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tonight, the interview that everyone's still talking about. >> 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. >> you heard alex jones answering my questions. >> how many gun murders were there -- >> how many great white sharks kill people every year but they're tried to swim. >> you heard him try to change the subject and threaten me. >> you think you're a tough guy. have me back in a boxing ring and i'll wear red, white, and blue, and you can wear your jolly roger. >> what will it take to stop the killing? i'll talk to people who lost their loved ones in aurora. >> i am glad you're speaking out. >> and to a former marine who says he'll never give up his gun. plus, does this picture tell the whole story? two small town high school football stars accused of raping

a seeming unconscious girl. i'll talk to attorneys of the girls. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. and i hope alex jones is not just watching, but finally listening. i've been talking a lot about gun violence on the show in recent months. i want to make my position very clear once again. i'm in favor of a nationwide ban on military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines. i want to close the gun show loopholes and require private dealers to run background checks on bayers at gun shows. and i would like president obama to increase federal funding for mental health treatment for all americans who need it. i think that's the right direction for america. and my guest last night, right wing radio show host, alex jones, couldn't disagree more. listen to this.

>> when we have our guns, they can have their world tyranny. while the government buys bullets, predator drones armed now in u.s. skies, being used to arrest people in north dakota, the second amendment isn't there for duck hunting. it's there to protect us tyrannical government and street thugs >> i want to dig deeper now. joining me is nick kristof welcome to you both. let me start with you. what was your overall reaction to that extraordinary exchange with alex jones last night? >> i mean, as somebody who favors more gun control, i really hope that alex jones does more tv, because, you know, look, you've been quite articulate in making the case for gun control. alex jones was so much more persuasive, i think, for your average middle america in making the case, because people saw somebody who was foaming at the mouth, and they think, this kind of person shouldn't be having, i

think he said 50 guns around. um, may he do a lot more of these shows. >> it's been trending on twitter now for 24 hours. i think in many ways, he thinks job successfully done. he's probably going back to texas and his fan base, and there are a lot of people who listen to him every day who probably thought, good on him. he came in and took me down. but beneath all that, were there any serious points he raised about the actual character? >> let me -- he made one substantial -- they've made two substantial arguments. one about the second amendment. let me just say that, look, everybody accepts that there are going to be limits on guns. nobody thinks that we should be able to have anti-aircraft guns, fully automatic weapons. the question is not whether to have gun control but where to draw the line. now, second, he argues that even if you outlaw guns, people will still have access to deadly

weapons, to knives, to things like this. and of course he's right. but the complaint about guns is that they are so much more lethal than anything else you have around. that is why the american military arms its troops not with knives, but with automatic weapons. and if you look at americans and what distinguishes our mortality rates from those abroad, it's guns. american kids are slightly more likely to be murdered with non-gun weapons, with knives is and things, than kids in other industrialized countries. they're 13 times more likely to be murdered with guns. what makes the difference is guns in this country and their accessibility. >> you obviously track a lot of these activists in many different guises. what did you make of what alex jones' performance was like and what does it tell you about that kind of gun rights on the rather extreme side of the gun rights

lobby? >> well, to me it was really a fairly typical performance for alex jones. in a way, it looked like a setup on his part. you know, i think he kind of snuck in there, planning to launch into a yelling match. you know, i think, really, the important thing about what alex jones is about, what he represents is that he has pushed out a completely baseless conspiracy theories to literally tens of millions of americans out there. many of whom actually believe what he says. >> we'll come -- we'll come to those in a moment. let's play again this exchange, when he got at his most heated about the 1776 being reenacted. i'll come to you after that, mark, if i may. >> and i'm here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. it doesn't matter how many lyndens you get out there on the street, begging for them to have their guns taken, we will not relinquish them. do you understand? that's why you're going to fail, and the establishment knows no

matter how much propaganda, the republic will rise again if you try to take our guns. >> there were many alarming aspects to that outburst, but probably most alarming to me is the way that alex jones, and the more radical gun owners -- because not all gun owners share these views. but the alarming thing to me is the way they frame this debate, that anybody who asks for more gun control, and as nick said, there's already lots of gun control in america, it's about where you draw the line. anyone that tries is attacking the constitution, attacking the second amendment, attacking america and trying to get everybody's guns. that's not what i want. as i've made very clear to him or tried to, this is about getting the assault rifles, the military-grade stuff off the street and the ridiculous 100-bullet magazines. that's the point, mark.

