>> extended family, they were worried for kara's safety and their worst fears obviously came true as the young girl died before going to a doctor. we're taking your calls on this. 1-877-tell-hln. to the phones. randy with us in north carolina. >> caller: i wanted to make the comment that the parents only getting six months, it's neglect. all it is is neglect and if i was to whip my kid and make a mark with a belt or something,

i'd get more than six months. just to make a mark. i mean, and they don't take her to the doctor or anything. i go to church every sunday, but my kid will always -- any time any of my kids are sick, i go to the doctor, do what the doctor is said. not as bad as locking them many the closet and forgetting about them. >> thanks for the call. doug, what about the punishment, itself, doug? >> the caller makes an excellent point which is the logical next step in the analysis, mike, which is that because of the view of religion and religious beliefs the courts have tended to hand down what i call sort of mid-way sentences and eric's point, i mean, if you accept they honestly and sincerely believe this would help their child, then there's really no intent to harm. what i was explaining earlier is as you said, it has to give way and another philosophical question is, do they have the right to automatically impose that on their child to the point where the child dies? >> good questions.

there's a ton of them out there. let's get wendy in on this. wendy -- the couple is showing no remorse even through all this. almost using -- >> i am dying to get in here. let me tell you -- >> help us with their mindset. who understands it? not many. help us out. >> i have a word for you. i have one word for you, delusion. delusional, mike. first of all, religion performs a very important psychological function in our culture. gives us a sense of community, moral teaching, comfort in our own fear of tieing. if you think god is a trauma center who is going to step in and take care of thing, mirngs come on. a priest told me this once. the story of a guy who's drowning. three boats come by, i have faith. when he drowns, he said, god, why didn't you save me? god said, i sent you three boats, you dumby.

it's a delusion. >> mom, she's talking about the judge and the dilemma the judge had. she writes -- dads same mentality. he almost used the courtroom like a pulpit talking about his faith. for them, it's, what, their girl's a martyr and their going to continue on in this? >> guess what else that judge -- that judge sentenced them to getting good medical care and medical checkups for the other kids. he's maybe respecting their faith, but he's also saying, hey, it is neglect. like the gentleman caller who said a few minutes ago, if you look your child in a closet and neglect them and do it unintentionally because you think it's best for your children you, still get sentenced, right? >> exactly. eric, did the judge get that part of it right to you, they're

going to make a nurse go there to check on the kids every three months, have to take them to the doctor when they get sick. good wisdom from the bench. >> absolutely. once the family is convicted, the judge did a good balancing act in terms of giving a sentence. i love the comment these parents are delusional. to some extent aren't all religious beliefs delusional? the fact somebody died 2,000 years ago for our sins? isn't that -- isn't there -- if we go down the path of saying that somebody's faith is incorrect, aren't we on a slippery slope to say it's possible all faithful beliefs have the possibility of being also incorrect? >> okay. so that's -- okay. doug, what about that? because eric's been bringing up -- playing good devil's advocate. no pun intended on this one. your thoughts on that. he's raising that. where do we override faith is what he's saying, right? >> he's a good lawyer and knows

how to argue a position. my hat's off to him. not to be a broken record, the reality is, you know, faith is a perfectly acceptable thing we can debate all day long, but you draw a line, again, where a child dies under the care of their own parent because of their beliefs. again, you can agree or disagree with it. then i take the side of our psychological or psychiatric analyst and say it does become delusional. >> we lost somebody there. who did we lose? did we lose eric? if we lost eric, wouldn't it be appropriate -- it is. someone might be talking, eric. guys, great discussion. thanks again. wendy, doug -- >> someone intervened. >> someone intervened. coming up, this story here, new barbie doll just coming out designed to look more like african-american women. toy maker mattel says its new line is more realistic. what do you think of that? houbts this. we're back at this one again. 30 students at one school

accused of sexting the naked pictures back and forth. what are we going to do with these kids? do you think they're going to get away with it? >> team shirts, commentators, cheer leaders, trophies. fierce opposition. it has all the makings of a championship i vent. this is no ordinary competition. >> what's going on here today is the largest wii bowling senior championship ever held. >> texan plus, one of the houston area's largest medicare hmos came together with nifty after 50. senior-only fitness program, to get these seniors move in a high-tech way, using nintendo's wii video game bowling system. >> we have 600 participants who are bowling and they brought with them another 1,500 family and friends. >> reporter: it's more than just a fun twi stay in shape. these seniors could also be saving themselves from a major medical concern. according to the centers for disease control and prevention,

