tv CNN Newsroom CNN May 29, 2013 8:00am-9:01am PDT
8:00 am
o easy to use, it won a best of ces award from cnet. and it comes inside this beautifully crafted carrying case. introducing the all-new 2014 chevrolet impala with the available mylink system. ♪ [ beeps ] ingeniously connecting you to your life and the road. that's american ingenuity to find new roads. good morning, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield, coming your way this hour, move over lindsay lohan, amanda bynes is stealing the headlines with her wigs an a growing rap sheet. is this a cry for help? we have called in dr. drew. also, we now know how this
8:01 am
newborn baby got stuck in a sewer pipe t. sorry behind his amazing rescue, amazing survival and very sad details of who is responsible. and listen to this, literally thousands of rapes could have been prevented. the rapists instead rotting in jail not walking the streets if only dna evidence was looked at instead of being sealed up and stashed away in supply closets across the country. first up this morning, she is not your usual suspect a. smiling, happy mother of seven. instead this morning is locked away in a members cal prison. -- in a mexican prison. the marijuana stash that the police say yanira maldonado was trying to bring across the border was more than 12-pounds hidden under the seat on the bus she was traveling in. the family says there is no way
8:02 am
it was hers. >> reporter: yanira maldonado's family was hoping she would be released. but the mormon mother of seven will remain in a mexican jail at least another day t. family insists she has no involvement in drugs and is being framed. >> whoever was the cause of that, that's who i'm angry at. the people that hurt my mom and put her in prison without having evidence. >> reporter: maldonado was arrested last week after mexican authorities said they found 12-pound of marijuana under the seat of a commercial bus she was riding home in from the funeral with her husband, gary. gary maldonado said he was asked to pay a $5,000 bribe for his wife's freedom. as he tried raise the money, she was shipped off to jail. the family was happy about the
8:03 am
evidence presented in court so far. in mexico, there has been a struggle to modernize the corrupt judicial system. >> the judicial system there is even more corrupt than the police and when you are brought into a judicial proceeding, you don't get to face your accuser. you don't have an automatic right to a lawyer. you may be held before you're brought to trial for some weeks and it's a closed proceeding. >> reporter: in this case the judge has the power to hold maldonado in prison up to four months before trial that, would likely by more pressure from the u.s. authorities t. office of senator jeff lake of arizona says senator flake has been in contact with the family as well as officials in members ka and the u.s. regarding the isca. he will continue to monitor the situation. >> senator flake joins us live
8:04 am
from arizona, how soon will there be move him for yanira maldonado? >> well, ashley what will happen to the mexican military personnel will testify at a court hearing, they will be cross-examined by yanira maldonado's attorney. it is expected a decision will be reached by the judge to whether to hold herbie friday. but this is a slow maine pains taking process as described to pe by family members, they are typing up statements on a manual typewriter as the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney look over the typist's shoulder and suggest about argues of correction in accuracy. so it's a very, very slow process. but according to mekts mexican embassy in washington, d.c., they are expecting a ruling on her immediate future very soon. >> so at this point are the u.s. government officials getting involved in are the embassy
8:05 am
official, you know, coming anywhere close to this jail to meet with her? what contact has she had with americans? >> reporter: it's a very limited basis. right now, the u.s. consulate says it has met with mexican authorities on this case, but it's referring all questions to mexican authorities and yanira maldonado's mexican attorney, ashleigh. >> casey wian, thank you for. that casey reporting live for us this morning. for-on-more on this case, i want to bring in lisa bloom, the legal analyst for avo.com and christine glil grillo is a prosecutor right here in new york city. these sound to me to be serious charges, it's not a small amount of maumpblt it's over 12-pound, it was at the border, given that set of facts, given the fact that it was on a bus and under a seat, how strong a case do they have against this woman in. >> it's not insufficient in and of itself.
