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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Interim Report on Germanwings Crash Released; Colorado Theater Shooting Trial Update; Manny Pacquiao Being Sued over Fight. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 06, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: I'm going to remind you of a terrible plane crash that happened back in March when 150 people after a perfectly good airplane slammed into the ground in the French Alps. No mechanical problem, no in-flight emergency, no terrorism either. Just one deeply disturbed co-pilot, one who decided that that was the day he commit suicide and kill, murder in fact, everyone else onboard that aircraft, Germanwings Flight 9525

Today, we're learning more about what happened in the cockpit on a different flight earlier that same faithful day. And it comes from an interim report by the French officials who are picking apart the flight data recorder.

Here is what really jumps out. The co-pilot, the murderer, Andreas Lubitz, actually practiced the move that he would use hours later to bring down the next plane he was going to fly out. He practiced it on the outbound flight from Dusseldorf to Barcelona, and look at this from the flight data recorder.

The blue line on your screen is the actual altitude that that flight actually maintained. But the red line is shocking, it's how many times Lubitz changed the autopilot altitude controller on that earlier flight. He didn't actually take that earlier plane down. He just fiddled with the controls, checking things out.

But on the next flight, he made the same adjustment and he carried the whole thing through. He crashed it and killed everyone.

Our Senior International Corespondent Jim Bittermann is in Paris. Also, Aviation Analyst and Commercial Boeing 777 Pilot Les Abend is here as well.

First to you in Paris, Jim, this new information while it is astounding and shocking and distressing, does it do anything in terms of the investigation or potential litigation coming ahead, what exactly are we suppose to make of this?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a couple of angles there Ashleigh. I don't think it changes anything in terms of the facts of the crash. I think basically they have been established now for some time. But it does say something about the co-pilot's mental state. One of the things that we don't know is whether he was trying this out to see if it would work or whether he was actually going to try it on that earlier flight and lost his nerves. That's something we'll never know, I don't think.

The other thing is that this question of liability. The pilot, if the pilot had some awareness of this that the co-pilot was fettling around with the autopilot, setting it for a hundred feet, there could be a question of liability but in fact, there -- it doesn't seem to be any reason to believe the pilot had any idea that Lubitz did this because it was exactly the same scenario. He waited until the pilot was out of the cockpit and then he fettled with the autopilot and set it for 100 feet several times, as we said. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: All right. Captain Abend, if you could weigh in on just the logistics of all of this.

[12:35:03] Is it ever normal and this is just in the interest of benefit of the doubt in a story that doesn't make sense, is it ever normal for a capital as yourself or your co-pilot to work with controls but not effectively do anything about it? Would there be anything to this that stands out to you as, hey, don't jump to conclusion.

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's a great question and it's a two-step process in what he was doing. It was in order to change the altitude you've got to adjust it on that selection up that we've been talking about and then do something else to make it happen. So all he was doing was just fettling around with an altitude. The answer to your question, no, it's not normal. Once you set an altitude, you wined it down in this particular case. I think we understand air traffic control cleared him to 21,000 feet.

So, in that process of activating the descent to 21,000, I think initially it was 35,000, he was playing with that altitude. And agree that there was a possibility that may not have been practiced that he may have been working up the courage to possibly do it on that trip from Dusseldorf.

BANFIELD: So when you see that the, you know, the graphic we're seeing right now, the animation taking it down from, like you said, you know, plus 35, it was actually around 37 or so, when you see this and when you saw that graphically put up of the blue line and the red line...

ABEND: Right.

BANFIELD: ...and what he was doing even though the plane he was flying in prior to the deadly flight stayed at altitude, I mean is that just so completely obvious to you that that was the dry run for the flight where he planned to murder everybody and kill himself?

ABEND: Well, it's not completely obvious but, I mean, it makes no sense to play with that, remember this...

BANFIELD: Any other explanation? ABEND: No, there really isn't. All I could say is this man was getting up the nerve, like we said early with the correspondent or the fact that maybe he was practicing.

BANFIELD: Yes.

