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Nancy Grace
Does Donald James Smith Have Another Victim?; Cop Beating Caught on Video; John Battaglia Killed His Daughters as Vengeance Against Ex-Wife; Remembering Texas Trooper Killed on Duty. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 30, 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, live, Jacksonville. A desperate mom calls 911 after her 8-year-old daughter vanishes from a Walmart
superstore. After a frantic search, authorities locate Cherish`s tiny body bloody, half-clothed, submerged in murky water. We uncover two previously
hidden critical calls that could help crack this case and the disturbing possibility Cherish could have been saved.
Tonight, the little girl who got away with us live as we learn tonight -- we uncover -- the jail itself begged, begged to keep this guy behind bars,
calling him a dangerous predator. But no, the DFACS shrinks, four of them, let him go! And now Cherish is dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say he first met Cherish and her mother at a Dollar General store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That man offered to take them to Walmart and buy her family some clothes.
RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, MOTHER: Taken by a stranger. I can`t find her!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police arrested Smith soon after Cherish`s body was found in a wooded area near a Jacksonville church.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He needs to be electrocuted. I mean, he should never be able to get back out. Never.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A couple claims they are bribed after they witness two cops in a deadly beating. It`s all caught on video. We have the video!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The deputy tackles the man as he slows down, both of them swinging their batons, hitting the man as he lies on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not only excessive force, it`s brutality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They alleged a third deputy tried to bribe witnesses of the beating with cash and a gold necklace stolen from Petrov (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: No, Daddy, don`t do it -- the spine-chilling words no mother wants to hear. Cops say a CPA dad gets two rose tattoos after he revenge kills
his two tot daughters while the horrified mother listens on the phone.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Jacksonville. A desperate mother calls 911 after her 8-year-old daughter vanishes from a Walmart superstore. After a
frantic search, authorities locate Cherish`s tiny body bloody, half- clothed, submerged in murky water.
We uncovered two previously hidden critical calls that could help crack the case and raises the disturbing and very strong possibility Cherish could
have been saved. Tonight, the little girl who managed to get away from this guy and live to tell the tale with us live.
And tonight, we learn the jail itself begged authorities to keep this guy behind bars, labeling him a violent sex predator. But no, the DFACS, the
government shrinks all get together. They analyze him, and they go, Oh, no, he`s perfectly safe. They let him go, and now because of them, Cherish
is dead!
To you, Mike Duffy. What I don`t understand is how the jail, who watches him behind bars, considers him and labels him a sexually violent predator -
- but nobody listens. And they bring in four DFACS shrinks, Department of Family and Children Services, to analyze this guy. They analyze him, and
they go, Oh, no, he`s fine. And they don`t keep him behind bars. The jail literally begged, Mike Duffy, begged!
MIKE DUFFY, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, Nancy. They wanted him to be assigned to Florida`s sexually violent predator program. But
those four DCF psychologists, as you said -- they looked over the case, they decided he did not meet the qualifications for involuntary commitment,
and so he was eventually released.
GRACE: Let me ask you something, Mike Duffy. What do you mean he doesn`t meet the qualifications? This little girl is dead now, and they could have
kept him behind bars, Mike Duffy! What qualification?
[20:05:00]DUFFY: Yes, Nancy, well, there were many incidents, like they said, back to 1977. But none of those incidents involved contact with the
individual, so that might explain it.
GRACE: Oh, dear Lord! Put up his rap sheet! Mike Duffy, isn`t it true that this guy tried to chase down a 13-year-old little girl, the girl ran
for her life, she hid under some playground equipment until he went away. He followed her through the streets to a park, a playground.
Then he masturbates in front of two little girls -- to completion, I might add. And then he tries to lure another little girl into his van, again a
white van.
But still, nobody will listen. Nobody will hear what the jailhouse is trying to say. They tried to keep this guy behind bars. There`s the white
van that crops up in so many of his attacks on children, his attempts to lure them into the van.
