Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Resurrecting the DREAM Act; Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Dies; Greece at Critical Juncture; Fighting Against Cyber Bullying

Aired June 16, 2012 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're Americans in their heart, in their minds and every single way but one.

KAYE (voice-over): It's a dream come true for more than a million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.. Supporters hail the dramatic shift in immigration policy as a humanitarian moment in history critics call the move outrageous, even arrogant. We put the immigration overhaul in focus.

Plus, an international manhunt under way this morning for this man, accused of shooting three people at a Canadian university. We'll bring you his mother's plea.

A soldier and his team hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan when suddenly a shadowy figure emerges from a suspicious vehicle. He fires, but it turns out the person is a prominent civilian, not the enemy. Now the soldier faces charges. We'll talk with the former J.A.G. officer about the case and why this soldier could go to jail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Hello and good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It is 9:00 on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. Thanks for joining us.

Syria is becoming too dangerous, even for the United Nations. The U.N. is suspending all activities in the violence-torn country. From now on, U.N. observers will no longer conduct patrols there, unrest has ratcheted up in the past 10 days with entire towns coming under relentless shelling and civilians and children getting knifed and shot. Around 300 unarmed observers are in Syria to try to monitor a U.N.-proposed peace plan that has all but been ignored.

Greece is gearing up for a pivotal election tomorrow, no less than the country's future in the Eurozone at stake. Voters return to the polls to pick a new parliament after last month's vote ended in a stalemate. The outcome is anyone's guess. Greece has been ravaged by debt and recession. Voters will pick between supporters and opponents of an international bailout. But that bailout comes with a catch, drastic spending cuts and tax hikes. Whatever they decide, it will have a big impact on the global and U.S. economy.

The future of pivotal U.S. ally Egypt is at stake this weekend. Millions of Egyptians heading to the polls to pick a new president. Two days of voting is under way in the country's presidential run-off. Some voters say it is no choice at all. They're picking between Islamist candidate Mohammed (INAUDIBLE) and the ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's former right hand man Ahmed Shafiq. Tensions are high after Egypt's highest court ordered the Islamist dominated parliament dissolved. Many accuse Egypt's inter military rulers of essentially carrying out a coup.

Some are expressing relief while others are clearly outraged. I'm talking about the fallout from the Obama administration's decision to stop the deportation of some illegal immigrants. Athena Jones has been gathering reaction from both sides of the political aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could we have your thoughts on immigration?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to answer shouted questions about the Obama administration's new immigration policy but the reaction from other congressional Republicans was strong.

Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, chairman of the House judiciary committee calls the move an amnesty, that would encourage fraud and illegal activity.

REP. LAMAR SMITH (R), TEXAS: I think the American people are getting tired of this president picking and choosing what laws to enforce. That's not the democratic way. Maybe you can do that in a dictatorship, maybe you can do that in another country but this is a president who is sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States.

JONES: Some members took to Twitter. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeting "President Obama avoids the hard work of fixing an immigration system which is broken and fractured along numerous fronts."

Republicans say the president is bypassing Congress, which has repeatedly failed to pass DREAM Act legislation that would give young, undocumented immigrants brought to America illegally by their parents, a path to citizenship if they meet certain criteria.

Meanwhile, Democrats like DREAM Act's co-sponsor Senator Dick Durbin are applauding the administration's move.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I believe that this is an important step forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: All right. Our thanks to Athena Jones. And we continue our in-depth look at the issue of immigration in our next hour. Is the Obama administration's action a political ploy, a true policy shift, or possibly a little bit of both? Our political panel weighs in and that's at 10:15 a.m. right here on CNN.

He was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He received a Purple Heart and not long after he received criminal charges. We'll find out why one soldier is accused of killing an innocent civilian.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: American troops in Afghanistan, they have to make life and death decisions in a split second. That was the case of Army Sergeant First Class Waller Taylor.

