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Nancy Grace
Man Leaves Baby in Car to Party at Strip Club; Abduction Caught on Video; Teen Who Killed 4 Given Probation
Aired December 11, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. Off the top, live to Ft. Myers. Bombshell tonight. A 4-month-old baby girl abandoned, abandoned in a parking lot, sweating profusely, choked on her own vomit. But where`s Daddy? Oh, we find him all right. Daddy`s inside, inside a Ft. Myers strip club for four hours while his baby girl chokes outside, choking on her own vomit all alone!
Well, you know what? Tonight, maybe Daddy can go decorate his Christmas tree -- in the jailhouse rec room, Daddy!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... one-year-old Andrew Sosa accused of leaving his 4-month-old daughter inside this car for hours as he was inside a local strip club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her clothes were wet, so she had been in there a while, sweating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s a great father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops reportedly say surveillance video shows Sosa was inside the Lookers strip club for at least three hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, under investigation, upscale Fairmount, just a few blocks from the Barnes Museum, one of the most renowned art collections in the world, caught on video. We spot a woman being followed, attacked, struggling as she is forced into a black Chrysler. Tonight, who is she, and is she still alive?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Take a look at this video, the woman apparently snatched and thrown into a car against her will, authorities scrambling to find the woman reportedly put into a black Chrysler coupe. Tonight, police need your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Also tonight, live to the Texas suburbs. A rich kid gets drunk at his parents` second home. He gets behind the wheel of his pricey red Ford, then plows into pedestrians standing innocently on the side of the road. He kills four, including a youth pastor, including a mother, including her daughter, leaving the other victims paralyzed for life.
But tonight, we learn the rich kid walks with straight probation, not one day of jail time. Hey, money can`t buy you love or justice, or can it? Judge Gene Boyd (ph), you are in contempt!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen-year-old who was driving three times over the legal limit for an adult when he killed four strangers...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Families are outraged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the judge gives the drunk teen probation for his deadly actions.
PETER ODOM: (INAUDIBLE) the hand of God, definitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, caught on tape, Wilmington, North Carolina, a crazy, high-speed chase, the driver blasting through a DUI checkpoint, finally stopping. This is what happens. The man with a long criminal history, he`s actually now complaining a police dog bit him. Are you kidding? Excessive force, no way! This guy crashes past the cops, and all he gets is a dog bite? I say the dog is the hero!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The dramatic end to a police chase caught on dashcam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: K9 officer Stafford Brister (ph) lifts his dog through Williams`s (ph) window. Police ended up breaking through the passenger side window and dragging the 42-year-old out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) innocent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Williams tried to run over three officers during this chase.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Off the top, we go live to Ft. Myers, a 4-month- old baby girl abandoned in a parking lot, sweating profusely, found choked on the baby girl`s own vomit. Where`s Daddy? Oh, we find him all right, inside a strip club while his baby girl chokes all alone on her own vomit. Tonight, maybe Daddy can decorate his Christmas tree in the jailhouse rec room!
We are talking your calls. Straight out to Corey Lazar, WINK-TV. Corey, thanks for being with us. So what was the name of this strip bar, Corey?
COREY LAZAR, WINK-TV: Well, the strip bar name, Nancy, is Lookers strip club. It`s right down a very busy street here in Ft. Myers. A lot of people know what it is.
GRACE: So you don`t have any firsthand knowledge of it, do you, Corey?
LAZAR: I do not, except for -- this is the first time, covering this story the other day.
GRACE: Well, I`m glad to hear that, Corey. All right, let`s get down to business. The father, Andrew Sosa -- he leaves his girl -- let`s see a picture of the strip club, Liz. He leaves his baby -- oh, yes, he`s smiling for that picture, all right. But he leaves his baby not only abandoned in the parking lot, she is found choked on her own vomit. But he also parks in the far back part of the parking lot. This is at 10:00 o`clock at night.