Justin, I want to see the inside of the van. The inside of this van is where I believe Cherish was murdered. This van was spotted in multiple
attacks on children. And yet he`s still walking free, despite the jail begging to keep him in. In this van is where this child, I believe, was
tortured and murdered.
Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker defense attorney out of Maryland, Troy Slaten, defense attorney out of LA.
First to you, Slaten. Yes, he had done his time on that particular offense. But what the jail wanted to do was to have him involuntarily
committed because they say he was a sexually violent predator. Give me one good reason, Slaten, he should not have stayed behind bars. One.
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hindsight is 20/20, Nancy. We just can`t lock people up because of we think what they might commit a crime in the
future. You know, we don`t have a method of going into a person`s mind and seeing if they`re going to commit a crime again. So he went through all
types of psychiatric evaluations, and as you said, four psychiatrists evaluated him...
GRACE: Psychologists.
SLATEN: ... used what`s called the Static (ph) 99 (ph), used so many tools that we have to see if this person is likely to go what`s called "hands
on." Again, and they determined that he was safe.
GRACE: No! This is what I don`t understand, Robin Ficker. I hear you, Troy Slaten. But to me, it`s second verse, same as the first. You didn`t
give me one good reason.
Robin Ficker, what`s happening here is that because he had not yet, to their knowledge, raped a child, they let him go. There were all these...
You know what, Ficker? Hold that thought. I`m hearing in my ear right now joining me out of Jacksonville is one of his victims. And there`s no doubt
about it because he admitted it. With me is Chrystina and Stephanie Thornton. When she was just 9 years old, just turned 9 years old, this
child becomes a target of this guy.
Ms. Thornton, could you explain to our viewers that are just learning about this story and Donald James Smith, what happened? Your girl was at her
grandmother`s house. She had just turned 9 years old. Somebody calls on the phone, a man, and says what?
STEPHANIE THORNTON, MOTHER: Impersonated himself as a DCF worker.
GRACE: And claimed that your little girl had been sexually abused and he, the DFACS worker, had to take her to the hospital for an exam?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What happened after that, Ms. Thornton?
S. THORNTON: He contacted her grandmother and had her grandmother meet him at the McDonald`s in Callahan (ph). And they met up there, walked in and
out of the McDonald`s several times, not knowing that that was him in the parking lot.
GRACE: So the grandma unwittingly, thinking she is dealing with somebody from Department of Children Services who`s going to help her daughter --
help your daughter, actually gets out of the car with her, making her extremely vulnerable to kidnap, extremely vulnerable.
She`s there with her old grandma. Like, she could put up a fight against this guy? They`re going in and out of McDonald`s, looking for what we know
now to be a child molester. And you`re telling me he`s sitting in the parking lot in that white van?
[20:10:12]S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am, two cars from where they were parked over (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: OK, Ms. Thornton, if you were here with me right now -- I`ve got chills all over me thinking about what Chrystina -- how close she came to
Cherish`s fate.
So how do you find out the grandmother has actually taken her to McDonald`s?
S. THORNTON: The grandmother had called me and let me know that she was leaving to meet him up there. And (INAUDIBLE) that time, I was on the
phone with DCF and JSO (ph), and on my way to McDonald`s, where I was on my cellphone.
GRACE: And when you got there, what happened then, Ms. Thornton?
S. THORNTON: I had pulled up, got my daughter. I put her in the car and made her lock the doors. And as I was sitting there, I had felt somebody
just staring. And I looked over, and there was a white van with a gray- headed man in it, had his window halfway down, staring over at us. And when he noticed that I was paying attention to him, he backed up really
fast and he got out of McDonald`s.
GRACE: And let me understand something, Ms. Thornton. So you take it upon yourself to shove your child, then 9 years old, into a car, lock the doors.
You scream at her, Don`t get out. And you turn around and you go to confront this guy. And he gets away, right?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Can I ask you something? No offense to the police, but where were the police? Why is a mother alone, a female alone in a parking lot, going
after a convicted child predator? Where -- had you called the cops?
