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Nancy Grace
Spider Bite or Beating; Bacon-Crazed Woman Opens Fire At McDonald`s Over Missing Pig Strip; Cops: Pedophile Molests Seven Children After Early Release. Aired 8-8:30p ET
Aired April 22, 2015 - 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, to the heartland. A Missouri mom dials 911 to frantically report her 17-month-old toddler girl dying
from a horrific and deadly spider bite.
Bombshell tonight. We re-examine the facts. A deadly spider bite? Really? What`s the likelihood of the one deadly poisonous spider in the
state of Missouri killing this beautiful toddler?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the mother of the children called. She told them It appeared a spider bit her baby daughter, and the youngster was
unresponsive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is the worst case of child abuse I`ve ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And Pinellas Park (ph), Florida, where cops say a serial pedophile sex molester molests seven little children as young as 5 years old just
months after a Florida judge, Dorothy Vaccaro (ph), and court psychologist help the registered sex offender, a child sex predator, get released from
jail after his last molestation conviction.
That`s right, he`s already in jail for molesting two boys at a roller skating rink. The judge, hand in hand with court psychologist, decides he
should be set free to go on to molest seven more children, that we know of, says cops, in just a few months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Sheppard (ph) is a predator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After he allegedly molested his neighbors` children in this apartment complex after serving 15 years for multiple sex offenses,
the circuit court judge issued an order saying there was probable cause to believe Sheppard is a sexually violent offender eligible for civil
commitment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Grand Rapids, where police say a bacon-crazed Michigan woman shoots up the local McDonald`s, full of customers and employees,
pulling out a Glock 9-millimeter, unleashing a hail of bullets after McDonald`s drive-through workers fail to put bacon on her bacon
cheeseburger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McDonald`s held the bacon, but a Michigan woman did not hold her fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say she opened fire at a McDonald`s after the fast food chain twice failed to put bacon on her cheeseburgers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live to the heartland. A Missouri mom dials 911 to frantically report her 17-month-old toddler girl dying from a horrific and
deadly spider bite. We examine the facts. A deadly spider bite, really? What`s the likelihood of the one deadly poisonous spider in the state of
Missouri killing a beautiful toddler girl? Pretty slim.
I want to go the straight out to Dr. Grey Stafford, Ph.D., director of conservation, Wildlife World Zoo, animal trainer. Dr. Stafford, we are
talking about Missouri. According to my research -- and I`m no animal expert or certainly not an entomologist -- I think there`s only one deadly
poisonous spider in Missouri.
I think they`re all poisonous. In other words, you might feel bad. You might get a little swelling, like a mosquito bite. That`s considered a
poison. But deadly, and that would be the brown recluse, as I recall.
What do you know, Dr. Stafford?
GREY STAFFORD, ANIMAL TRAINER: Well, the brown recluse is common to that area, but it`s not as deadly as it`s made out to be. It certainly can have
a painful bite and it can cause problems for people for days, weeks at a time, but it`s rarely lethal. The other...
GRACE: Now...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wait! Is there a black -- is the black widow -- is it in Missouri also?
STAFFORD: It is. It`s ubiquitous. The black widow`s found in every continent except Antarctica. So that also could be a culprit here. But
then again, it`s going to cause a painful bite, not a lethal bite.
GRACE: OK, when you say that the brown recluse or the black widow is poisonous, what do you mean by that? Because can`t you die? I mean, there
are known cases of people dying from a spider bite.
STAFFORD: It -- it -- usually, it`s very rare, and it`s been many years, but you`re absolutely right. They do have a toxin. In the case of the
brown recluse, it`s a hemotoxin, so it can cause tissue damage. It can cause very painful swelling. And very often, people don`t even notice that
the bite has occurred until many hours later when that pain sets in. In some cases, there`s no pain at all because there`s very little toxin
injected. With the black widow...
GRACE: Let me ask you, you know, another quick question. Let me inject this as you answer -- Dr. Stafford joining me from Wildlife World Zoo.
Since it`s a toddler girl Mommy says is dead from a spider bite, and you`re telling me in Missouri, there`s the brown recluse and the black widow,
which you say is ubiquitous in that area -- so there`s two known deadly forms of spider bite.
[20:05:14]Would it come into play that she is a toddler? She`s only about 17 months old. So if a spider bite such as a black widow or brown recluse
would not kill an adult, what about it biting a toddler, say a 30-pound toddler?