A fascinating story in the "Los Angeles Times" that got our attention. His squad was hit by a roadside bomb, then a firefight with insurgents add in a mysterious black car drive into the middle of it all. When a figure steps out dressed all in black. What would you do?

Sergeant Taylor fired, and hit his target, killing that mysterious figure. It turned out it wasn't an insurgent, but a prominent female doctor. What followed for Sergeant Taylor may surprise you. Ten days after the incident he was badly injured in another roadside bombing. Soon after he received his Purple Heart. He also learned he's facing charges for the killing.

Joining me now is criminal defense attorney and former J.A.G. officer Randy Kravis. Good morning to you.

RANDY KRAVIS, FORMER J.A.G. OFFICER: Good morning.

KAYE: What do you think - what do you think of these charges? I mean this is such an interesting case.

KRAVIS: It is an interesting case. Well, the charges are negligent homicide and dereliction of duty. So he's not being charged with murder. No one's accusing him of intentionally killing anybody, anything like that. So the issue with this case with these particular charges is going to be his judgment. Did he act the way a reasonably careful person would have acted under the same or similar circumstances. So if a reasonable person under the circumstances would have fired, if a reasonable person under the circumstances would have felt the need to act in self-defense, then by law he's not guilty of these charges.

KAYE: But why would they even bring charges? Because when you look at war then you have civilian casualties, and you know as sad as it might sound it's part of war, right?

KRAVIS: It's part of war. But that being said that doesn't mean that soldiers have carte blanche authority to do whatever they want just because they're in a combat zone. There are rules of engagement that require a soldier to identify whether a person is an enemy combatant and determine whether that person has hostile intentions or not. So they have to abide by those things. And if they don't, that may end up resulting in charges.

KAYE: So he'll have to say I guess look at his mental state and what kind of fire they may have been under what the conditions were, because in a case like that it's hard to make a split-second decision.

KRAVIS: Well, that's exactly right. And see that's the other side of it. The - oftentimes these soldiers have one or two seconds to make that call and that seems to be what happened in his case. So yes, it's - civilian casualties are part of combat. Whether they result in criminal charges, really depend on the individual circumstances of each case.

KAYE: So in this case, President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan got involved, he called for an investigation. Do you think that's why charges might have been brought? Do you think they were politically motivated?

KRAVIS: Absolutely. I definitely think there's an element of that here. And I think one can take the argument - I'm sure people made the argument that our mission in Afghanistan is as much a diplomatic and political one as it is a military one, and the fact is this is not your ordinary civilian killed. As you pointed out this was a doctor. She was the head of the department of a nearby hospital. And I'm sure -

KAYE: And two others were killed (INAUDIBLE) in the car.

KRAVIS: I think her sons or relatives of hers. This is the kind of high-profile civilian killing that I'm sure gives our military leaders worry, and it may be that they felt that politically they had no choice but to initiate charges against Sergeant Taylor. And it's interesting to note, too, Sergeant Taylor, as the leader of the unit, appears to be the only one facing charges, even though he wasn't the only one to actually fire. There was another person firing as well but he's not facing charges. So Sergeant Taylor may be the political fall guy in all of this.

KAYE: Yes. Let's talk about the discrepancies. Because we've talked about Sergeant Taylor's account and certainly what's been in "The L.A. Times" but the "L.A. Times" is also reporting that one witness says his heard Sergeant Taylor say something along the lines they got what they deserve.

KRAVIS: Yes.

KAYE: Does this come down to sort of a he said, he said? I mean how will he - because he already said I never said anything like that.

KRAVIS: Yes, I think you're absolutely right about that. Even putting aside the legal issue of what a reasonable person would have done under the circumstances. There really are some big, important factual discrepancies here like you said. You have that statement about "they got what they deserve," Sergeant Taylor denies it. Also, the husband of the doctor claims that when she exited the vehicle -

KAYE: He was also in the car. KRAVIS: He was also in the car. He survived. He claims that she raised her arms and shouted we're civilians and they fired anyway. Again, Sergeant Taylor denies any of this happening. So the way these factual discrepancies are going to play out I think are going to impact how Sergeant Taylor is viewed, whether he's viewed as a - as someone who is just doing his job or someone who callously and indiscriminately fired on civilians.