and it's that, that i think is the argument that gets lost in this cross fire of abuse that comes with these guys. >> no, i think he's very, very typical of people in the militia world, the so-called patriot movement. he sees an absolutely massive conspiracy to not only take his guns or our guns, but to throw anyone who resists into concentration camps that have been secretly built by fema, the federal emergency management agency, and it goes on and on and on from there. so he has such a rue goldberg machine in his head, in terms of this massive conspiracy to depopulate the united states. to literally kill americans, that, you know, when you come to talk to him about give ups or anything remotely within the political mainstream, he simply goes off his rocker. and i agree. i mean, this is very much the scary part of the militia world. it's not that people think the

constitution is a great thing and ought to be defended, it's that they take these views to the very far-out reaches to the point where they think anyone who does anything in terms of law enforcement or anything along those lines is some part of some kind of fascist plot. >> let me bring in nick again. nick, there is a concerted effort going on now by some american politicians to actually get real action. you can sense it, there is a movement here, president obama, joe biden, dianne feinstein and others, they really are determined to try to make a difference now. is it going to be successful? >> i fear that it is not going to be very successful. and if i can push back at one thing you said, i mean, the one thing that alex jones said that has an element of truth to it is that assault weapons are relatively minor as a source of death in america. >> yes, but let me pick you up on that. because i know he said that. but what infuriated me about that is they are, but they are

the preferred weapon of choice now for mass shooters. so if you look at aurora, if you look at the oregon shopping mall, if you look at the firemen who were killed just before christmas, if you look at sandy hook, all of them involved these ar-15 style, military-style assault rifles. it's all the same thing. and the reason they like them is that they can put these magazines on them and they can unload 100 bullets in a minute. they're machine guns. >> absolutely. but the big problem in america is not these massacre. it's the day-in, day-out shootings that kill more than 11,000 americans a year. and of those, a few hundred are committed with rifles. so if the only thing that legislators do is reinstitute the assault weapons ban and the high magazine, that will be great. that will be a step forward. >> but it won't be enough. >> it won't be nearly enough. we have to make a move on handguns as well.

>> but doesn't it send the right signal that it's time to do something? the reaction to every shooting since i've been america has been nothing. a congresswoman can be shot in the head, nothing happens. a temple can be shot up, a movie theater, now a school. we've seen almost every aspect of american life destroyed in this way and nothing gets done. >> except, it would be a step forward, but i fear that it would be not a spur to more action, but a substitute. we'd settle down. and it seems to me, if we have car control, if we have -- there are five pages of osha regulations on ladders in america. >> i can't buy six packets of sudafed at my local walmart, but i can buy an ar-15. >> in much of america, to adopt a pet, you have to have a home visit, yet you can buy a weapon on the secondary market without any kind of background check. we have all kinds of regulations on cars to make cars safe.

and people don't see that as a threat. so why can't we begin to have the same kind of public health approach, not to ban guns, but to make them a little bit safer in american homes? >> and harder to get, the more extreme variety of weapon, for those who may be disturbed. >> absolutely. >> nick kristof and mark potok, thank you both very much. >> my pleasure. some 588 americans have been killed by guns since the newtown massacre. it's hard to be more precise, mostly because sometimes it's hard to get the nra to squelch this evidence. we've invited the nra to come on the show and so far they've declined. but the invitation still stands and i would like them to come on and have this discussion. meanwhile, disturbing testimony in a courtroom in colorado today. investigators say they found 76 shell casings at the movie

theater where james holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 more this summer. one of the victims of that terrible attack was a.j. boik and his uncle, dave hoover, joins me again now. dave, thanks very much for coming back on. you were on the show last night, listening to alex jones as he ranted at me. what was your reaction to that as someone who lost a loved one in the aurora massacre? >> initially, i was infuriated and disturbed by his reaction. what i would hope and pray for this man is that he never gets a phone call from his loved one at 3:00 in the morning, screaming that his daughter has been killed. i hope and pray, because this man is far off the target on this issue, that he would not be able to deal with that kind of tragedy in his life. it's not only his children we're trying to put some reasonable legislation in place to protect, it's all of our families. we've lost family members, here, in tucson, and today is the anniversary of that. so, you know what, it's trying to stop and set a framework with which we can live within in america. we need to have some kind of rules in place that makes sense. right now, we only have two sentences that were written in 1776, but yet, we have legislated other things beyond that. this is one thing that americans