STAFFORD: That`s an excellent point, Nancy. And certainly, children, the elderly and those who have an immune-compromised system are more vulnerable
to those types of toxins. But even in those cases, if they get medical treatment, it`s rare to have a lethal situation.
GRACE: Rare to have a lethal situation, but that is exactly what this mom, Layla Fast (sic), says happens to her 17-month-old.
I want to go out to Dr. Michelle Dupre, forensic pathologist. Also with me, Dr. Grey Stafford, Dr. Dupre joining me from Columbia.
Dr. Dupre, if a child, a toddler, say 30 pounds-ish, were to have been bitten by a black widow or a brown recluse, what would the child`s symptoms
be?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, they would be much the same as they would be for an adult, although it would take less venom or
toxin to cause a more serious illness because of the size and the weight of the child. But still, it would probably be unlikely with medical treatment
that the child would die.
GRACE: Now, why do you say that? With something that`s known to kill adults, why wouldn`t it kill this little baby?
DUPRE: And it may. Again, it depends on the expediency of the medical treatment. And if medical treatment is given rapidly and an antidote is
given, then the child would likely be OK.
GRACE: Well, what if -- OK, what I`m trying to get at is, if this child has been bitten by a brown recluse or a black widow -- let`s just go with
Mommy`s story, OK? The toddler`s been bitten by a spider. Now, how does she know that? I don`t know. But just pretend that she was bitten by a
spider. What would the child suffer in order to die -- no antidote, Mommy calls 911 too late. What does the child suffer? How will I know that the
child`s been bitten by a spider?
DUPRE: The child might go into something like anaphylactic shock. There will be difficulty breathing. There will certainly be some pain. There
will be redness or an area around the injection site. But the child will likely have difficulty breathing.
GRACE: Difficulty breathing, a spot around the injection site. To Colin Jeffery, news director at KTRS. Colin, I want to know specifically what
Mommy said when she called 911. Did she know at the time she calls 911 that there had been a spider bite, or does she come up with that story
after the child is dead, when the EMTs got there? When does she first divulge this baby girl is dead from a spider bite? Because I ain`t buying
it!
COLIN JEFFERY, KTRS (via telephone): Well, what she told police in that first call is that the child had been bitten by a spider, little Layla had
been bitten by a spider, and didn`t realize that she was experiencing distress until Sunday morning. That`s when she called the police...
GRACE: OK, whoa-whoa! Back it up for me, Colin Jeffery, news director, KTRS. So she is saying -- the mom, Taylor Fast, is saying baby Layla was
bitten the day before?
JEFFERY: That`s what she told police, but she wasn`t certain when she had been bitten in that day. It`s a little fuzzy right now as to what supreme
court she did tell police, but she told them over the phone that she had been bitten sometime in the last day, is what she was saying, but...
GRACE: OK, does that make sense, Dr. Dupre? Does that make sense that the baby is bitten a day before and it languishes for a full day before it
dies?
DUPRE: Nancy, there would certainly be some recognizable symptoms -- fever, distress, again, difficulty breathing. It would -- somebody paying
attention to that child would certainly have noticed.
GRACE: OK, back to Dr. Grey Stafford. And joining me right now from Festus, Missouri, is David Dunn, Sr. He is the grandfather of baby Layla,
who, according to her mom, dies of a spider bite. Now, remember, the only two deadly spider bites in the state of Missouri, brown recluse, black
widow.
To you, Mr. Dunn, Sr. First of all, we are sorry for what you`ve gone through. I know that -- I`ve been told you loved Layla like she was your
own baby girl, your own daughter. Do you -- when you first heard that Layla was dead from a spider bite, did you believe that?
[20:10:03]DAVID DUNN, SR., GRANDFATHER (via telephone): No, not at all.
GRACE: Why?
DUNN: I didn`t know -- I really didn`t know what to think, what to say, what to hear. I didn`t know. I was so appalled by with I had just heard
that had happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the girl of 25 pounds and should not have experienced what she did, that her last seconds of life were, in his words,
pure hell.
[20:15:00]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This child looked like a situation you would see if a child was involved in a car accident. It was horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She told them it appeared a spider bit her baby daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As for the 3-year-old brother, he`s hospitalized with a broken leg and bruises.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live to the heartland, a tiny tot girl, beautiful -- I`m talking about 17-month-old Layla Fast -- dead. Her mom says it`s from a deadly
spider bite. But really?