8:06 am
12-pounds is a large amount of marijuana, did someone see her carrying it on the bus, affixing it on the seat. she just came from a funeral. she was presumably with family members at the time. could it have been smblt na put it oo somebody else that put it under the bus. she could have been framed. i don't think just the marijuana being found under her seat is going to be sufficient to get a conviction against her. >> but then i would say here, are you absolutely right. but christine grillo, are you a prosecutor in america. what is it like there? how does the pros skew torn process really -- prosecutorial really work? >> i can't speak for mexico, i was there vacationing. i can say here, in new york, anywhere, that is not going to hold. you need some more proof. you need something else to connect her, to the illegal substance. the marijuana under the seat t. only thing i would say like lisa brought out, 12-pounds is a lot. if it were put in her bag where
8:07 am
she didn't know about it. 12-pounds is a lot. that's the only thing that would raise eyebrows, how was that put into your bag that you have absolutely no idea it was there. >> you would think there would be a busload of witnesses to see a small and, you know, can you see from her photographs, her wedding picture. she is a very slight framed woman carrying a large 12-pound stash of marijuana, would not be an easy feat to go undecked. that said, lisa, do have you any idea what happens when a circumstance develops like this where you have an american who is at the border, is in jail, is facing a different kind of, this is a place where they don't have jury trials. do american embassy officials get involved right away? do they have the kind of sway that perhaps we might think they do? >> well, yes, and you know, ash leak, i travel -- ashleigh, i travel internationally myself the first thing an american should do is to contact the american embassy, that's what they're there for, to hepp help
8:08 am
americans abroad in any kind of a problem, especially with a legal problem. having said that, of course, we are subject to the laws and the legal systems of other countries when we travel abroad. mexico is notorious for corruption in the legal system, corruption by law enforcement. i have experienced that personally. i live in los angeles. i used to go to mexico a lot. i had police officer pull me over and ask for bryant. it's a disturbing situation. so she's going to have to prove that, if the husband says that the police asked him for $5,000, that's unfortunately a fairly typical story. but, nevertheless, she is going to have to prove that in mexico. she can't get a jury in mexico just because americans are entitled to jury trials in the u.s. >> casey wian is watching this carefully. we will see what comes up today. ly ask the beth of to you stick around. i have a lot more questions for you the journalist panel of lawyers. in the meantime, i have a couple of stories, tea party favorite michelle bachmann is saying so long, capitol hill, in
8:09 am
a video that she supported strangely in the middle of the night to her campaign website. a congress woman from minnesota says she is not going to run for re-election next year. she has long been a harsh critic of president obama. that former presidential candidate says while she will be stepping out of the political spotlight, she has no plans to fade from public view. stay tune where michelle bachmann ends up next. more than half of the country is facing severe weather. forecasters are warning of tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, flooding. every state east of the rockies, if you can believe it, is on the alert. what you are seeing on your screen is some of these picture. this is a tornado ripping across central kansas just last night. the result, six farms, very hard hit. one of them destroyed, in fact. tonight, country singer blake shelt shelton is going to
8:10 am
lead an all star lineup. a concert for those hit by last week's deadly tornado in oklahoma. shelton is a native oklahoman. he will appear with his wife and fellow country singer miranda lambert. it's an amazing lineup, vince girl, reevaa mcintyre. this is something that a lot of people have been discussing. whether it is with their family, whether it is with their doctors. whether it is with their office workers. the remarkable survivor story of a newborn baby boy rescued from this sewage pipe in china. now we are learning more about not only his recovery but his mother. that's coming up next. [ male announcer ] zzzquil™ sleep-aid. it's not for colds.
