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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  January 14, 2014 8:00pm-9:01pm PST

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the sheriff says no foul play. the dead man's family says coverup. part two of our investigation into the strange disappearance and suspicious death of an
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african-american man in texas. also tonight, the husband of a brain dead pregnant woman says she never wanted it to end this way. hooked up to a machine, the hospital won't disconnect. now a new development, he's taking the case to court. and the strange and terrible case of a man who shoots and kills someone for texting in a movie theater and is claiming self-defense by getting hit by something witnesses say was nothing more than a bag of popcorn. we begin with keeping them honest, into the death of 28-year-old alfred wright. he's the rural texas father of two who vanished last november. his family found his body two weeks after authorities gave up searching. the family says virtually nothing makes any sense. not the cause of death, not the official theory of how and why a man with everything lived for, stripped down to his boxers,
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wandered off and gave himself a lethal dose of drugs that his family says he has no history of using. first a warning, some of the images are graphic. here's part two. >> reporter: alfred white's body was found less than 150 yards from where deputies set up their demand post. >> how was he so close? and they didn't find him? it's not like he was miles away. he was right there. >> reporter: saying there was no foul play, sheriff tom maddox called off the search after only four days. leaving family and friends to find the body on their own. >> and his spirit spoke out to me and says daddy, i knew you were going to find me. >> reporter: just as the sheriff had for seen, an autopsy did find drugs, three kinds,
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including meth. >> i still know and believe whole heartedly that someone did this to my husband. >> reporter: despite heavy rains, thick mud, brambles, underbrush, barb wire and wild animals, his body was found virtually clean and in tact, 19 days after he disappeared. alfred's body was stretched out and he was wearing a pair of black boxers, two tennis shoes, but just one sock. his father and the volunteers who had searched for him were caked in mud and clothing torn, which made his appearance even stranger. >> what was weird about his sock is, in this area, his socks were clean and his sock was pulled up. his tennis shoes were very
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clean. >> reporter: what about his car keys? >> i was mold by the mortician that came, who was there at the autopsy, that when they pulled off his left shoe, which did not have a sock, his keys was under his left feet in his shoe. >> reporter: the second sock was under the body. he had searched that ranch area in the days after alfred's truck broke down and some clothing found scattered around the property. then there was no sign of alfred, leading the family to believe his body ended up here after the search. >> there's an open gate here, almost a straight path and his body was right through the gate. the fence here. down one of the only open trails in this woods. >> reporter: what doesn't make sense about what you were told by law enforcement? >> everything. >> reporter: we went to the county jail to talk to the sheriff. he refused to meet with us, but
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as we waited outside, he did return my call. i understand that it's been turned over to the information rangers, but a lot of -- there are a lot of rumors, a lot of speculation, a lot of allegations. we just wanted to give you -- before i could finish, the sheriff told us to call the rangers and said he never comments on rumors and speculation. you stand behind your handling of this -- of the initial stages of the investigation, sir, and how it was done? the sheriff repeated that at his request, the investigation was turned over to the texas rangers. that was one month after alfred's body was found. the sheriff told the family there was no foul play. the rangers, however, have since called alfred's death questionable, and have asked the fbi to assist. what about the drugs and autopsy performed? the autopsy determined that alfred's death was accidental.
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caused by a drug overdose from a mix of cocaine, amphetamines and meth. but it concluded that he died three hours after his body was found. the autopsy found shallow puncture wounds on his thigh, leg and abdomen. and those missing teeth, the report concluded it was due to insect activity. and what appeared to be that straight cut on his neck was due to animal activity. suspicious of the investigation, the family had already hired an independent pathologist, who made a very different finding after examening the body herself. >> i have a high index of suspicion that this is a homicide. >> reporter: dr. grossman says that contrary to the autopsy, alfred appeared to have severe trauma to the head and neck.