Let`s examine the facts that we know. In that jurisdiction of Missouri, there`s only two deadly spider bites -- they`re all poisonous to some
degree -- the brown recluse and the black widow. How likely is it this child is bitten by a deadly spider, lives for 24 hours before she dies?
What were her symptoms? Why didn`t Mommy call earlier? What did she divulge on her 911 call?
So to Dr. Grey Stafford, director of conservation, Wildlife World Zoo, what would you expect if a 25-pound baby had been bitten by a black widow?
STAFFORD: I would imagine they`d be crying quite a bit because it is a painful bite, although sometimes, people don`t experience any pain right
away. But certainly, if there was a problem, within a few hours, she`d be experiencing a lot of pain.
But remember, Nancy, these are elusive animals. These are shy spiders. You really have to disturb them in order to be bitten by one.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Susan Moss, family law attorney out of New York, Yale Galanter -- he shot to fame as O.J. Simpson defense
lawyer -- and Danny Cevallos, defense attorney, CNN legal analyst joining me out of New York. Welcome, all of you. I mean, Susan Moss, I have never
in all the years I prosecuted, heard of a baby, a child dying of a spider bite. Ever!
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Mom is lying! If the spider didn`t kill Peter Brady in the "Hawaii" episode, it certainly didn`t kill this girl!
Let`s look at the facts! This girl had bruises up and down her body, up and down her face! That wasn`t done by a spider bite! And let`s remember
that her brother also had a broken leg! What, did the spider`s friend Charlotte come in and break that leg? This is all a big lie! This is
child abuse! And this woman needs to be prosecuted!
GRACE: OK, to Dr. Michelle Dupre, forensic pathologist. Around the area of the spider bite, the alleged spider bite, because I`m not buying it, Dr.
Dupre -- would there be any discoloration whatsoever if the child had been bitten? For instance, we heard you and Dr. Grey Stafford mention tissue
abnormality, damage to tissue. Would it cause blackening or bluish marks around the bite itself?
DUPRE: Nancy, it may. It may form something that we call an eshar (ph), which is like a scab. But again, it`s a small, round almost blood-clotted
scab that would be there, and a little bit of redness.
GRACE: But to Colin Jeffery, news director at KTRS, what little Layla`s injuries were are nothing like a darkened black area around a bite.
JEFFERY: No, they aren`t. We typically hear from police in cases of child abuse very measured responses. They may say, We believe this abuse. But
in this case, Festus police chief Tim Lewis (ph) did not appear measured at all. He said this is the worst case of child abuse he`s seen in 32 years.
He said the last few seconds of little Layla`s life were pure hell. He said this victim can no longer speak, so we are here to speak for her.
GRACE: And that`s exactly what we plan on doing tonight, Colin Jeffery.
Unleash the lawyers, Sue Moss, Yale Galanter, Danny Cevallos. All right, Yale Galanter, do you want to actually try to sell me this bill of goods...
YALE GALANTER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, no, I -- you know...
GRACE: ... that these injuries and bruises, Yale, are from a spider bite?
GALANTER: No. Nobody`s going to buy the spider bite story because the injuries just aren`t consistent with that and the cause of death isn`t
consistent with that.
But somebody`s got to figure out whether the mother did this or whether the mother`s covering up for somebody else, and how this child got injuries
consistent...
GRACE: Hold on.
GALANTER: ... with a car crash. So you know...
GRACE: So you are...
GALANTER: ... the police...
GRACE: ... now saying...
GALANTER: ... really need to figure out who did it and how it was done. But it definitely was not a spider bite.
GRACE: OK, Danny Cevallos, so the mom is stuck with what she said on the 911 call. She`s stuck with that, that her baby died of a spider bite, of
all things. So how do you spin that? How do you work with that as a defense lawyer?
DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Nancy, you`re focusing on the spider side, the Discovery channel side of this case. And I`m with Yale.
I will concede if there`s a single fracture, you almost have to concede that the spider story is nonsense. But there is a difference between
covering up with a nonsensical story and the government meeting its burden that she caused the death of the child.