ABEND: But, you know, the fact that this was all initiated prior to the captain just leaving the cockpit, only -- only he had just left the cockpit 25 minutes prior and I'm talking about the first flight...

BANFIELD: Yeah.

ABEND: ...from Dusseldorf to Barcelona, which is very curious why he would choose then because he probably knew about that time the descent would be initiated.

BANFIELD: So distressing. Les Abend, thanks again for your expertise and insight. And Jim Bitterman for your reporting live in France as well, thank you for that.

I want to take you after the break to Colorado. We're going to go live because survivors of the massacre that was brought by James Holmes are relieving that horrible night in open court.

And then later on, Manny Pacquiao's next big grudge match, it too could take place but not a ring, it might be in court. You'll hear about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:48] BANFIELD: For every person who is in theater number nine to see the new Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado in July of 2012, has a horrifying story about the shooting at the hands of the man in the center of the screen, James Holmes.

We're now in the second week of his trial and the jury is hearing from victim after victim, friends and sons and daughters and fathers and mothers. Mothers like Maria Carbonell who took her 12-year old son and her 15-year old daughter to a movie. And then testified about the thoughts that she has that night as soon as she started hearing shots fired.

Ana Cabrera joins me live now from Centennial, Colorado. What happened to Maria and her kids.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their story is soundly so similar to others that we've heard throughout the past week and a half of this trial. As we've heard words used like "nightmare" and "chaos", and phrases like out of a war movie and scenes that are the worst case imaginable as these victims recount what happened inside that Century 16 theater.

We've heard from victims who were at the theater with people who were killed, we've heard from a victim who had to have his leg amputated after being shot. We've heard from one woman who's husband is still in a wheelchair after he was shot in the head and her story was particularly heartbreaking as she talked about going into labor with the couple's only child as he was in the middle of his third brain surgery.

And then the latest victim, Maria Carbonell, who testified as you mentioned, just yesterday, about her and her 12-year old and 15-year old children who were at the theater. They all survived, but their friend Alex Sullivan, did not.

Listen as she describes what was going through her mind as those gun shots rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CARBONELL, THEATER MASSACRE SURVIVOR: I kept telling myself that somebody is going to stop this, like this is going to stop. And when it wasn't stopping, I started thinking to myself, how am I going to get the two of them to be quiet so that we could play dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: We've heard now from more than 45 witnesses for the prosecution. The last two witnesses as we've heard from have been members of the University of Colorado who had direct interaction with Holmes as he as part of their neuroscience PhD program, and they described Holmes' demeanor as withdrawn and socially awkward. They had some concerns about his presentation skills, but they also said he was always polite and professional, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right. Our Ana Cabrera in Centennial, Colorado. Thank you for that.

So you took a beating last weekend in Vegas, and now angry fans are lining up to get a piece of Manny Pacquaio. He claimed that he wasn't fit to fight, that he'd covered up that critical detail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:12] BANFIELD: This will shock you but not everyone is satisfied with the way the big fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather went. A lot of fans say it was boring, too much dancing around, not enough punching or bleeding. Others now are really angry saying that they lost money and lots of it because one of the fighters kept an injury secret from the rest of the world.

So here comes the lawsuit, folks. A whole bunch of ticked off wounded boxing fans against that man, Manny Pacquiao. It's a class action suit that claims Pacquiao ripped them off. Danny Cevallos, Mark Geragos, trial attorneys and CNN analyst are here.

So half of me thinks it's crazy, and the other half of me thinks it really is kind of a stick in the eye...

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you need to do something with the other half.

(CROSSTALK) DANNY CEVALOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Just go with crazy, that's Mark's and my unofficial recommendation to you. Yes.

GERAGOS: There could not be a more stupid lawsuit. And I don't even need to get into -- I don't need to be a legal analyst to know that this is the dumbest lawsuit of all time.

CEVALOS: In a case like this, there really -- you can separate it into two issues. Number one, is there an underlying claim for false advertising but beyond the other hurdle they would have to reach is whether or not this is an appropriate class action which are -- these are really designed to remedy masses of people who are all injured in some common way.