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and it seemed his throat had been slashed. >> having seen the body, i know that's not the case. i know that drugs don't cause that type of trauma. >> reporter: the medical examiner would not talk to us. the texas rangers acknowledge the high level of mistrust in the community, and said the autopsy is only one part of an active investigation. so why is it that so many things don't add up? the wright family believes the sheriff and deputies may know more than they're saying. >> they were defining their story. >> reporter: before the investigation had even -- >> before the investigation concluded. and by the way, i don't think we really had an investigation. >> reporter: okay. >> it seems that mostly what's taken place so far is to discredit my son. >> reporter: they suspect he may have been held captive and tortured. they want forensic evidence to determine whether the drugs entered before or after his
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disappearance. they don't believe he left the liquor store on his own. even though there are surveillance cameras and a sign that says 24 hour surveillance, the family's lawyer was given explanations for why no surveillance images exist. >> within one five-minute conversation, i'm told three different stories. i'm told that it was a broken -- it was a system that didn't work. then i'm told that it was malfunctioning. then i'm told it was a live feed camera, that you could only see what was happening at the time it was happening. the third was that it was a vhs system and there was no video in the machine. >> reporter: no one from the family has been formally interviewed. after his death, the wife went through bank records and found three charges her husband made at local hotels when she and the children were away the month before she died. texas rangers are pulling video from the hotels to see who he
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was with. the family says they want answers. and have been holding vigils to seep his memory alive. for now, loren and her two young sons are coping the best they can. >> we askthey ask a lot of ques why dad doesn't come home. >> reporter: what are you telling them. >> we told my 4-year-old that the angels came to pick daddy up from work one day, and that he needed him back. >> so many questions unanswer u. the information rangers have taken over the investigation and the fbi is getting involved. do we know where they are in the investigation? >> reporter: well, anderson, what we do know is they still have not stare ched that truck. they have still not interviewed any members of the family, and remember, several of the family
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members, the wife and his parents, they were eye witnesses to what was going on the evening that he disappeared, and all through the search, so they've not reached out to them yet. >> i don't understand how they had a search with dogs, if his body was there during the search just a short distance away, that seems hard to imagine and the condition of the body, as you said, didn't -- according to witnesses you talked to, it didn't sound like that was a body that had been left out in the woods for more than two weeks. >> reporter: that's right. that's what the family wants to know, when those drugs entered his system. they don't believe that's where he ended up, certainly not in the days immediately after he disappeared. also, the texas rangers did reach out to us this evening and they tell us that in fact that cut to the neck, they say was made by the medical examiners. i spoke to the lawyer for the
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family. the pathologist says no, that is not clear from the autopsy. she's not been able to view the original autopsy photos. those have been denied to her. >> what about alfred and his past? first of all, those hotel reservations while the family was away raises questions whether there was other things, and you also learned he was fighting embezzlement charges. >> reporter: that's right. apparently what happened is about three years ago, he was working as a bank teller, putting himself through school. $1,000 was stolen from an atm. the prosecutors tried to cut a deal, saying that they would pardon him, all he had to do was plead guilty. he said he wasn't guilty, and he wasn't going to accept any deal whatsoever, certainly not one predicated on any kind of guilt. >> again, a lot of questions remain up answered. thanks. let us know what you think about the case. follow me on twitter.
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coming up next, breaking news out of new mexico. today, there was another school shooting. also, governor chris christie talks about the bridge scandal. how serious are the doubts? we'll talk about them. and keeping them honest, part two of our investigation of that alleged newtown charity scammer. tonight, family members who say they got burned. the length of 146 football fields... they can see the light of a single candle. your eyes are amazing. look after them with centrum silver. multivitamins with lutein and vitamins a, c, and e to support healthy eyes and packed with key nutrients to support your heart and brain, too. centrum silver. for the most amazing parts of you. of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue.
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breaking news tonight in the new mexico school shooting that authorities say began when a 12-year-old, a 12-year-old entered his middle school gym, reached into a bag, pulled out a shotgun and opened fire. he is in custody. two students were wounded, one critically. miguel marquez is monitoring late developments. he joins us now. what do we know at this point? >> reporter: we do know that the injured, one of them a 13-year-old girl, her condition has been improved to serious. but the 11-year-old boy remains in critical condition tonight after this 12-year-old classmate of theirs walked into the school gymnasium a little after 7:30 this morning in new mexico and opened fire on the crowd gathered there. very cold day in roswell. kids had gone into the gym in order to wait for class to start when this kid walked in, anderson. >> is there any sense of what the motive is?