[20:20:03]GRACE: OK. You know, you two, take a listen to what the police say, and you tell me how there`s any way that the Mommy cannot be held
responsible. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve been a policeman for 32 years, and this is the worst case of child abuse I`ve ever seen. There`s nothing has even come
close to this. This child looked like a situation you`d see if a child were involved in a car accident. It was horrible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the mother of the children called. She told them it appeared a spider bit her baby daughter, and the youngster was
unresponsive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is the worst case of child abuse I`ve ever seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police chief believes the child had been dead for hours, that her face had caved in due to the beating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Susan Moss out of New York, Yale Galanter, O.J. lawyer out of Miami, Danny Cevallos joining me, also out of
New York. Also with us, psychologist Caryn Stark.
All right, you heard what the injuries are. The child`s head was caved in. Now, you two, Cevallos and Galanter, you want to tell me that Mommy -- that
the state can`t prove who did it?
[20:25:12]I`m saying whether it`s Mommy or live-in boyfriend -- and I`m telling you, Galanter, they should both be in the pot to stew because if
Mommy stood by and let some guy, some live-in kill her child, she should go to jail for murder, too, all right? That doesn`t excuse her if he dealt
the fatal blow, or if she did it.
GALANTER: Well, we need more information. We need to know...
GRACE: What? What?
GALANTER: ... whether she did it or whether she`s covering up for somebody. Assuming she`s covering up for somebody, was she there, and did
she know? Did she participate? Obviously, if she was there, she saw it and she didn`t report the boyfriend, I`m with you.
But if she was not there, then it becomes a whole different situation. Maybe the boyfriend`s threatening her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe, shmaybe!
GALANTER: Maybe the boyfriend`s telling her to lie. Maybe it`s the boyfriend`s story, and she`s just covering up. We just don`t know. But
what we do know...
GRACE: OK, let me go back...
GALANTER: ... is that the science will not lie that this girl did not die from a spider bite. So something else occurred.
GRACE: Well, I`m with you -- I`m with you. And if you think that`s some type of defense, Yale, I mean, it`s not. It looks very bad for the mother
and the live-in boyfriend.
I want to go back to David Dunn, Sr, and Colin Jeffery. To you, Mr. Dunn. This is Layla`s grandfather. David, when you learned...
DUNN: Yes?
GRACE: ... the injuries to baby Layla and you heard that her mother blamed a spider bite, what is your response to that?
DUNN: I was sickened. I just could not imagine that based on what I had heard really haven`t (ph) heard that she could even fathom trying to hide
this story with a spider bite. There`s no way. I`m not any kind of expert of any kind of creature or animal, but I know that your face don`t get
caved in from a spider bite.
GRACE: Mr. Dunn, I`m just thinking about Layla at 17 months old. I`m thinking about my children when they were 17 months old. They`re
completely defenseless. They`ve got to have somebody to take care of them and protect them. And if she stood by and let some live-in boyfriend beat
her child -- just -- they should both go to jail!
Mr. Dunn, were both of them at home? Did they both live in that home?
DUNN: From my understanding, they both lived there and they were both there at the time. But he -- evidently, whenever she made the calls to
911, the boyfriend disappeared and was on the run, and they finally caught him a couple days later.
GRACE: So he runs when she calls 911? Is that what you said?
DUNN: That`s what we`ve been told, yes.
GRACE: Where did they find the live-in?
DUNN: He was found in Olympian Village, Missouri, which is just outside of Desoto, at 3:00 o`clock in the morning on Tuesday morning.
GRACE: Back to Colin Jeffery, KTRS. Is that true, Colin, that the live-in boyfriend, when Mommy calls 911, he takes a powder and runs?
JEFFERY: Yes, that`s what the police let us know, is that they were seeking Dewayne as a possible person of interest in them (ph). And it was
about two days later that they ended up catching up with him.
Now, he has been charged with a felony in this case for child abuse, and the mother is facing a misdemeanor charge for child endangerment. But
police say...
GRACE: OK, wa-wait! Hold on, Colin. I`m just soaking in these photos of the live-in boyfriend, Dewayne Boyer.
Unleash the lawyers, Sue Moss, Yale Galanter, Danny Cevallos. All right, Cevallos, to you. Does it seem normal to you -- like for instance, Danny
Cevallos, when you look in your rearview mirror and you see a blue light and the cop is telling you, Get over, get over, you know you`ve been
speeding -- do you put the pedal to the metal and go 90 mph and try to get away? I bet you don`t, right?
CEVALLOS: I don`t, but...
GRACE: So why did he run when called 911 if he is not responsible?
CEVALLOS: Oh, I think if you`re defending Mom, you`d point the finger directly at boyfriend. They`ll point at each other...