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almost every woman and girl has had or wanted a doll. but for african-americans it's been tough to find a barbie that looks like them. when the first black barbie debuted that was in 1981. she basically had white features. nia long, an actress featured in comedian chris rock's new documentary "good hair," she

adds a little perspective. >> historically the afro centric features have not always been celebrated and so in this it makes women, not just black women, but i think all women kind of go -- especially black women because it is about us -- but for all of us it makes us question the integrity of our beauty standards for ourselves and what really motivates us to make certain choices. >> joining me now, stacey mcbride irving, longtime mattel designer and created the so in line style barbie, features dolls that are a lot different from the black barbie you may remember. if people are going to be looking and passing and going to think we're playing with dolls, this is a lot more than just playing with dolls. this is a long time coming. tell me what was in your mind as you were designing these dolls and if you felt any pressure when you were designing these dolls. >> no pressure. the dolls came from a positive place. i was reliving my childhood,

watching my 6-year-old daughter play with her dolls. i wanted dolls that represented her and african-american women in our community, and i wanted the dolls to reflect what we see in our families or around. >> what do we -- what do you want people to see when they see these dolls? explain why these dolls have little girls with them. >> i wanted them to see themselves. they have fuller lips. fuller nose. they have curly hair and features that represent us. they also have a positive message. these dolls are mentors. these are teenage dolls. they also mentor these little sisters in their community. >> okay. we're going to address one thing off the bat some critics have said. i want to read a statement from gale parish, a play wrigt and a mother. she says she immediately goes to the hair. as many black women do. let's be honest between you and i.

she says "why are we always pushing the standard of long hair on our girls? why couldn't one of the dolls have a little short afro or braids or something?" there are all different skin tones. any young african-american girl can find a doll that looks like her in that aspect. they seem to have long hair. all african-american don't have long hair. do you feel you missed the mark on that? >> i feel like i put my heart within these dolls, and dolls are for girls to play with. they love combing the long, beautiful hair. these are dolls. i did represent that in the little sister, keanu. she has little curly afro puffs. >> do you get why that matters so much to the african-american community? i know some people who are watches might say, why are they making a big deal about dolls? do you get why the dolls mean so much to people? >> they mean so much to me because they did come from a positive place. my daughter loves the dolls.

i've had dads thank me for creating this line of dolls that represent their little girls. >> i would assume that mattel and you aren't targeting these dolls specifically for young african-american girls to play with. these are for, i would hope for all girls. >> girls all over the world. yes. exactly, with a positive message. >> all right. when can they get the dolls? >> they can get them down. >> for more of "what matters" check out the october issue of "essence" magazine or log on to cnn.com/whatmatters. stacey, we appreciate it very much. >> thank you. a huge sexting scandal. one high school in pennsylvania, 30 kids urn investigation. 30 kids accused of looking at a naked picture of their classmate. cops are investigating serious child pornography charges. when will kids get the message? when will the message finally

sink in? mike is going to dig into this.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. 30 kids accused of sexting. here we go again. this is in one school in pennsylvania. 30 kids. that's an entire classroom looking at photos of some naked girl. that's what we have. let that sink in for a moment. cops are considering child porn charges. that's a felony. could label these teens as sex offenders. that's the quan dri we have. how are we going to deal with this? we're going to hit this on couple fronts. number one. don't these kids get there are serious consequences? we have to get that message to sink in. what's the proper punishment so they understand what they did was wrong and can't do it again? joining us to talk about it, welcome back radio talk show

host, former teacher, dom, with us, judge, mike powell. he made headlines earlier this year with an excellent solution. real wisdom from the bench. dom, let's you and i start. here we are, dom. man, what do you make of this? are kids -- why, i guess is the question. why are kids not getting the message this is wrong, it's demeaning, wrong on so many levels? where are we missing the mark? >> you probably remember, too, and from viewers this isn't far from another place in pennsylvania where there was a national case around this and showdown between a prosecutor and girl who did this. part of this is apparently some parents and others don't think there's too much wrong with this. they have the notion if you're just sending it to the boyfriend, what's the big deal? you and i know what happens. the big deal is, the boyfriend becomes disgruntled or they share it with another guy. this minor at 30. this could go to thousands of people. think it's with the person who is sharing this.