just refuse to even look at or talk about, because they're so afraid that people are going to come take their guns. nobody wants to do that. nobody wants to come take their guns, but we want to keep the guns out of the hands of those criminals and those who are dangerous individuals to our society, they don't need these weapons. they don't need any weapons. but i'm willing to go through a background check, as any responsible gun owner is. >> i think you make such obvious points to me. and i find it such a fascinating debate in the sense that it's so politicized here in america. when we had the dublin massacre in scotland, in britain, it was never political at all, the debate afterwards. it was never a question of the left or right being loggerheads over what to do. there was a consensus. we can never let this happen again, we must make it incredibly difficult. and all assault weapons were banned. . and there's been no shooting at all at a school since. now, there may well be in the

future. if you banned all assault weapons in america, there's bound to be another mass shooting, of course there will be. because there are so many weapons already out there. but my view is, you have to make a stand as a country, and you have to make a stand based on morality and ethics. and when i see what happened to your relative and to those poor people in that movie theater, they went to see a movie in america, and 70 people got shot. let me ask you this, though, dave, do you believe that there is now momentum to get real action or not? >> i'm cautiously optimistic. i hope that there is reason out there now to listen to what we have to say. people need to stop and stop fearing that a knee-jerk reaction, that people will come take their guns, we'll come stand here on the street corner and yell, do not take our guns, because our families will be put at risk. nobody's saying that. we need to have some reasonable rules that we can all live within, so that we can protect

our families. nobody needs to get the phone call in the middle of the night, go to a high school. i hate throwing emotion into this, because we immediate to have an open and honest discussion about it, but when i get to the high school with my sister, his girlfriend still had his blood on her. when he was born, shortly after hi daughter was born, my sister and i talked in the hallway of the hospital about how these two were going to grow up together and be close friends. and they were very close. i never want somebody else to have to go through what our family is going through. my dad's best friend, a.j. was over there every day, was a huge part of our family. and this kid, was decent with everybody. from every group. and i don't want alex jones to get the phone call at 3:00 in the morning that one of his children have been shot and killed by somebody who shouldn't have a handgun or a rifle or an automatic weapon. i don't want him to get that phone call.

>> no, that is the whole point. and you articulated that so powerfully. dave hoover, thank you so much for coming back in tonight. i know you've been down there for this trial, some terrible details again, today, from this james holmes, evidence that apparently 30 gunshots were heard in one 27-second clip, 41 calls to 911 in ten minutes. just utter carnage in there. and then these terrible booby traps he set at his home, to try to distract all the people who may race to the theater, so he could kill even more people. just a devastating thing. but, dave, thank you very much indeed. when we come back, he says the government has no right to know what weapons he owns. a former marine who told a leading gun control senator that she's crossed the line.

lives cut down by gun violence. these are the faces of some of the nearly 600 people killed by guns since the newtown massacre in america. on christmas eve, two upstate new york firefighters were shot to death while responding to an early morning blaze. the killer armed with an assault rifle left a suicide note saying he wanted to kill as many people as possible. on new year's eve in maryland, h

little girl was struck by a bullet while celebrating at a relative's home. she was killed by celebratory gunfire. somebody firing off rounds to welcome in 2013. she was just 10 years old. hours later in new orleans, a student became the city's first homicide victim of the year. he was found laying faceup on his couch, shot in the head. he was studying to be an engineer when he was murdered. and in chicago, michael knowsel became the city's fifth homicide victim in the first two days of the new year. the store owner murdered, a robbery at his business. the 57-year-old grandfather's last words were, they shot me in the back. at the newtown memorial, president obama said america can't tolerate this anymore. that these tragedies must end, but it takes action, not words to stop the senseless killing. diane finestein is introducing an assault weapons ban in congress. here's what she told me about that. >> there's no second amendment right to bear every type of