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have authorities said? >> reporter: it is not clear. he is a classmate. it is not clear if this is a bullying situation, if this is some sort of love gone wrong between these kids. but the idea that he would have to handle it with a shotgun just shocking. >> does anybody know how the shooter got into the school with the shotgun? a shotgun is not necessarily a small gun. >> reporter: not at all. the police saying he had it in a bag. there are reports out there that it was in a musical case of some sort. but that is unconfirmed at the moment. police did say he walked base you cannily right into the gym with a shotgun in a bag, pulled it out and started shooting. >> miguel thanks. in raw politics tonight just about the only thing that can turn the governor's state of state address into a scandal. traffic scandal today in trenton, new jersey, governor chris christie made it the opening topic in his annual message to state lawmakers. >> the last week has certainly tested this administration.
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mistakes were clearly made. and as a result, we let down the people we're entrusted to serve. i know our citizens deserve better, much better. now, i'm the governor. and i'm ultimately responsible for all that happens on my watch both good and bad. and without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. >> meantime, shortly before he spoke the "wall street journal" ran this photo. take a look. casting doubt on the governor's claim last week about david wildstein, the christie appointee who ordered those toll lane closed on the bridge. he said quote i've had no contact with david wildstein in a long time a long time well before the election. this picture of the two men was taken at a 9/11 event in manhattan right in the middle of the four-day traffic jam. the christie spokesman saying
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the governor had appointments with many that morning, all there to pay tribute to the heroes of 9/11. joining us is jake tapper, paul begala and rick alizio. how do christie people feel this went? >> they feel like it went pretty well. initially they did not want the governor to talk about this issue in the state-of-the-state address. but it became clear that he had to. they know this is a bad week for the governor. but they hope that ultimately the fact in their view, they maintained, he had no knowledge of this and no involvement will ultimately rule the day. and he will get through this. >> paul, obviously you've been involved in a lot of speeches and speech writing. how did you think he handled it bringing it up right away off the top and in the way he did? >> you know, as a speech writer not as a partisan i'm not sure i would have brought it up. it's the elephant in the room it's true. but he talked about it for 108 minutes the other day. i think more talk is not going
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to get him out. there's still no smoking gun, no real evidence that he knew about what happened. he's still responsible for what happened but he said all that the other day. so plus as a speech writer, please, all fellow speech writers, don't use the passive voice. mistakes were made? no. i made a mistake. i'm responsible. or don't talk about it at all. >> right. because it seems like it's sort of passing the buck like it magically happened? >> passing voice as my teacher taught me in sugarland, texas. the passive voice suggests weakness. it's weasely. if you're going to be a strong leader don't use a weasely passive voice like that. >> congressman, you question the nature of acknowledgements like this. >> yes. i think first of all you have to go out there and do the mea culpa. apologize, acknowledge, take responsibility. but i'm kind of sick of people, politicians in the aftermath of some type of public relations blowout just saying i'm sorry and i'm responsible but there's
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no followup, there's no tangible evidence of accountability. but christie has an image which he wants to amplify of strength and decisiveness. and i think he did that with the press conference, and he's trying to do it again tonight in the state-of-the-state. >> paul, let me ask you about this photo that the "wall street journal" dug up. we're going to show it again. showing that he did in fact -- it's him with this port authority official who was deeply involved in the scandal in that long press conference christie said it had been a long time since he'd actually even seen him before the election and this was taken on september 11th, day two or three of the bridge scandal. >> this is the problem rick was talking ant. when you fill 108 minutes and now a couple more minutes in his state-of-the-state you're going to say things that will be overtaken by events. it's entirely possible he forgot. he meets with lots of people. but this is the guy at the heart of this. it's a guy who he helped put there at the port authority. not like a total stranger to
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him. >> he went to high school with. >> then he threw the guy under the bus, the high school bus i guess. if the guy had just won the nobel prize he would say i barely knew him in high school. he'd be like we're like this. it's really unfortunate for the governor. but when you put out that much, you're going to get tripped up. and i think he has spoken too much and acted too little. >> and anderson, if i could add to this point. this is kind of an old trial lawyer's strategy, which is you don't go to the heart of the matter, you try and undermine a witness on collateral matters. if you can undermine their credibility on collateral matters you can argue to the jury they're not trustworthy. really in the end for governor christie, what he has to salvage coming out of all this is the perception that he is a straight-shooting, honest politician. and that's the most important thing that he has got to focus on. >> jake, what about this photograph? because everybody -- a lot of people after that epic long
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press conference that the governor gave said well look, he's either completely innocent then there's no evidence that he was involved in any way, but if anything emerges that is not true what he said at this press conference is going to be bad. is this photo, is this serious or is this just a blip of well maybe he was just mistaken? >> i haven't heard the response from the governor's office yet. but i think the fact of the photograph, and more importantly all the unknowns out there, is symbolic of a phenomenon that we've seen, which is a lot of republicans not really going out there and supporting governor christie in a way that i think probably a lot of political reporters expect. republicans with whom i've spoken, they just don't know. they want to take the governor at his word. they believe him. but it's very early in this scandal. and you never know what's going to come out. >> jake, tapper, thank you.