they're either conned in to believing this is normal to send to your boyfriend pictures like this and then once that happens anything can happen from that trail with the boyfriend. >> exactly. i mean, that's what we have to get through to these kids. the real-world consequences. once you send that picture out, you don't know where it's going to stop, where it's going to end up or how many people are going to look at it. also if you get in trouble for this you could be labeled a sex offender. >> absolutely. mike, i think it's extreme to imagine labeling the people that sent it sex offenders in all that. that's why i'm intrigued with what the judge did as a punishment. there's got to be something severe here or there is no deterrent effect and kids think they're hitting a button and moving pictures around. >> life ruined, phillip albert gets the sext, gets mad at the girlfriend. sends it out. next thing he knows he's labeled a sex offender. >> you will find me on the

registered sex offender list next to people who have raped children, molested kids, things like that because i sent child pornography. i've been punished for the rest of my >> something that took him less than two minutes to do. could be punished the rest of his life. presided over a sex case and we applauded him for getting it right. it was a tough sentence, it wasn't just a slap on the wrist, but these kids aren't going to be the next philip albert and have their lives ruined. judge, let's get back to what's going on in pennsylvania. 30 kids and isn't felony child porn just overkill here. >> i don't think that's for a judicial officer to say. for our system in the government it is committed to the executive branch to decide what people ought to be charged with and at least dhthe first instance we he

to refer to that. once we get the case, we have some discretion on how to handtle and that's particularly true with juvenile judges and in ohio even if i found a child committed the offense with which they're charged. i have the discretion to dismiss it or reduce it if i find it's in the child's best entrance. >> i'll ask you this, should someone be punished for the rest of their life or a good part of it for sending a text at the age of 15 or 16, judge? >> i would say no. i would say they should not. but what the appropriate punishment ought to be depends on a number of factors and in large part we have to identify what the motivation of the children involved in the incidents were. >> when we come back, we'll let you know what judge powell did and i think he got it right. we'll hear from you, 1-877-tell-hln is the number. d

tonight, a bombshell. straight from the fbi, flips the script in the anna nicole smith drama and this time, she's the one being investigated for murder. smith was interrogated by the fbi on suspicion of allegedly plotting to kill her stepson rival. that, while the two were battling for her dead oil tycoon husband's $500 million estate. anna nicole died two years ago and can't defend herself, but was this kooky playmate really capable of murder? and massive developments in the haleigh cummings case turned divorce saga. the little girl's dad now says he was disturbed by his new wife and her ever-changing story about haleigh's disappearance.

ron still won't admit that's why he's divorcing misty, but what does this mean for the investigation? also, jealousy, envy, sex and blackmail. a source now tells "the new york post" that david letterman's sex-laced extortion case was fueled by revenge. this unnamed source says the cbs news producer wanted to hurt letterman because he was having sex with his live-in girlfriend. meanwhile, the mistress' grandma is talking and you're not going to believe what she's saying. plus, heart-wrenching new details in the nypd drunk driving case. we're going to talk to the father of the woman who was mowed down by an nypd officer while that cop was allegedly boozed up behind the wheel. why did it take more than seven hours to give that officer a sobriety test? is the nypd trying to cover up a crime? we're looking for answers on a father's quest for justice. "issues" starts now.

tonight, head-spinning new charges against the late anna nicole smith. that's right, long before her tragic death, was the former playboy playmate plotting to murder for millions? top secret fbi files just released allege anna nicole smith was a suspect in a scandalous murder for hire scheme. the target? her stepson and nemesis, e. pierce marshall. shocking claims from anna's ex-boyfriend. he tells "inside edition" it's true. >> she'd get jacked up on pain pills and then this would come out. we'd be laying sleeping together and then she'd start saying mark, you got to kill him, i'm anna nicole, you got to take care of this for me. i'll do anything for you. we'll be set. >> i wonder if that guy's got credibility problems. i seem to remember something about hatten. anna nicole was a 26-year-old stripper when she married ancient, and i mean ancient, oil tycoon j. howard marshall.