weapon that you know of. these are a certain class of weapons. they are designed to kill large numbers of people in close combat. i don't believe the second amendment covers them. >> many americans agree, but many others do not. including my next guest, formerly marine, joshua boston, who wrote a scathing letter to senator feinstein that went viral on the internet. welcome. >> thank you, piers. >> just to clarify your credentials, you served in afghanistan twice and iraq twice between 2004 and 2011 with the marines. you're no longer in the military. thank you for your service, first of all. some of the members of my family would have been out there fighting with you in both iraq and afghanistan and i know what you guys went through. it's very tough. talk to me about guns and why you felt the need to write to the senator, in the way that you did. >> senator feinstein's legislation is essentially stopping us from getting ar-15s. if it passes, these weapons won't be transferable to anybody. they'll be registered to my name

and the law says it cannot be transferred. to me, that sounds exactly like my family is going to be disarmed down the road. and these weapons, i understand that bad things happen with them, bad things happen with cars. but the second amendment was put there for a reason. and it was put there to prevent things that we don't want happening with our government. so that's why i wrote the letter. >> right, but you use the analogy of the car as many gun rights people do, you can't pass the car to your child, registration of the car, without all the forms you have to fill out for that. what's the difference? >> the car is not specifically mentioned in the bill of rights. firearms are. >> nor is an ar-15 assault rifle. >> neither are muskets neither is hunting or sporting, but

everybody seems to bring that up. >> but there are, as you know, numerous gun control laws in america. it's purely a question of degree. and many question is, you know what these weapon can do better than most. this is general stanley mcchrystal. he was on msnbc this morning. he said this. >> i spent a career carrying an m-16 or an m-4 carbine, that fires a 223 caliber round at about 3,000 feet per second. when it hits a human body, the effects are devastating. it's designed to do that. and that's what our soldiers ought to carry. i personally don't think there's any need for that kind of weaponry on the streets or around the schools in america. >> powerful words there from a

ranking general. my question for you, josh, is this. why would you want to give one of these killing machines to one of your children, anyway? >> first off, we don't own m-4s or m-16s. we own mr-15s and various versions of. >> you know that the ar-15 can perform almost exactly like an m-15. like we saw with james holmes, his trial is going on now, but in aurora, he was able to unload at least 70, possibly more bullets into a crowded movie theater in a matter of minutes, we know that. the difference is almost indistinguishable in terms of firepower at such close range? >> no, that's not even true. the m-4, 16 was designed to engage targets in medium ranges, not for close quarters combat. >> but if you have an ar-15, whether you're at close quarters

or you're 100 meters away, you're going to cause extensive and significant damage. >> it's possible, true, but that damage is guaranteed to happen when people aren't allowed to carry a concealed weapon in a movie theater or teachers aren't allowed to carry one in their schools, to protect the children that we love. >> so your answer is that everybody in a movie theater would be armed with an ar-15? >> no, that's not what i said. they should be able to carry such weapons. they should have that choice. they shouldn't be denied that right to self-defense because of the action of lunatics. >> and i say this with respect, though, that choice is fine, but if everybody exercises that choice and legally allowed to do so, you could end up with every movie theater and every school and every church and every shopping mall in america, with everybody armed with an ar-15 assault rifle and magazines that could kill 100 people in may know. where does that lead america to,

other than utter wild west hell? >> all right, they said that would happen when texas instituted its concealed weapons law, and it hasn't happened. at clackamas county, he presented his weapon and held his fire, just like what happened at congresswoman giffords' shooting. there was a chl holder there, and he held his fire. the american people aren't as gun-happy and trigger happy as they're being painted out to be by the media. they are smarter than that. they know when to hold their fire. they know when to fire. and we can increase the chances of success for these people that get caught in situations for their survival by education. we've got to stop making this a taboo subject to everyone, because it's scary. we can't give up our rights because we're afraid. >> the only thing i would say to that is i believe the rights of a 6-year-old or 7-year-old child to go to school without the fear of being murdered, to me, exceed and come higher than any rights

to own an ar-15 assault rifle. that's my point. >> well, piers, i don't disagree with you. i don't think children should have to go to school worry about being murdered, but we have to accept reality. no matter what laws we pass, lord knows we have laws, and during the last assault weapons ban, it didn't stop columbine from happening, it didn't stop the west hollywood shoot-out from happening. these things happen. there are criminals in our world that we have to contend with. and disarming people and taking the ar-15s out of their homes isn't going to help. there was a lady in georgia who shot a man six times. he laid down, cried, got up and left. now, imagine if there were multiple attackers. she only had six bullets in her pistol. if there were more than one attacker, she could not be alive today. >> well, i can totally understand and respect an american's wish to defend themselves in their home, against intruders. i get that. i don't see why you can't do it with a handgun or a pistol.

