Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Secret Mistress`s Tot Found Dead; Will Man Convicted in "Serial" Murder Walk Free?; Two Young Teens Murdered Behind Grocery Store. Aired 8- 9p ET
Aired August 03, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. A Tulsa, Oklahoma, dentist leading a double life behind the backs of his wife and
four children has it all explode when his mistress`s to son found dead, and the love rat (ph) dentist`s secret life exposed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The toddler had retinal hemorrhages in his eyes, severe swelling in his brain, his precious life cut short at just 18 months old.
And the man police say took it, his mother`s boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, did you have anything to do with the death of an infant? You`re a prominent dentist here in Tulsa. A lot of people are
wondering what`s going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, will the man convicted in the brutal murder of a high school girl, Hae Lee, actually walk free thanks to a female journalist who
catapults to fame herself with a podcast called "Serial"? It brings the murder back to the forefront, re-exploring evidence that convicted Syed.
But the victim`s family says this whole nightmare has reopened painful wounds no one could imagine. Now they`re forced to relive the gruesome
murder of their daughter, a high school senior lacrosse and field hockey star, the time she that was left murdered, her body in a shallow grave.
But tonight, a new twist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adnan Syed has been in prison...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arrested as a high school senior, investigators say Syed strangled his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Lawyers say attention from
the podcast combined with new evidence prompted a judge to throw out Syed`s conviction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would love to hear someone say, I don`t think that you did it because I looked at the case and it looks kind of flimsy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And helped spark the hearing about evidence that was and wasn`t produced at his murder trial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A Tulsa, Oklahoma, dentist leading a double life behind the backs of his wife and four children has it all explode when his
mistress`s to son is found dead and the love rat (ph) dentist`s secret life exposed.
Straight out to Scott Mitchell, talk show host with KOKC. Do we know the cause of death on baby Lincoln?
SCOTT MITCHELL, TALK SHOW HOST, KOKC RADIO (via telephone): We do know the cause of death, Nancy. It was two skull fractures. And that baby was dead
the next day. They were severe. The physicians called the cops to the emergency room, and they said, This is not a fall.
GRACE: Oh! Oh! No! First of all, take a listen to this, Scott.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, did you have anything to do with the death of an infant? Anything at all? Now`s your chance if you want to say anything.
You`re a prominent dentist here in Tulsa. A lot of people are wondering what`s going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He is a prominent dentist there in Tulsa. And from what I understand, Scott Mitchell, KOKC, neither his mistress that he had known
for about a year, nor his wife -- neither knew about the other woman.
This is the baby`s mom right there. Apparently, she had no idea that this dentist was married, and here she is with little baby Lincoln, Lincoln just
19 months old, dead of severe head trauma and multiple skull fractures.
Take me back to what happened the day baby Lincoln died. Scott Mitchell. What do we know?
MITCHELL: We know that the baby was with her aunt most of the day, and the baby was brought back to her in the position (ph) about 6:00 PM. They were
doing some work. And she went to bed about midnight. They`d done a lot of work. And the baby was in the care of the dentist until about 2:00
o`clock, when she woke up and found the baby basically making a very -- really bad breathing noises. And so she freaks out, calls 911, in fact,
didn`t even wait, heads right for the emergency room. And when she got to the emergency room, the attending physician said, This is bad.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, I don`t believe what happened to the baby happened in the care of the aunt. What do we know about the 24 hours preceding the
baby being rushed to the emergency room by its mom?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, we know that the baby was at the aunt`s house that afternoon and returned at 6:00 PM the
night before. He began acting fussy and wouldn`t take a bottle. The mother said Lincoln went to sleep, only woke up once around midnight for a
few minutes, but still wouldn`t take the bottle. It was around 2:00 AM that she noticed that the baby was sleeping with his eyes open and making a
loud snore sound. The mom could not wake up the baby. The body was limp when the mother picked him up.
And the mother panicked. She was going to call 911. But where they live, Nancy, it doesn`t even show up on a map yet, so the ambulance wouldn`t even
be able to find them. So she immediately hopped in the car because she knew it would be faster and drove immediately to the hospital.