8:11 am
8:13 am
8:14 am
david mackenzie joins live with the latest. david, first and foremost, give us an update on the condition of the baby. >>. >> reporter: what an extraordinary story, ashleigh, the doctors are telling us the baby will survive. the newborn which doesn't even have a name, he is just known as baby no. 59 because that's the number of incubator he was placed in a local hospital. this really amazing story from the moment when neighbors heard noises coming in from the bathroom. they thought it might be a cat or something else. then they saw two small feet. they called in rescuers. they had to hack away the pipe, take the pipe to the hospital. proprietary opened and find this nothing newborn a. very amazing story on the resilience on the part of that child, ashleigh. >> we are seeing the pictures of the baby after this amazing recovery and rescue t. little baby in-incubator in the
8:15 am
hospital. his legs were all cut and bruised, but it's incredible that he is doing well. what is the story of the mother of that little baby today? >> reporter: well, they're trying to piece together that information. we spoke to police in the region and near the hospital, ash leak. they say it appears that the mother's story at this stage is checking out, that she felt stomach cramps, that she knew she was pregnant but wasn't expecting the baby to come. she rushed into the toilet and gave birth and then it seems like she panicked, neighbors say she was very young from out of town, not clear what the circumstances are of the pregnancy or even of the birth. now, they say to us thatty stage they don't plan on pressing charges, but operating here in china particularly on line and amazement around the world that these images, i think those details will come in.
8:16 am
the sense is that at this stage, they're not going to prosecute the woman, which is very interesting, indeed. >> one other detail i found remarkable this morning, david, that is she is the person who called her landlord and made the initial report that there was a baby stuck in the pipe. but going from there, is there much more that we know about her involvement afterwards? >> reporter: well, they do say the police say that her story checks out. as i said, they say that when the baby fell into this pipe. it's kind of hard to imagine this, particularly if you have children, this actually happening in these circumstances, she tried to get a stick and pry the baby out. there was too much blood. she calls the landlord. from there, it's unclear whether she was trying to get out of any kind of responsibility. some reports stuthing that as she left the scene, others that
8:17 am
she stayed. this isn't completely unprecedented in china and other parts of the world. there are instances where people tried to abandon tear baby on purpose. at this stage that appears that wasn't the case. >> david mackenzie, an incredible story of one tough little baby boy. david, thank you. i want to update you on a story as well. jodi arias. today, she is sitting in an arizona jail cell. she will wait almost two more months to find out if she will face life or death in prison. all of this as members of her former jury are now speaking about the difficulty in deciding to send someone to their death. [ male announcer ] my client gloria has a lot going on in her life. wife, mother, marathoner. but one day it's just gonna be james and her. so as their financial advisor, i'm helping them look at their complete financial picture -- even the money they've invested elsewhere -- to create a plan that can help weather all kinds of markets.
8:18 am
because that's how they're getting ready, for all the things they want to do. [ female announcer ] when people talk, great things can happen. so start a conversation with an advisor who's fully invested in you. wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. wells fargo advisors. (girl) w(guy) dive shop.y? (girl) diving lessons. (guy) we should totally do that. (girl ) yeah, right. (guy) i wannna catch a falcon! (girl) we should do that. (guy) i caught a falcon. (guy) you could eat a bug. let's do that. (guy) you know you're eating a bug. (girl) because of the legs. (guy vo) we got a subaru to take us new places. (girl) yeah, it's a hot spring. (guy) we should do that. (guy vo) it did. (man) how's that feel? (guy) fine. (girl) we shouldn't have done that. (guy) no. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good.
8:20 am
8:21 am
their jury questionnaire before the trial got under way, if after hearing the evidence, reviewing the instructions and deliberating with your fellow jurors, you believe a death sentence is the appropriate sentence, would you personally be able to enter that verdict? yes or no? and to be death kwauvlgsd you qualified, you have to answer question, they did, each one of them. within it came down to really, really doing it, this was, programs, a much tougher -- perhaps a much tougher choice. >> i can't begin to express how hard it was. it was one of those factors when i filmed out the jury question narks i said, can i do it. this is something i believed in, in my whole life, if you do the time, you need to do the time, you need to be held accountable for your actions. i felt that all the way through. the day it was turned over to us for the penalty phase, i went home and spent the whole night asession how i could do it.