when he died, his son stood between anna and $500 million fortune. the two viciously battled for those big bucks in court. anna nicole vehemently defended her love for her 89-year-old hubby. >> i want to tell my husband, j. howard marshall, that i love him very much and i wish he was here and i miss you. >> would anna nicole smith be willing to kill for $500 million? that is the question tonight. fbi documents reportedly show mysterious and bizarre items, what a shock. a revolver, a huge knife and black and orange dr. seuss cat in the hat style cap. hm. they were taken from the model's home as part of the fbi investigation. "the new york post" reports the u.s. attorney's office says the case was finally dropped. there was insufficient evidence to prove anna nicole was behind a murder for hire plot to kill pierce marshall.

both anna nicole and e. pierce marshall have since died but the war for that $500 million fortune, it rages on. it could make this little child, anna's daughter, dannielynn, there she is on the cover of "us" magazine, half a billionaire one day. straight out to my fabulous expert panel. former fbi expert in charge, don clark. legal analyst for "the insider," darren kavinoky. cnn legal analyst lisa bloom. and paul boyd, correspondent from "inside edition." paul, we have both covered so many crazy and disturbing anna nicole stories. could this be the craziest of all? >> it was a shocking revelation. i mean, who would have thought anna nicole smith investigated by the fbi for allegedly plotting to murder somebody. it kind of came out of left field, but here we have the fbi

documents and it's stunning. >> yeah. and you know, after anna nicole died from a drug overdose, there was that nasty custody battle that ensued and it was all really about money at the end of the day. the big mystery, who was the real dad of anna nicole's brand-new baby, dannielynn? men came out of the woodwork claiming to be the father. you remember howard k. stern, who could forget him, even zsa zsa gabor's kooky husband, we certainly could never forget him. we all know at the end of the day, this man you're looking at right there, not larry king but the other one, the one holding the baby, larry birkhead, turned out to be the real papa. let's listen to him. >> i hate to be the one that told you this, but i told you so. there's certain things that i can't talk about, but this is one that i'm happy to talk about, and my baby's going to be coming home pretty soon. >> i love that guy. handsome and i think he is a good daddy. lisa, the battle over j. howard

marshall's fortune, $500 billion, has been a very complex saga that went all the way up to the supreme court. i'm almost afraid to ask, where does it stand now? >> well, the battle still rages on, jane. that's why this whole murder for hire plot really doesn't make any sense to me. because eliminating j. howard marshall jr. from the picture does not end the court battle. so i don't think anna nicole was capable of murdering anyone and by the way, he died of natural causes. he was not ultimately murdered. if i may take a page from that cat in the hat piece of evidence, she would not, could not, with a knife, she would not, could not take his life. i just don't believe it. i'm not buying this story. >> i love that. >> lisa, you mean you don't -- >> come on, let's give lisa a hand. that was very good. >> thank you. >> you don't think that of all the things that anna nicole might be remembered for, that criminal mastermind is going to be one of them? >> no. it's definitely not going to be one of them. i tell you what, i agree with lisa, too. i just think this is ridiculous and look at the person who's bringing this about.

mark hatten? come on, this guy was a prisoner. that's what prisoners do. they try to figure out some way to get out. they went to the fbi and used up a lot of time there. >> you know, i think mark hatten's nickname was hollywood which should be a tip-off. i just think we should all be on notice that any time you name or nickname somebody hollywood, that they're destined for trouble. it usually doesn't end well when somebody's got that as their moniker. >> they were not friends, hatten and anna nicole were involved in a lot of conflict that went into the courtroom. so his motives are suspect. now, i have to say this, paul boyd, this was not some joke, however. we're laughing about it because it's so bizarre, but the fbi actually interviewed smith in the year 2000 about this alleged scheme, and said she began crying, and they went even further. they recorded telephone calls with anna nicole smith and they also spoke to pierce marshall,

who said that she was rarely with his old father after they got married and routinely asked him for $50,000 to $60,000 two times a week. so you got a motive there and the motive is greed. >> the fbi took this very, very seriously. at least two special agents went to interview anna nicole, who knows how many others were involved chasing down other leads at anna nicole's house. they actually confiscated .350 magnum revolver, 3 1/2 inch stainless steel knife, this crazy hat that you described in the open. i mean, the fbi were looking into this very seriously. at the end of the day, though, it is important to know that for all intents and purposes, anna nicole smith was cleared of any allegations, any wrongdoing and as your other guests are pointing out, mark hatten was in jail for making criminal threats against anna nicole -- >> i covered that case. i covered that case. >> jane, let's remember also the history that anna nicole was involved for three years with the old guy, j. howard marshall, and he begged her to marry him. week after week for three years.