S. THORNTON: I called JSO (ph), and they had kind of acted, like, you know, it was nothing until pretty much the next day.
GRACE: Chrystina, I asked your mother to tell this story because I know how it affects you. Do you remember this moment when your mom pushed you
in the car and slammed the doors and locked them and said, Don`t get out? Do you remember that?
CHRYSTINA THORNTON, VICTIM: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What do you remember of it, Chrystina?
C. THORNTON: I remember her putting me in the car, and then her going to go out and confront him, and then he pulled off and left.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:56]PERRYWINKLE: (INAUDIBLE) wanted to kill her!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sadly, Rayne Perrywinkle`s worst fear came true.
PERRYWINKLE: I had a strange feeling about him when I first met him. And he took her to the -- he took her to the -- to the dressing room twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the desperate 911 call she made from the Walmart, where she last saw her 8-year-old daughter, Cherish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: With us tonight, the girl that got away. Also tonight, the bombshell claim that this guy, this same man, Donald James Smith, has
implicated himself, allegedly implicating himself in yet another murder.
We don`t know the identity of the victim. But when you don`t know a horse, look at his track record. If there is this other victim that he has
allegedly talked about, you know it`s a child. You know it`s one of Florida`s missing children that nobody knows what happened to them.
OK, what happened to them, if he is to believed, he got them. That`s what happened to them.
With me is Stephanie and Chrystina Thornton. Ms. Thornton, for those people that don`t know, when he was let out of jail this last time, nobody
told you, nothing. You happened to find out. Isn`t it true, you were so afraid, you moved to be away from him?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am, that`s correct.
GRACE: Could you explain what he said to your daughter when he got her on the phone at her grandmother`s? And you know he had to be watching her and
spying on her to figure out where she lived and how to reach her. He didn`t know her from the man in the moon.
What did he say to her, Ms. Thornton, on the phone at 9 years old?
S. THORNTON: He asked her if she wore a bra and if she had pubic hair.
GRACE: Chrystina, is that what he said on the phone?
C. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: And what did you do when he said that?
C. THORNTON: I gave the phone back to my grandmother.
GRACE: Chrystina, I understand that when you go out to a shopping mall or you`re out in public, you become afraid that someone is watching you. Why?
C. THORNTON: Because it`s -- all this has happened with me in 2009 with Donald Smith.
GRACE: Because you believe he was watching you?
C. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: I want you two to hear what he has to say about your claims. And I want to remind everybody he got a sweetheart deal. He went to jail on
this. There`s no doubt he did it, but listen to his lies.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
[20:20:05]DONALD SMITH, SUSPECT: (INAUDIBLE) Jet 23.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the phone?
SMITH: Yes. I told him, I said, Look here, man. (INAUDIBLE) give him my phone. And if any of you know anybody that had my phone during the time
you had my phone, please let me know.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: When was the last time you saw -- how long ago?
PERRYWINKLE: About half an hour ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators didn`t notify the media until the next morning, more than six hours later. The Florida Department of Law
Enforcement sent out an Amber Alert seven hours after.
[20:25:02]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s sad and it feels like nothing is being done about none (ph) of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, to top it all off, we learn -- and it may be secretly recorded tapes, but we learn this guy, Donald James Smith, who we believe
is the person that abducted and murdered little Cherish from a Walmart superstore, has confessed or bragged that he is part of yet another murder.
To Meredyth Censullo, investigative reporter joining us out of Florida. What do we know about it, Meredyth?
MEREDYTH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, there was a conversation that was reportedly recorded between two isolation cells, between Smith and
another accused murder. And in that conversation, apparently, Smith admitted or talked about being involved in a cold case kidnapping and
murder. Now, the details, the specifics about who the victim was...
GRACE: Right.
CENSULLO: ... or when this crime happened, we don`t know.
GRACE: We don`t know. And see, that is so tantalizing to authorities. But the reality is, Mike Duffy, the police seem to have thwarted this at
every turn of the hand.