KAYE: It's going to be so interesting to follow. The hearing is this week to find out whether or not they'll continue forward with the case and so if they do, we'd love to have you back and talk more about it.

KRAVIS: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: All right. Randy Kravis, thank you very much.

And we should note that we have reached out to both Sergeant Taylor's attorney and to the military for comment, but we haven't received any calls back.

Andy Cohen has some advice for anyone who has been a victim of bullying. Then I'll speak with the New York state senator who is trying to make cyberbullying a crime.

But first, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta hosts "The Next List." Each week he profiles innovators from all walks of life and also fields of endeavor. Sanjay has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to make a mess. Like every good kid wants to do.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Calling me a kid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So here's a model. We've put two pieces of the conductive Play-do in between an insulator. First we'll put a battery on. There we go.

GUPTA: Wow.

So we're able to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's amazing.

GUPTA: Plug that in anywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY COHEN, HOST AND EXECUTIVE AT BRAVO TV: I think the "It Gets Better" campaign is a great thing. And I think - I can honestly say that it does get better. My advice for people is to find a safe harbor, call the Trevor Project hotline. Find a friend. Find someone who you can tell would be a support to you and tell them and share with them, and don't go through it alone because you're not alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: That was just part of a recent conversation I had with Bravo's Andy Cohen. Some great advice from him. Some kids do feel alone but it does get better. Sadly, most kids aren't thinking about their future when they're being bullied. They don't see things getting better, so they end it, and that's when we hear the names of young people like Jamie Rodemeyer.

He was 14 years old when he hanged himself outside his home. Amanda Cummings (ph) was just 15 when she decided to jump in front of a bus. Both teens are from New York, and cyber bullying is being blamed in both cases. Nearly 10,000 New York State students participated in the largest cyberbullying census ever conducted and the results were really shocking and disturbing.

New York state Senator Jeffrey Klein plans to use those results to pass legislation making cyberbullying against the law in New York. And he's joining me now to discuss this. Mr. Klein, good morning to you. Your bill proposes -

STATE SEN. JEFFREY KLEIN, NEW YORK: Good morning, Randi.

KAYE: - extending second degree manslaughter to include bullycide. But wouldn't most of the bullies charged be considered juveniles in this case?

KLEIN: Well, first of all, Randi, what my legislation would do is merely bring stalking laws as well as aggravated harassment laws into the 21st century, and to the digital age. Right now, we can bring cases against young people for stalking and aggravated harassment. So I think just adding the crime of cyberbullying to those crimes makes a lot of sense. I think we have to be mindful of the fact that things have changed. Words can kill. You know in the past we used to tell our kids sticks and stone may break your bones but words can never harm you. But I think unfortunately, Randi, we're seeing now words can kill.

KAYE: Yes, absolutely. The survey though that we mentioned the results again, they are alarming, 68 percent say that they had either witnessed or been the victim of cyberbullying, 70 percent believe that cyberbullying should be illegal. 94 percent identified at least one form of cyberbullying in the survey. So why did your legislation only target cyberbullying?

KLEIN: Well, Randi, I think it was important to develop a comprehensive piece of legislation here in New York state. And I thought the best way to find out how we can best do that is listening to the honesty and wisdom of our young people. That's in why I works on this first ever New York cyberbullying census. We had 10,000 young people from around the state, Randi, that answered this survey It was anonymous. They were very honest in their answers.

What we found was quite alarming, 70 percent believe that cyberbullying should be a crime, 63 percent said we need to enhance the educational component. And I know one thing was very disturbing, Only 20 percent actually report cases of cyberbullying. So I think we already know how to deal somewhat with the tangible bully but I think now we have to approach and attack the problem of cyberbullying.