GRACE: I`m pointing the finger at both of them!
CEVALLOS: Well, here`s the problem. You can`t do that.
GRACE: Yes, I can!
CEVALLOS: They`re going to -- well, you can, but you`re going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt...
GRACE: Put him up, please!
CEVALLOS: ... that each of them acted in concert. And if I`m Mom`s defense attorney...
GRACE: Uh-uh!
CEVALLOS: ... I make sure the jury gets a real eyeful...
GRACE: Not true.
CEVALLOS: ... of this boyfriend and her -- and his lifetime of bad decisions, including...
GRACE: Hey, he may be bad -- he may be bad, but she brought him home, Sue Moss. She`s the one that dragged him home like a stray cat and let him
beat her children. Is that right, wrong?
MOSS: Absolutely. And under either a conspiracy theory or felony murder rule, she is going down! And let`s think about why. Under any scenario,
she committed felony child support (sic) by not getting this kid to the doctor sooner! The reports are that this child was dead for several hours
before that call! Several hours, and maybe if mom had called quicker the child could have been saved.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me, and take a listen to this Galanter and Cevallos? What can you tell me about little Lyla`s 3-year-old
brother?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, the 3-year-old brother also had signs of abuse. He had severe bruising and a broken leg.
He was taken to the hospital and Nancy, police say that the boy cried. He every time he tried to stand on his legs.
GRACE: You know, Karen Start, are you with me?
KAREN START, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes.
GRACE: Why does this woman Taylor Fast need a man so badly that she will stand by and let him beat her children?
START: It is awful, Nancy, and I hate to say this, but there are women who feel so dependent on the men that they have in their life that they are
willing to sacrifice their child in order to keep them. It`s though she doesn`t feel like a whole person unless she has this man with her. So
whether she approves or not, she allows it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): McDonald`s held the bacon, but the woman did not hold the fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say she opened fire at a McDonald`s after the fast food chain twice failed twice to put bacon on her cheeseburgers."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live at Grand Rapids where police say a bacon-crazed Michigan woman shoots at a local McDonald`s full of employees and customers pulling out a
Glock 0.9 millimeter unleashing a hail of bullets after McDonald drive-thru workers fail to put bacon on her bacon cheeseburger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Reporters returned hours later, and again her burger did not contain bacon, police say she pulled out a fire and
fired at the drive-thru window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Unloading a Glock semi-automatic 0.9 at a McDonald`s because you didn`t get bacon on your bacon cheeseburger? Joining me is James Gemmell,
news director at WJRW. OK, James, what happened?
JAMES GEMMELL, NEWS DIRECTOR, WJRW (via telephone): Well, she did indeed fire that 0.9 millimeter gun after workers during two different stops at
the same restaurant supposedly failed to put bacon on her bacon cheeseburger. She requested --
GRACE: Wait, what do you mean two different stops?
GEMMELL: Well, the first time around, they supposedly got the order wrong and a manager said that they would give her a complimentary replacement
burger come backs in a few hours. So she came back and --
GRACE: What she went home and realized she didn`t have bacon so calls them?
GEMMELL: That`s an interesting question, but she was in the front passenger seat of an SUV when a friend pulled up the second time, Nancy,
and when she discovered there was no bacon and out comes the gun and there went the bullets through the drive-thru window.
GRACE: OK, let me understand this. She goes to the local McDonald`s, she wants a bacon cheeseburger, I guess. All right, she gets the burger, and
she goes all of the way home, we call that in the law, a cooling off period.
She finds out that she does not have bacon and calls. All right, I`m surprised that anybody picked up and she calls back and says come back
and we will fix it. And she goes back at what time, James Gemmell?
GEMMELL: Well, it was early in the morning sometime around 4:00 in the morning, and supposedly she uttered a five-letter word that starts with a
"b" and said you don`t know who you are talking to and then --
GRACE: I did not that part. James Gemmell joining me, WJRW, because what sounds like to me, is premeditation, All right, because if she say, excuse
me, bitch, you don`t know who you are talking to, and then starts firing, that is long enough to form intent.
There she is. Thank you for all the selfies, Shanika Torres, because you know what, the jury is going to love that. That is Shanika
Torres, the woman that reportedly unleashes with a Glock 9 into the drive- thru at McDonald`s, bacon craze over a missing pig strip, translation, bacon. OK, Matt Zerrell, what more do we know?