Matt Zarrell, he might as well have put a sign on top of his car that says, My baby is in here, please kidnap her.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, Nancy, you`re right. That club manager says that Sosa parked his car in the very far back corner of the parking lot, away from everything else.
GRACE: Everybody, for those of you just joining us, Andrew Sosa -- his wife has gone to work. She`s at work. He has the baby. And what does he do? He goes straight to Lookers strip club, leaving his 4-month-old baby alone. She`s in the car, choked on her own vomit, locked inside the car.
All right, Corey Lazar, WINK-TV, how did anyone find out the baby`s even in the car? Apparently, he had her tiny body covered up with blankets.
LAZAR: Well, Nancy, this is a story, a perfect story of being at the right place at the right time. A man driving to the club happened to park right next to the car that the baby was in, and police say he noticed something in there. He took a look, and below and hold (sic), it`s a baby in there. He found the baby, he notified the staff, and then they called police.
GRACE: Take a look at Lookers strip club. Now, he insists, this guy, Andrew Sosa, the father -- he insists he was only in there for 30 minutes, but that`s where security surveillance comes in handy.
Unleash the lawyers. Peter Odom, former prosecutor turned defense attorney out of Atlanta. Also joining me, death penalty-qualified Eleanor Odom, prosecutor.
Eleanor, I guess time flies by when you`re looking up somebody`s booty in a strip club. He says he`s in there for 30 minutes. He was in there for four hours, according to surveillance video. Now, who should I believe?
Hold on. Let me throw this to you, Peter Odom. Don`t start grinning first thing. Who should I believe, Andrew Sosa or the surveillance video?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The surveillance videos, Nancy, are notoriously inaccurate, and that`s even if you can tell who`s on them.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... actually give me a real answer!
PETER ODOM: No, I`m just telling you, that the reality of these videocameras, Nancy. I`m not excusing his conduct...
GRACE: That`s not the reality of those videocameras. What videocameras are you talking about?
PETER ODOM: The security cameras. They`re notoriously inaccurate. Now, that`s not to excuse his conduct...
GRACE: OK, name one. Name one that`s been inaccurate.
PETER ODOM: I can`t name one that`s ever been accurate, Nancy. They`ve got the times wrong. They run them wrong. Now, that`s not...
GRACE: Who`s they? Who`s they?
PETER ODOM: The people that run these things.
GRACE: Who are they, they, they?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: They`re in a conspiracy!
PETER ODOM: Mostly, they`re high school dropouts. Now, that`s not to excuse his conduct. I mean, you know, you have to have a license to fish for bass, but you don`t have to have a license...
GRACE: OK, enough from you.
PETER ODOM: ... to have a baby.
GRACE: Enough from you. Thanks. The cameras are all wrong.
Out to the lines. Matthew in Vermont. Hi, Matthews. What`s your question. Please do not agree with Peter Odom, I`m begging you. What`s your question, Matthew?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Miss Grace. I would have to say that my (INAUDIBLE) what I have to say (ph) depends on whether or not the baby survived. If -- I have a bachelor`s degree in criminal justice administration from University of Phoenix, so my comment would have to -- would have to depend on the baby`s survival. I say if the baby...
GRACE: Oh, so -- so if the baby survives -- if the baby had survived, then it`s OK, and if the baby had lived, then what, tell me? Had not lived, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that this guy should lose custody, and he should be charged with reckless endangerment.
GRACE: OK, I agree with you, and I certainly respect that criminal justice degree.
All right, Eleanor Odom, the baby choked. The baby choked on its own vomit. When they got to the tiny body, it was wet where she had been sweating in a locked car. Temperatures that day were in the high 80s, and she was in a locked car, secured in a belt. And there she screamed and screamed until she vomited all over herself and choked on it.
This guy then lies and says he was only inside for 30 minutes, when he was really in there for almost five hours.
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Well, Nancy, you`ve got so many possibilities here of charges, not only of reckless endangerment of children, but cruelty to children first degree. And you can back everything up with the security camera that Peter Odom is so quick to dismiss.