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paul begala, congressman thanks for being on. you can find out more of the story at cnn.com. just ahead the last picture of victoria soto before the newtown tragedy. tonight, two of her siblings speak out ant the alleged scammer that they say betrayed them and their sister's memory. also ahead, the family of a brain-dead woman who is pregnant has taken their case to court to honor what they say are her wishes. we'll be right back. i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. hmm? [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] no problem. oh...and hair products. aisle 9. [ inhales deeply ] oh what a relief it is. ♪ oh what a relief it is. so ally bank really has no hthat's right, no hidden fees.s? it's just that i'm worried about, you know, "hidden things."
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another keeping them honest report, new developments tonight in a story we told you about last night. an alleged charity scammer. his name is robby bruce.
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he want you to know his name and look at his picture. he's on the run. this what is he looks like. he's suspected of making off with $73,000 that was donated to help the families of the newtown shooting victims. a lot of people, including the authorities, want to talk to this guy. he's the founder of a group called 26-4-26. a foundation that held an impromptu marathon 26 miles for the 26 victims just a week after the massacre. the event raised $30,000, money that was delivered to newtown to fund a youth center. after the race the charity kept raising money. $73,000 in all. this guy robby bruce personally met with some of the families and gained their trust. he got particularly close to the family of victoria soto, a first grade teacher killed in the attack. she was just 27 years old. she died trying to protect her young students. here's a photograph of mr. bruce meeting with her brother matthew soto. you'll hear from him in just a moment. after all of his assurances to the newtown families about his charity being legit, now robby bruce is nowhere to be found. he had sole access to the money that 26-4-26 raised.
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$73,000 that's now unaccounted for. tonight the search to find him is heating up. investigative correspondent drew griffin joins me now from nashville with the latest. drew, what's going on? >> reporter: anderson, i can tell you the bottom line tonight just about everybody in the state of tennessee is looking for robby bruce. we haven't been able to find him. some of his relatives have actually hung up the phone on us as we were calling around for him. the attorney general's investigators haven't been able to find him. now we know that both the district attorney here in nashville, the connecticut attorney general's office, and the fbi in connecticut all want to find robby bruce but he's nowhere to be found. now, this charitable organization was in violation of tennessee civil codes because it never registered itself as a charitable organization. that came as a bit of a shock to one of the cofounders, ryan grainy. and when she found out that some of the $73,000 raised was being used for personal items, she's
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the one who blew the whistle on bruce. >> i took down all the web sites when i kind of had an inkling of what was going on. i removed all of our web sites so that there was no way for anybody to collect any more money. what's next is we're going to work very closely with the authorities to try to find out where this money is. and hopefully from what we can find, i would like to get it to the people that it deserves to go to. i don't know where it is, but hopefully we're going to find it. and i will make sure it gets to the people that it needs to go to. >> reporter: anderson, we did hear from the attorney general's office here in nashville just late this afternoon. they're asking for anybody's help in finding robby bruce. we also got a statement from the attorney general bob cooper. here's what he told us.