ZERRELL: Well, police says that this woman`s attitude was not kosher. The employee who walked away from the window right before the gunshot said that
if she had been standing at the window at the time the bullet struck, it would have struck her in the forehead and killed her instantly.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Susan Moss, Yale Galanter and Danny Cevallos. All right, let`s see the surveillance video please. Let`s see the stills
from the surveillance.
OK, think about it. How many hundreds of times did I take the twins to McDonald`s to get some French fries. Yes, I know it is not healthy, but
Lucy wanted. How many times, Susan Moss, did I post pictures of us on the McDonald`s playground and giving John David his little apple slices and
Lucy her French Fries, how many times and then I get this one-woman crime wave driving through and firing a Glock 0.9 semi, really?
SUSAN MOSS, ATTORNEY: What is the defense, she was trying to kill the pig herself to get the bacon? This is really attempted murder. This woman is
really facing a substantial amount of time, and thank goodness this restaurant was not filled.
GRACE: Isn`t it true that she claims, Yale Galanter, the gun went off by accident, that is her defense, so if it was an accident, how do you explain
quote, "Bitch, you don`t know who you are talking to" -- bam!
YALE GALANTER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that is a fact that goes against her, but the real point here is that the shot wasn`t fired with the intent
to kill or the intent to harm. It sounds like the shot was fired out of frustration, and anger, and she is not going to be charged with any
homicide crime because thank God nobody was hurt.
GRACE: Hold on. Hold on. You know that I think you do, and I think that you will all three agree with me that the law presumes that the shooter
intends or the perpetrator intends the natural consequence of their action.
So, you take a nine and you point it at the drive-thru lady at McDonald`s, you pull the trigger. The law can presume you intend to shoot
her. Now, Yale, are you actually going to argue with me that it is not the law?
GALANTER: Well, no, that is the law. The issue is --
GRACE: Yes, it is.
GALANTER: -- the issue is whether or not there was an intention to shoot the drive-thru clerk. It does not sound like the evidence is there that
she knew the clerk. It sounds like she was firing the shot at the McDonald`s building as a whole, and the fact that nobody was injured sounds
more like a gun crime than an assault crime and reckless discharge.
GRACE: All right, take a look at the monitor. James Gemmell, isn`t it true that she fired directly into the drive-thru window, and the photo that
I was showing you that I was showing you right there through the window.
GEMMELL: That is correct, instead of "where`s the beef," it was "where`s the bacon" and anybody could have been hit with that bullet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live, Pinellas Park, Florida, where cops say a serial pedophile sex molests seven children as young as 5 years old and get this the, just
months after a Florida judge, Dorothy Vaccaro and court psychologist, help a registered sex offender, a child sex predator get released from jail.
Now this is after his last child sex molestation conviction, that`s right. He is already in jail for molesting two boys at a roller skating
rink. The judge hand in hand with the court psychologists decides this guy should be set free to go on to molest seven more children that we know of
in just a few months.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A five-member team recommended that Shepard be evaluated to see if he met Jimmy Rice criteria, which only
applies to about 4 percent of all convicted sex offenders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is supposed to be for essentially for the worst of the worst offenders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Sheppard is a predator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the belief of police who arrested convicted sex offender, Michael Shepard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you predict with any degree of certainty that someone will reoffend?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: I am in shock. I am devastated that this judge, Florida judge, Pinellas Park, Florida, Dorothy Vaccaro, would agree to let this guy,
Michael Shepard, go. Now this guy has already sex molested two little boys, two little brothers that mommy let`s go to the roller skating rink.
He gets them alone in the bathroom and sex molests them. He gets 15 years, all right, but then at the end of his time behind bars, they have a
hearing when they can keep him behind bars.
Judge Dorothy Vicarro and two psychologists all get together, and the judge agrees with one of the shrinks, who says, I have interviewed him,
and I don`t think that he is a threat.
All right, then she should invite him home, and let him live in her house and eat at her supper table with her children. All right, straight
out to Meredith Censullo, investigative reporter and also joining me Sergeant Adam Geissenberger with Pinellas Park P.D. Meredith, what
happened?
MEREDITH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: So in the past several months there have been reports in this one community in Pinellas Park, one
neighborhood complex of multiple children being raped and touched by Michael Shepard, who has been out of prison just 18 months.
He`s lived in this apartment complex since December and now 14 charges are filed for sexual assault against at least seven children ages 5
to 12.