8:22 am
if i could actually say she should be put to death. i got to that answer. >> when i walked into the courtroom the first time and looked at who the defendant was, you know, it's hard to put that in perspective, when you look at a young woman and think of the crime. then you see the brutality of the crime. it just doesn't wash. so it's very difficult. >> the responsibility was overwhelming. and i think that by the end of it, we were mentally, emotionally exhausted. i think we were, we were horrified when we found out that they actually called a mistrial and we felt like we had failed. >> we had to sit in judgment on another human. what she did was horrible. it was horrendous. she has to be held accountable and responsible for. we were saddened. we were frustrated. it was -- we felt like we let
8:23 am
the system down. we felt like we let travis' family down, but because of the instructions that we were given, it ended up the way it ended up, which was not ideal, but it is what it is. >> it is what it is. that's tremendous insight that we don't always get after a verdict, especially a controversial verdict. dr. drew pins can i is pinsky on call. dr. drew is live with me now. diane swartz, dr. drew, said she believed in the death penalty her whole life, but when it ultimately came down to make that decision. it's a kettle of fish. when are you in the room with that person, that's thumbs up our thunls down. did that surprise you? >> that doesn't surprise me, the way you set that question up, it's an extremely awesome
8:24 am
responsibility no matter how clear you are with the appropriateness of the death penalty, itself. diane was clear the brutality of the murder, even she equivocated a bit. some of the instructions they were getting about the death penalty instructed them to look into the previous history of crime the previous behavior. there were several jurors who were not only convinced this was a sort of an alchemy of that relationship that, she has no history he was likely to do this thing. several jurors believed the abuse defense to some degree or another. so they were absolutely clear to give it to a serial killer or to someone that met that criteria that they were given, but they were also very clear they could not give it to jodi arias, so they were deadlocked. to say, i'm troubled by people saying the system didn't work, it was a troubling outcome. no. things worked the way they were supposed to. >> this is just situation, for
8:25 am
people who said they didn't get a verdict. they got a verdict. it was the third answer on the for it isn't palatable to some people. this is justice. i got to ask you, do you think, drew, if we are going to employ a death penalty and do death qualified jurors, do we need to get away from the euphemism of the word death and do we need to use the word her defense attorney used in court by putting her hands on her shoulder and saying, can you kill her? do we need to ask that question of jurors before we empanel them? >> i think that's true. i think it's appropriate for the defense to put those words into the mix when the jurors are actually asked to do this. but once again, let's remind ourselves, apparently there were four that decided against the death penalty. they were very clear, they could have done it. they just weren't going to do it to jodi based on the defence they heard. so, once again, also the other thing that's really interesting is they were really clear with
8:26 am
the wishes of the family t. family was empassioned in their desire for the death penalty. we have to intercede between the people who want retribution and the functioning. i'm bewildered by people saying it worked. it worked. it's cumbersome. i don't like that, but that's designed the way it works. >> that's the reason we have mitigators, not just aggravators, they clearly looked at the mitigators. dr. drew, it's good to talk to you, especially for your insight after interviewing them and the insight you have. dr. drew reporting for us live. a young actress taking her side of a very bizarre story and unleerk it on twitter. lashing out at anyone in her path. the latest on a young woman niemd amanda bynes and her bizarre behavior since yet another arrest last week.
8:27 am
8:28 am
it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. and make your business dream a reality. ♪ chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for boat insurance. geico, see how much you could save.
8:30 am
with a squeaky clean girl-next-door image and now this is amanda bynes. quite the opposite of the original image. now, she's 27. and she seems headed down an all too familiar road. a troubled young celebrity with a rap sheet that just keeps growing. here's hln's a.j. hammer. >> reporter: the images of amanda bynes hiding behind a blond wig and under arrest by new york city police have left many people asking, what happened to this amanda? a successful young actress with a once clean cut reputation, basis points first road rose to fame on nickelodeon's "all that" and "amanda show." her television work led to several movie roles, most recently playing a virtuous team opposite emma stone in 2010's, "easy a."
