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Nancy Grace
Avery Fans Now Petitioning Wisconsin Governor; Why Hasn`t Affluenza Teen Been Extradited?; Bride Hires Hit Man on Groom. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 05, 2016 - 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. Missing photographer 25-year- old Teresa Halbach, bone and teeth found on the property of Steven Avery, so badly burned, the most advanced DNA testing needed. After Netflix does
a documentary to reel in viewers, convincing viewers Avery is actually innocent in Teresa`s brutal death, tonight, nearly 300,000 viewers
petitioning the White House, demanding the two brutal convicted killers be set free.
Bombshell tonight. The controversy threatening to boil over as the cold- blooded killers using Netflix to scam the White House, and now the Wisconsin governor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A significant amount of blood was found in Teresa Halbach`s vehicle, plus more blood on the Averys` property and in buildings
on that property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) shut the door, went into the house (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of them want to nail me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s Netflix, "Making a Murderer."
And a rich kid gets drunk and high on weed and Xanax, then mows down four people dead, a fifth paralyzed, a sixth with devastating internal injuries.
He gets straight probation for killing four people, no jail time whatsoever. The DUI four-time killer allegedly caught on video playing
beer pong. A warrant issues (sic) for his arrest when he and Mommy go missing.
As we predicted, Couch dyes his hair black and flees to Mexico with Mommy, Couch spending $2,000 at a strip club, and Mommy pays the tab. Then
finally, they`re caught ordering pizza on a cell phone tracked by police.
But tonight, why hasn`t Couch been brought back home for a date with Lady Justice? In the last hours, fugitive mom in a U.S. court of law. And we
go inside that luxury hotel where affluenza teen and Mommy bunk up beachside, the strip club where he reportedly blows two grand, and where
he`s being housed right now in Mexico, at this hour planning his release with a high-profile Tijuana lawyer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This young man in a foreign country, being detained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas authorities say the Couches were looking at a lifetime on the run.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ethan`s mother will face a judge in Los Angeles today. Held on $1 million jail, she`s charged with helping her son evade police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That from NBC`s "Today" show.
And live, a Florida beach beauty marries her dream man, the newlyweds set to live happily ever after until death do they part. But what the 26-year-
old beauty doesn`t plan on is a hit man she allegedly hires to murder the groom is a cop.
That`s right, the cops sting the bride on video, breaking down in hysterical tears, crying over her dead husband. Oh, she loves him so much!
This just hours after she herself puts the special touches on his shooting death.
An appeals court reverses. Dalia Dippolito walks out of jail. Tonight, Dippolito`s defense team heads back to court, demanding all the charges be
thrown out?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I`m sorry to tell you, ma`am. He`s been killed.
DALIA DIPPOLITO, ACCUSED OF MURDER: Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s been killed, ma`am.
DIPPOLITO: Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you want your husband dead?
DIPPOLITO: No, absolutely not.
I`m positive, like, 5,000 percent sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you hire a hit man to kill your husband?
DIPPOLITO: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Missing photographer 25-year-old Teresa Halbach, bone and teeth found on the property of Steven Avery, so badly burned, the most
advanced DNA testing is needed.
After Netflix does a documentary to reel in viewers, convincing the viewers Avery`s actually innocent in Teresa`s brutal death, well, tonight, nearly
300,000 viewers -- oh, yes, it`s climbing, it`s getting close to a half million viewers -- petition the White House, demanding these two brutal
convicted -- emphasis, convicted -- killers walk free.
[20:05:07]The controversy is threatening to boil over at this hour, as the cold-blooded killers use Netflix to scam the White House. And get this.
Right now, they`re targeting the Wisconsin governor. So if Obama won`t set them free, they`re going to try for the Wisconsin governor to set them
free. And you know governors and presidents can get a wild (ph) hair (ph) and start pardoning people if it suits them.
Straight out to Dan O`Donnell and Mike Kemmeter, WHBY. But first, I want you to listen to the new sound we`ve gotten from the Netflix documentary
they say proves Steven Avery did not murder this girl. Listen to what they cooked up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So (INAUDIBLE) takes a picture. You come outside. She and you are both outside. You give her the money. She goes and gets in
her truck, and then gives you an "Auto Trader" magazine, is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she in the truck or out of the truck when she gives you the magazine?