GRACE: And to Sergeant Adam Geissenberger, PIO, Pinellas Park P.D., there is nothing the police can do about this. It is the judge and some shrink
that agree he should be let loose and it`s my understanding, Sgt. Geissenberger, that he kind of lulled the residents of the apartment
complex into complacency.
He came out and said, look, I have a past, I was convicted, but it was a Romeo-Juliet situation. He never told anybody he molested two little
boys at a roller skating rink and he would let the children ride on his little scooter and the parents would let him baby sit. Is that what
happened, Sgt. Geissenberger?
SGT. ADAM GEISSENBERGER, PIO, PINELLAS PARK, PD (via telephone): That is correct. True to the work predator, Shepard in this case did lull them
into a false sense of security. He lied to them about the reason he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. They bought the story and permitted him,
unfortunately, permitted him unsupervised access to their children on more than one occasion.
GRACE: Including full-blown rape, we know of seven children he has allegedly molested in just a few months after Judge Dorothy Viccaro and
some shrink agree he should get out. Now, OK, what am I missing in the story, Meredith Censullo? Why would this judge, Dorothy Vacarro, let this
guy out when she can keep him in?
CENSULLO: Well, this is really going to tick you off. One of the psychologists that actually interviewed Shepard did not recommend
commitment of him. But listen to this, she`s a former director of the state`s sexually violent predator program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Shepard is a predator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After he allegedly molested his neighbors` children at this apartment complex after serving 15 years for multiple sex offenses,
the circuit court judge issued an order saying there was a probable cause to believe Shepard is a sexually violent offender eligible for civil
commitment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So this Pinellas Park Judge Dorothy Vaccaro, gets with a shrink and they decide this guy, right here, a violent sex predator should be
released, OK? The prosecutor had brought it to them that he should be civilly committed to stay in jail. No.
We now know he is accused -- look at these mug shots for Pete`s sake. How many times has this guy been arrested? Because, Meredith
Censullo, I only knew about the two little boys he molested at the roller skating rink.
But that`s, I think, four mug shots. One is roller skating and one is this arrest, what are the other two?
CENSULLO: Well, he had previous charges as a juvenile for molesting at least two other children that we know of.
GRACE: I did not know that. What`s that, his juvenile record?
CENSULLO: There is a juvenile record, yes. The earliest report I founded is 15 years old was when he made his first encounter with a child.
GRACE: So here`s the thing. We`ll all agree, won`t we, that while we don`t always know what the juvenile record is, it`s kept secret, a judge
has that, Sue Moss. She knew if he had a juvenile record of molesting children. I`m talking like a 16-year-old molesting a 5-year-old, along
those lines. The judge knows the juvenile record plus his adult record and she still let him go.
MOSS: She knew or should have known. If she didn`t know, that`s just as big of a problem.
GRACE: Awful.
MOSS: Let me tell you something. You don`t cure a pedophile in just a while. These people are sick.
GRACE: You know what, Karen Stark, psychologist, I`ve been lambasting the shrinks in this or at least one of them. Another shrink told the judge he
believed the guy should go to jail and stay in jail, all right?
The one female shrink was, I guess, fell under his charms, like the parents in this apartment complex. But Karen Stark, no offense to shrinks
but do you think that people -- not just shrinks get so much in their ivory tower that they don`t get the real world?
The way I look at it, every case I tried, I`m like do I want this guy to come home with me and be with my family and put his feet under my
table and spend the night in my home? All right, because if I don`t want that, the public doesn`t want it.
STARK: Nancy, it is really hard. I would love to defend these people but I can`t. And just like they`re a bad everything, there are some therapists
who are terrible. Everybody knows, especially a therapist should know, somebody who`s a child molester, you cannot let them out. They do not
change. Their sexual orientation is fixed.
GRACE: I`m not a shrink like you but I learned after all those years of prosecuting, I didn`t know it at the beginning, but I knew it by the end,
sex molesters cannot be rehashed. I hope Judge Dorothy Vaccaro can explain to these children that were raped why she let this guy out early.
Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Specialist Santos Armijo, 22, Phoenix, Arizona, Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal,
remembered as a gentle giant with a mega-watt smile, loves trying new things and music, dreamed of joining the FBI.
Parents Raymond and Tina, sister Santana, brother Alfonzo, fiance Genevieve. Santos Armijo, American hero.
"Drew" up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
