I know you're the mom of two boys, I think 10 and 16.
GIVENS: Yes.
MORET: So how do you --
GIVENS: And 16.
MORET: -- teach them? How do you teach them to not only respect women, but to understand the pain that some of these battered women have experienced from the side of being a guy and stepping back and saying that's wrong?
GIVENS: Well, I think that's so very important. So I'm glad that you mentioned that. It has been -- you know, for 16 1/2 years with my older son -- my younger son like you said is 10. I've just been determined to try to give the world two healthy, whole men, future husbands and fathers.
And we talk about everything. Certainly at an age-appropriate time. But we really do talk about everything. Their responsibility -- you know, my 16-year-old is 6'1". He is so strong. What do you do? How do you behave when you're angry, when you're upset, when you feel disrespected? You know, I always encourage walk away. Walk away. Walk away. Cool off. You know, it sounds -- it might sound rather simplistic, but even with preschoolers in the sandbox, we say no touching. Hitting is unacceptable.
And it's something that we have to say. And there is no room. There is no gray area. There is no oh, but the woman did this, oh, but she had a big mouth, oh but she --
MORET: Right.
GIVENS: -- looked at my phone. But she -- it's unacceptable.
(CROSSTALK)
GIVENS: It's unacceptable.
MORET: At our kids' preschool they used to say hands are not for hitting. And, you know --
GIVENS: Hands -- yes.
MORET: That's right. I want to touch on one other topic, talking about victimization of women. Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor, he stands accused of engaging in sex with a prostitute. He said she was 19. It turns out she was 16 so that would be statutory rape if he is found guilty. He denies the charge.
I just wanted to get your input on that particular case.
GIVENS: Well, I certainly know -- I watched a little bit last night. And my heart kind of dropped into my stomach. And I felt so sad. And you know, overall I have this sense of heroes, you know? We have these heroes in the world that we all look up to and we all want them to, of course, behave in a certain way. And they oftentimes disappoint us terribly.
I don't know the details of that case so it's so hard for me to comment on them. But as a mother of two young men, and there are so many kids out there, I really encourage us to have our children choose our heroes wisely.
I think oftentimes you won't necessarily find them on television or in the football -- I mean you might. But to choose them, to choose them wisely. And, you know, I wish the best for him, but of course it's deeply upsetting.
MORET: Once again, I want to give the number for the National Domestic Violence hotline. It's 1-800--799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799- 7223.
Robin Givens, thank you so much for joining us.
Nicole Brown Simpson's sister joins us next so stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MORET: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. I'm Jim Moret from "Inside Edition" sitting in tonight for Larry.
Tanya Brown is the sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson. She is the former sister-in-law of O.J. Simpson and advocate for Domestic Violence Prevention and Mental Health and Wellness.
Dr. Robi Ludwig is a psychotherapist and contributor to Care.com and she is the author of "Till Death Do Us Part."
Thank you both for joining us.
Tanya, your sister really will paid the ultimate price. Even though O.J. wasn't convicted criminally, he was held civilly responsible. When you look at this young, beautiful college student and see that she paid the ultimate price as well, what are your impressions of this murder?
TANYA BROWN, NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON'S SISTER: It's absolutely senseless. I'm hearing that people recognized signs, they heard signs, they witnessed arguing, even heard that there was an altercation, and she was -- they had to separate the couple.
There are signs such as this. I mean, and that's a viable and visible sign. Constant phone calling, the jealousy that maybe he had for her with regards to her dating another man. And supposedly from what I'm hearing is that that other boy had kissed her. That could have set up an outrage as well.
So my passion and my goal is to help people of all ages, but specifically college students because they are so vulnerable. They're out on -- they're out, you know, of their home -- their parents' home for the very first time.
They're experiencing things and they want to fit in. And they don't want to start things. And -- so that's my passion and my goal is to just reach out to many people as I possibly can to say if you -- silence kills. Silence killed my sister.
If you're recognizing that this is happening to a friend, to a family member, reach out. Get the person help. Give them the national hotline number that you had mentioned earlier. People -- this is not just a passionate relationship. And that's what I have heard somebody had said that. It's not a passionate, rocky relationship. It's a potential murder case.
MORET: Dr. Ludwig, when you look at this case and you look specifically at George Huguely, and he is a handsome, good-looking guy. He is an athlete. He probably has a sense of entitlement being on the lacrosse team and doing well and all that. What strike you about this young man and about what we have been hearing, this violent dark side mixed with alcohol?