STEVEN AVERY, CONVICTED OF MURDER: She`s in the truck. She`s in the truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then what happens next?
AVERY: (INAUDIBLE) shut the door. I walk to the house (INAUDIBLE) came back out, and I was going over (INAUDIBLE) Bobby. But (INAUDIBLE) vehicle
was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you walked in the house, you put the magazine down, you come out and Bobby`s vehicle is gone?
AVERY: Bobby`s vehicle is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you cut her hair off?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did that happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the -- in the bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you cut the hair off with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The knife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The knife you guys found in the garage? Doesn`t make sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Impossible. You took her out to the garage, and that`s when you got the knife. Explain how that can be. Did you cut her hair
off?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then why did you just tell us you did? Brendan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is "Making a Murderer" from Netflix.
Straight out to Mike Kemmeter, news director, WHBY. Thank you for being with us. Right there, you see Avery talking about Halbach coming to his
location to take a picture of his vehicle. So he admits she`s there. And then on that same day, within an hour, she goes missing?
Now, the nephew that he roped into this thing also tells police that they cut her hair before the sex attack and the murder. I mean, how are they --
how is Netflix glossing over all of that, Mike?
MIKE KEMMETER, WHBY (via telephone): The prosecution, obviously, feels the same way, that there was some key evidence that was not included in the
documentary, including some phone calls that -- from Steven Avery to Teresa Halbach`s cell phone number, or to her cell phone, to try and get her to
come and then asking specifically for her to come that day.
GRACE: You know, another thing they glossed over. With me, special guest, Sheriff Robert Hermann from Manitowoc County sheriff`s office. Sheriff,
thank you for being with us. The handcuffs evidence -- what do we know about handcuffs in his home?
SHERIFF ROBERT HERMANN, MANITOWOC COUNTY SHERIFF (via telephone): There were handcuffs and leg irons found at the residence, from what
investigators have told me. And obviously, that falls right into play with the statement that was provided.
GRACE: Well, we`re showing them right now. And isn`t it true, Matt Zarrell, that this is exactly what Avery was planning behind bars, when he
was originally behind bars on another charge, that he planned his dream torture chamber to torture, attack, rape and murder women? He talked about
handcuffs and leg irons.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, it`s not only that, Nancy, but inmates have told prosecutors that Avery even drew
diagrams of the torture chamber that he planned to build.
GRACE: Matt, we`re showing the bedroom right now. What, if anything -- what evidence was found in Steven Avery`s bedroom?
ZARRELL: OK, the key there is the keys, the keys to Teresa`s SUV. The reason it`s important is because forensics showed that Avery`s sweat was on
the keys. Now, many have argued that police are framing Avery for the murder. But some are questioning if they framed him for the murder, how
did they get his sweat on her keys in his bedroom?
[20:10:15]GRACE: Now, just before this Netflix so-called documentary airs and everyone starts petitioning the White House and now the governor --
almost half a million names on -- who is that woman with Avery, the one on the left? Who is that? Who is that, Matt? Who is that woman? Not the
young girl, the woman.
ZARRELL: I believe it`s a family member of his, but I`m not sure.
GRACE: OK. I want you to hear what Avery told me himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Mr. Avery, do you feel like you`re being framed in any way?
AVERY: Yes.
GRACE: Why?
AVERY: Because every time I turn around, the county`s always doing something to me.
GRACE: In this case, do you think you`re being framed?
AVERY: Yes, I`m being set up because of my lawsuit and everything else.
GRACE: Because of your previous incarceration, your suing?
AVERY: Yes. And they set me up then, and then...
GRACE: Well, do you think it has anything to do with her car being found at your auto shop?
AVERY: No. I think it`s because of my name, and what -- what I went through from them.
GRACE: And to Mr. Avery. Is the pit back there where her car was found locked or fenced in? Can anybody just drive back there and leave their
car?
AVERY: Well, most of the time, no.
GRACE: You mean it`s normally not locked?