So, it's not an easy thing to file a class action but the underlying claim itself is based on...

GERAGOS: Well, it's easy to file, it's not easy getting certified...

CEVALOS: Not easy getting certified, right.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you though...

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: If they were buying a plastic toy and it didn't work and it was $0.35 at the dollar store, I think I would understand this. But some of those paid upwards of I think $35,000 for some of those seats. And it was a $100-ish to buy it on Pay Per View, and some of those who bet may have lost tens of thousands of dollars.

GERAGOS: Is this the good Ashleigh or the bad Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: This is -- pushed back on anything you say Ashleigh.

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALOS: The broken toy analogy is a little flawed because a broken toy, you have things like causation. I'm trying to be...

(CROSSTALK)

GERAGOS: Ashleigh, this is the dumbest lawsuit of all time.

CEVALOS: No, not with sporting events. Not with sporting events.

GERAGOS: First of all, Pacquiao said he thought he won. There are a lot of people that thought he won. He went the 12 rounds. Who's to say he wasn't just making excused afterwards and saying, "you know, I had an injury," before this...

BANFIELD: Who's to say -- I will say this, they have spoken with the U.S. Anti-doping Agency in advance of the fight, asking if the dope that he wanted to use was OK, and the word is they say that -- the U.S. Anti-doping Agency said it was fine, but there was a communication breakdown between the U.S. folks and then the Nevada Boxing Commission who said, "No way are you going to get that injection before the fight."

CEVALOS: You still have a causation issue. I mean, yes, maybe he had an injury but can you show that is the reason that he lost in boxing. You take your eye off the ball for a second, a left hook could catch you off guard irrespective of whether or not your shoulder is in the best condition of your life. There really isn't any causation. And that -- I'm sorry, Mark, about a bajillion (ph) other problems...

(CROSSTALK)

[12:50:00] GERAGOS: I was just going to say, Danny, you're never going to get to causation...

CEVALLOS: I know we're not going to get there. Yeah.

GERAGOS: Some federal district court judge is going to rule 11 sanction the plaintiffs lawyers in this case.

CEVALLOS: And 12b6, right on out of there.

BANFIELD: My head, it hurts that's not fair, you know, I'm not a lawyer. 12b6 and 11...

GERAGOS: Rule 11 sanctions.

BANFIELD: OK so...

GERAGOS: You should like, learn that in the lexicon...

BANFIELD: You know, I would have a degree in law if I learned that in the law lexicon. But here is my issue, is that again I talk about maybe the causation is an issue and I see that. But if he actually had a bonus by the injury that's a big deal in boxing, people don't call that small potatoes. It's a big deal and it can lose, lead to a lost.

If I buy a diet product and they don't tell me something is bad in there I don't have to fit to go after them. Do you see what I mean?

CEVALLOS: Yes, that's different people here are paid for a fight and they got a fight. Not only that they get a fight but they get a fight that Pacquiao could have won.

BANFIELD: They didn't get the product they expected. The fight is the product.

GERAGOS: That's like saying I'm going to file a class action suit for the old Mike Tyson fight where he came out and knock the guy out in 20 seconds because I paid for 12 rounds.

CEVALLOS: And then what if Pacquiao...

BANFIELD: No, no there was no advertising prior that you are the product that you make yourself out to be.

CEVALLOS: What if Pacquiao during training secretly ate a Reese's peanut butter cup which have him one more half percentile of body fat that he concealed from the world. Is he there for liable, I mean the extension of the case is based on this logic. It is a reduction...

(CROSSTALK)

GERAGOS: ... I can't even believe we're talking about this is a legal issue. It's not a legal issue this is a dumbest lawsuit of all time.

BANFIELD: I love this. And well, you know, what let's play the tape on this one because just in case that federal judge said Mark Geragos forget about it.

GERAGOS: ... article three judge say yes, I'm letting this go to trial. But first I'm going to certify the class and then I'm going to let it go to trial. I want to see it.