GRACE: To Robert Harris, joining me right now, attorney for Andrew Sosa. This is the dad accused of leaving the baby in the car while he`s inside at the strip club.
Mr. Harris, you have an excellent reputation as a defense attorney. You`ve tried a lot of cases. What was your client thinking?
ROBERT HARRIS, ATTORNEY FOR ACCUSED (via telephone): Well, Nancy, it`s a pleasure to be here. I`m happy to be on your show. I don`t know what my client was thinking at the time, but what I can tell you is this. I have information that leads me to believe he wasn`t there for a booty call, as you suggested, that he was there to collect some money from someone.
GRACE: I never said a booty call. I said he was looking at somebody`s booty, and the time certainly seemed to fly by.
HARRIS: I appreciate that.
GRACE: So what -- and another thing. Does your guy have a job? Why is the mother, why is the wife working, and while she`s at work, he`s at the strip club?
HARRIS: Well, it is the 21st century, Nancy, and women do work sometimes and men stay home. I`m not going to comment on that...
GRACE: Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! My mother worked. My grandmother worked in a factory! So I`m OK for women working. I understand that. It wasn`t the question about her working. The question about is why your client is at a strip club while the wife is working.
HARRIS: Well, it was the evening. It was the evening on, I believe, a Friday night. So you know, if he had a job, it would have been over by then...
GRACE: If he had a job. OK.
HARRIS: Also, you know, you talk about the heat of the day...
GRACE: Isn`t it true that the mother...
HARRIS: Well, it was in the evening. And we don`t know...
GRACE: Didn`t the mother call the police about a domestic...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: ... going out and checking on the baby. We`re disputing the time element. We don`t believe he was in there that long. And from all accounts, he`s a good dad. I understand this puts a blight on that, but up until then, he had been doing well as a father and taking care of the child.
GRACE: Isn`t it true, Mr. Harris -- with me is a veteran trial lawyer, Robert Harris out of Ft. Myers, Florida. Isn`t it true your client had to answer up to a domestic call? The mother of this baby called police that he was beating her, and then she dropped charges? Didn`t that happen just in January?
HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) but we don`t know what the charges were about. She tried to drop charges, and she did so. We don`t know if it actually happened or not. We don`t know the veracity of Stephanie (ph), the mother.
GRACE: Out to Caryn Stark, psychologist. Oh, whoa, whoa! Whoa, whoa! One more question for the lawyer, Robert Harris. This is Andrew Sosa`s lawyer out of Ft. Myers.
Finally, the only reason he goes to check on the car is because they make an announcement over the naked body he`s watching on the strip pole that somebody left their car lights on. That`s why he goes out to check, because they told him the car lights were on. Forget the baby, but what about my car battery?
HARRIS: Nancy, I don`t know the specifics of that. Obviously, witness statements can be wrong. I think people are going off of the booking report from the police point of view. It`s one-sided. We`ll have our side to say in court but...
GRACE: Well, you tell me.
HARRIS: ... right now, I can`t...
GRACE: The jury`s not listening. You tell me. The jury`s not listening. If they hear this tonight, they`ll be sequestered -- they`ll be thrown off the jury panel. Let me ask you this, sir, Robert Harris, you`re the lawyer. Is it true that the only reason he went to go check on his car is because they told him on an overhead speaker that he left his lights on?
HARRIS: I don`t know that for a fact. I wasn`t there, and I`ll have to look into the case further. It just happened.
GRACE: Well, I hope-
HARRIS: I haven`t done a complete investigation yet. I don`t know.
GRACE: ... you weren`t there. Mr. Harris, Robert Harris, I hope you weren`t there with your client living it up at Lookers strip club.
HARRIS: I would not.
GRACE: You know what`s interesting? Out to Caryn Stark. Police say the only reason he went to check on the baby, who was ultimately -- the police couldn`t find anybody, a mother, a father, nobody. They had to break in the window, Caryn, to try to save the baby, the baby sitting strapped in the car with a blanket over her choked on her own vomit.