AVERY: No. You can just drive right in and -- if you wanted to drop something off, you could, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So Dan O`Donnell, I saw the Netflix producers trying to give their statement about how they`re trying to help uncover the truth about what
happened to Teresa Halbach, and I nearly -- I could have chewed a nail in half, to see them raking in the money hand over fist off this Netflix
documentary, and now that the truth is coming out that they didn`t tell the whole truth about all the evidence against Avery, now it`s totally getting
out of hand.
Dan O`Donnell joining me from WISN. Dan O`Donnell, we`re getting 300,000 names on a petition to the White House, now targeting the governor of
Wisconsin. Dan O`Donnell, there`s more evidence that they did not put in their Netflix documentary. Such as what?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN (via telephone): Well, your producer, Matt, said that the evidence on the key -- the sweat evidence. There was also sweat
evidence on Teresa Halbach`s vehicle.
I think some of the most critical evidence, though, was on the bullet that was found in the garage that had Teresa`s Halbach`s DNA on it. That bullet
was demonstrated to have been fired from Steven Avery`s gun, a gun that he kept above his bed.
Now, all of this, you might recall, matches Brendan Dassey`s confession. So all of the forensics that were not really presented or glossed over in
this documentary, all match up with the confession that they claim was coerced by law enforcement.
But it`s very hard to coerce the truth when it matches up the confession. That doesn`t strike me as a false confession.
GRACE: Exactly. The forensic evidence matches up with what he has said and what that nephew of his says, who, by the way, convicted on raping
Teresa Halbach before her murder. Speaking of him, take a listen to what the nephew said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think your mom would say if she knew you were sitting here lying to me? Do you think she`d be OK with that? When I
walk out this door right now and I go call your mom and tell her that you`ve been lying to me, what do you think she`s going to say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was mentioning talking to your mom about this (INAUDIBLE) truthful (INAUDIBLE), OK? If you`re truly sorry, you`ll tell
your mother the truth about this, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to do that?
BRENDAN DASSEY, CONVICTED OF RAPE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When are you going to do that?
DASSEY: Tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably be a good idea, before we tell her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s "Making a Murderer" from Netflix.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:22:42]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you had nothing to do with this.
AVERY: No, no. I would never do nothing like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But within days, police found Halbach`s vehicle hidden under branches and auto parts in the Avery junkyard. And then more
evidence in the junkyard, the partial remains of a female they believe was Teresa Halbach. The body had been burned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, the demand is rising, after a Netflix so-called documentary, to release two convicted felons in the
murder -- the rape and murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. There she is. She worked for "Auto Trader," went out to take a picture, was never seen
again.
You know, Sheriff Robert Hermann with me, with the Manitowoc County Sheriff`s Office. Sheriff, to believe the line that Netflix is selling,
you`ve got to be an idiot because they are suggesting -- and that number of people is now getting close to half a million. It`s 300,000 right now
demanding Obama set this guy free. Now they`re as of tonight targeting the Wisconsin governor, too.
But Sheriff, that would mean that law enforcement on the scene planted all the evidence. So what, did they go kill her, and then bring her back and
char her body behind his auto pit? And did they put his sweat under the hood of her car? Did they put blood -- his blood in six different places
in her car? I mean, that`s basically claiming that cops committed a murder.
HERMANN: That`s correct, Nancy. That`s absolutely absurd and disgusting on the part of this so-called documentary. And it didn`t happen. There`s
way too much evidence in this case that points to Steven Avery. And it`s a shame that this film was made, and it`s at the unfortunate sacrifice of the
Halbach family.
GRACE: Well, another thing that`s really upsetting to me, Mike Kemmeter, WHBY, is now the producers of this Netflix documentary are saying, Well, we
want the truth to come out about what happened to Teresa.
[20:20:02]The truth has come out. The truth has come out. This documentary is not about what happened to Teresa. It`s about setting a
convicted killer free, Mike.
KEMMETER: They definitely did tell the story from the Avery family side. So I mean, I could see how people could feel that way. He -- they had the
jailhouse calls. They were embedded, basically, with the family during the trial. And that`s the way it was presented.