Justin, I want you to pull up the mom at the Walmart superstore. Hours went by, five hours, before police took her seriously. In that time,
Cherish was murdered. And now we find out this guy may be bragging he`s killed somebody else.
Listen to what the mom said.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: You think she`s been taken? You say you have other kids with you?
PERRYWINKLE: Yes, I do. He was -- he was -- he was giving her too much attention. He wanted her to buy these really tall shoes that were women`s
shoes, and I told him no. I said, They`re too high for her. I wouldn`t even wear shoes that high. Maybe he was grooming her. I hope to God he
doesn`t kill her! I hope to God he doesn`t rape her!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: And because he was not kept behind bars before, this is where she ended up, inside this guy`s van to be raped and lose her life. You know
what, Justin? I can hardly stand to look at it. Take it down. Take it down.
This is the Walmart supercenter. You see that McDonald`s is right there in the corner. They were back in apparel looking at children`s socks and
clothes for school. Mommy thinks they`re going to McDonald`s. They went out the entrance and the child was never seen alive again.
Caryn Stark, psychologist, joining me. Nobody has to tell me who the other possible murder victim is. It`s a child. It`s one of the dozens of
children that have gone missing in Florida and nobody`s been able to able to find them. It`s a little girl, I can guarantee you that. If she
exists, it`s a little girl that nobody has bothered to look for, and likely the mom`s story is just discounted, just like Ms. Thornton`s, just like Ms.
Perrywinkle`s.
That`s what I think, Caryn Stark. That`s who the mystery victim is.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: There`s no doubt, Nancy, because once you have a taste for children, sexual orientation -- it stays that way. And what`s
most surprising to me is the fact that this guy was really allowed to be on the loose.
Everybody knows that when you start committing these kind of crimes, with the little girls where he masturbated and one he ran after, it would only
get worse. They get worse, they don`t get better. And someone who`s a child predator who is that sexually perverse is going to...
GRACE: And I`m telling you, Caryn Stark...
STARK: ... eventually be violent.
GRACE: ... no offense to psychologists, but how four psychologists could get together and agree to let this guy out -- and now Cherish is dead!
Tonight, we make a public plea to the Florida authorities to please find out who this mystery murder victim is. We know, we know in our hearts, if
she exists, it`s a little girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS HOST: A couple claims they are actually bribed when they witnessed two cops and a deadly beating. It`s all caught
on video. We have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disturbing video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deputies are captured repeatedly striking with their hands and fists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He pulls out his baton, repeatedly striking him in the head with great force.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The beating and alleged bribery, the complaint alleges the deputy stole Petrov`s gold necklace and gave it to a couple as `hush
money.`
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me right now in addition to special guests, the Alameda County Sheriff, Greg Ahern; with me, Rita Cosby, investigative journalist
with WABC. Rita, what happened? Could you please show me the video?
[20:35:00] RITA COSBY, WABC INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: It`s unbelievable, Nancy, when you walk-through this video and when you see it, but what cops
say that happened prior to the video, Nancy, is that 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov was stealing a Mercedes car in Alameda County.
Then authorities say that he took them on a wild chase, speeds up to 90 miles an hour, up to 40 minutes of a high-speed chase into San Francisco
County. And then they said ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Hold on, Rita. Rita. Stay on the video please. Rita, I only know this guy`s no angel, OK? I only know he took off in a stolen car, all
right? I`m asking about what the hey happened with these two cops beating him? That`s my question.
Was he - whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Who are all these guys? Wait a minute. Was he armed? That`s my question to you. Was this guy, Petrov, was he armed?
COSBY: Not at the time, he was off out of the car. They did find a weapon in the car, but not on this person, Nancy.
GRACE: That was a stolen car, right?
COSBY: Stolen car. Stolen Mercedes.
GRACE: How do I know -- believe me, I`m certainly not arguing in his defense, but what I am talking about is what the hey are these cops doing?
How do I know the gun was his or whoever owns the Mercedes. Do you know that Rita?
COSBY: We don`t. And that`s why I`m saying, according to police.
