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Police Officer Facing Murder Charges; CNN Money Now; 100-Year- Old Man Shares Secrets to Long Life; Judge Throws Out Sex Claims Against Alan Dershowitz. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 08, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:32:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SCOTT, BROTHER OF WALTER SCOTT: I would like for America to know that we want this to stop. And I would like for cops to be accountable and let them know that if they try this again, somebody may be watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That was brother of Walter Scott, who was shot and killed by a white South Carolina police officer on Saturday. That officer now charged with murder after that shocking videotape surfaced showing the officer shooting Scott, who was unarmed, multiple times in the back. Joining us to discuss all of the ramifications, our CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Paul Callan and CNN political commentator and host of "Huff Post Live," Marc Lamont Hill.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

Marc, I want to start with you. You've watched the videotape. What are your thoughts?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It - it was stunning. You know, I had read about it on Twitter before I saw it, and I didn't - I still wasn't prepared for exactly what I saw. The most blatant and egregious form of police abuse of what I would even call police terrorism at this point. It was disturbing. It was disgusting. It was inexcusable. And I want to make sure that everyone talks not just about this man, Walter Scott, who died, but to also name the officers who were involved in this.

And, lastly, I would say, Alisyn, you know, for me, this also speaks to what many people around America - or black people in America in particular, have been saying for a very long time, that this happens with greater regularity than we ever want to admit. And if there were not a videotape right now, we would be saying that the police officer had justifiable force, that this man was a monster. We'd be splashing his mugshot around. And we'd be talking about how these are all myths that black people are circulating. So I'm glad we had a videotape. And much (INAUDIBLE) encouragement to the person who was brave enough to tape it. CAMEROTA: Marc, you - your sentiments are very similar to what people

were saying online. This is from Questlove. He, of course, is the musician on Jimmy Fallon's show. He tweeted something that resonated with lots of people. It got re-tweeted thousands of times. "Can you imagine the amount of murders that went down before the age and development of cell phone videos? This didn't start this year."

Paul, that's an understandable sentiment, but we don't know of the evidence of whether or not that's true. There are police shootings, sadly some of them justified, some of them not justified. But what makes this one different is that there was cell phone video. And the cell phone got to see that this man, Walter Scott, was shot eight times, or at least the officer tried to shoot eight times. And then, furthermore, he took what appears to be a stun gun and dropped it near the body in what appears to be a planting of the evidence. And what we don't see on the video is any effort - assistance, medical assistance, in terms of CPR.

[08:35:04] PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, and, you know, going beyond that, I think it - the most disturbing thing also was, here's - this man is shot in the back eight times, falls to the ground, and you can imagine the pain he must have been in and the officer now is trying to cuff him behind his back. So it's an attempt at execution followed by torture of the suspect. It's as bad as you can possibly imagine.

I was looking at some of the statistics on South Carolina use of force cases. Over the last five years, over 200 situations where officers have used their weapons against civilian suspects. There have been about 70 deaths that have resulted. Not a single South Carolina police officer has been convicted in one of these incidents. Nobody can remember it.

CAMEROTA: And what does that tell us?

CALLAN: Well -

CAMEROTA: What does that tell us? That it's because there was no videotape or because all of those were justifiable?

CALLAN: Well, I think you're totally accurate on the videotape. It didn't exist before. And the story's always the same, that the officer was threatened or that the suspect had a gun. And, you know, jurors tend to want to find in favor of the cops. So in the absence of video, police win these cases.

CAMEROTA: Marc, here are some other statistics that are also telling. Go ahead. Make your point first.

HILL: No, I think what's stunning to me is when you watch the tape how he automatically went into defense mode. He wasn't frazzled. He wasn't frantic. He wasn't in despair. He immediately proceeded to walk towards the suspect, say all the right things, put your hand behind your head - behind your back to handcuff him. The other officer came over, they dropped the stun gun alleged - what appears to be dropping the stun gun next to him to make it look as if he were attacking them. I mean they went right into protective mode. I'm not saying he's done

this before, but his actions didn't look like it was his first time at the rodeo. And that's also scary, not just for him, but what it might mean for law enforcement who may have a pattern of doing this. It doesn't mean that all police officers do this. That's never been the argument. The idea - the problem, though, is that this may be happening - be happening with more stunning regularity than we, as a nation, want to admit.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean this videotape is so damning in that it - you can never know what is in somebody's heart, of course, or mind, but the cavalier nature with which he appears -

HILL: Right.