But the only time he came out was when he thought he`d left his car lights on. He thought his battery might go dead.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: You know what, Nancy, this is a guy who, I can tell you, almost positively, has been doing this before. This is addictive behavior. He says he`s there for a half hour. Well, he would have to be very, very absorbed in what`s going on in order to be there for five hours and say he was there for a half hour. And so nothing was going to drag him away. Obviously, not the baby.
GRACE: You know, we`re seeing one of several mugshots on Andrew Sosa. Here is the rest of what we know about the story. We know that the mother, the wife, has not kicked him out. She wants him back. We also know that thanks to police officers, the baby lived.
When we come back, caught on video, we spot a woman being followed, attacked, struggling as she is forced into a black Chrysler. Tonight, who is she, and is she still alive?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, under investigation, upscale Fairmount, just a few blocks from the Barnes Museum. I`ve been there. It`s got one of the most renowned art collections in the entire world -- Degas, Renoir, you name it. Caught on video, we spot a woman being followed, then attacked and struggling as she`s forced into a black Chrysler. Tonight, who is she, and is she still alive?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Take a look at this video. Do you know this woman? Authorities investigating a possible abduction that occurred just hours ago. But little did the potential suspect know it was all caught on tape. Authorities scrambling to find the woman reportedly put into a black Chrysler coupe with a partial Pennsylvania license plate JFM. Tonight, police need your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, another thing. Did you see that -- play it again, Liz. Did you see the onlooker walking by? He just looked and went, Whoa! Yes, he`s beating her and he`s forcing her into a car. He just kept on walking.
Everybody, the area that you`re seeing -- OK, here, he`s following her. He saw her walk by. He`s chasing her. Now he gives her a big blow to the face. I don`t know if you can make that out, and is struggling. And there you see the pedestrian, like, (INAUDIBLE) that, keeps on going.
If you see the rest of the video, he fights with the woman. She`s fighting back. Her arms are flailing, and he forces her into that dark colored Chrysler, and off they go. We don`t know anything about this woman, and we are hoping to get tips from this tonight.
For any of you that are familiar with the Barnes Museum, it`s this huge, beautiful mansion, multi-millionaires, I guess, used to live there, and they have such an extensive art collection, they turned it into a museum.
Please look at this video. Let me give you guys the tip line, 215- 686-TIPS. Take look at this video.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocking and disturbing video from just a few hours ago. Police need your help in identifying the man and woman seen on camera, the woman apparently snatched and thrown into a car against her will. What happened?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. Out to Rich Zeoli. He is from "The Rich Zeoli Show" at WPHT. Rich, thank you for being with us. We`re showing the video. Rich is joining me from Philadelphia. Rich, weigh in.
RICH ZEOLI, WPHT: Nancy, this is a shocking thing, and it`s my old neighborhood. I used to live a few blocks from there, not the part of town you`d ever expect this to happen in. And that onlooker who watches the entire thing happen and doesn`t do anything about it -- it`s terrifying. It`s shocking. It`s outrageous.
GRACE: Everybody, a partial tag J-JOY-F-FRANK-M-MOTHER, a black Chrysler sedan is all we know. And it was a struggle finding out that much. Take a look.
So Rich, what can you tell me about what went down? What do they know so far?
ZEOLI: Nancy, it was Tuesday afternoon about 4:15. You got kids coming home from school, people coming home from work. And this guy gets out of this car. He`s been backing up, so it`s like he`s backing up to find this woman.
Then he gets out. They have this verbal altercation. The witness, the 26-year-old, this witness who called the police, she says that she was screaming. They were screaming. She walks away. The guy pursues her.
Now, he`s a large man. He`s bald. He`s African-American. He`s a big guy. He pursues her down the street, and then they have another verbal altercation. Then he grabs her. He grabs her and drags her back in this car and throws her into his car, and then drives away.
This is the middle of the day, 4:15 PM in Fairmount, one of the nicest neighborhoods in the country -- bars, restaurants, shops, the Barnes Museum, as you pointed out.