8:31 am
>> i'm not the one you have to answer to for your creep behavior. will is a higher power that you will answer to. >> reporter: after that, she stepped into legal problems. she is fighting a dui case. last year, two separate hit-and-run charges were dismissed. earlier this month, the actress was sentenced to three years probation for driving on a suspended license. >> do you live here? are you planning on paying the debt? >> reporter: now, bynes is answering to a u.s. city judge for allegedly tossing a bong out of her knicks 36th floor new york city apartment. appear income a long, blond, disheveled wig, she was charged with tampering with criminal evidence and legal possession of maumpb. >> have you ever thrown a drug out the window? >> reporter: bynes denies the charges and subsequently made allegations of her own against the nypd in a series of strange
8:32 am
tweets. he slapped my have agy narcs big deal. the cops sexually harassed me. they found no bong outside my window or pot on me, that's why the judge let me go. they zell tell cnn they find no evidence. in spite of her troubles, bynes sounds upbeat about her future tweekt i'm get income shape, getting a nose job, i'm looking forward to a long and wonderful career as a singer/rapper. perhaps, now she is getting attention for her rap sheet and tweets. a.j. hammer, cnn, new york. >> so i just wanted to show you a couple of things that i woke up to this weekend with regard to this young woman, amanda bynes, the new york post showed her in court with a blond wick. monday, here she is right here, attacking reihan na. this time with a series of very
8:33 am
nasty, nasty tweets. here it is again, that was daily news, here's the new york post amanda ripping riri with what appears to be a rolled up cigarette of some kind. let me tell you of the tweets she has been sending out in floor rihanna. this is why it caught so much attention. she tweeted out chris brown beat you because you are not pretty enough. bynes is now denying she sent that tweet. she says it was mocked up by somebody else. there is a photo we have of her in better times in twoex when they were at an awards show together. it's a little unclear to why all of a sudden everything went south at least amanda and rihanna. rihanna sent some fwooet tweets back that weren't friendly. rihanna is not the only person she has a twitter feud.
8:34 am
courtney love told bynes to pull it together. she tweeted back that courtney love is the ugliest woman i've ever seen. to be mentioned by her at all makes me and all my friend laugh. when she got unsloifted advice from a model. she said, you are not a pretty model compared to me. i signed to ford models at age 13. i don't respect you. you are for the beauty queen, not even her own parents have been safe from her tweets. bynes said never trust or listen to a word any person from my family says to the press. i am suing them for money laundering, unethical manager work. we are for the longer on speaking terms. i would rather them be homeless than live off my money. so, obviously, a frantic series of troubling tweets from a young woman who appears to be having a lot of difficulty. i want to bring in our legal analysts, lisa bloom is with
8:35 am
avo.com. kristin grillo is a prosecutor in brooklyn, new york. hln's dr. drew is with us. drew, first of all, i want to get your reaction to the tenor of those tweet the frantic nature of them and who many of those tweets blame everyone else for whatever is being accused of her, then there is this insistence she has done nothing wrong, has nothing going on in her life and she is pretty imperfect. >> well, one of the haulmark features of psychiatric illness oftentimes is a lack of insight or a loss of insight. and she clearly has none. she does not understand how she is being perceived. she blames circumstances for everything happening in her life. it's interesting, you used the word frantic. i would use the word manic. particularly, i have done with a series of young women that impulsively shave their had. that's what amanda did, britney spears did. those people in my experience have been bipolar in a manic
8:36 am
episode. it sounds like this is a young woman in trouble. >> christine grillo, as a prosecutor, do you have insight to how another grown adult can gain control over an adult? what does it take when you have someone who is clearly the age of majority for another person to take control of them and help them? >> it takes more of a criminal act. it would take, in other words, another adult to take control of the 27-year-old at this point for what amanda has done. i don't see that happening. if she had done something more like committed some kind of a felony, then we could bring that in front of a unl j. we could have that into the mental hygiene part. a judge could mandate treatment. that's not what's happening here. her crimes haven't ris on the level. she has driving, a dui, hit-and-run and marijuana. those are drugs, crimes, rather that, are so low level. they're not rising to the potent where a civil commitment.