[20:05:12]GRACE: OK, I know what everybody`s thinking. What area code, what Zip code, what address wouldn`t show up on 911, for Pete`s sake? But
we actually got the mistress`s address and we Google-mapped it. It doesn`t show up. She`s telling the truth. So realizing -- I think it`s a new cul-
de-sac or a new development that people were just moving into.
Knowing this, the mom didn`t wait to try to explain to 911 where she was. She puts baby Lincoln in the car and races to the ER. And right then, the
doctors take one look and say, This isn`t good.
But Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me about a thud the mother hears?
ZARRELL: OK, so after police learn of the injuries from the doctors, officers go and interview the mother. And the mother tells cops that the
night before, she heard a loud thud. Now, she claims that the dentist claims that the sound came from playing with a small ball with the puppy
that was in the home. But the police say that his account of the noise is inconsistent with the evidence.
GRACE: So his account -- you know, that`s important because if you read that police report quickly, you might think it says her account because
she`s the one talking to the police. She says she hears a single loud thud. And she`s upstairs. He`s downstairs with the baby. She says,
What`s that, and he says that he was playing with the ball with the puppy. But it`s his account that is inconsistent with the injuries.
Take a look at this love rat (ph) dentist`s commercial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERT FRANKLIN, DENTIST: My name is Bert Franklin from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I practice in mostly cosmetic and implant dentistry. And now I`m a provider
of Fast Braces. Fast Braces are the original new technology braces certified by the inventor and made in the USA. They have been developed
and tested over the last 20 years.
Fast Braces are fast. Traditionally, normal orthodontics will move in about two years. First year, they move out the crowns, and the second
year, they`ll move the roots, where as in Fast Braces, we move the root and the crown all at the same time, cutting the treatment...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from Fast Braces Technology`s YouTube page. And there is the alleged love rat (ph) dentist that was keeping a mistress behind the
backs of his four children and wife. The mistress also didn`t know about the wife.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me out of Maryland is defense attorney Robin Ficker. Joining me out of LA is defense attorney Troy Slaten.
OK, Ficker, he`s with the baby. The mom hears a thud. He says he threw the puppy a ball and it made a thud. That is totally inconsistent with the
injuries this baby has.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s her word against his. I suggest to you that she knew he was married, knew he had four kids, knew he didn`t
want anymore kids, and she`s the perpetrator of this horrific act, not this gentle dentist.
GRACE: Robin Ficker, this is not his baby. So what difference would it make?
FICKER: She killed the baby. He did not.
GRACE: But why? It doesn`t fit into your scenario.
FICKER: To be with him. She wanted to be with him. She was in love with him. She knew he didn`t want more children.
GRACE: OK, Robin Ficker, did you know that this baby had all sorts of ailments when it was born? She lived through all of this and nursed her
baby back to health. This child had to wear one of those little helmets to -- because it has a very sensitive, an eggshell skull, so to speak. And
the baby wore this molded helmet for many, many months, and the mom had to attend to the baby to make this baby live.
And let me tell you something. As the mother of two premature children, the bond that you form with a child that is extremely sensitive, that is
near death, and it`s really on you, as the mother, to make that child live -- from I`ve been told, Troy Slaten, she loved this baby more than anything
in the world. And I find Ficker`s response to blame it on the mother reprehensible!
And another thing, Slaten. You know, in these scenarios, very often, I`ll look at the mom because I feel the mom is really in charge of the baby`s
survival. I really believe this mom. I think the mom is telling the truth. And believe me, I`d be all over that mom if I thought she was
responsible in any way. But I don`t think she is, Troy. I think it`s him.
[20:10:08] TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You believe this mom, who`s been...
GRACE: Yes, I do.
SLATEN: ... having an affair for a year...
GRACE: Yes.
SLATEN: ... that she had no idea about his wife and four children?
GRACE: Yes.
SLATEN: But regardless of that, Nancy, this child was in the hospital two days before. This child has a propensity for falling, and falling is the
number one cause of injury and death among kids that age.
GRACE: You know what? You said something that`s really, really important.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Troy Slaten, you`ve given me some ammunition because just 48 hours before this, she is overprotective of the baby. She raced the baby to the
hospital because he fell down. He was coming down the steps and he fell down.
GRACE: The baby keeps falling. She`s overprotective...