GRACE: OK, listen to this, Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) draw another picture over here of him stabbing her. Let`s draw a picture down here of you having sex with her
now (ph). And once you do this, why don`t you draw a picture of the bed and how she was tied down. Draw a big size so we can see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you think that truck got on that property? Which way do you think they came in or...
AVERY: Well, when I (INAUDIBLE) taillights by me (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which way was it pointed?
AVERY: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truck.
AVERY: I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t know? What -- was there a different way in there or two ways into there or...
AVERY: A bunch of ways in there. (INAUDIBLE) main (ph) loaders by me (INAUDIBLE) the pit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about this cop?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
AVERY: Tammy (ph) told me that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tammy Holder (ph)?
AVERY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She a friend of yours or something or...
AVERY: Yes, I know her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did she tell you?
AVERY: She told me that she heard that a cop put it out there and planted evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put what up there?
AVERY: That vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that`s Teresa`s vehicle?
AVERY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Tammy told you that somebody told her...
AVERY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... that a cop put that vehicle -- Teresa`s vehicle out on your property.
AVERY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:13]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wisconsin police have been searching for this woman, Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. She was shooting
pictures of cars that day for "Auto Trader" magazine.
AVERY: Something ain`t right. That`s all I know. They checked that property over. They didn`t find nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Something ain`t right. That`s true. Teresa Halbach was murdered. She was raped and murdered. This guy gets convicted, and now 300,000
people want him to walk free because of a Netflix documentary.
Isn`t it true, Matt Zarrell, that Avery launched a cleanup of his garage coincidentally around the same time as the murder? What, to get rid of
blood?
ZARRELL: Yes. So what the police have said is that Avery had help from the nephew, Dassey, that the police chief says that Dassey apparently
helped Avery clean the garage floor with bleach and that there was bleach on Dassey`s pants.
Now, the significance here, Nancy, is that according to the information from Dassey`s trial, he said they were from helping clean Avery`s garage on
Halloween. That is the day that Teresa was last seen outside Avery`s house.
GRACE: And of course, there was a bullet found in Avery`s garage. That bullet has Halbach`s DNA on it. Isn`t it odd?
Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, Maryland, Ryan Schwartz, Atlanta. Robin Ficker, why is it so many people turn into neatniks on the same day a
murder goes down in their home?
For instance, Jodi Arias, all right? What about her washing the sheets and accidentally washing her digital camera with crime scene photos on it? And
of course, Scott Peterson. He killed his pregnant wife, Laci. Scott Peterson came home, washed his clothes, cleaned the kitchen, took a shower,
cleaned the whole house, vacuumed twice to hide evidence.
Willie Crane (ph) was a crab fisherman. He cleaned the whole bathroom with bleach after a little girl he molested and killed went missing. Bobby
Cutts, Jr., (ph) complete neatnik, cleaned everything with bleach. David Westerfield -- he killed little Danielle Van Damm (ph). He cleaned
everything with bleach. Too bad he left strands of Danielle`s hair in a garbage can. And of course, David Rapaport (ph) went neatnik after he
committed a murder.
Why is that, Robin Ficker? Why do murderers suddenly turn into neatniks and they`re all about cleanliness, including bleach, just like in this
case?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There are a lot of yucky fluids, oil, grease, in an auto salvage yard. The judge, the prosecutor, the police and
the sheriff all violated their professional responsibility in finding him guilty...
GRACE: Put him up, please.
FICKER: ... and having him serve 18 years for something he didn`t do! And now...
GRACE: That`s a different crime. Can you focus on this crime?
FICKER: Now they`re trying to get back at him because he is suing them for $37 million. That state of Wisconsin prosecutorial group is corrupt!
GRACE: OK, can I ask you this? How did Teresa Halbach get killed? What, the cops did it?
FICKER: I`m not saying that the cops did it, but...
GRACE: Well then who did it? You said it`s a frame-up. She was at his house. He admits that. He admitted that to me. He told me she was
there...
FICKER: Some of this...
GRACE: ... that she took the picture and left. What, am I in on it?
FICKER: Some of the blood could have come from old samples that they got elsewhere...
GRACE: What about her blood?
FICKER: ... not his fresh blood.
GRACE: What about her blood, her DNA on the bullet, Ficker?