8:37 am
it would mandate a civil commitment. which is a whole separate ball game from going and having criminal charges brought before a criminal judge and asking as a prosecutor for the judge to mandate some kind of treatment. clearly, this young girl is having trouble and difficulty. but as far as having her committed criminally, i don't see that happening. civilly, i don't know she's risen quite to the level that they would do that. >> when britney spears went through her host of issues, there were the issues of being a danger to herself or others. that was prominently played. i know you have a lot of interest in this. when lindsay lohan was struggling, her father tried to gain a conservatorship over her. can you give me the insight on how that went? >> he didn't get a conservativeship, we talked at great length, livend salo hasn't was in a similar situation, nation a host of problems, acting impulsively, acting
8:38 am
erratically t. question is, what can you do? michael lohan was no different than my other law clients, except for the fact that he was a intrichlt within you have a young adult clearly making bad choices, it's gut wrenching for the family, the parents, what can you do? to get a conservatorship over somebody is very difficult. you have to show they are completely unable to care for themself, somebody like amanda bynes, act strangely is probably not going to be enough. what the family can do as we did in the lohan case is to get criminal court to exercise more control over here. the criminal court has a lot of suggestion, she can be subjected to random drug tests or police randomly coming in, searching her home, once she's been convicted and is on probation. so those are the kind of things can you do to tightenthe controls over a young person and poppe hopefully get them some help they need. >> dr. drew, if you could weigh in for a second, that is, we
8:39 am
don't know what might be at play with amanda bients, we don't know if there is a drug issue, a psychiatric issue or somebody acting in an unusual way. but with your ensight, is it hard -- insight, is it hard to pinpoint someone who might need help, hard to pinpoint whether thigh are psychiatric issues? would it make a difference if you were going to route that lisa bloom was discuss something. >> at a distance, of course. it's essentially impossible. we are speculating for conversation. in a room, evaluating a person, no, it's quite rudimentary. it is no problem at all. to pile on to what your legal experts are saying, not only are there the legal difficulties, remind everybody, the physicians have a lot of pull here. we can step in and say this person needs a conservatorship, if she hasn't committed a felony yet, we can see trouble coming. things like aurora, colorado can be avoided if people do the right thing, with i is jump in
8:40 am
and get a conservatorship. the problem, i've recommended that hundreds of times to patients, in addition to it being legally cumbersome, parents don't want to disrupt their relationship with their child. they are reluctant to do it. of the hundreds of times, i had people do it a handful of times. every time, it has saved the patient's life. >> we really wish her the best. it's always difficult to see this downward spiral. no matter the cause. dr. drew, thank you, christine grillo, thank you. stay with us, if you would, please. ments just ahead, crimes that could have been prevented if only the evidence hadn't been shelved, just shelved and stored, 400,000 rape kits signature unopened and untested across this country. our randi kaye has an examination of the problem and talks to the victims whose rapists were free to rape again. you have the potential to do more in business. by earning a degree from capella university,
8:41 am
you'll have the knowledge to make an impact in your company and take your career to an even greater place. let's get started at capella.edu. next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. i take bayer aspirin. [ male announcer ] so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. see your doctor and get checked out.