GRACE: I`d like to finish...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... cut his mike, Justin. The baby -- let me go to Joe Scott Morgan -- baby falls down three steps and this overprotective mom races the
baby to the hospital, and the baby is fine. The baby is fine 48 hours -- Joe Scott, haven`t I told you how many times I have rushed my two twins to
the ER, when their fever goes up, when John David fell on a professional grade basketball court and hit his head and I was convinced at 11:00
o`clock at night -- I raced him to the hospital convinced he was bleeding through the brain. It was nothing like that at all, but overprotective.
This particular mom races that child back and forth to the hospital every time there`s anything wrong with it. I get it! I do the same thing even
now, and my twins are 8-and-a-half years old, Joe Scott. The important thing is, 48 hours before, the baby goes down three steps -- it`s learning
to walk -- and it hit its head on the wall.
She races it to the hospital. The baby`s fine, OK? Nothing. I don`t even know if it got a bruise. So the baby comes back home. What`s important is
it had no preexisting injuries at all, at 19 months nothing, when she took it to the hospital 48 hours before, Joe Scott!
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes. And let`s think about this. If he`s -- if they`re saying that this child had multiple
skull fractures, it`s not going to come from this. They would have caught that in the initial visit.
I believe that this child probably was struck or thrown down multiple times, more than likely. A lot of this is going to be dependent upon the
injuries that you see on the exterior of the skull.
And let`s thing about something else. This is a long, languishing death this child went through. The brain is swelling. They talk about
difficulty breathing. That means the primal (ph) brain is not getting sufficient oxygenation. There`s hemorrhage in there, brain is swelling.
This child is languishing.
And finally, the child succumbs. You`ve already got a child that`s in fragile health.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:55]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be lots of firsts little Lincoln Lewis won`t ever experience. His skull was fractured with severe trauma to
his brain. Documents reveal Franklin made statements in the past to Lincoln`s mother about his hatred toward Lincoln`s father and threatened to
kill him and skin him in Bricktown and cut his penis off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What? Noam Laden, news director at WABC. Noam -- hold on just a moment. So this upstanding dentist that`s been leading a double life for
God only knows how long behind the backs of his wife and four children -- four -- did I just hear that he had threatened his mistress`s husband? I
mean, how crazy is that? I`m going to have to go the shrink on this in a moment -- that a man is married, he`s sleeping with the mistress, and he`s
jealous over her ex-husband? Her ex?
NOAM LADEN, WABC (via telephone): You got that right.
GRACE: I mean...
LADEN: You know, he threatened a number of times, one saying he wanted to skin the father of this child, another time saying he wanted to cut off his
penis. And she said that he had become controlling a year into this relationship.
GRACE: OK. Hold on! Matt Zarrell, is that true, what Noam Laden just said? What exactly did this well-respected dentist say about the bio dad
of the little baby that`s now dead?
ZARRELL: OK. So in the affidavit which we`ve obtained directly from the court, it says that Franklin made statements in the past to the victim`s
mother about his hatred toward the victim`s biological father. Franklin threatened to kill the bio dad, quote, "skin him in Bricktown" -- now,
Bricktown is the nickname for Oklahoma City -- "skin him in Bricktown and cut his penis off."
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, Maryland, Troy Slaten, LA. OK, Ficker, would you agree with me -- this is my general approach to criminal
cases -- you look at the scenario, you identify the players. And if one of them is a nut, they did it, OK? So wouldn`t you also agree, Robin Ficker,
that to threaten to skin the bio dad alive and cut off his penis -- don`t you believe that qualifies him as the psycho, the nut in this scenario?
FICKER: I don`t believe the quote unless we know the source of the quote. Who heard it? Where was it recorded? I think that the dentist and the
mother of this dead child had something powerful going on, a strange, deadly attraction between the two of them, and nothing else mattered. And
then she did away with the child, not him.
GRACE: You know what? I would be very careful before I slung -- whoa, whoa! Can I see the Christmas tree? What is that, the inside -- Justin,
is that the -- oh, my goodness! Yes. OK. Hold that pose just right there. Take a look at that! Look at that!