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it's unthinkable that anyone would attempt to profit from the sandy hook tragedy and ultimately cause more pain for the families. charities are supposed to help the community, not prey on it. i think that sums up why this case is getting so much attention. we've seen this before where people try to profit off of victims' families grief. that's why we know at least four law enforcement agencies are trying to find robby bruce tonight to ask him where this money is or where the money went. if you know where this guy is, robby bruce, 33 years old, we have a phone number that you can call the fbi's new haven, connecticut office. that number is 203-777-6311. but again we went to a lot of different houses where he might have been. 8311. excuse me. >> 203-777-8311. >> 8311. so we went to a lot of the various houses he could be at. we did contact an aunt.
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she said she'd pass on the message. somebody at his mom's house just hung up. so we're just not having any luck finding this guy. >> hopefully we'll put the picture up again throughout this next conversation. hopefully someone out there knows where this guy is. he likes to go running. he works out, is a trainer. so clearly probably stops into some gym somewhere. robby bruce personally assured the families of victoria soto his foundation was legitimate. the last photograph taken of her and her siblings taken just after they'd cut down their christmas tree. her sister and brother joining me now. appreciate you being with us. this has got to just add insult to injury here. gillian, this guy was in your house. he visited your sister's grave. what was he like? >> he seemed like a really nice guy. no questions in any of our minds that he would ever turn out to be a person who would scam us. it hurts to know. we invited him into our home, shared memories of my sister, showed him my sister's grave. he decorated a flamingo at her grave grave with a 26-4-26 logo. to know he did this is one of the hardest things to know.
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he was a friend to us. we were all friends on facebook and he did this to us. it's awful to think he could actually do this. it just hurts. >> matthew, we have that picture of you guys together you wearing the shirt. did you ever have any doubts about him? >> i had no doubts whatsoever. he came into our house, and i trusted him completely. he was trying to help. and he didn't know what to do. so he started this foundation. and he collected money. and he had all the good intentions. but then something happened. >> i understand you actually reached out to him on facebook when you started to get word that wait a minute something may be not right. did he return your message? >> i contacted him several times. and he kept trying to assure me that nothing was wrong, none of the money was missing, that there was a misunderstanding. but then when our good friend ryan actually confirmed that there was huge amounts of money
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going missing at times, i sent him a message. and i just told him how disrespectful it was. and he just kind of just sat there and lied to me and then just blocked me off of facebook. >> blocked you? >> blocked me and cut all ties with me. >> julian, did he say anything about his past? do you know anything really about him? >> we didn't really know anything about him. it was more of he was a friend of some people in nashville. and they trusted him. he seemed like a good person. he wanted to do good like so many people wanted to do good out of what happened in sandy hook. >> something on a paddle board? so disgusting that anybody would do this kind of thing. obviously if he's out there listening to this, what do you want to say to him? >> just come clean. it's not worth what you're doing. it's not right that you're putting the 26 families through this, that you're putting my family through this. when you've been in our house that, you're putting the
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cofounders of 26-4-26 through this. and making people question if people really are doing good. and with everything that happened, so much bad has happened. and he's continuing to allow this bad to happen. and he just needs to turn himself in. come clean. if he truly didn't do anything wrong like he originally claimed to my brother, then why are you running? why are you hiding? >> with all these different agencies looking for him, his picture on the news, he's going to be found sooner rather than later. so he should just come forward right away. you would echo that, matthew. >> i would absolutely echo that. it's just a matter of time before justice gets served. whether he decides to come forward or it takes another month or even a year to track him down, he's going to get found. >> yeah. again, we have the pictures of him on the screen. there's the number at the bottom of the screen if you have any information about this guy, call that number. we're going to put that number on our web site so later on
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tonight if you want to look it up you can look it up there. the number is 203-777-6311 again we'll put that number on our web site. 203-777-6311. i wish you guys the best. i'm so sorry you're going through this. >> thank you. >> it also is bad because it makes people doubt other charities that are out there that are doing good. and again, people can go to charitynavigator.org if they want to look at a charity to see what kind of record a charity has. these guys didn't even register their foundation. so again, thank you so much. i'm glad you're with us. jillian, matthew. new developments a heart breaking case of a pregnant woman who's legally dead under texas law but being forced to remain on life support by hospital officials. plus a father of a 2-year-old is killed in florida movie theater, allegedly for texting. the retired police officer accused of killing him was denied bond. what witnesses said they saw ahead.