8:42 am
8:44 am
. >> this story seems really inconceivable. hundreds of thousands of rape cases never even processed, not even looked at. more terrifying, though, perhaps, rapists out on the loose, some serial rapists, raping again, putting other people at serious risk because that evidence is stith sitting on a shelf somewhere. the problem is happening all over the united states. our randi kaye is zeroings in on it from dallas, texas. >> reporter: in june, 1984, carol bart endured the most terrifying experience of her life. she was only 24. >> reporter: did you think you were going to die that night? >> i did think i was going to die that night. i believed he was going to kill me. >> reporter: it was around 1:30 in the morning. carol was returning home from a night out from friends. she was feet from her door in this dallas apartment complex when a man grabbed her and forced her back into her car. he then pulled the car around beside a dumpster and spent the
8:45 am
next three-and-a-half hours raping her. >> if i screamed or cried, he threatened me, that he'd kill me. >> reporter: when it was over, carol drove herself to the hospital, where doctors took swabs from her skin, hairs and fibers from her clothes. all a part of what's called a rape kit. it was humiliating, but carol endured it because she thought the material checked would help police catch her attacker. more than two decades later, carole's rapist still hadn't been identified. but a routine call in 2008 to check in on the case revealed something shocking. carole's attacker was still on the loose because police had not exhausted every lead. he was still out there because the most crucial piece of evidence, that rape kit, had never been processed. how did you feel about the fact that your kit had been sitting on the shelf for so many years? >> they had just let them stack
8:46 am
up, stack up, and stack up. that's just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasn't the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> they're vital to our investigations, no question about that. >> reporter: sergeant welsh turned to the team here at the southwestern institute of forensic science. he asked them to test every single untested swab sitting in their freezer. there were thousands of them dating back to 1970. not a single one had ever been processed t. sergeant says decades ago, law enforcement just didn't have the tools to solve there's cases. dna technology wasn't available to them until the 19 then. >> we solved well over 80 cases from the early ''80s and early '90s. >> reporter: from the rape kits?
8:47 am
>> from the rach kits. >> reporter: and carole's case was one of them. just four months, four monthings after carole's kit was located and analyzed the man who raped her was identified. adding insult to injury, joseph houston couldn't be charged in carole's case because the statute of limitations had run out. it turns out after carole's rape, he kidnapped another woman and exposed himself to a child. carol believes if her rape kit had been analyzed years ago, her attacker might have been picked up and others wouldn't have been harmed. lovinia master's case had gone cold, too. she had been raped at 13 back in 1985. >> i woke up with a knife to my throat, someone spreading my legs apart, ripping my underwear from me. >> reporter: her rape kit sat on the shelf 21 years until she
8:48 am
called sergeant welsh. >> after 21 years, they had unearthed your case, how frustrating was that? >> i felt i was forgotten about. >> a few months later, he got a hit. he showed her a photo of a man that raped her all those years ago. >> i was like, oh my god, that was him, that was him. it was amazing to me to see what dna could do and how it changed my life. >> too many years had passed for her to bring charges. it turns out the man was already in prison for raping two other women at knifepoint. he was up for parole but his parole was denied after a dna match was finally made in her case. but this isn't just a texas problem. it's estimated as many as 400,000 rape kits are sitting untested nationwide. 400,000. detroit has just started testing their backlog of 11,000 kits. and of the 300 they've tested,
8:49 am
they've gotten 119 hits. and of those, 29 have been i.d.'d as serial rapists. it's all beyond frustrating for carol bart. >> i can understand one city maybe being neglect, but a nation being neglect with rape kits? i don't understand it. this is a felony crime. >> reporter: a felony crime that still has police plague catch up. randi kaye, cnn, dallas. >> so carol, lavinia they have no recourse. what about civil, could people sue the police over this? our expert legal panel is standing by for not only that question but how on earth this happened in the first place, coming back right after this. . [ female announcer ] what makes you walk a little taller?