CAMEROTA: To be going to the body is something that really gives you pause. So, Marc, what I wanted to show you were these statistics that are also telling because the population of North Charleston, South Carolina, is 84 percent black, it is 37 percent white. But the police department is 80 percent white. We saw this also in Ferguson. I mean isn't part of the problem that we just need more local representation on the police force?

HILL: Well, remember, apartheid South Africa had majority rule as well but black - a majority demographic rule by black folk but not juridical rule. I mean the problem here isn't just having more black people in the population or more black people on the police force.

Remember, it appeared to be on the tape a black officer helping him. So I don't - black people didn't march and fight and struggle to have black officers kill us and black officers beat us and black officers harass us. I want police officers who are capable of doing the job properly. I need - we need community-based policing if we're going to believe that police are the proper force to be in our neighborhoods.

CALLAN: Let me throw one other -

HILL: We need people (INAUDIBLE) -

CALLAN: Let me throw one other statistic at you, also, Marc.

CAMEROTA: Yes, go.

CALLAN: They seem to be equal opportunity shooters, the South Carolina Police, because the majority of people shot by police have been Caucasian in the past five years. So -

CAMEROTA: Nationally?

CALLAN: No, in South Carolina.

CAMEROTA: And nationally, by the way. And nationally.

CALLAN: And nationally as well. And nationally as well.

CAMEROTA: But, of course, there - there are many more white people than black people.

CALLAN: So this is - this is - this does - there is a - there is a racial issue involved here -

HILL: (INAUDIBLE) percent of the nation. Yes.

CALLAN: But there's an issue of police using force inappropriately against people of all races.

CAMEROTA: Look, there's so much to analyze here. We have to look at the numbers and obviously changes need to be made. Marc Lamont Hill, Paul Callan, thanks so much for your insights.

Let's get over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, another big story in the news, California's devastating drought. I don't live in California, you say, why should I care? Because not only should you just care about your fellow Americans, it's going to hit you in the wallet. We'll tell you why, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:28] CUOMO: It is time for "CNN Money Now." Chief business correspondent Christine Romans in the Money Center.

Christine, huge oil merger announced. What does it mean?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a big story this morning, Chris. Shell buying British gas company BG Group. It's the biggest oil merger in 20 years. A $70 billion deal. That's a super merger. If completed, it will add 25 percent to Shell's oil and gas reserves, 20 percent to production. The crash in oil prices means takeovers. They're going to try to cut costs. That could mean job cuts.

Efforts to conserve water in parched California are falling short. A new report shows water consumption fell just 2.8 percent in February. Just 2.8 percent. The smallest drop since the government started tracking water usage next year. Next step, stricter rules, steeper fines for water abusers and the prices you pay for produce that's grown, of course, in central California likely to keep rising.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Christine, thanks so much for all of that.

Well, prepare to be amazed and inspired. A retired California surgeon is razor sharp and full of life at 100 years old. So what are his secrets? CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finds out in this edition of "The Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robust would be one way to describe Dr. Ellsworth Wareham. The 100-year-old retired heart surgeon occasionally does his own yard work, he walks regularly, still drives.

GUPTA (on camera): You drove here today?

DR. ELLSWORTH WAREHAM, CENTURION: Driving is nothing. I worked till I was 95, assisting, mind you.

GUPTA: Yes.

WAREHAM: I could have done heart surgery, but it wouldn't have been fair to the patient because sometimes you need reserve strength. And if you gave me something to memorize, I would memorize it just as quickly now as I would when I was 20.

GUPTA: How is your health?

WAREHAM: Oh, superb. I haven't got an acre or a pain.