FICKER: The cops are trying to cover up in this case.
GRACE: Why won`t you answer my question?
FICKER: We don`t know what they did. We don`t know where they put blood. But I have a strong suspicion, as do a million other people, that there is
a coverup here.
GRACE: Oh, you must be a Netflix subscriber.
OK, Schwartz, if they set him up for murder, how did she get killed to start with? What, did they just go out and happen to find her dead body
coincidentally in the hours she left his place?
[20:30:00] RYAN SCHWARTZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Again, to speak to the point that was just made, we don`t know what happened. The bleach in the garage,
that could have been from something that the uncle and the kid did together. We don`t know that that is from -- or as a result of the murder.
GRACE: OK, you know what else is bothering me? This whole presidential pardon thing. Let`s see a couple presidential pardons. And don`t blame
Obama, people, because George Washington pardoned people too. Look at these. Kennedy, 575. Lyndon Johnson, over 1100. Look at Nixon, 926.
409. 566, Jimmy Carter, I`m shocked. Reagan, 406. Bush, 77? That`s pretty low. Clinton, 459 including his brother. George W. Bush, 200.
Now, Obama has just got -- he`s got another year to wait. They usually do it right before they leave office. But listen to this, one of the greatest
presidents of all-time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 3,687 pardons. Andrew Johnson, 7,000. We`ve only had, one -- two presidents that didn`t pardon
anybody, Garfield and Harrison.
So don`t tell me Obama might not get a wild hair and pardon this guy. Then you`ve got to worry about, isn`t this true, Kemmeter, you`ve got to -- now,
aren`t they now targeting the Wisconsin governor to try to get him? Because I really don`t think Obama has the jurisdiction to give this guy a
pardon. But now they`re targeting the Wisconsin governor, Kemmeter?
KEMMETER: Yes, they are. The president does not have the power to issue a pardon in this case because it`s a state matter. And Governor Walker
actually has not, as far as I know, he has still not issued a single pardon. He is just starting his sixth year in office. He actually pretty
much disbanded, has not had a pardon advisory board meeting at all.
GRACE: You know what though, I appreciate that Mike Kemmeter, but never say never. With 300,000 citizens buying into Netflix theory, cockamamie
theory, who knows what could happen next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A rich kid gets drunk and high on weed and Xanax, then mows down four people dead, a fifth, paralyzed, a sixth, with devastating internal
injuries. He gets straight probation for killing four people, no jail time whatsoever. The DUI four-time killer then allegedly caught on video
playing beer pong. A warrant issues for his arrest when he and his mom go missing.
As we predicted, Couch dyes his hair and mustache black and flees to Mexico with mommy. Couch spends $2,000 at a strip club in Mexico and mommy pays
the tab. Then they`re finally caught ordering pizza on a cell phone tracked by cops. Now, that`s a story.
But tonight, why hasn`t Ethan Couch been brought back home for a date with lady justice? In the last hours, fugitive mom in a U.S. court of law.
We go inside the luxury hotel where "affluenza" teen and mommy bunk up beachside. The strip club where he blows $2,000, and where he`s housed in
Mexico right now at this hour, planning his release with a high-profile Tijuana lawyer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the kid who killed four people when he was 16, driving drunk and was only sentenced to 10 years probation and rehab
because his attorney claimed he was influenced by "affluenza." This video allegedly of the now 18-year-old Couch playing beer pong was posted to
Twitter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Stephanie Elam, CNN correspondent standing by in L.A. In the last hours, "affluenza" mom, fugitive mom in this courtroom.
What happened?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was very short, Nancy. She was in the courtroom for maybe about four minutes before the judge where he just
wanted to make sure that she had signed this waiver saying she would go back to Texas to face this felony charge of helping a fugitive. But she
was in there. She was not cuffed. She talked briefly with her two lawyers there. And the whole plan was pretty much just to get this bit of
information out, that she was going to be removed from California and sent back to Texas to face this. But as you know, it`s a felony charge. She is
looking at up to 10 years in prison based on helping her son do this.
GRACE: With me, Stephanie Elam, CNN correspondent, right outside the courthouse where a fugitive mom has just left the courtroom. Stephanie,
the judge asked her about a waiver. Now is she brought here on deportation from Mexico on a deportation order, or is she brought here on an
extradition order?