she wouldn't do it until she had her own career, until she was a national guess model. >> i think you're giving her the benefit of the doubt. i think that's kind-hearted of you, but that brings us to tonight's big issue. greed. the deadly sin. anna nicole's life was full of greed and overconsumption. she was constantly chasing her fairy tale ending. listen to this. >> to have all this fame and fortune, it's just -- it is a cinderella story to me. >> well, guess what, we got to at least look at her. she's always, boy, she was a gorgeous woman and yet she did everything in a supersized fashion. she lived perhaps too large, never had enough money, fame, drugs or alcohol. so you know, was she trying to fill some kind of void? i certainly think so. let's hear what our viewers have to say. elizabeth, texas, your question

or thought, ma'am? >> caller: actually, i wouldn't be surprised if she was involved in something like that. drugs was the main line in her life with money and power and she had all of her little henchmen around her until the deck of cards started falling. >> i agree. you know, lisa, i do think when somebody is doing drugs, they're capable of anything, even a crazy plot like this, even if it was something that sort of fell by the wayside. >> i just think this is terribly unfair. she's innocent until proven guilty and she was never even charged by the fbi. there never was a murder. and now she's deceased and can't defend herself. so i really think any kind of piling on on this poor woman at this point, for something that never even happened, is awfully unfair to her. >> i think so -- >> the point you made that i think is very, very well-taken is that anna nicole led a life that was big, and some would characterize it as being excess. and what we see oftentimes is people who are trying to solve an inside problem with outside stuff. >> that came back to bite her. got to leave it right there. we'll have more anna nicole

drama right after the break. we're also taking your calls. what do you think about this alleged plot? 1-877-jvm-says. the fbi did investigate. coming up, is ron cummings divorcing the very last person who saw his daughter, haleigh, alive because he does not believe her story? but first, did anna nicole smith seem like she was capable of murder? more mind-boggling developments right after the break.

j. howard loved her and he provided for her with that about $8 million that he gave her but he was clear that that's all he intended to give her and so the marshall family has been trying to honor j. howard's wishes. >> that was the attorney for the family of the late billionaire, j. howard marshall. anna nicole waged a bitter battle against marshall's son, pierce, who ultimately died,

seems like everybody involved in this is dead, but could she have been capable of plotting his murder? why is this coming out now, don clark? the fbi investigated smith back in 2000-2001. apparently, this is being released under the freedom of information act. how does that work? >> well, you know, the fbi has a certain time limit that it can keep documents on the shelf there before it's authorized to give it out but with the freedom of information act, people put them in every day and i would bet anything, i haven't seen the document, a lot of the information there was redacted, but certainly it was enough there for them to make a story out of it and for us to be talking about it. but i tell you another thing, too, jane, is that if they spent the time that they did investigating this case, then i'm convinced that anna nicole had no plot to do anything to pierce marshall. >> all right. >> given that they found that knife and that gun -- >> don't forget the dr. seuss hat. >> i'm convinced that it's colonel mustard with the lead pipe in the library. >> it wasn't anna. >> anna nicole smith told investigators during that

interview that why would i do this, he's the trustee. if i killed him, the trust still exists and i still would have a challenge to get at the money. so that's a big hole in the whole plot as well. >> okay. by the way, she claims that her hubby promised her verbally that she would get the half a billion and of course, the oil tycoon's son said no, in the will she's not mentioned. so that's the basis of the conflict there. lisa, new york, your question or thought? >> caller: yes, i'm just calling to say that, you know, anna nicole smith is dead and gone and i don't think she had a bad bone in her body. just people need to let her rest in peace with her son. it's bad enough her daughter's without her. and i just feel like everybody should just leave her alone. i don't think she would ever try to plot to kill anybody. >> well, you know, you raise a good point, because obviously, there is still -- there's legal action regarding her death. at one time it was thought that anna nicole's own death might have been cold-blooded murder, an attempt to get access to her impending fortune. her death has since been ruled