[20:20:06]To Sanam Hafeez, Dr. Hafeez, neuropsychologist joining me out of New York. He`s got a lot to lose. He`s got -- don`t come to me. I want
to look at this house. Look, Sanam. Look at -- that`s just part of the home.
He`s got that. He`s got a wife and four children. She probably put him through dental school -- just guessing. And now he`s got a mistress with a
baby. The baby is from another man. And -- oh, my goodness! And he`s jealous of the mistress`s ex, the bio dad of the baby, and now the baby
turns up dead.
Let`s shrink that. Go ahead.
SANAM HAFEEZ, NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST: I mean, you know, this very -- as I`m watching this, I`m thinking this could be this very controlling, obsessive
man who wants to do away with the ex-husband or the father, the biological father. Doing away with the baby automatically gets rid of the ex-husband
or...
GRACE: OK, Sanam -- Dr. Hafeez, isn`t it true -- and I -- this is anecdotal on my part because I`ve prosecuted so many cases like this, but
isn`t it true -- have you ever seen this scenario unfold where the new boyfriend or lover or husband is deadly jealous of the ex, and they take it
out on the baby, the ex`s baby? Have you seen that before, where they punish that child that is the biological child of the ex? They take out
their hatred of the ex on the baby.
HAFEEZ: You know, I mean, it`s not a typical scenario. There are, you know, many blended families. There are a lot of people who get remarried
and they have children from previous marriages...
GRACE: Not my question.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Not my question!
HAFEEZ: Have I seen it? I mean, it`s plausible. I don`t know off the top of my head if I`ve actually seen it. But I think it`s a certain
personality that takes out their hatred of an ex-husband on the child. But it can happen. You know, you`ve heard of the evil stepmothers, right? So
you can have an evil stepfather or an evil step-boyfriend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:00]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say a 19-month-old was killed at the hands of his mother`s boyfriend, Tulsa dentist Bert Franklin. The injuries
on little Lincoln Lewis`s body showed he suffered from blunt force trauma. Investigations said Franklin also had a wife and four kids. Documents
suggest neither the girlfriend nor the wife knew about one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Joe Scott Morgan, death investigator, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University. Two skull fractures in two different
places. That does not come from a fall down three steps, number one, unless you ping-pong off the steps. Number two, the mom immediately took
her baby to the hospital when it fell down the three steps. I don`t think the baby even had a bruise from that.
In this scenario, she says she hears one thud. She asks the boyfriend, the married boyfriend -- surprise -- that -- what happened. He said he was
throwing a ball to a puppy.
How quickly would this child have lost consciousness from a blow to the head like that?
MORGAN: Nancy, this is a very painful event in the acute stage -- that means the sudden stage. I believe this child was struck probably twice,
and it would take a bit of time because the brain actually begins to swell. Tremendous headache is associated with this, dizziness, lightheadedness,
disorientation. And as the brain swells inside the cranium, consciousness is lost.
You`ve also got in-dwelling hemorrhage that`s building up in there, continued pressure behind the eyes. Imagine the worst sinus headache
you`ve ever had in your entire life, and it will not go away. There`s no soothing that can be done, until finally, this child drifts off into
unconsciousness. Very, very painful.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me about this married dentist, this love rat (ph), being deeply, deeply in debt?
ZARRELL: Well, we know from court documents that he is being sued by American Express over $132,000 in charges to his credit account. So I`m...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Did you say $132,000...
ZARRELL: Correct.
GRACE: ... he owes on American Express, and they had to sue him.
ZARRELL: Yes.
GRACE: I don`t get it. I mean, he`s a dentist. Look at this place, and all of his TV ads. But I guess he`s propping up two households right?
ZARRELL: Yes. And he`s been working -- he has been working in this office for about eight years. One thing that`s going to be important here, too,
Nancy, is surveillance video. Apparently, the victim`s mother says she had surveillance cameras in the house when this was happening.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, will the man convicted in the brutal murder of high school girl, Hae Lee, actually walk free. Thanks to a female journalist who
catapults to fame herself with a podcast she calls "Serial." It brings the murder back to the forefront re-exploring evidence that convicted Syed.
Now, the victim`s family says this whole nightmare has re-opened horrible, painful wounds, quote, "no one can imagine." But tonight a new twist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "Serial," the most talked about podcast.