GRACE: All right, let me go to the sheriff. First of all, could you get me the video up in slow mo?
There`s the Mercedes, the guy is certainly no angel. He stole the car. You don`t have to convince me of that. But what I`m more worried about is him
stealing a car, is what I`m seeing right now, because in this slow mo, you see he lifts his hands up over his head.
Keep watching, keep watching. And he is being -- I got to say, brutally, and it pains me to say it because you know I typically side with police.
This is a brutal beating. Two cops wailing on him. Sheriff Greg Ahern, Alameda County Sheriff, you know the buck stops with you, Sheriff. I know
you`re not one of these guys but explain to me what is your understanding of what happened?
GREG AHERN, ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF: Well, the video that you`re showing is very disturbing and the video is just the -- what occurred in the ally
after they got into that high-speed pursuit that you talked about.
And I`m not justifying the actions of these individuals but I want to make sure that your audience knows all the details during that pursuit. Suspect
was reaching underneath his driver`s seat, and when people reach underneath their seat, law enforcement only thinks of two things, either they`re
stashing contraband that they`re not supposed to have or they`re reaching for a weapon.
So both officers were in the same control vehicle. And when they saw the person reaching under the seat, they had a discussion that they thought he
was reaching for a weapon.
Then when they crashed at the final scene, the suspect fled on foot and led him on a chase for about 150 yards. So as the officers are running and
they`re geared up with about 20 pounds of equipment on him they`re pretty tired by the time they get there, and they tackle him and then they have to
do their explaining on responsibilities for striking that individual for 44 seconds.
GRACE: Sheriff -- Sheriff Ahern is with me. Not afraid of the camera glare, not afraid to answer questions. Sheriff, I want you to understand where I`m
coming from. I`m a crime victim.
When my fiance was murdered just before our wedding, he didn`t know the perp was armed, he had no idea, he did not understand what was about to
happen, he was going to be shot five times in the face, the neck, the head, the back, he did not know that.
I understand what you`re telling me that these officers thought he could have a weapon. I hear you. I want to go back to the video when all the
other officers come to the scene. Sheriff, what has become of these officers?
AHERN: Well, the two officers that you saw in the initial takedown and using the batons were immediately put on administrative leave once they
filed their report in regard to what transpired.
Then we started on with our Internal Affairs investigation and relayed the information to San Francisco Police Department in regard to a criminal
investigation on the use of force.
[20:40:00] GRACE: Sheriff, hold on. I don`t think you can see the monitor, but now, several officers have showed up. Is it correct, Rita Cosby, WABC,
that it was elective at the time to turn on your body cam or your dash cam and not one officer had turned on their dash cam or body cam?
COSBY: That`s right.
GRACE: Later, we find out that one was accidentally turned on when the guy was tackled. Sheriff, can I ask you why nobody turned on their body cam?
AHERN: Well, we`re going to determine the reason why they didn`t turn on their body cameras. You can imagine after seeing this disturbing video, we
had to take immediate action, agency-wide, to make sure events like this never happen again.
And so we have a list of items that we`re addressing. We put together a committee to do a body-worn camera report and we`re changing our policy,
because of this event, to make it mandatory that all deputies involved in any type of incident like this will have their body camera on or they`ll be
subject to ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK.
AHERN: ... discipline, up to and including termination.
GRACE: Rita Cosby, question. What can you tell me about a so-called "trophy photo" and the alleged bribery? Alleged bribery to keep the witnesses to
this beating from blabbing about it?
COSBY: Yes. These are very serious, again, allegations as you point out, Nancy. First, on the trophy photos, the (AUDIO GAP) there`s a claim made by
Stanislav Petrov, the man who is being beaten in the footage. And he is claiming that two officers took "trophy photos" of him as he was laying
there all bloodied and beaten on the ground.
In terms of the bribery, this is very serious. What they are saying, and there are two witnesses who have come forward, saying those items that you
see there, money, also this gold medallion, Turkish, which also had diamonds on it, also allegations of meth, and also allegations of other
things as well, they say were given to them by an officer who said to them, "Did you enjoy the show? Don`t spend this all in one place."