GRACE: We`re looking at the video right now. Rich Zeoli from "The Rich Zeoli Show" at WPHT, this could be any one of us. This is in the shadow of the Barnes Museum, renowned around the world, Matisse, Degas, Renoir, you name it on the walls of that museum. And just outside, this goes down. This goes down.
She is screaming. She is fighting. She is frying to get away. It doesn`t happen. And as of tonight, we don`t know who she is or if she`s still alive. This could be you, this could be me, your mom, your sister, your aunt, walking down a very affluent street side (ph). Tip line, 215- 686-TIPS.
Everyone, when we come back, a rich kid gets drunk, gets behind the wheel of his pricey red Ford and plows into pedestrians standing on the roadside. He kills four people. He leaves other victims paralyzed for life. But tonight, we learn the rich kid walks with straight probation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live to the Texas suburbs. A rich kid gets drunk at his parents` second home. He then gets behind the wheel of a pricy red car and plows into pedestrians standing by the roadside. He kills four people, including a youth pastor, a mother and a daughter standing there, another woman. He leaves other victims paralyzed for life. Tonight, we learn the rich kid walks with straight probation.
You know, it`s said that money can`t buy you love or justice, but maybe it can. Judge Jean Boyd, you are in contempt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I apologize, it`s been an emotional day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had over 180 year of life taken into -- that was my wife and daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hollie and Shelby Boyles had left their home to help Brianna Mitchell, whose SUV was broke down on a dark and narrow Tarrant County road. Youth pastor Brian Jennings was driving past them and pulled over to help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three times the legal limit in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only received ten years of probation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, I felt like money did prevail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. A rich kid plows into a group of bystanders, pedestrians, he kills four people. And I`m just now getting information that not only was he drunk, he had drugs in his system as well.
He kills four. He leaves others permanently paralyzed. Out to Noam Laden, WABC news anchor. Noam, apparently, his father runs, what does he run, a steel plant? What does he run?
NOAM LADEN, WABC: It`s a sheet metal company. This teenager, everybody knows a teenager like this. You had a teenager in this neighborhood when you grew up, who is the wealthy kid in town who got everything he wanted. That`s this teenager.
GRACE: Tell me, the father is saying that he will pay the $450,000 to have his son sent to some type of treatment facility? What is it?
LADEN: Why would he? So, they`re going to ship him off to Bel Air, California. That is not too shabby. Better than being behind bars. He`ll be in this sort of behavioral clinic.
GRACE: Wait, whoa. That looks like a resort. That looks like Rancho Mirage or something. Whoa. Do you see this?
LADEN: If it does look like it, it is. Essentially this is a playground for naughty, wealthy people.
GRACE: We`re taking a look at this. This is, you know, a lot nicer than where most of us live for real. There`s a mountain setting. I guess that`s one of the rec rooms. Oh, OK. Actually, I`d like to go there for vacation. We`re looking at the Newport Academy. All right, back to the story, Noam, tell me what happened.
LADEN: This kid, 16 years old. He`s just hammered. He`s, you know, he is blind drunk. Gets behind the wheel. Fast forward to this accident scene, where this 24-year-old woman, her car had broken down. She had a flat tire. She pulled over. Some neighbors come out to help her. Then another passerby, a local pastor, pulls over to help. Now, four people helping this woman fix her tire. Now, this wealthy, 16-year-old teen who`s drunk beyond his mind, has seven kids in one of these huge pick-up trucks, it is a Ford F-350 pick-up truck. Going 70 miles an hour. He`s drunk. He`s got Valium in his system. He smoked weed that day. Apparently, he had been drinking for like seven hours--
GRACE: Whoa, did you say weed?
LADEN: I said weed.
GRACE: Go ahead.
LADEN: So then he goes 70 miles an hour and slams into a bunch of cars, and it sets off this chain reaction that kills the four people that are at the scene of this flat tire, injures seven others.