and the idea that you need ar-15s, you and i will have to disagree on that. because i cannot think of anything i would rather less give one of my children. >> it's education. you have to teach them. you have to educate people. ignorance is a bad thing. you have to educate yourself on the weapons. >> okay. >> yes, they are dangerous, but they do have benefits. regardless of the evil one man can commence with. >> joshua, listen, i have great respect for the service you've given your country and you've raised some interesting points. i don't see any benefit to a civilian owning, an ar-15. i see lots of benefit to someone in the military defending the freedom of their country and i'm sure you did that extreme capably and i thank you for joining me. >> thank you. coming up next, the interview that was heard around the world, with what my all-star panel has to say about my very heated exchange with alex jones. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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i have a gun. gabby and i are both gun owners. we are strong supporters of the second amendment. but we've got to do something to keep the guns from getting into the wrong hands. >> mark and gabby giffords on "good morning america" today, the second anniversary of the shooting that could have killed her, that i have announced an effort to get politicians to strong up against gun violence. joining me now, gloria allred, buzz bissinger, and abby house abby hunt. buzz, let me start with you. do you believe that sandy hook represents any kind of tipping point in favor of new gun legislation? >> no, i think america is a country that revels in violence, that was born in violence, that loves the image of the frontiers

men and the cowboy and having guns. you know, i think there was a lot of protest, i think the only politician that was trying to do anything was michael bloomberg. i don't see president obama doing very much. we had another incident at aurora, colorado, where he did nothing. mitt romney did nothing. it's a ridiculous argument. how can we possibly have assault weapons and why do we need guns? we don't need guns. we have 10,000 murders a year, as you tried to tell that big, fat idiot last night, how many murders were there by gun in england? what, 33? it's pathetic, but i don't see any change. >> gloria, it's a debate that is very hard to have without people getting very angry and very exercised. how do we try to move forward to a point of some consensus, where the gun lobby are persuaded that these ar-15, military-type machine guns, what they really are, are not a part of this debate in any way? >> well, i think, piers, it begins with a discussion in the court of public opinion.

and i want to commend you for standing up what i think was bullying, big-time, last night, by alex jones. if politicians had a spine, the way you had last night, and stood up to the gun lobby and to those who are very, very extreme in their views, as mr. jones was, instead of just cowering afraid of losing the next election, we would have changes in gun laws like we need. we would have, like what you suggest, for example, like closing the loopholes for gun shows. we would have more regulation. i think we need more discussion, not less. and we need to see probably more of the extremists, because that's what's frightening. and the idea that he might have a gun in his hand is terrifying. >> he owns 50 guns, which i found part of the most scary thing. abby, your father ran for president and you know the system in washington better for many. the reason i ask you, i read your tweets today, which were pretty doom laden about this. do you have any hope if it does go to congress, they'll pass

anything involving gun control legislation? >> i want to point out, it's not even worth mentioning this guy's name. he does not represent america. this is the same guy that said that the u.s. government is involved in oklahoma bombings and 9/11. so it's just, he really lives in the land of wacky. but, all we're asking for is a rational conversation about gun control. i think that's what you were asking for last night. you didn't get that. and that's really what need to begin right now. but the problem is, it has to go through congress, and as we know today, nothing can get through congress. but politics all starts locally. so it has to do with these legislators going back to their local towns, their local town hall meetings, and hearing from people that they represent, they want this done. it's going to come from the america people saying, we're outraged, and make sure the conversation continues. like you're having this conversation, make sure we continue to talk about it and

make sure the people that represent them, that they want it to be done. because they just want to be re-elected at the end of the day, right? >> but buzz bissinger, this is all well and good, but part of the problem is that the wording of the second amendment is so woolly and so open to interpretation and conjecture, and it ruled on the supreme court's objection in 2008 to be an absolute vindication of their belief the second amendment gives everybody a license to have as many arms as they'd like. >> look, i'm not a lawyer, i'm not a scholar. it seems as if a 10-year-old would read the second amendment and say, you have the right to bear arms for the formation of a militia. i think the 2008, and i'm saying this as a layman, i think two 2008 supreme court ruling was a travesty, at the very least. it should be a state's right, when they ruled the way they did, it opened it up to every night. and one of the things that mr. jones said that bothered me the