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new developments tonight in another story we're following closely. on one side a grieving, heart-broken family. on the other a texas hospital that says it's bound by law to ignore their wishes. under texas law, marlis munoz pregnant with her second child is no longer alive. she was declared brain-dead after apparently suffering a blood clot in her lung. she collapsed two days before thanksgiving. she was 14 weeks pregnant at the time. when they learned that munoz was brain-dead, her husband and parents asked the hospital to remove her from the machines that are forcing her to breathe. the hospital insists its hands are tied by state law. tonight the family has taken their fight to court, asking a
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judge to intervene. ed lavendara has the latest. >> reporter: marlis munoz's husband and parents say she never wanted to be kept on life support. the family says they've been telling the hospital exactly that since marlis collapsed of a blood clot in her lung on november 26. we've reached the point where you wish that your wife's body would stop. >> reporter: so now family has filed a lawsuit in hopes the courts will back them up. in the suit, lawyers for marlis's husband say what's being done to the brain-dead pregnant woman is quote nothing more than the cruel and obscene mutilation of a deceased body. the lawsuit demands that marlis munoz be immediately disconnected from ventilators and that her body be turned over to the family for proper burial. >> we were told she was brain-dead november 26. >> reporter: marlis's body is still in the intensive care unit of john peter smith hospital in ft. worth, with a lawsuit now filed hospital officials have said they're encouraged by this development because the courts are the appropriate venue to
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provide clarity, direction and resolution in this matter. the hospital spokeswoman has said this is not a difficult decision for us. officials at john peter smith hospital say they are simply following the texas law that overrides a woman's end of life wishes if she is pregnant. marlis's family calls that decision absurd. they say because she is brain-dead, the law does not apply to her. tom mayo, a law professor at southern methodist university helped write the law 15 years ago. he says the hospital is wrong because marlis cannot be brought back to life. >> i don't see how we can use a provision of the law that talks about treating or not treating a patient in a case where we really don't have a patient. >> reporter: marlis's fetus is now about 21 weeks along. doctors can still hear a heartbeat, but it's not clear what kind of damage the blood clot that killed marlis has done to the unborn baby. medical experts say even ultrasounds and heartbeat patterns can't accurately predict if the fetus is viable.
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that's a risk the family does not want to take. >> with those things can't perfectly predict health and outcome. and there are certainly occasions where as we look as best as we can tell, a fetus appears to be developing appropriately and meeting all its milestones, and yet after birth, after delivery there's evidence of profound compromise. >> i cry every time i hear it. >> reporter: as marlis munos's family deals with this ordeal, marlis's mother helps her son-in-law take care of the couple's 15-month-old son who doesn't understand what's happened. >> the door will open and he'll look to see if it's mama coming through the door still. >> reporter: ed lavin dara, cnn, dallas. >> the legal and ethical issues in the case are complex. joining me tonight is attorney and children's evacuate and senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. >> riva, what do you make of this? the lawsuit states not only that this woman is dead but that the hospital's refusal to remove her from life support is in their words mutilating, disturbing and damaging her deceased body.
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do you agree? >> i totally agree. the hospital is reading that section of the texas code all wrong. in this case this woman is no longer a patient. and i think people are having a hard time coming to grips with this. she's legally dead. she's a corpse, not a patient. so to continue life support in this case is just cruel and inhumane treatment. we saw this in the oakland teen case where the doctors and hospitals argued vehemently that jahi mcmath was legally dead and that doctors no longer had an obligation to provide any care for a corpse. >> sonny, you disagree with this. you can't disagree that she is dead, correct? >> i don't know that the doctors have determined that she's brain-dead. we know that her husband has said that, that they told him that. but we don't have any paperwork to support that. >> assuming he's not lying about that.