GRACE: So he kills four, and permanently paralyzes others, killing a youth minister, a mother and her daughter. They had pulled over to help a lady that had a flat tire.
Okay, let me get this straight. The father is rolling in money. The father offers to send his child, I guess you could call him a child, to a $450,000 Bel Air, California Newport Academy. I`d like to see those pictures again, Liz. There`s his punishment. What about it, Justin Freiman?
FREIMAN: The judge went for what the defense was saying, which was basically blaming this all on the parents, that he was never taught what the consequences were for his actions.
GRACE: Now, isn`t it true, Justin, that they claimed to the judge with a straight face that this teen killer had affluenza, I am not talking about influenza, the flu. Affluenza. That he was so rich, he didn`t know right from wrong.
FREIMAN: That`s right. The defense had a psychologist actually say that and describe that. The family felt they had all this wealth and privilege, there was no rational link between behavior and consequences.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. For once, Peter Odom, you look a tiny bit, a tiny bit dazed. I`m not sure. Weigh in. Affluenza? Have you ever used that? You bring in a shrink to tell the judge your client is so rich, they don`t know right from wrong.
P. ODOM: I`m not sure that`s the defense I would have used in this case, but --
GRACE: But they did. Affluenza.
P. ODOM: Probation sentences are not uncommon--
GRACE: I notice you looking away. Your eyes are darting around like mad.
P. ODOM: Probation sentences are not uncommon in these cases.
GRACE: Blinking. What?
P. ODOM: Probation sentences are not uncommon in these cases, and here`s why, Nancy.
GRACE: Four dead people.
P. ODOM: Remember, this is essentially is a negligent act. This kid didn`t get up in the morning and say, I`m going to kill four people.
GRACE: No, he got up and smoked a big, fat doobie. Then he had a little bit of--
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What is this? Let me ask Dr. Amy Burrows-Beckham, assistant medical examiner, forensic pathologist out of Louisville, Doctor, thanks for being with us. What is Diazepam? What is the street name for that?
BURROWS-BECKHAM: Valium.
GRACE: Valium. What is Nordiazepam?
BURROWS-BECKHAM: It`s a breakdown product of the Valium. So our body can get rid of it.
GRACE: So Valium. What is benzodiazapines (ph)?
BURROWS-BECKHAM: That`s the type of medication that Valium is. It is an anxielytic (ph). People who are anxious or have panic attacks will take a benzodiazapine. It`s a downer, so that included Xanax, Valium, different types of drugs.
GRACE: Let me ask you, Dr. Amy Burrows-Beckham with us out of Louisville, Kentucky. Doctor, what happens when you mix booze with Valium and pot?
BURROWS-BECKHAM: Well, they`re all downers or brain depressants, so they`re going to act together to impair your brain activity.
GRACE: Back to you, Peter Odom. You said he didn`t get up that morning and plan to kill, but he did get up, down several Valium, smoke pot and drink. But would you agree that it was an intentional act to get his car keys?
P. ODOM: I would agree that driving would have been an intentional act.
GRACE: To walk to the car, to get into the car. To crank up the car.
P. ODOM: Nancy, I`ve been cross-examined by you before. He never intended to kill anybody. And that`s what this case is about.
GRACE: Eleanor, isn`t it true that the law presumes that you intend the natural consequence of your act? For instance, if I picked up a piece of fine china and I threw it to a cement floor, the law would presume that I meant to break it.
E. ODOM: Exactly, Nancy. In his ingesting all those drugs and getting into that car and driving is like holding a loaded gun to somebody`s head. He killed four people. That is felony vehicular homicide, and he should have gotten time.
GRACE: Straight probation. I don`t understand that. And plus, he`s still a teen. He would have only gone to juvey jail. That`s not even real jail.
E. ODOM: At least until he turned 21, and then he would have gone to adult prison.
GRACE: She could have sentenced him to five years. He would be out at 21. He would have never had to do time in a real jail. Instead, he`s going to Newport Academy, upscale treatment center with fancy cabins. Looks like a sleep-away camp.