LUDWIG: Well, it sounds like he clearly had an alcohol problem, which made or contributed to his violence. What is so striking is that his issues and violent behavior somehow seemed to be minimized or normalized even. So perhaps because he is good-looking, perhaps because he was smart, perhaps because he was a star athlete, we don't tend to fit those characteristics necessarily into somebody who is homicidal. So here --
MORET: We heard the reporter of the student newspaper say earlier in the show that the coach somehow condoned going out one night a week for drinking. And a number of the players on this lacrosse team have had problems dealing with alcohol. Tanya talked about being in college. There is a sense that you're safe, and that the world is all new, and nothing is going to happen to you. And clearly that's not the case.
LUDWIG: Yeah, there is this naivete that somehow college is a safe utopia. And it would be nice if that were the case. But that is not true. And we also tend to look at college students as normally trying out a lot of different behaviors. They're not going to make smart choices. It's really their time to learn about alcohol, drugs, sex, dating.
But here is the important takeaway. This horrible story is a sign that colleges need to educate their student body. They need to have some type of emergency plan in place for people who are drinking, people who are violent, that it won't just go away on its own, that people can get killed. That there are people right now on college campuses who are in dangerous relationships. And just because somebody is young doesn't mean they can't be dangerous, and really a danger to themselves. Because this boy now is facing really losing his whole entire life.
So perhaps if there was an intervention made sooner, both of these kids could have been saved.
MORET: Tanya, when you talk about prevention, clearly what Robi is talking about also is education. And it's surprising, really, given what you've experienced, the loss in your family -- and that's so long ago.
BROWN: Right.
MORET: I know you have been working tirelessly to get this message out. Is it frustrating that so many people either don't pay attention or don't think it could happen to them?
BROWN: I think it's a little bit of both. I think you never -- one, you never think it can happen to you. And also it's just -- education is prevention. And that's with anything there are signs to look out for. So what I firmly -- I can't say it more emphatically is get yourself educated. My gosh, this is a world of Internet technology. If you don't want to go to a library, get on the Internet. Learn about domestic violence.
This is killing. It can kill you. It can kill a loved one. It can kill a friend. Alcohol plays a large role. But alcohol doesn't cause domestic violence. It's merely a causal factor of it. It releases the inhibitions. There is hold nothing back. Anger management, you know. We need to learn this stuff in school, even younger than college. Let's go down to junior high, you know, Kindergarten, bullying. We talk about bullying. These are very serious issues that need to be addressed.
MORET: And we have a lot more to talk about. What do our legal eagles think? They're here, after the break.
The number again, by the way, for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORET: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. I'm Jim Moret from "Inside Edition," sitting in tonight for Larry. We welcome my friend Mark Geragos, criminal defense attorney, and Stacey Honowitz, Florida assistant state attorney. She specializes in child abuse and sex crimes cases. She is the author of "My Privates Are Private."
Mark, first to you. In this particular case, we're hearing some disturbing -- disturbing admissions that are credited to this young man, who said that he took her by the neck, hit her head against the wall, but then his attorney comes out and says this was an accident. You're a defense attorney. I'm sure that the first thing you tell your client, don't say anything. But these statements could hurt him.
MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, they could hurt. It's a double edged sword. If you're looking from a purely legal basis, depending on how he couched what he said, it could be a manslaughter. If you're talking about an accident, it could be -- he could be angling for some kind of a manslaughter-type charge. So that's a way to spin it, so to speak, in terms of what actually happened.
This does not strike me -- and obviously I don't know this young man, but he doesn't strike me as a sophisticated person. And that's usually the case in cases like this. And if that's true, and he is unsophisticated, he may just be telling it like it is. I threw her against the wall does not usually sound like an accident. And he probably doesn't know the legal ins and outs. And so he may have just made a statement, or sometimes what will happen is that the officers will kind of lead him into making a statement.
And so you don't know how much of that until you hear -- actually hear the statement, if it's taped, or hear his version of what actually happened.
MORET: Stacey, in this case, they're looking at first-degree murder charges. How do you feel about those charges? Do you think they're appropriate in this case?
STACY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: I don't know all the facts and the ins and outs, like Mark said. And certainly his lawyer is not going to come out and say he intended to kill her, which of course it was premeditated and deliberate, because he would be confessing on behalf of his client. So you're never going to hear that. We have to wait and see. The allegations are that he burst into her room, which is a burglary. There are many different ways that the state can try to present this case as a first-degree murder.
Could it be felony murder? This act happened in the commission of a felony. Was it premeditated? Was it deliberate? Were there arguments beforehand? Were there rage? All of these things are taken into consideration when the prosecutor makes the decision. Based on what I've heard, and, like I said, I don't know all the facts, I think the first degree murder is what they're going to take make stick.
GERAGOS: Yeah, I don't think there is any way possible that they're going to charge anything but a first-degree murder. But a lot of the facts that Stacey talks about lend themselves to an argument that it's a manslaughter. So that's pretty much where I think you're going to find this case is going to be fought out. There's the idea of whether or not there is malice. The difference between murder and manslaughter is your mental state. When you talk about rage, when you talk about a foot through the door, things of that nature, does that negate the malice so that you have a manslaughter?