8:51 am
it begins with your skin. venus & olay -- gently exfoliates with 5 blades. plus olay moisture bars help renew goddess skin. only from venus & olay. of mild to moderate alzheimer's disease is exelon patch. now with more treatment options, exelon patch may improve overall function and cognition. your loved one can get a free 30-day trial. and you can have access to nurses. it does not change how the disease progresses. hospitalization, and rarely death, have been reported from wearing more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fall, loss of appetite or weight, application site redness, and urinary tract infection. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases or if patients weigh less than 110 pounds. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines
8:52 am
should talk to their doctor as serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. patients may experience slow heart rate. free trial offer for them. nurses to talk to for you. visit exelonpatchoffer.com. ♪ hundreds of thousands of cases of rape, their evidence shelved, never tested, those rapists free to roam the streets and reoffend and reoffend and reoffend. joining us now are legal analysts from avo.com, lisa bloom and from the brooklyn d.a., prosecutor christine grilo. christine, let me start with you. law enforcement said they dntd have the tools. didn't have dna testing to them until the '90s. for some reason that just falls flat. it's been 20 years since the
8:53 am
1990s began. what's the other reason that all these pieces of evidence just sit there? >> well, also it's manpower. but you have to remember that the pool of comparison has been broadened too now because now they're taking samples from lots of people so they can compare what they have in these dna kits. it's been an evolution and should know that the laws are changing too. the statute of limitations has been lifted in new york on rape one and other sexual crimes and states as well so there wouldn't be that stopping of the prosecution of that case for a statute of limitations here in new york and other states. >> but not all states. >> but not all. but the law is changing as it's evolving and things are getting -- and people are improving in finding these defendants, the law is changing to accommodate that. >> lisa, i just -- i can only follow on another reason that perhaps with all of the different crimes out there, perhaps rape falls down in the priority when it comes to getting those dna labs to work harder, provide results. i get it, they're backed up.
8:54 am
i get that. but why is the crime of rape less important than any other crimes? >> you're absolutely right, ashleigh. i rail about this in my book "swagger," our priorities are all out of whack in the criminal justice system. we have hundreds of thousands of people currently lly incarcera for minor crimes like drug possession for marijuana, this is appalling. this is such an important story and i applaud you and cnn for running it. there is no excuse for allowing rapists to go free. i think we all have to take a very hard look at ourselves in the mirror as a culture as to how seriously we take the crime of rape if we allow these cases to go unsolved. >> and then one answer, yes or no, christine grillo, one answer, can these women sue the police for this? >> yes. in certain circumstances, yes. >> maybe money will really start to talk. lisa bloom, christine grillo, thank you both. we're back right after this.
8:57 am
thanks for watching, everyone. "around the world" is next. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal.
8:58 am
begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. [ dad ] tide and downy together. athey wonder how much fastere justthis thing could go?be.go. what if i took it down that hill? what if it weighed less or turned sharper? they know that things can always be better. we count ourselves among those people. introducing the quicker, sleeker, smarter, best civic si yet.
8:59 am
made possible by honda. is engineered for comfort. like parts that create your perfect temperature and humidity or the parts that purify the air. together, these parts can cut your heating and cooling bills in half. which is quite comforting. and here's the best part... call now to get up to sixteen hundred dollars back or 12 months deferred interest on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 14th. plus download our free lennox mobile app with an energy-savings calculator. ♪ if your current system is 10 years or older, start planning now. and take advantage of special financing. so call now to get up to sixteen hundred dollars back. or 12 months deferred interest on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 14th.
9:00 am
and download our free lennox mobile app. ♪ lennox. innovation never felt so good. a virus spreading taking lives now and the world health organization says "it's a threat to the entire world." we're going to explain what is in a live report from abu dhabi, where the virus began. and this arizona mother of seven busted for pot in mexico, her family says she was set-up by the cops. she remains in jail. we continue to follow her story as she waits to find out her fate. then, the taliban's number two guy in pakistan is killed, taken out by a u.s. drone strike. this after president obama said he was scaling back the drone program. a live report
201 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CNN (San Francisco) Television Archive Television Archive News Search Service The Chin Grimes TV News ArchiveUploaded by TV Archive on