Let`s just listen to the names of the victims. Breanna Mitchell. Just 24. Her mother, Hollie Boyles. No, Hollie Boyles, a mother, the daughter, Shelby Boyles. And Brian Jennings, a youth pastor. They`re all dead. They were all mowed down by a rich kid, whose defense in front of the judge was that he was so rich, he didn`t know right from wrong. And it`s easy for us to laugh at it, to kick it around, to make jokes about it. I wonder if the family of Brian Jennings is laughing tonight. I wonder if the family of Shelby Boyles and Hollie Boyles and Breanna Mitchell, I wonder if they`re laughing tonight.
These are the faces of the victims. He was sentenced to straight probation.
Let me give you the name of the judge. The judge is juvenile court judge Jean Boyd. And I ask you tonight to reach out to the governor and beg that she be taken off the bench. Justin Freiman, who should we contact?
FREIMAN: You can contact the governor. Governor Perry out in Texas, because he`s the one who would be in control of that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Texas teen steals beer and parties with friends at his parent`s home. Later that evening, the teen takes his pickup truck for a ride. The teen swerves off the road. Four ended up dead. The time for the crime, probation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He will likely receive treatment at a high-end rehab facility in California instead of punishment behind bars here in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it`s not right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alexander (inaudible) has a brother that was paralyzed from the same accident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you go out and drink and drive again, and kill some more people, OK, now we`re going to put you in prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did ask the court that for justice and that for money not to prevail, and ultimately today, I felt like money did prevail. And unfortunately, the wounds that it opened only makes the healing process that much greater.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know what? I have been there. I have been there. As a crime victim. And you walk out of that courthouse and you know there is no justice.
There`s one of the four homicide victims. That is Brian Jennings, youth pastor. There is Shelby Boyles, just 21. Breanna Mitchell, Hollie Boyles. Take a look. All dead at the hands of a drunk driver. A teen, whose defense in front of the judge was that he was too rich to know the difference between right and wrong. And what I don`t understand is how the judge, Judge Jean Boyd, could listen to this father beg for justice and still give straight probation to the killer teen that kills four, paralyzes others, and walks with straight probation. He doesn`t even have to pick up trash. Nothing. Not one night in jail. His rich dad offering to foot the bill to $450,000 tune so he could go to a fancy rehab.
You know, Eleanor Odom, if there had been a trial and you lost, at least you could look at the father of the victim and say, you know what, we tried, we gave it all we had. This was a plea that the state contested. They didn`t want this. Ten years probation. But here, it`s like the judge robbed the victims.
E. ODOM: Really robbed them of their chance to tell their story to a jury. And sometimes, you do have to work out cases and people want to plead guilty. You can`t stop them from pleading guilty. Clearly, the state couldn`t stop him from doing that, and the judge gave the sentence that she gave.
GRACE: Caryn Stark, affluenza? The defense is he`s too rich, his dad is too rich, never taught him right from wrong?
STARK: Nancy, it is the silliest thing.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Too rich for a cot in three, that might teach him right from wrong.
STARK: Well, I don`t understand what this judge is thinking. Neither do you, because how does he ever learn right from wrong if they continue to be that lenient with him? It`s not even the best thing for kids. They really need to have limits in order to feel safety.
GRACE: With me is Stacy Rhodes, a special guest. Her 19-year-old son, Ryan, killed in a teen drunk driving crash. Stacy, thank you for being with us. And I want to hear your thoughts on this.
STACY RHODES, SON KILLED IN DRUNK DRIVING CRASH: I was just shocked when I first heard about this. And first, we need to start by saying the system definitely failed Ethan. How can they blame the parents when the system and Judge Boyd just said, Ethan, it`s OK, you just killed four people, and it isn`t your fault. But seriously, it is the system that is put in place to protect the victims and also the criminal, and they didn`t help Ethan here at all.
Another thing is ten years is a long time for this 16-year-old to stay out of the trouble. He`s proven that. It just sickens me. My heart goes out to these families.