ELAM: I believe it was an extradition order that they brought her here. Now, what we know is that they believe that Tanya Couch and her son Ethan
drove from Fort Worth down to the Southern California portal to drive through California into Tijuana, and they kept driving down the coast to
Puerto Vallarta where they were apprehended. So, they believe that they just brought her back here because it may have been the easiest point to
get her back into before getting her to Texas.
GRACE: Candace Trunzo, Senior News Editor, Dailymail.com, joining us along with Stephanie Elam.
Now, let`s take a look at the beachside luxury hotel where mommy, fugitive mom and "affluenza" teen bunk up and stay after they go on the lam. This
is from Royal Holiday destinations. How would you like to wake up to that every morning? Nice, huh? Forget about the four people he mowed down
dead, the other one left permanently paralyzed, all that victim can do is look, can`t talk, can`t eat, and the other with internal injuries. This is
where they bunked up for almost a week on the run from the law.
Candace Trunzo, Dailymail.com., $2,000 at a strip club? Help me.
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM, SENIOR NEWS EDITOR: Yup. You know, he went out one night, I mean, this mom let her son out of her sight is incredible.
He went to -- you know, there`s a strip of clubs in Puerto Vallarta. He went into two of them. At the second one, he spent $2,000. He was drunk
as a skunk. He hired two women who were, you know, these are places that don`t just do lap dances and strips, they go the whole way, and that`s what
he was doing.
GRACE: Are you just trying to say they`re hookers? Is that where you`re going with this, hookers?
TRUNZO: Yeah.
GRACE: What can you tell me, Candace Trunzo, Dailymail.com, everyone, you`re seeing video from Harem`s Facebook club down in -- the Facebook page
down in Mexico. Yeah, OK Liz, I`ve seen enough. Thank you. Take it down.
What can you tell me about mommy getting stuck with the bill? Well, here`s $2,000...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUNZO: Yeah. He got so drunk, he had no money left on his credit card, and so the owner had to drag him or at least, well, practically carry him
back to the apartment where the mom and son had moved to get mom to pay Ethan`s bill with their $2,000 bill for booze and for women.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, here`s Robin Ficker, Ryan Schwartz and joining me, International Law Attorney, Michael Griffith. Frankly, world renowned
international lawyer.
Ficker, first to you, so mommy goes on the run with her teen, the original defense was she spoiled him so bad he didn`t know right from wrong and
she`s paying his strip club bill? You don`t have a problem with that?
FICKER: Nancy, don`t be a grouch about Couch. She was home schooling him. There are millions of very poor people in Mexico. She wanted him to see
the other side of affluenza.
GRACE: Please just cut his -- just cut his mike because it makes my teeth hurt to hear him talk.
Michael Griffith, don`t start Michael, you`ve handled a lot of high-profile cases. I`m not going to ask you about the $2,000 strip club bill that
mommy paid for. But I am going to ask you this, Michael, what is going on? You`re the international lawyer. How is it that mommy gets brought back?
I think she`s on a deportation order. I don`t think she was extradited it back. And why is he still there?
MICHAEL GRIFFITH, INTERNATIONAL LAW ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, to get a deportation order, it takes a while, particularly in Mexico because they`ve
just come into the computer age. And I don`t -- if you`ve heard what I said before to your producer. But next week, I`m going to Puerto Vallarta
for a wedding. Could you give me the name of those strip clubs, please?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A young man in a foreign country being detained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas authorities say, the Couches were looking at a lifetime on the run.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ethan`s mother will face a judge in Los Angeles today. Held on $1 million bail, she`s charged with helping her son evade police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: At this hour, fugitive mom has just appeared in a U.S. courtroom. She was, I believe, deported out of Mexico, not extradited. What I don`t
understand is why this four-time DUI killer, her son, Ethan Couch, is still in Mexico. This is not a regular jail. OK.
What do we know about the facility, Justin Freiman?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well Nancy, this is very different than that beach front resort he had been at. He is now sharing a room with
three to four people. It`s an open bedroom. He`s sleeping on a bunk bed. They`ve shared the bathrooms. He can watch TV in a common room. There`s
also a patio where he can play basketball or soccer.