GUPTA: The great-grandfather believes his plant-based diet plays a big part in all this.

WAREHAM: If your blood cholesterol is under 150, your chances of having a heart attack are pretty small. Now my blood cholesterol is 117. There's no chance of me having a heart attack.

GUPTA: So you're heart attack proof?

WAREHAM: Well let us say I'm dealing in an area which I understand.

[08:45:00] GUPTA (voice-over): Perhaps another key to Wareham's longevity, not letting problems weigh him down.

GUPTA (on camera): How big a role does stress play in your life and -

WAREHAM: You asked the wrong person. I have a philosophy, you do the best you can and the things you can't do anything about,

WAREHAM: You asked the wrong person. I have a philosophy, you do the best you can and the things you can't do anything about, don't give any thought to them.

GUPTA: What motivates you nowadays?

WAREHAM: I feel that if I have to make a contribution. When I was doing surgery, I made it by operating. Now I try to make it by speaking about preventive medicine.

GUPTA (voice-over): And showing people just what 100 years old can look like. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's good. Alright. A judge tosses out underage sex claims against Britain's Prince Andrew and a prominent U.S. lawyer. We will speak to that man, Alan Dershowitz, about the case and also what he plans to do next. More legal action on the way? We'll tell you when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[8:49:59] BERMAN: A federal judge has thrown out accusations from a woman who claimed she was forced to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew and attorney Alan Dershowitz, not to mention others. This all happened while she was a teenager. Now Buckingham Palace and Professor Dershowitz have each stated the claims were baseless from the beginning.

Joining us now to talk about all of this, Alan Dershowitz, Emeritus Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, which many of us have heard of. Professor, thanks for being with us.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF LAW, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Thanks for having me on.

BERMAN: This action by the judge, just threw out these claims altogether from the connection to the case that they're involved with, right? Just threw them out. Didn't say whether they were true or false, just said they are not pertinent to this case at all. Is that enough for you?

DERSHOWITZ: Oh, yes. He couldn't say they were true or false, he didn't hear any evidence. He saw my affidavit categorically denying the charges. All we asked him to do was strike these false and scurrilous allegations because they had no relevance to the case, they were just put in there. He did that. He did exactly what we asked him.

BERMAN: So is this complete vindication or do you need someone to go out there and say now, legally speaking, these were false, these were scurrilous, these were scandalous?

DERSHOWITZ: I'm not satisfied until the lawyers and the woman admit that the story was made up out of whole cloth. She's now been served. She tried to avoid service. We found her in Colorado. She will now be deposed and the world will see what a liar she is, that she made this up out of whole cloth. I don't know her, I never met her, she just made it up. Now we'll see that once the cross examination occurs under oath. And if she continues to tell the story under oath, she'll be indicted for perjury.

BERMAN: You've sued the attorneys. Where does that all stand?

DERSHOWITZ: Well, fortunately, I have an opportunity through that lawsuit to prove that she was not telling the truth and made it up and I think they will no longer be able to hide behind the litigation privilege. They claim that I can't sue them because it was part of a litigation, but the judge has now held that it was improperly put in the litigation.

BERMAN: Legally speaking, now it is not part of any litigation.

DERSHOWITZ: No.

BERMAN: So this can be -- DERSHOWITZ: So now I think I have a clear road to proving that this

story was made up.

BERMAN: A couple of months ago, I remember you speaking to one Alisyn Camerota offering to testify, offering to be deposed.

DERSHOWITZ: Yeah.

BERMAN: Have you given any testimony on this matter yet?

DERSHOWITZ: No, but I'm anxious to give testimony and I'm anxious to be able to juxtapose my travel records against her travel records to show that I could not have possibly been in the places at the times under the circumstances that she says I was. I will be able to prove categorically that she was lying. It's hard to prove a negative, but I'm going to be able to do it.

BERMAN: But to be clear, you have yet to answer any questions under oath about her allegations.