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)
...murder in the death of his then ex-girlfriend, Lee.
ADNAN SYED, CONVICTED MURDERER: I would rather (inaudible) say, but now I think you`re a jerk, you`re selfish.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something is not -- it doesn`t make sense here in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The conviction is vacated so, think of it as the conviction is erased.
SYED: Look, you know, this case -- he`s probably guilty. You`re going crazy trying to find out that he`s innocent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: I can`t believe that this is actually happening. Adnan Syed was the boyfriend of Hae Lee. Hae Lee breaks up with him. She writes
him a letter asking him to please let her alone, let her go. The letter from her he writes on, "I`m going to kill her" on this letter. That
afternoon he says he was seeing her.
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY)
...abused and abandoned. Her body found that day in a shallow grave. His story doesn`t make any sense whatsoever. He said he was driving around with
his friend Jay after school smoking weed. That he probably goes to a friend, Kathy`s house. That he is going home and he thinks he picks up food
for his dad and at 10:00 p.m., he goes to 10:00 p.m. that night -- he goes to a mosque.
Notice, there`s nothing in his own statement as to what he was doing between 8:00 and 10:00. He says I go to get food then somewhere between
that time by 10:00, I`m at the mosque. You know, the cellphone records are taking center stage. Sarah Westwood, investigative reporter with the
"Washington Examiner," Sarah, what was the evidence that convicted Adnan Syed to start with?
SARAH WESTWOOD, WASHINGTON EXAMINER INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: There were two pieces of evidence that put Syed behind bars. The first was cellphone tower
data evidence that showed incoming calls placed Syed at the site of Hae Lee`s -- where Hae Lee body was buried. And the other was the testimony of
his best friend, Jay Wilds, who cooperated with investigators in order to have immunity. And he said that he helped bury the Hae Lee`s body with Syed
at the park. And those two pieces of evidence together helped convict him.
GRACE: You know, another thing that has come to the forefront, Ben Levatan, telecommunications expert joining me out of Raleigh. Tonight, the state is
striking back. A judge has actually ordered a new trial for Adnan Syed. And the woman, the journalist who conducted the podcast called "Serial" is
like, what? Well, I don`t understand it. Well, thanks to her podcast, doubt has been thrown on the conviction which is completely unreliable.
And now, some judge has gotten sucked into a podcast and has actually ordered a new trial. Ben Levitan, cellphone records, incoming calls to
Adnan Syed around the time that Hae Lee was buried in a shallow grave near a park suggest or state that he was in the vicinity of the park. Now, the
defense is arguing incoming calls cannot identify where you are, only outgoing calls. Is that true?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Nancy, this whole trial as far as the cellphones where concerned, just amateur hour. There`s nobody...
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)
...I was asked to evaluate this case about a year ago. I got all the evidence and I did a true analysis of this Nancy. Nancy, they didn`t even
know when they did their analysis where cell towers were actually located. I had to spend a good week just trying to track down the specific locations
of these cell towers. They did not know when they went to trial. In the end, that phone was in the vicinity of Leakin Park from 7:09 of January
13th to 8:04. I can tell you that definitively. All the other things that people are saying about unreliable and how the records are done and
measurements, you have to throw all that out. These are just amateur speculations, Nancy.
GRACE: Let me understand something Ben Levitan, you personally have evaluated the evidence in this case, and you say that cellphone that he
admits and I`ve got his statement right here. He admits it`s his cell phone. His cell phone is there in Leakin Park where her body was found.
LEVITAN: I didn`t say it`s in Leakin Park.
GRACE: Around.
LEVITAN: Remember Nancy, a cell tower covers a large area. Minimum, a cell tower will cover an area that`s about one square mile in area. I can`t put
-- I as an expert, cannot put anyone in a specific place, but that cell tower, between 7:09 and 8:04 that night does include Leakin Park, Nancy.
[20:40:00] GRACE: So, he happens to be within one mile of her dead body the night she is killed and buried. The cell phone shows that much. Let me
understand one more thing. Ben Levitan, the defense is claiming that incoming calls cannot pinpoint where you are, only outgoing calls. Yes, no,
is that true?