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assuming she's brain dead, that to you does not convince you. >> no, it doesn't. i think if you look at the statute, anderson, the statute is ambiguous. it's vague. when you have these murky areas you have to go to court. courts provide clarity, courts provide direction. and that's why i think the lawsuit is the right thing. but i think to sort of jump to the conclusion that the hospital is sort of, i don't know, bastardizing this statute is just incorrect. it's premature. >> sonny, you keep saying that because the mother never specified, well, if i'm on life support and i'm pregnant i still want to be taken off life support. she did -- maybe she didn't go to that level of detail, but she did, her wishes are clear. she, a paramedic who had seen the results of this, said she never wanted to be kept alive like this. >> but anderson, her wishes aren't in writing. in texas you have the ability to put your advanced directive in writing. it wasn't in writing. >> riva, to you does that matter whether her wishes weren't in writing? her husband says this is clear what she wanted, we had this
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discussions. >> it doesn't matter, anderson. there is no dispute this what is this woman wanted. >> there is a dispute. >> she's an educated woman. she deals with medical and health issues all the time. she could have said as a woman, i don't want to be kept on life support unless i'm pregnant. and i want to address sonny's point about the statute. texas has the same law that every state in this nation has, which the definition of legal death is cessation of all brain activity. it could have said in that statute, you can't withdraw life support from a patient that is pregnant or that is declared legally dead by statute either and it didn't do that. it uses the word patient. >> that is why it's vague. >> not someone that is a corpse. >> let me ask you, riva, for you does the age of the fetus matter? the fetus is now about 21 weeks along. she was 14 weeks when she collapsed in her kitchen. the fetus was 14 weeks old at that time. obviously time is of the essence. if this drags out for six more
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weeks, should that make a difference in the argument? >> you know, anderson, i think the hospital is purposely drawing this out. what disturbs me, what if this woman had had this terrible accident and she was four weeks pregnant? would this hospital keep her on life support for five months, for six months? again knowing what all the medical professionals tell us, which is her body is decaying. it's deteriorating. so would we cause a woman to guess gestate a baby for five or six months? i think the hospital knows time is on their side so they can delay this so they can go into court when she is 24 weeks. this happened just 14 weeks pregnant. and she was entitled to have an abortion at 14 weeks. >> the bottom line is, i think when you have something that is unclear, especially if you're in the place of this hospital, you err on the side of caution. and that is what this hospital has done. this statute is less than clear. and they need the court's direction. that's the first thing.
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the second thing is, wait a minute, riva. she is comparing california and texas. we have two different states, different laws. comparing apples and oranges. in texas one thing people have to recognize, texas definitely recognizes the personhood of a fetus at any stage of the pregnancy. so if you attack a pregnant woman and she dies, you can be charged with murder of the unborn child. and so we're talking about a different type of statute. and you have to make that very clear. >> okay, riva, i want you to respond. >> to say the hospital wants clarity is disingenuous. this hospital doesn't want clarity, this hospital wants time. >> great to have you on. >> let's talk about it on twitter @andersoncooper. use #ac360. a retired police officer who shot a man in a movie theater allegedly because he was texting. he's now facing a judge. why he says it was self-defense. also ahead, police search justin bieber's home and get
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in "crime and punishment" tonight, a shocking case out of florida where an argument over texting in a theater led to a fatal shooting. a former police captain is in custody after pulling out a gun, killing a 43-year-old man and wounding the man's wife. in court today an attorney for the 71-year-old defendant tried to make the case that the dead man was actually the aggressor. martin savage reports. >> reporter: the suspect, a retired police captain, stood handcuffed, facing second degree murder charges, as he made his first appearance in court today via video conference. >> mr. reed, apparently you can afford your own attorney? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: the allegations against curtis reeves become
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more jaw-dropping the more details emerge. it happened at the movie theater during the previews in monday's matinee of the movie "lone survivor." 71-year-old reeves and his wife were sitting one row behind this man, 43-year-old chad olson and his wife nicole. witnesses say reeves became very irritated when olson began texting during the previews. what was so pressing for olson? his 2-year-old daughter. >> the young child was with a babysitter, and the father was communicating with the babysitter concerning the daughter. >> reporter: but reeves was so annoyed about the texting he left the theater and complained to management. when he returned to his seat, he started arguing with olson. >> he came back very irritated with theater management. they started arguing again about the cell phone. there seems to be almost a confrontation. and then bang he was shot. >> reporter: how could it escalate from an argument over a text to a shooting? >> the allegation there is that the victim threw a bag of popcorn. >> reporter: that's right.