DERSHOWITZ: I've sworn under oath. I put myself at risk of perjury by submitting a sworn affidavit in detail denying each of the allegations and I will repeat that under oath and be happy to be subject to cross examination. I have nothing to hide.

BERMAN: What does this say about the legal system? I mean, obviously, you've been involved with the law now for decades, more than 50 years, but what does this say in your mind, that your name, that Prince Andrews' name, could have been connected to the case like this?

DERSHOWITZ: It's just remarkable. You know, you're 76 years old, you've retired from Harvard, you're living a good life and suddenly it's as if you're the victim of a drive-by shooting. You are accused of this, there's no opportunity to respond because they claim that they did it as part of a litigation privilege. The law should not permit lawyers to just throw these charges into a pleading and the judge essentially agreed with that and said it was wrong and said that it was enough of a sanction to strike this, but this may not be the end of the road for these lawyers. These lawyers made irresponsible charges without doing adequate investigation. They're now suing me for saying that and I'm suing them for the defamation of making a claim that was totally untrue. So the courts will resolve this --

BERMAN: This all goes back to your connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

DERSHOWITZ: Right. I was his lawyer.

BERMAN: Do you regret your acquaintance with him at this point?

DERSHOWITZ: Look, I'm a lawyer and when people are in trouble, they come to me. I don't regret representing people and I did a good job for him. I got him a good deal. Some people think it was too good a deal. So complain about that, but don't make up false charges against me or everybody else. People who make up false charges, the real victim, are real rape victims because when there are claims like the ones made in "Rolling Stone" magazine or the Duke University lacrosse or the one against me, which is even worse because I didn't even know the woman, the real victims are rape victims whose stories will be less believable. I hope people still believe, rape victims still believe. But this woman who made up this charge should be hated by every real rape victim for making their life much more difficult.

BERMAN: We'll keep in touch with you on this, wait to hear from you again. Thank you so much.

DERSHOWITZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Chris?

CUOMO: Alright, John. Coming up, we have a very special edition of "The Good Stuff." A boy with a dream and so many problems winds up achieving his dream, no matter how small and silly it was, all because of the love of those around him. You'll meet that boy when we come back.

[08:55:00] Small and silly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUOMO: It's time for "The Good Stuff." Some people did a very bad thing to John Berman. They're called management and they neglected to give his show, "Early Start," its own mug - one of his two shows. The basic issue, as we understand it, they didn't like him. Mugs at CNN, they're like statues of significance, varsity letters. So Berman, mugless, took to social media, the repository of broken dreams, and started the #MugsNow, demanding a mug from the man. So in true CNN fashion, we did correct the error and ordered some mugs and gave them to everybody but John. Ali got one for her problem.

CAMEROTA: Problem or breakfast?

CUOMO: Michaela got one -- There it is -- to further her plan of Canadian world domination. Sanjay got one for use of medical testing. And Tom Foreman breaking the internet with his "Early Start" mug. Even Erin Burnett's unborn baby and a dog on the street got mugs. Nancy Grace got one, too. This morning, Nancy Grace has an announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:00:00] NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Bombshell this morning, John Berman gets a mug. Not a mug shot, a mug. Oh, I don't have my own mug. Did baby get his own mug? Baby happy now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BERMAN: Wow.

CUOMO: And she says you're guilty.

BERMAN: I was mugged by Nancy Grace.

CUOMO: So here is your mug, brother. How does it feel?

BERMAN: It feels -- you know, it says a lot that I've never accomplished something quite this magnificent before.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Good end there.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: The new issue, though.

CAMEROTA: Excellent.

CUOMO: The new issue, what's that about? What's that?

CAMEROTA: It was a great.

CUOMO: The NEW DAY mug clearly bigger than the "EARLY START" mug. Not that size matters.

CAMEROTA: John, cheers to you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Carol Costello to the "NEWSROOM." Carol has a mug.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I'm just a little thirsty before I start the news.

CUOMO: Little parched, 9:20.

COSTELLO: Little parched. Thanks, guys. You guys have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

CAMEROTA: Cheers.

CUOMO: You got your mug.