LEVITAN: That`s not true. Again, if I`m in a deposition, lawyers always say is that yes or no. Well, if I answer yes, that`s the wrong answer. If I
answer no, that`s the wrong answer, Nancy. Hate it when lawyers ask me a yes, no question.
GRACE: Well, you know, another thing Ben is even if incoming calls cannot pinpoint where you are, pings can.
LEVITAN: Yes they can -- Nancy, people misinterpreted -- people took a technical document and read something in it that is not there. It would
take a while to explain what AT&T means but their records are absolutely accurate. Basically what they are saying is you cannot tell where the phone
-- where the caller, the caller is calling from.
GRACE: Got it.
LEVIAN: The records are accurate. I did the analysis from scratch, Nancy. Nobody did this. I don`t know how they went into trial with the material
that they had. It`s like doing DNA, you know, after only doing, you know, a few samples or something.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just thinking the other day, I said, I`m pretty sure she probably has people telling her like, look, you know, -- this case
-- he`s probably guilty. You`re going crazy trying to find out if he`s innocent, which you`re not going to find because he`s guilty. I mean, I
don`t think you`ll ever have 100 percent or you know what I`m saying or any type of certainty about it. The only person in the whole world who can have
that is me, and I mean, for what it`s worth, whoever did it. You`ll never have that. I don`t think you will.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: My, how convenient. That was Adnan Syed who was convicted in the murder of this high school girl. That is from a podcast "Serial" produced
by WBEZ in Chicago. And now, I believe, because of podcast, this guy, Adnan Syed, is getting a brand new trial because basically along with this
podcast, hoodwinked lady justice and they get some retired judge up on the bench to go, "Yeah, yeah. Let me drink that Kool-Aid" and he`s giving the
guy a new trial. And this girl`s family is beside themselves -- beside themselves.
Their girl, for all of you parents out there, if you dare to imagine your child found dead in a shallow grave at some public park and then her ex-
boyfriend who is full of rage over her breaking up with him is the chief suspect. And after all this time is actually -- looks like he`s going to
walk free on this because of a podcast.
A large part is because cell phone records were used by the state to show Adnan Syed was in the vicinity of the park where her dead body was buried
in a shallow grave. On the front of the records, the fax cover when you send a fax said, remember, don`t rely on incoming calls to pinpoint
location, just outgoing.
The defense is saying because of that fax cover statement that the cellphone records were not accurate. We have brought you an expert tonight,
Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert who has reviewed these records himself and done an analysis, places Adnan Syed`s cell phone within one
square mile of where this body was buried. But that`s not all the evidence. Seema Iyer, former prosecutor was in court for Syed`s last hearing. She is
a columnist with the "Dean`s Report." Seema, thank you for being with us.
SEEMA IYHER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes.
GRACE: Now, you and I usually lock horns, but I think we both, in this case, have the same goal and that is the truth, OK. I`m not on anybody`s
side. I want the truth.
IYER: Right. Nancy, if you were in that courtroom, you would be on the only side there is and that is this kid deserves a new trial. Ben Levitan and I
have consulted on this case and he just enumerated about seven reasonable doubts. He conceded that the state`s expert did a poor job, OK. That fax
cover...
GRACE: Seema, actually, that was not the question I was asking you. Ben Levitan...
IYER: Well, I need to defend what he is saying because what he`s saying is incorrect, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, Michael Christian, isn`t it true that there was an alibi witness. The alibi witness is a girl that claimed she saw Adnan Syed at the
public library around the time he would have been burying the body. We`ve addressed the cellphone records and there`s no doubt that the cellphone
records that came into trial stated that he was in the vicinity.
Now, another independent evaluation says he was in the vicinity with or without the incoming phone calls, OK. The incoming phone call is what
they`re arguing about. But even if you don`t have those, the pings still place him there. But who is this witness that claims she`s an alibi witness
and how could the state discredit her or could they?
[20:50:03] MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCYGRACE PRODUCER: Her name is Asia McClain Chapman, Nancy. She said that she was in the public library on the
afternoon when this murder took place. She said that Anand Syed came in. She knew both him and the victim. She said she saw him, they chatted for a
while and that there`s no way he could have committed this murder based on the states timeline because he was with her at the library at that time.