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witnesses say a bag of popcorn turned this argument into a murder scene. >> he said man, i can't believe he got shot. blood started coming out of his mouth. i was trying to hold him up and he just fell down. >> reporter: olson was shot once in the chest and died in the hospital. the bullet that killed him first went through his wife nicole's hand. placed on her husband's chest perhaps in an attempt to shield him. reeves' attorney argued for his release on bond, and painted his use of force as self-defense. >> he was attacked. at that point in time he has every right to defend himself. >> reporter: in an affidavit, reeves said olson struck him in the face with an unknown object. the same affidavit says witnesses saw only popcorn being thrown and did not observe any punches. in another strange twist, prosecutors say reeves has a history of retribution for others texting at the movies. a witness told them he came after her at the same theater just a few weeks ago. >> indicated that he was glaring at her the entire time
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throughout the movie, and he also followed her to the bathroom when she had gotten up to go to the restroom. and made her feel very uncomfortable. >> reporter: with all the evidence against him, the judge denied him bond. >> it may or may not have been popcorn, but an unknown object doesn't equal taking out a gun and firing it at somebody's chest. >> reporter: for now, a man awaits trial. a family grieves their father. and a community asks how texting could lead to murder. >> thank you. you may step back. >> martin savidge joins me now live. florida is known for the stand your ground law. is it possible that reeves will actually try that as a defense? >> reporter: good evening, anderson. that was the first thing that came to a lot of people's minds here, because we all know florida and stand your ground. the sheriff of pascoe county says that his detectives immediately began looking into that along with the assistant state's attorney. and the sheriff says that there is no way that the defense
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can use stand your ground. they say it does not apply here. >> what do you know about the two men, the victim and the suspect? >> reporter: what's very interesting and tragic is that in many ways these two men are very similar. both of them were veterans of serving in the u.s. navy. both of them love motorcycles. in the case of olson, he loved dirt bikes. both of these men are described by their friends as great individuals. but somehow in the darkness of that movie theater, texting and an argument led to gunfire. and now you have an officer who was considered a pillar of the community facing the potential of life in prison and a young father dead, his wife and young daughter absolutely shattered by grief. >> seems hard to believe. martin, appreciate the update. let's get caught up on other stories. susan hendricks has a 360 bulletin. a 360 follow. southwest airlines says a third person was in the cockpit of their 737 that landed at the wrong missouri airport on sunday and is now on paid leave.
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a source tells cnn investigators want to know if the company dispatcher distracted the pilots. a federal judge has withheld approval of the proposed $760 million settlement between the nfl and thousands of retired players who sued the league accusing it of hiding the dangers of concussions. the judge is worried it may not be enough money to pay all affected players over 65 years. the nfl says it is confident the settlement is fair and adequate. los angeles sheriff's deputies with a search warrant raided justin bieberer's california mansion. they were looking for possible surveillance video from the home that may show who was responsible for an egg attack on a neighbor's home estimated to cost $20,000 in damage. investigators ended up arresting a house guest for alleged cocaine possession. you've got to see mitt romney here. he tries to kick it up gangnam style. he let loose at a conference for young adult mormons. >> give him credit for public
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dancing. something i would never do. >> looks like the irish jig a little bit. >> did all right. susan thanks. we'll be right back. cook what y, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique,
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this is "piers morgan live." i want to start tonight with a number, 2456789 that's the number of people who are shot on an average day in america. here's another number for you. 12. that is the age of the youngest shooter this year and the youngest probably for many years in america, a 12-year-old new mexico boy too young to remember 9/11, too young to go to a pg-rated movie by the himself, too young to get a learner's permit. police say he pulled a shotgun from a musical instrument case and wounded -- 71 the age of a retired police captain in florida who police say shot and killed a father who was allegedly texting his young daughter's babysitter during a movie and may have threatened him with popcorn.