KAYE: So let me ask you what's going to happen with your proposal, because the governor, Andrew Cuomo said he's not going to make - he's not going to make the cyberbullying a crime, these kids are not going to be charged with a crime in these cases. He's questioned what are we doing with 14 and 15-year-olds? Where are we going to put them if they're charged with a crime. How do you respond to that?

KLEIN: Well, we still have a week to go in our legislative session in Albany. I'm still hopeful that we will take a comprehensive approach. Education is a very important tool, I understand that. I think at the same time, we need to make cyberbullying a crime.

You know, Randi, when 70 percent of the respondents in my survey state that cyberbullying should be a crime, these are young people, that means they know that presently it's not. And when we pass criminal justice legislation, it has a chilling effect.

And I believe if young people know it's going to be treated as a crime, a class A misdemeanor they won't commit acts of cyberbullying. So I think we really need to have that comprehensive approach. Education is important.

KAYE: Right now, they're getting, mainly it's a slap on the wrist. Even in cases where - I mean I covered a story in Florida not long ago where a girl had been cyberbullied and ended up hanging herself in her bedroom. You know but nothing happens to these kids and they had bullied her on Facebook.

KLEIN: You're absolutely right, Randi, and it is a problem and we have to deal with it as such. And I think we have to kind of move away from the whole punishing 14-year-olds or 15-year-olds. You know, under our present law in New York state, if a minor, a juvenile, commits a crime, as heinous as an adult, we prosecute them as such.

So I don't think this isn't any different. This is merely updating our penal law to include cyberbullying as a part of harassment and stalking. So I think it makes a lot of sense. I think if we treat it as a crime, kids will stop doing it, and I think that's the only way we're going to potentially save lives here in New York.

KAYE: There could be legal action but what is the role, do you think, of a school, of a teacher, and of a parent who might or might not be aware that bullying is taking place.

KLEIN: That's why I think education is an important component of a piece of legislation as well. I think we have to do a better job in educating not only our parents and teachers and superintendents, but also our young people in our schools. And I think that's an important approach. I'm just saying that we need to have both an educational approach as well as a criminal justice approach and I think that's how we'll eventually going to solve this problem.

KAYE: And so you don't think - it's not done even though the governor said that he's not - he's not going to put -- he's not going to make it a crime?

KLEIN: Well, you know, in Albany, like in many places, it's not over until it's over. So I hope this past week, which is our last week, we can develop a comprehensive approach. And if not, I'm going to spend a lot of time in the off session making sure that we can have a piece of legislation in New York and join 30 other states, by the way, in the United States, in making cyberbullying a crime.

KAYE: Well, no matter what happens in this session, senator, I certainly applaud your efforts. State Senator Jeffrey Klein, thank you so much for what you're doing for this.

KLEIN: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: And now shocking story to tell you about coming out of Texas. A district spokesman for San Antonio says a kindergarten teacher took drastic measures against one of her students accuse of being a bully. He said the teacher told more than 20 other classmates to line up and hit the six-year-old. A police report alleges the teacher told the classmates to "hit him harder." She will now lose her job. Another teacher has been put on paid administrative leave. Prosecutors are looking into whether to file formal charges.

If you'd like to sound off on stories about bullying, I encourage you to tweet me now. Use #bullyingstophere. You can find me on twitter. I will continue that conversation with you. I'd love to hear from you.

A good Samaritan comes to the rescue of five children in Kansas. Find out what shocking situation prompted a Wal-Mart customer to call 911.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Listen to this story.

A Wal-Mart customer in Lawrence, Kansas spotted two young children in SUV in the store's parking lot. The kids were tied up and blindfolded. The customer called 911. When police arrived they say the father tried to get in the car and that's when they spotted three more kids inside. The parents were in court Thursday on child abuse and endangerment charges. The children now in protective custody.

I'll have more headlines for you at the top of the hour. "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.