GRACE: Everybody, you`re seeing a shot of Ethan Couch, affluenza teen, the defense at trial on four homicides, four homicides, was -- he was too rich
to know right from wrong.
Sheryl McCollum, I don`t know if you just heard what Candace Trunzo from Dailymail.com said. Sheryl, former director, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Georgia, now director, Cold Case Investigative Research Institute. Sheryl, he was drunk at the strip club. He was drunk again.
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, FORMER DIRECTOR, MADD GEORGIA: Again. He needs...
(OFF-MIC)
... and that`s sort of bullshit is what he is. He is nothing but a common criminal. And right now, there is no more room service, there is no more
strippers, there are no more parties. He is headed to prison.
GRACE: But what I don`t understand, Michael Griffith, international lawyer, joining me out of Long Island. Michael, why is he still there and
mommy is home? I still say she came home with a deportation order, not extradition.
And extradition, Michael, you have like three questions. Are you Ethan Couch? Are you the Ethan Couch that is wanted in this case? And do you
contest extradition back home? It`s not an adjudication of guilt or innocence.
GRIFFITH: You`re correct. But I`ve been advised that the lawyer down there, and I don`t think it`s going to fly, has brought up some human
rights issues regarding (anantara). (Anantara) is like a habeas corpus proceeding where they say that the body is being wrongfully held.
Now, what these human rights issues, I`m not sure what they are, but I don`t think it`s going to fly because this is a very common probation
issue. He fled the jurisdiction. As he fled, Nancy, he`s going to be returned. The only issue is how quickly will he be returned.
GRACE: Well, another issue with the mom. Let`s unleash the lawyers again. Ficker, Maryland, Ryan Schwartz, Atlanta, Michael Griffith is out of Long
Island, International Lawyer.
Another issue, Ryan Schwartz, for the mother is this was well-planned, going on the run with him because they were spending cash down there, two
grand at a strip club? They had to get down there. They stayed in that beachside resort for a long time with a beachside view. She is shelling it
out with cash.
Plus, show the route, Liz. They go on the run and she is obviously aiding and abetting a fugitive, Ryan.
SCHWARTZ: Well, again, Nancy, we do not know what the mother may or may not have done. Last time I checked, going to a strip club in Mexico is not
a crime.
GRACE: Pin him up. OK. You know what, Ryan Schwartz, where did you go to law school?
SCHWARTZ: John Marshal.
GRACE: OK, that`s a fine institution. Now, that means, in my mind, that you are an expert defense attorney because what you`ve said did that make
any sense. We don`t know what the mother was taken? She was in the car for what, seven or eight hours.
Candace Trunzo, with her son who was on probation and had to report in, got straight probation after four homicides. She had to take out all that
money, thousands and thousands of dollars. She is the one that paid the strip bill. Why else bunk up in Mexico, Candace Trunzo, if you don`t know
your son`s on the run?
TRUNZO: Of course she did. I mean, she has been there for him. I mean, that`s part of the problem from the beginning, Nancy. Too rich, too
spoiled, no consequences and she was there for him. He got scared over the video. Although, you don`t see him drinking in the video, you see that
it`s him in the video.
GRACE: That`s beer pong.
TRUNZOL: But you don`t see him actually playing the beer pong.
GRACE: Well, you know, I`m looking -- hold on, hold on. Michael Griffith, it just hit me. There, you`re seeing ABC news video right now of the two
of them where she didn`t notice, Michael Griffith, he dyed his hair and his mustache black? His own mother didn`t notice? Didn`t think that was odd?
GRIFFITH: Well, he was certainly odd. But as you know, as you said before, the only question is whether his name is Mr. Couch. And if his
name is Mr. Couch and if he went to Mexico, there`s two things that have to be proved, that he`s Mr. Couch and that he violated a probation officer.
GRACE: That`s exactly right.
GRIFFITH: I don`t care if he looks like the lion in the "Wizard of Oz". They`re going to bring him back, Nancy.