an accidental overdose. now two of her doctors and her lawyer and companion, howard k. stern, are facing charges that the drugs they helped get her, killed her. howard k. stern has pleaded not guilty. he testified it was grief that killed anna nicole smith. >> from the day that daniel died, anna honestly was never the same. i mean, i would say that physically, she died last week, but in a lot of ways, emotionally, she died when daniel died. >> tmz is reporting howard k. stern may soon face additional charges. that's may. we don't have any independent confirmation of that. he's already facing four counts of obtaining fraudulent prescriptions, allegedly, and one count of allegedly prescribing, administering substances to an addict. darren kavinoky, i thought the tragedy of anna nicole smith more than anything else is the tragedy of drug addiction.

>> i agree with you wholeheartedly. unfortunately, just like money can be an incentive for a lot of criminal acts, including murder, there were a lot of people in anna nicole's life who profited by her remaining sick. and let's face it, one of the reasons that america tuned in week after week after week to the anna nicole show was because she was a train wreck. nobody was interested in seeing her turn around and get her life back on track. >> right. she's not entertaining that way. >> exactly. >> can i say something in anna nicole's defense, though? because she never got a dime from j. howard marshall's estate. during the marriage, yes, he lavished her with gifts. after he died, a lot of people don't realize this, every dollar that she made, she earned and she earned it legitimately by modeling, by doing the reality show, by becoming a trimspa spokesperson. she was a single mother who supported her son, daniel, and she was surrounded by sycophants who didn't help her with her drug addiction. i think she deserves credit for

what she did. >> when somebody has a severe drug addiction problem, it opens a pandora's box and we are capable of believing anything about them. once you see her in that clown face, slurring her words -- >> that was horrible. i agree. >> we agree on that. thank you. fantastic panel. we'll have to leave it right there. coming up, head-spinning new details in the david letterman extortion case. and then, why does ron cummings want a divorce from his new wife, misty? is a lack of trust the issue? his child vanished on this woman's watch. in my new book, "i want" i talk about how i fought an addiction to alcohol but finally got sober 14 1/2 years ago. i turned my life around. i sat down recently with dr. phil to talk about my new book, "i want." that interview airs tomorrow, thursday, on his show. here's a peek at "dr. phil." >> i think this is a real chronicle of courage and candor.

i thought this took a lot of guts to write this honestly. >> well, they say you're only as sick as your secrets. and i decided it was time to get honest. >> yeah. and why? what was the thing that pushed you over the line? >> i wrote a book called "secrets can be murder" and i started to realize how fatal and how toxic secrets are and then i started to look at myself and i realized, i had a lot of secrets and that maybe by telling my story, i might be of service to somebody out there grappling with the same problems. i'm dealing with so many of the same issues that people across america are dealing with, alcoholism, consuming addiction, all of these different addictive behaviors that are really destroying our lives and i just decided i'm going to tell my story and maybe somebody out there can learn something so they don't have to go through some of the hell i went through. >> now i want to hear your success story. what addiction have you overcome and how did you do it? send your e-mail or i-report to me at cnn.com/jane. if your story's selected you

could win an autographed copy of my book "i want" and a trip to new york to visit me on the set of "issues." i want to hear your story of triumph. tell me.

plus heart-wrenching new details in the nypd drunk driving case. we're going to talk to the father of the woman who was mowed down by an nypd officer who was allegedly boozed up behind the wheel. why did it take so long to test him? did a toxic cocktail of jealousy, anger and desperation fuel a twisted plot to blackmail david letterman?