most was the complete dismissal of what he called gangbanger violence. as bad as sandy was, the worst thing is we are encouraging as a nation black on black genocide in our inner cities and no one apparently cares about it. >> it's a good point. i mean, chicago is a totally different issue to anything else that we've seen and remains as bad as it's ever been. let's take a break. when we come back, reading, writing, and rifles. would you feel safer if your child's teacher had a gun? i know i wouldn't. i want to know what the panel think. back with me now is gloria allred, buzz bissinger, and abby huntsman. welcome to you all again. gloria, more than 900 teachers have signed up for is a gun training program in texas. what do you make of that? >> well, i feel that they are afraid. and of course, they are on alert. they are concerned that what but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

happened in connecticut might

gloria, more than 900 teachers have signed up for is a gun training program in texas. what do you make of that? >> well, i feel that they are afraid. and of course, they are on alert. they are concerned that what happened in connecticut might happen in their school. i was a teacher for many years before becoming an attorney and security in schools is something we all have to be concerned about. we all want our children to be safe and our teachers and other staff in schools to be safe. but arming teachers, i think, is the wrong step to take. we know, often, that there are more accidents in homes with guns, where children can get access to guns. sometimes they're left not locked up or children can get into the area where they are locked up, and i'm concerned that could happen in schools. i think we have to have more security, but not guns for teachers. >> buzz bissinger, my problem

with all of this is it's all dealing with the egg and not the chicken. they're not dealing with the problem of the gun supply. they're dealing with all the aftermath of that. and the most horrifying aspect is what happens after these outrages is that the nra and the others get on television, spread all the fear, wayne la pierre and alex jones and others, and then the americans rush out and buy ever-more of these weapons and ever more of this ammunition. and so it goes on. >> i mean, i agree with you. i think the purchase of guns went up after sandy hook. look, it is pathetic. it is ridiculous that you are allowed -- i don't care what the justification is, that you are allowed in this country to own a semi-automatic weapon, much less a handgun. but what do you need a semi-automatic weapon for. the on thing i think you need it is, piers, challenge alex jones to a boxing match, show up with a semi-automatic that you got

legally, and pop him. >> i would love to see that, in uniform. but i don't think more guns are the answer here. >> they keep saying, don't they, more guns, less crime. more guns, less crime. in fact, that's just not backed up by any real evidence. >> it's not. and we've talked about the founding fathers earlier, but they did not intend to live in a society, the modern society that we live in today, where we have a lot more people living in big cities, higher crime, no money, or less money, and more guns with no gun laws. i think it's only rational to say we need to take a step back and really do something about this. but there's another big component to this, and that is mental health. we can't afford for mental health -- you think when local governments get money to pay for things, that goes to the back burners. it's up to the american people to say we need to focus on mental health. >> the focus has got to be on

what causes this, not the aftermath. that's the problem. it is the chicken and the egg. you've got to deal with the chicken, not the egg. >> i think it's great that general mcchrystal spoke out today about the fact that no one needs assault weapons, just the military. and i think we can do away with clips. why does anyone need multiple rounds? >> no one needs that. thank you to my great panel. buzz bissinger, abby huntsman, and gloria allred. when we come back, the rape case that's stunning the nation. i'll talk to the attorney of the alleged victim and to an attorney for one of the accused. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country,

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>> from the group anonymous seeking information about a rape case that's seeking america. two high school football stars are accused of raping a teenage girl, with the defendants using video and social media to mock her. with me for his first on-camera exclusive interview is bob simmons, attorney for a 16-year-old alleged rape victim. welcome, mr. simmons. first of all, how is your client? >> thank you for asking, piers. she's doing very well. she's actually a remarkable young lady and a very strong family. she's gone back to school. she's engaging in the fall activities of team sport, and just today, we just learned that she was actually given an award for some honors for her academics. it's been tough, it's difficult, you can imagine going through this and all the publicity, also, has had a drastic effect upon the family, but it's actually brought them probably closer together. they're finding strength in each