GRACE: With me is Stacy Rhodes, her son killed in a teen drunk driving crash. Everyone, repeat the numbers, 800-543-5789. Non-Texas, 512-463-1952. Judge Jean Boyd needs to come off the bench.
When we come back, caught on tape. A crazy high speed chase. The driver with a long criminal history blasting through a dui check point. Tonight, he`s actually complaining a police dog bit him. Hello. He crashes past the cops and all he gets is a dog bite? I say the dog is a hero.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, to Wilmington, North Carolina, a crazy high-speed chase. The driver blasting through a DUI checkpoint. Finally stopped. This is what happens. Take a look at this video. The man with a criminal history actually is complaining tonight that the police dog bit him. Are you kidding? Police excessive force? That`s the claim. He`s the one that crashes past the cops and all he gets is a dog bite? I say the dog is the hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wilmington police officer Stafford Brister (ph) lifts a police canine into that car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look and decide for yourself. Did this North Carolina police officer go too far?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The grand jury indicted Williams on charges of being an habitual felon, assault with a deadly weapon, and other traffic violations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s see the video again. To Ashlea Kosikowski, anchor, WECT, out of Wilmington. I don`t understand. Why is he complaining because the dog bit him? He`s the one that blasts past the cops. For all they knew, he had a gun beside him.
ASHLEA KOSIKOWSKI, WECT: That`s the debate here in Wilmington tonight. A lot of people are weighing in on this video and watching it. And feel like -- some feel like he deserved what he got there. Others say the police officer went too far. He had his hands in the air. It looked as though he was ready to surrender.
GRACE: You know what? You know what? Out to you, Peter Odom. They`re barking up the wrong tree. Excuse the pun. Because I don`t know if you remember Officer Randy Shepanney (ph). He pulled over a kid for a driving violation. The kid had his hands up. Shepanney, APD, walked up to the car. Kid reached down and got a gun and shot him right in the head. So what`s the problem with the canine, with the dog jumping in the car? I don`t see a problem.
P. ODOM: Nancy, this is a police officer that lost his cool and he used his dog as a deadly weapon. This is outrageous. He lost his cool because of the high-speed chase, and he took his dog and totally misused his canine, his trained canine, and shoved it through the window. This is a person that had his hands up.
GRACE: Andres Aportela, Andres, police dog trainer joining me from Frenchtown. For all this officer knew, this guy had a loaded Uzi next to him. He had already blasted past a checkpoint, had done this before. This is not the first time he had eluded police. And has a long criminal history. Please tell me, I don`t see the problem, Andre.
ANDRES APORTELA, POLICE DOG TRAINER: I don`t see the problem either. Actually, these dogs are trained to react to protect the officer and protect the civilian, and they only have seconds when you have a criminal at this level that can turn around and either shoot the cop or shoot another civilian, and shoot the dog.
GRACE: Andres Aportela is with me, police dog trainer out of Frenchtown, Do you believe, Andres, you train police dogs, the officer acted correctly? I do. I`m on his side.
APORTELA: I believe 100 percent the officer did his job. He had to contain this criminal at the spot, and the only way he can do that is by commanding the dog to hold, and most likely this man either forced himself or tried to attack the dog.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight the police officer that risked his life that used his canine, canine officer Stafford Brister (ph) is still on administrative leave, and tonight we make a public plea for him to come back to the police force with his canine, because in our books, he is the hero.
Tonight, we remember American hero, Army Private First Class David Jefferson. 23, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon. From a military family. Father James, widow Darnise, son, Ian. David Jefferson, American hero.
Everybody, this holiday season, we support the Murphy Harpst Home for Abused Children. Children that had been beaten, that had been starved and have nowhere else to go. Go to nancygrace.com for special merchandise holiday packages, including our signature handcuff necklace. Travel mugs, murder mystery books. Order soon. Get those deliveries for Christmas. Again, the money is going to Murphy Harpst Home for Abused Children. Dr. Drew is up next. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
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