GRACE: You know, to Dr. Michelle DuPre, forensic pathologist out of Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. DuPre, let me get to the voice of reason
here. Dr. DuPre, I keep talking about the four people that were killed that day because of his drunk driving. What about the one that is
permanently a quadriplegic, permanently paralyzed, cannot speak, cannot eat, can only see? I wonder how that victim feels, finding out that he
just dropped too large at a strip club in Mexico. How do you become permanently paralyzed where there`s no way you`ll ever move again?
MICHELLE DUPRE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, this is a catastrophic injury. And it will take lifelong, the rest of his life, he will be in
this position. It`s damage to his spinal cord. He`s going to take massive amounts of care, extreme expense. There`s no excuse for this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Florida beach beauty marries dream man. Newlyweds set to live happily ever after until death do they part. But what the 26-year-old
beauty doesn`t plan on, the hit man she hires to murder her groom is caught. That`s right. The cops sting the bride on video, breaking down in
hysterical tears, crying over the dead husband. This, just after she, herself, reportedly puts the special touches on his shooting death. An
appeal`s court reverses, Dalia Dippolito walks out of jail, of course. Well tonight, Dippolito`s defense team has the court demanding all the
charges be thrown out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALIA DIPPOLITO: Oh my god.
UNKNOWN MALE: He`s alive.
DIPPOLITO: Come here, please. Come here.
I`m determined already. I`m positive, like 5,000 percent sure.
Find the defendant guilty.
I`m a lot tougher than what I look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She was 5,000 percent sure she wanted him killed.
Rory O`Neill, iHeartRadio, thanks for being with us. Rory, where did they get the nerve to say they want all the charges thrown out? What`s their
basis?
RORY O`NEIL, REPORTER, IHEARTRADIO: Well Happy New Year, Nancy. Yeah, the lawyers now for Dippolito say that the setup, that the sting that got her
arrested should be tossed out. They say the cops overreacted and were more interested in getting a good T.V. show for cops than finding justice in the
city.
GRACE: You know, Chief Jeffrey Katz is with me, the Boynton Beach Police Department Chief. What`s your response to your people allegedly doing this
whole thing to get on cops T.V. show?
JEFFREY KATZ, CHIEF, BOYNTON BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, thanks for having me back on, Nancy. And I`ll tell you, I`m 5,000 percent sure that
it`s a preposterous defense. But, you know, that`s what defense counsel does. And they`re going to take their best shot at it and we`re prepared
to go forward with the case.
GRACE: OK, you know what, I`m glad to -- you`re keeping the stiff upper lift, chief. But I would be so angry in your spot.
Josh Friedman, Dippolito`s divorce lawyer. I bet you could tell that judge a thing or two, huh?
JOSH FRIEDMAN, MICHAEL DIPPOLITO`S DIVORCE ATTORNEY: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for having me. Happy New Year. You know, listen, this is her second bite
at the apple. It was reversed of -- her guilty conviction was reversed the first time on appeal, why not put everyone else on trial? Put the Boynton
Beach Police Department on trial, put Michael Dippolito on trial. Let`s put everyone else on trial except for her. The problem is she`s the only
one that`s been arrested and charged with a crime.
GRACE: Dr. Tiffany Sanders, psychologist with me out of Chicago. You know, I keep thinking about her for hiring a hitman to kill her husband,
her newlywed husband. What kind of -- how do you just disassociate yourself from the love you just professed and usually in front of -- in a
church or synagogue?
TIFFANY SANDERS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Right, Nancy. I`m concerned, did she ever love her husband, and did she have some ulterior plan in place before she
married him? A typical healthy woman wouldn`t plot to try to murder her husband. What was her mind at? Did she lack self control, lack of good
judgment? This is a woman who likely has some sort of mental illness but never been diagnosed.
GRACE: Everybody, Dalia Dippolito heading back to court, demanding all charges be thrown out.
Let`s remember, American hero, Officer Rosario Hernandez de Hoya, 42, children align in duty, served PR Police Department 15 years, four
children. Rosario Hernandez de Hoya, American hero.
Tonight, our prayers to Shirley Tolbert. Miss Tolbert, please, get well.
Everyone, thank you for being with us tonight, Nancy Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night
friend.
END