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: "No, Daddy, don`t do it." The spine-chilling words no mother ever wants to hear. Cops say a CPA dad gives two rose tattoos after he revenge-
killed his two tot girls while the horrified mother listens on the phone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say a Dallas accountant murdered his two young daughters while their mother listened on the phone as an act of
revenge against her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But ma`am, you cannot go there.
MARY JEAN PEARLE, DAUGHTERS WERE SHOT BY EX-HUSBAND: I have to, I have to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma`am. Ma`am, you have to stay there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother listened on the phone as the older girl begged for mercy, pleading with her father, "No, Daddy, don`t do it. No,
Daddy, no."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you feel like you were killing them to get back at your ...
JOHN BATTAGLIA, ACCOUNTANT CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS TWO DAUGHTERS: I don`t feel like I killed them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You what?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me, Jeffrey Boney, Associate Editor, Houston "Forward Times". Jeffrey, thank you for being with us. So, let me understand this.
The mom and the dad, the CPA dad are estranged and the two little girls are over at his home?
JEFFREY BONEY, HOUSTON "FORWARD TIMES" ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Absolutely. John Battaglia shot and killed his two daughters, 9-year-old Mary Faith and 6-
year-old Liberty in an act of vengeance against his ex-wife, Mary Jean Pearle.
She had been trying to have him arrested for violating his domestic violence probation and so hen she dropped off the girls with her estranged
husband, who had plans to have dinner with his daughters that evening.
Basically, she got a friend`s house, got a message that her girls had called, wanted to ask her something. So when she called them back, he
answered the phone on speaker phone and ordered her oldest daughter, Mary Faith, to ask her if she wanted her daddy to go to jail.
So Ms. Pearle pleaded with Battaglia not to do it to the girls and that`s when she heard Mary Faith say, "No, Daddy, please don`t. Don`t do it." She
yelled into the phone, run for the door, and then all of a sudden gunshots were heard and Battaglia screamed, "Merry f-ing Christmas!"
GRACE: Listen to this 911 call.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, ma`am, you cannot go there.
PEARLE: Yes, I got to! I got to!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma`am. Ma`am, you have to stay there.
PEARLE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK?
PEARLE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not go there.
PEARLE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
PEARLE: OK. Bye. Please hurry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am.
PEARLE: Please.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, Maryland defense attorney; Troy Slaten, defense attorney out of L.A.
OK, Ficker, give me one good reason. One. This guy should not get the death penalty. Just one reason.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He had an extreme bipolar psychosis. His mother committed suicide. He tried to kill himself with the gun and through
pills right after this happened. This is a very sick individual who ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: To me, that sounds ...
(CROSSTALK)
FICKER: ... didn`t know right from wrong.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... like a sign of guilt. Are you saying he tried to kill himself?
FICKER: Immediately thereafter because he was so depressed. This man was psychotic, he didn`t know right from wrong.
GRACE: You know, what? Here`s the thing, Robin. He didn`t kill himself, all right? But he managed to mow down, kill, shoot both of his little girls,
and we know the motive. He was angry at his ex-wife because she would not get back together with him. That`s the whole point of it. And he murdered
them. While she`s listening on the phone.
Isn`t it true, Matt Zarrell? Isn`t it true, that before he shoots these girls dead, his own children, his biological children, he calls his first
wife and what did they talk about, Matt Zarrell?
[20:50:00] MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yeah. Battaglia`s first wife says that Battaglia called her seven hours before the shooting and left a
message contemplating the effect the loss of Liberty and Faith would have on their mother.
In the message, Battaglia accused the first wife of conspiring with the second wife to have him put in jail. He said that doing this would ruin his
life and his relationship with his daughters, and then Ms. Pearle, his second wife, needed to lose her children.
GRACE: So, seven hours before he murders his two children. He`s on the phone with wife number one speculating about how badly it would hurt wife
two if she lost her children.