MORET: But Stacey, what about the addition of alcohol and the potential -- the potential that alcohol fueled this rage, that he may have been going back to win her back, trying and being frustrated, and then, as Mark says, his rage comes out. Does alcohol negate any of these charges, or does it amplify them?
HONOWITZ: I don't -- I think your panelists before were talking about how alcohol is really not negating the factor. Certainly alcohol plays a role. If he gets more violent when he drinks, it plays a role. But I think in this case, with regard to all the other factors coming into play, the fact that they have argued before, there might have been a prior incident, he had anger management questions before, the alcohol in this role is not going to really play a factor.
MORET: Dr. Robi Ludwig, from a psychological standpoint, though, when you hear somebody even claiming, yes, I hit her head against the wall, but didn't intend for anything to happen. Take us into the mind of a potential -- a rage attack, and how someone could justify it.
LUDWIG: Well, in some cases, these men really, really love the woman that they're abusing. And they want to win them back. And in some cases, there is an argument and there is a fight, and they do end up winning their woman back. And their mental state is because I love you, I can't really harm you, or in very severe cases, it's not that they don't love the woman they're killing, it's they're trying to eliminate the part of the woman that is rejecting them, the part of the woman that is not loving them.
So, in their mind, they are, you know, getting rid of the bad part in the hope that this woman will then be the woman that they need them to be, the woman that loves them unconditionally. That's what the batterer is looking for. They're looking for unconditional love. But very often they're so paranoid, they look at the woman they're involved with almost as a mirror. And they're hypersensitive to any type of disdain or rejection, and they can't handle it. MORET: Tanya, we only have 30 seconds left in this segment. I saw you nodding your head when she was saying they often love the woman they're hurting and later ask for forgiveness. In this case, obviously, that's not the case.
BROWN: Tanya, it will never happen again. I am so sorry. Here is a bundle of roses and some chocolate. Just know that I love you. And then the whole cycle continues again. My message right now is that if a person hits you once, male to female, female to male, it will happen again, and over time it will get worse.
LUDWIG: Better prosecute it.
MORET: We have to take a break, Robi. I'll get right back to you. It's been highly publicized for years. Why aren't we getting any better at preventing it? That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
MORET: We've been focusing on the brutal killing of college senior Yeardley Love. The man who stands accused himself a college senior, George Huguely. Let's go to our phones now. First call from Charlottesville, Virginia. Your question.
CALLER: Yes. My question is you -- Robin, you talked to Robin earlier. And she had said that friends should get involved. People should get involved when they hear about these things. And I'd like to know -- I understand that he came at night and he broke down the door. I'd like to know what can a woman do who has a boyfriend or a husband who is abusive and gets a restraining order against him. If he drinks, I don't think he is going to pay much attention. If he wants to come and get her, he will.
What can friends and family do? Can they have an intervention? Can they put him into counseling?
MORET: Tanya, you want to take that very briefly?
BROWN: Absolutely. Well, one, you can't put somebody into counseling when they're not willing to go to counseling. This is why it's so imperative for people to be educated on the dynamics of domestic violence. Also, you have to be very careful when intervening in a domestic violence dispute.
But I think the best -- what I've done in the past, I've written down the eight hundred number, 799-SAFE, put it on a piece of Post-It paper, and gave it to somebody. That is a national hotline and they have all the answers.
HONOWITZ: You have to prosecute. The bottom line is a lot of women -- I'm not saying it's the women's fault. But so many women refuse to prosecute in court. If you don't go to court, if you don't try to seek some kind of punishment, get him to counseling, put him into jail, then the cycle is going to keep coming. Many women come into my office and say I'm not going to court. And then our hands are tied. The message is you're being abused, go to court, get a restraining order or prosecutor him for domestic battery. Don't be scared to do it. You're saving your life.
BROWN: Yeah.
MORET: We have to take a quick break.
First, what are your top five LARRY KING LIVE moments? Go to CNN.com/LarryKing and vote. We will count them down beginning May 31, Larry's silver anniversary week. Don't forget to enter the sweepstakes. You can win a trip to L.A. That's these studios where we are, meet Larry, see the show in person, and have dinner with the King himself.
Now for tonight's top moment. This one from 2007. And it shocked a lot of us. It's Tammy Faye's very last interview. She was gravely ill with inoperable cancer. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tammy Faye, god bless.
TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, ACTRESS: God bless you, Larry.
KING: What can you say? Tammy Faye Bakker. She would die the next morning. I was surprised, first, how bad she looked. She was always so vivacious. Yet she still had that same Tammy Faye, here I am.