BANFIELD: You know, why I'm not a lawyer?

GERAGOS: Why?

BANFIELD: Because I could never win against people like you. There's just no way.

GERAGOS: Why you were good. I saw you in the previous segment you were very good.

BANFIELD: Yeah, I got lucky. It was the earpiece this is why, this is the only reason. I can't say a word without people telling me what to say. But you guys are great and, you know, what I thought it was fastening g and I'm...

GERAGOS: It is fastening...

BANFIELD: There's another one for the pay-per-view folks as well. So it's not just one. So we'll see how it goes. Thanks Danny and Mark.

OK we're not done yet. Neither at the lawsuits coming from the death of the Michael Brown case in the Ferguson, now Brown's friend is suing over that encounter with the police. Find out why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:56:07] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Nothing can stop Max Gomez from motocross racing, even when the sport cost him part of his right leg. Max was a high school senior in 2012, competing in a national race.

MAX GOMEZ, AMPUTEE MOTOCROSS RACER: I was coming up to one of these jumps so I came up a little short and it kicked me forward and off the bike. It was a 30-foot drop and then the impact just exploded my ankle.

GUPTA: Five operations later, doctors gave Max a choice. GOMEZ: They said you can either keep this foot, you're not going to be able to do anything with it, or you can amputate it and live the rest of your life.

GUPTA: After losing his leg, Max thought he would never ride again. His dad even sold his bikes. But he was inspired by another amputee who was still racing

GOMEZ: I said, you know, if he can do it, I should be able to do it, too.

GUPTA: With some adjustments to his bike, like moving the brake to the handlebars and a specifically-designed prosthetic foot, Max was back on the track, just six months after his accident. He took home gold at the Extremity Games, a competition for athletes with physical disabilities, and he just missed the bronze in an adaptive moto at the 2013 X Games. The 21-year-old nursing student also recently qualified for a regional race with able-bodied racers.

GOMEZ: I lost my leg but I did not lose my drive. If there is a will, there is a way.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The young man who was with Michael Brown on the day Brown was killed in Ferguson Missouri is now suing that city the officer who shot him, at shot at Brown and also the former Ferguson police chief.

You may remember the young man his name is Dorian Johnson. And he spoke with CNN and other media shortly after Brown's death, accusing Officer Darren Wilson of instigating trouble.

Johnson's lawsuit reported by our affiliate KSDK claims that Wilson used successive force and acted with "deliberate in difference or reckless disregard," for Johnson's right.

A Massachusetts man is charged with fatally stabbing his parents in the U.S. Virgin Island. 24 year old Mikhail Young was arrested in the states after the bodies of Jane and Kenneth Young were found in a rented condo on Monday.

Allegedly they were killed on Saturday. CNN affiliates WCVB is reporting that Mikhail Young is bipolar and was named in series of restraining orders that have been filed by his parents.

The man accused of kidnapping and killing a University of Virginia student Hannah Graham could face the death penalty if he is convicted. A indictment filed against Jesse Matthew replaces a first degree murder charge with a capital murder charge, that's makes him eligible for the penalty.

Graham was last seen on surveillance video in downtown Charlottesville last September. Jesse Matthew was tracked down in Texas. If you are running through grand central nation and heading to another train here in New York yesterday, U2 may have caught U2. Yes, because the real U2 was in that area where you normally see, you know, the saxophonist and the (inaudible), slank or change

But apparently this was one of the serious of stunts that the group is doing for Jimmy Fallon tonight show. And if you can believe it my friend actually run pass this crowd thinking it was just, you know, another one of those New York things that gets on your way and makes you late for a train, big music fan, he missed the whole thing.

Angel of Harlem. Oh man, U2, really just playing in the subway station. Amazing.

All right everybody thank you so much for being with us today. It's been a busy day and Wolf Blitzer has been tracking the news as well. So I'm going to sign off and hand over the helm to him we'll see you again tomorrow.

[13:00:10] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello I'm Wolf Blitzer.