Jeff Boney, Houston "Forward Times," isn`t it true when he was apprehended, he was at the tattoo parlor getting roses -- two roses tattooed on himself
to kind of in honor, in memory of his little girls?
BONEY: Absolutely. After he shot his daughters, Nancy, he went with a girlfriend to a bar and then to the tattoo parlor. So, he stopped at a bar
first.
He was arrested at the tattoo parlor, took four officers to restrain him and handcuff him and he took -- he had a fully-loaded revolver in his
truck. So, this guy, I don`t know if bipolar disorder and depression is describing him.
GRACE: How about possessed by the devil? Of course, Ficker and Slaten would then argue that`s some type of a psychological problem.
Catch this. Listen. And tonight, he is begging -- begging, that he shouldn`t get the death penalty because he`s delusional. OK. But listen,
does this guy look delusional to you? Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BATTAGLIA: I had a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old and a suicidal mother. So, I stuck it out for another five years and then the piece of (BEEP) just
turned on me like you wouldn`t believe.
And she ruined my life. She ruined my daughters` life and she ruined my daughter Christie`s life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Oh, yeah, it`s the wife`s fault. That`s Battaglia`s jailhouse interview from "Dallas Morning News" posted on YouTube.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you feel like it was a setup?
BATTAGLIA: Because I told her I didn`t want to go pick up my kids because I knew I was in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did it become (inaudible) your daughters and not your wife if the wife was the one who ...
BATTAGLIA: I don`t know. I don`t know. It`s not the situation that I understand. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you feel like you were killing them to get back at your ...
BATTAGLIA: I don`t feel like I killed them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You what?
BATTAGLIA: I don`t feel like I killed them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did you hear the reporter? "You what?" "I don`t feel like I killed them." Well, he did. That`s Battaglia`s interview from "Dallas Morning
News" posted on YouTube.
To Dr. Joye M. Carter, Chief Forensic Pathologist, Marion County author of "I Speak for the Dead."
Hello, Dr. Carter. We`re just ...
JOYE M. CARTER, CHIEF FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Hi.
GRACE: ... learning his execution has been stayed. He is not getting the death penalty because of the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals.
Dr. Carter, is there any way, forensically, if you look at the bodies of these two children to determine which child was killed first, is it
consistent with the police theory?
CARTER: It`s difficult to say which child was killed first unless they have done a scene re-enactment which would have more information from what the
scene appear to be, how close the children were to the door and how close they were to the gun as there might be some evidence there that the police
have that I would not have a privy to.
GRACE: Robin Ficker, Troy Slaten. When you listen to this guy, Ficker, he`s totally, totally coherent. He`s not delusional. And I guess you heard, the
two of you win round one, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed his execution.
He`s going to live with three hots and a cot for I don`t know how much longer after he gets his wife on speaker phone so she can hear him murder
the children, Ficker.
Do you see these? Do you see these graves? What about it, Ficker? You win. You win, Ficker. There`s been a stay of execution.
FICKER: Well, Troy and I usually win. I think the situation here is that he`s coherent months later after he`s not taking any drugs, after he`s
sitting in a jail cell. But at that time, believe me, he was loony as a loon.
GRACE: Mm-hmm. Thank you, Doctor.
Let`s stop and remember American hero Texas Trooper Jeffrey Nichols, just 27, killed in the line of duty. Texas Highway Patrol, Tactical Marine Unit
volunteer. Loved the outdoors. Charismatic, contagious smile. Parents, Donny and Angie. Brother, Brian; sister, Crystal. Jeffrey Nichols, American
hero.
And tonight, I am really thrilled to announce to you, the viewers that have been with us for so long, the return of crime-victim-turned-crime-fighter
Hailey Dean. Hailey Dean, back in our third Hailey Dean Murder Mystery "Murder in the Courthouse".
Proceeds from the book go to help find missing children and help troubled children that need us. It`s on Amazon right now for preorder and I could
not be more proud.
"Forensic Files" up next. Thank you to your guests but as always to you for being with us. Nancy Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8
o`clock sharp, Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