"the new york post" tonight quotes anonymous sources who claim they know why high-powered cbs producer joe halderman of "48 hours" fame or infamy allegedly wanted david letterman against the ropes. according to "the new york post" halderman discovered that his live-in girlfriend, stephanie birkitt, was still having sex with her boss, david letterman, during the time that she and halderman were in a relationship. prosecutors say joe halderman tried to squeeze $2 million from letterman. tonight, sources say quote, this wasn't about money alone. this was revenge. it was all about making letterman miserable, end quote. perhaps, but dave's late show ratings have soared since the scandal broke, so tonight we ask the question, is dave having the last laugh? his audience was certainly laughing last night. >> and you know the tradition of the broadway theater is that if the leading characters can't go on, they always have understudies so i was thinking

we should get an understudy for me because there's a wide variety of reasons i might not be able to continue. you just never know. >> he certainly is a brilliant comic, you've got to hand him that. as for stephanie birkitt, not a peep from her. we have reached out to her. we haven't heard back. she has an open invitation to tell her side of the story right here on "issues." meanwhile, stephanie's grandmother did talk to "the new york post." grandmama no fan of joe halderman and it was quote, stupid for stephanie to go out with him. she calls joe a quote, mistake. you think? grandma's not the only woman speaking out. the national organization for women is lashing out at david letterman's habit of going to the office well to wet his whistle, saying it raises abuse of power issues that can create a hostile work environment. we'll talk about it. tonight's big issue, is sex at work okay and if so, when? straight out to my fantastic

panel. lisa bloom, cnn legal analyst. wendy murphy, former prosecutor, author of "and justice for some" and professor at new england school of law. stacy kaiser, psychotherapist and the lone male on the panel, carlos diaz. i know you can handle us. >> i don't like my odds here. i'm not going to make any comments about sex in the workplace, okay? because i'm going to get killed on that. >> carlos, bring it. >> dude, dude. >> we're not going to put you on the spot, per se. we're going to put david letterman on the spot tonight. what is the latest? >> the latest is that, you know, now you have another motive here, which could be revenge. we knew before that joe halderman had some financial difficulties, but now when you throw the revenge factor in there, it becomes more and more like a hollywood script every day, a jilted lover who not only wanted money but wanted to see dave burn and dave even said it when he made the admission last thursday, he said that, you know, this person who wants to

extort money from me said to me you know what, even if you give me the $2 million, i still might go with the screenplay, still might go with the book. so obviously dave felt threatened and that's why he went to the police. >> yeah. these two from all reports really despised each other. david letterman made his sex at the office disclosure on thursday as we all know. most of it was dead serious but not this sarcastic clip. >> what you don't want is a guy saying i know you had sex with women so i would like $2 million or i'm going to make trouble for you. >> oh, boy. clearly, no love lost between letterman and his alleged blackmailer. yesterday, "the post" reported halderman became furious when he found out in the diary of his live-in girlfriend, stephanie birkitt, that she was allegedly having sex with letterman while living in connecticut with halderman. we need to get her side of the story. we've been trying. today, sources describe the cbs producer as a jealous, jilted lover who quote, wants to hurt letterman as much as he can and wanted to hurt the girl,

stephanie, too. psychotherapist stacy kaiser, this is the oldest motive under the sun. they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. guess what, hell hath no fury like a man scorned, either. >> that's absolutely right. you hear about crimes of passion all the time but i have to be honest with you. you rarely hear about things like this. what i think is going on is it's more than jealousy or envy. i actually think there's a personality disorder here. >> on whose part? >> maybe a few personality disorders here. >> all right. yeah. i think, you know, we were talking last night, why does david letterman continuously go back to the well and go out with co-workers and he married one, when he meets the most beautiful, accomplished, successful, famous and rich women in the entire world on the planet, they sit next to him on a couch on television. why didn't he ask those out? and of course, we're going to

also talk about the big issue tonight that is it okay to have sex in the workplace. i'm not talking about actually doing the act on the job. i'm talking about -- >> good. >> -- is it okay to have a relationship with somebody at work. the national organization for women has come out swinging in the wake of letterman's admission that he had affairs with subordinates. that's the key word. but listen to what tv veteran barbara walters had to say on "the view." >> when you work on a show, especially in television, and you're working late, these are the women you meet. there is no record at all with david letterman of his having promoted someone or having told someone if you don't do this, you're not going to get the job. i mean, i worked on that show a lot and talked with the writers who are women. >> lisa bloom, here's the problem. over at cbs where "the late show" airs, you have a situation where the big boss dated and married a staffer. so i know your mom, famed attorney gloria allred, is basically taking a shot at