other right now, and they're trying to move on and hoping to conclude this thing sooner than later, also. >> does she really know what happened to her? >> well, that's the case. she was unconscious that particular evening and it's not the young victim that's pointing the finger. what happened was, through the actions of various individuals, including the defendants and other individuals that were there, through social media, the evidence evolved over a period of a couple days, so her learning process and her family's process took time and it evolved to the point that the authorities then, based on that information, made the allegations and the charges against the individual defendants right now. but she was totally unconscious. it's -- our children today. test. test. test. . police in chicago were investigating the death of a man who died after winning $1 million in the lottery. it appeared his death was due to

natural causes, but after a closer look, it turned out he had been poisoned. our affiliate wgn has more. >> reporter: he was a regular lottery player. employees are having trouble accepting what they're hearing. >> that is sad. that's sad. very seared. but i guess it's true when they say the money is the root of all evil. >> reporter: in june he purchased two, the second one he scratched off wand a winner. at the he planned to make bills and to grow his dry cleanling business. about a month later, a police report states the 46-year-old had dinner at his rogers park home, went to bed and then he family heard him screaming. he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. the medical examiner tells the tribune no signs of trauma, no drugs in his blood. the pathologist determined he died at natural causes. the m.e.'s office did toxicology tests which found he died of a lethal amount of cyanide.

he came from india in the 1980s, he owned three dry-cleaning offices. >> he was very nice. i mean, i would never think that anybody especially around him would hurt him. news person, very helpful. in a short time, he would come in and manage to have three businesses. that tells us what kind of person he was for his family. >> authorities are not considering exhuming hess body to see if there's any conclude yous to help the investigation. why are we so hooked on violence on screen? facebook or tweet me. i'll be right back. our "talk back" question of the day -- why are we hooked on violence on screen? this one is from royce. this is from matthew. and then when some kid mimics then, the same actors suggests we all turn in our guns? and from faith, people who don't do these things are interested in learning about the psyche of these people. who are they? what went wrong? how can this be? facebook.com/carolc.

sdpli sadly there was little suspension in the bcs game, except for how big the margin would be. alabama piled a 529 total yards, half of them on the ground. eddie lacey scored two touchdowns. the junior running back could be the nfl first rounder if he attorney's fees and we aren't charging for those. so they have asked those moneys be donated to the madden house at the ymca in wheeling, west virginia that takes care of abused women and rape victims. they would like to turn it into a positive. >> i think that's excellent thing and i would like to send our best wishes to our client.

whatever happens with the legal process, an awful ordeal you wouldn't wish on any young girl. please wish her well with her continued recovery. >> we will. thank you so much, piers. >> i want to bring in walter madison, attorney for malik richmond, attorney for one of the teens. this case is dividing america in many ways. your client, along with his friend, is, you know, public enemy number one right now. how do you defend him? >> quite simply. piers, first thing i want to make clear for everyone that they should understand really well, malik richmond has nothing to do with that video mr. fits simons premises that statement when he says defendants. he nothing to do with the video, not depicted, didn't produce the video. he has not disseminated the

material and no evidence that he promoted what we've seen on the internet. the other problem in terms of defending him, we have to right the ship. one of the problems, mr. fits simons has aligned himself with rape crisis centers, et cetera, and movements if you will, that issue can't be put on the back of my client. he deserves a fair trial. there is an atmosphere in that community, just today, the schools on lockdown. there was a death threat. i don't know what attendance will be like the rest of the week there at school. but there were witnesses in the community that were willing to come in on behalf of my client. >> does your client accept that he behaved badly on the night in generally? >> he is 16 years old. he doesn't want to be judged for the rest of his life for what he

did at 16. nor would you or i. he is a juvenile, and they lack the maturity. >> do you believe there is sufficient doubt about your client's involvement in the sexual aspect of this case that he will be acquitted? >> look, i'm not here to do what social media is doing, okay. i'm here to at least offer a voice. i have a message. the message is simple. this case, as serious as it may be, we have rights in this country to a fair trial. now, as repugnant as this video is, okay, it is his form of expression. the gentleman we know as michael. that's his form of expression, and irony, social media also argues they have a right to expression. and, therefore, they may say and do what they like without impugnity, without identifying themselves. so because we don't like what he says, and it charges us emotionally, my client becomes

vilified for it, and it's protected speech. >> very strong points to be made on both sides about the role of social media. a dangerous, dangerous way of dealing with any of these stories. the trial is scheduled to begin on february 13th. i'm sure we'll talk again. thank you for coming in. be right back.