GRACE: OK. And how did the state discredit her or can they? Isn`t it true Michael that she later said she got in an argument with this two sisters
stating that she plan to lie for Syed?
CHRISTIAN: They have indicated and they haven`t said to these people, they`ve indicated the state says that there are two sisters who can testify
that Asia had a fight with one of the sisters and during the fight she said she was going to lie to help Anand Syed.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker and Troy Slaten. To you Troy Slaten, the fact that the cellphone records placed him there, that there is
a letter in his possession that says I will kill and that`s written on the letter where she was breaking up with him, and his own alibi is basically,
I was riding around, I was driving around smoking weed in the car, her car, the victim`s car.
SLATEN: In order to have a fair trial you have to have a lawyer. And when you have a lawyer, it means you get an effective lawyer. Here, the judge
ruled that he had ineffective assistance of counsel. That`s the same as having no lawyer at all. This lawyer did not cross-examine the state`s
expert about this cellphone tower evidence. It says clearly on the fax cover sheet from AT&T, whose towers these belong to, that you cannot use
incoming calls for location.
GRACE: OK, I know that you`re jumping on that band wagon Troy, but the fact is, I don`t need the incoming phone call. You have the ping. If your phone
is even on Troy, if it`s on, it`s pinging. It`s not just when you get an incoming phone call. It`s not when you make a phone call. It pings off
towers as you pass the towers. I don`t need these incoming calls.
SLATEN: Your technology expert just told you that he reviewed this stuff over a year ago and that none of the people who were testifying in this
trial knew what they were talking about and this evidence was allowed to be used to convict somebody of murder. And so, this judge is saying that
the...
GRACE: OK, hold on, you are cherry picking -- yes he said that, but I want to go back to you Ben Levitan. You said that the witnesses as Troy Slated
is accurately pointing out were amateur hour, but when you look at the records, what did they prove?
LEVITAN: Nancy, my conclusion is that that phone was in the vicinity of Leakin Park from 7:09 p.m. To 8:04. And going back to what the attorney
said, there was never a Daubert hearing done on this. Daubert would qualify the witness and qualify the evidence. None of this evidence should have
come in, Nancy.
I mean, I`m giving you an objective opinion. I`m not here to win or lose the case. My role in the case is always to be correct and that`s the -- I
can`t put them exactly in the park. I can`t put them at any specific point in the park. I can just put him in the vicinity of the park.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking news right now in the case we showed you and brought to you last night. These two young teens found murdered behind the grocery store
in an upscale shopping strip mall. Carter Davis and Natalie Henderson both dead from severe head trauma. Joining me right now, Kyle Peltz. Kyle,
what`s the development? What is the breaking news?
KYLE PELTZ, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right Nancy. Police have just announced in the last hour there`s been an arrest in the case. Here is what
they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I`m here today to let you know that about 5:00 a.m. this morning, Jeffrey Hazelwood Roswell, 20 years of age was arrested and charged with the murder
of Natalie and Carter. There` a lot of things that I can`t talk about today. I can`t talk about the motive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Kyle, what do we know about this 20-year-old Jeffrey Hazelwood and what led up to his arrest?
PELTZ: That`s right. Police are being very tight lipped right now about this case, Nancy, because it`s still an active investigation. However, they
do say that part of the investigation is this guy`s connection to the victim and as you heard in the presser, they don`t want to comment on
motive but they do believe he acted alone here.
GRACE: And we also have learned the cause of death, correct?
PELTZ: Right. So yesterday, all we knew is that both Natalie and Carter suffered severe head trauma. But the medical examiner`s office has
confirmed that the cause of death for each victim was a single gunshot to the head.
GRACE: A single gunshot, execution style to the head. And with that, these two teens are gone.
Tonight, let`s remember American hero Sergeant Franklin Vilorio, just 26, Miami, Florida. Bronze star. Remembered for his maturity and dedication to
his goals. Children Noemi (ph), Carlos and Caroline. Brothers Francisco and Jamie. Sister, Noralese (ph). Mother, Santa. Widow, Rosaura Franklin
Vilorio, American hero. Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp
eastern. And until then, good night friend.
END