If you could have people remember you for one thing, what would it be?
FAYE: My eye lashes.
KING: Still got that humor.
They told me that night that when she passed, they would hold it for us to announce. And we announced it the next night as we went on the air. She was a frequent guest. It was always fun having her. A lot of people loved her. She would be off the wall.
FAYE: Don't you love this kid?
KING: She retained her religious faith.
FAYE: I think people need to know that there's great peace and joy in the end knowing the lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
KING: I really liked Tammy. That was a tough night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never expect something like this to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was just truly a wonderful girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORET: Tributes continuing to pour in for Yeardley Love, who was killed earlier this week. Mark Geragos is a defense attorney. George Huguely, who stands accused of first-degree murder -- the defense attorney's job is to protect their client and their interests. Often in cases like this, won't they try to vilify or blame the victim in some way?
GERAGOS: Well, I don't know if I would call it blame or vilify. If there is something you want to call provocation, that's your duty to bring that out. If there's some prior incident that you think is relevant, you try to bring it out.
But remember, usually in cases like this, the judge is going to be the gate keeper of what kind of evidence gets in. You're limited, to some degree, by what you do by the evidence code and the judge.
MORET: Stacy Honowitz, what's your experience in cases like this with respect to the defense? I mean, do you bristle when you hear anybody blaming the victim? And certainly in this case, she is without blame. She paid the ultimate price.
HONOWITZ: Well, as a prosecutor and just as a person, of course you're going to feel like why is this person who battered this individual then blaming them. But this is the case. You do see it quite often because it's a way for them to justify their behavior.
These cases are extremely difficult. Mark will tell you. It's a terrible situation when you're involved in any kind of domestic violence case. And as I said earlier, so often the victim feels threatened and feels like they cannot come forward and don't want to go to court. It's also the issue like Robi said. Plenty of times the person will apologize and make up and bring them gifts. And that victim, that spouse will think it's never going to happen again.
Again, it's a vicious cycle. There needs to be education. And there needs to be people to come forward and say, I'm not afraid to either put him in jail because he did it to me, or get him some kind of anger management.
GERAGOS: You know, there's a reason why cops generally don't want to go to domestic calls. And there's a reason why a lot of lawyers don't like to do family law. And it's because the most heated emotions revolve around these kind of relationships. And I will tell you the most aggravating cases, as a defense lawyer, from my standpoint, are these types of cases. I mean, you will see -- I don't care who it is, I've had cases where the -- within the last week, where the woman will come in who's the complaining witness, and she'll be the one who wants to hire me to represent the person who's in custody. BROWN: Right. Yeah.
GERAGOS: That's a nettlesome situation. That happens every day, in every state in this country.
HONOWITZ: So many time, I'll get a call from the defense attorney, will call me as the prosecutor and say, hey, listen, the victim came into my office, and she want to drop the charges. And she wants me to represent him. Mark's 100 coerce right. Quite often, after the incident takes place --
MORET: Talk about that a minute. We also had a caller earlier who said, what do you do if you suspect someone you know is involved in this kind of situation? And then you have, as Mark suggests, a client who changes her mind. Doesn't want to press charges. What do you do in those situations?
LUDWIG: Well, sometimes these women feel that they can handle the situation on their own. Sometimes these women feel that the man that is abusing them really loves them, that they as a woman can help assuage the anger and rage. They can fix this man. They're in the best position to make sure nothing bad happens.
What I want to say is that is wrong, OK. Just because somebody loves you doesn't mean they won't kill you. They can get out of control. These things happen a lot. So if you're making an intervention to a friend or a family member, that is the one thing that you say. That this is not something you can handle on your own. And just because somebody loves you doesn't mean that they won't harm you. They are out of control, the person who is abusing and battering. They need help and you need help. And that's the way to phrase it.
MORET: Tanya, we're in the last minute. What is the take away, the lesson that you want people to learn from this case, and thousands of others that happen every day in this country?
BROWN: Oh, my gosh. Wake up. Wake up, America. Wake up to these young girls. If you're in a relationship where there's jealousy, where there's violence, where there's disrespect, where there is, you know, forcible sex, if there's -- you know, when somebody calls you 60 times, 50, 60, 70 times a day, that's not love. That's checking up on you.
And the 800-799-SAFE number, that is a national hotline number, 24/7. But you are not alone. And I think with -- with young girls, with women, they feel like they're alone. And I -- yeah, just reach out, get help, because my sister didn't. And she ended up getting killed.
MORET: Thank you to our great panel. Thank you, and thank you for watching. Before we go, the LARRY KING LIVE staff and I would like to congratulate another friend, Wolf Blitzer, on his 20 year at CNN. Happy anniversary, Wolf. You've still got five to go to catch up with Larry.
Time now for "AC 360." Take care.