letterman, too, we could say. in an open letter posted to radaronline, she says dave engaged in sexual favoritism in the workplace. do you, lisa, believe indeed there was a quid pro quo in the late show offices, if you have sex with me, you are going to get better assignments, you're going to be the one who does those cute little skits out there at the deli? >> first of all, full disclosure, i'm cbs' "early show" legal analyst as well. but really, that doesn't matter because we have been talking about it openly on the early show every day. there's a big difference between les moonvis and julie chen and somebody like david letterman who apparently for a long period of time had secret relationships with staffers. i agree with the national organization for women. i think that creates a very negative environment for the women who are not selected to have sex with him, and for all of the men in the workplace who don't have the opportunity for that kind of favoritism. do any of us want our daughters going into a workplace where the boss is consistently having sex with women at the bottom of the totem pole?

don't we want them to be judged on the merits? that's the problem letterman created. i think n.o.w. is absolutely on the money in that letter. >> wendy murphy? >> i have also written a column that will be posted at the patriotledger.com where i take david on a little bit. i do see him as a victim and i think extortion is worse than whatever he's done that i've heard thus far. we have to remember that. but i do give him the top five things he should be saying on his show to stop joking and to take this seriously, because whether or not there's a quid pro quo, if you create a hostile environment based on sex and/or gender, it interferes with the ability of women to have an equal employment opportunity and that's the whole point of civil rights and title nine and title seven laws that we have been fighting about for so long in this country. i think he's been wrong to do the behavior. but, but let me say this. the whole jealousy motive and the idea that we're going to somehow turn this into a this guy was jealous and that's why he did this, let's be clear. it was about money and the only reason it's being described as

an issue of jealousy or revenge is because when he puts up his insanity defense, it will stick a little better because there is no defense when it's just greed. this guy was greedy. >> carlos diaz? >> i don't think jealousy helps him. >> yeah, but i disagree with that. because what you're saying is jealousy has to take effect here because he read the diary in december and he only came to letterman after he got dumped by birkitt a few months ago. that's where the jealousy factor comes in. >> i think it's what the shrinks called multi-determined. i don't think you ever do anything for just one reason. anything this big, it's got to be a convergence of factors and i think the fact that his ex-wife took the kids away, he was having money problems, the girlfriend leaves, he feels humiliated, and he hates david letterman, and again, he hasn't been convicted. he's just been charged. so i thank you, expert panel. we are going to stay on top of this story. coming up, an honor roll student killed by a violent pack of teens. what is being done to stop this

insanity? we'll talk about it. then a cop accused of boozing it up, getting behind the wheel and killing this innocent woman. will justice be served? the victim's family joins us to talk about their anger after the break. i will be taking your calls on this controversy. was there a cover-up? 1-877-jvm-says. 1-877-586-7297.

the family of a woman killed by an alleged drunk driving cop shares their horrific story next, but first, "top of the block" tonight. uproar over a deadly chicago teen beating and it's no wonder. look at this crazy, horrific video. today, attorney general eric

holder and chicago's top politicians call for an end to this kind of murderous mayhem. they deem it a crisis of violence. finally, we are addressing teen violence as the national crisis it is but are we addressing the underlying causes? our culture, movies, tv, video games, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, teach kids that violence is a terrific way to deal with your problems. how about teaching kids nonviolent conflict resolution? we need to teach them how to be peaceful. they don't teach that at school. so along with more metal detectors in schools, we also need psychological detectors so these kids can become psychologically aware of why they're so angry, why they're acting out so aggressively. usually, it's a problem back at home. alcoholism, drug addiction, physical abuse, emotional abuse. do these kids have a safe place to spill their guts about their personal problems, to talk it out? no. do you think they're going to tell their teachers?

hell, no. how about group therapy in public schools? sound crazy? well, that's crazy, that violence. we've got to try something different. tomorrow night on "issues," we're going to have a special report on that horrific deadly beating. is it so very crazy to teach our kids peace? that sounds crazy. be sure to tune in and that's tonight's "top of the block." tonight, new outrage over an alleged police cover-up in a fatal dwi case. joining me tonight, the grieving family of the woman killed in a horrific crash involving an off-duty new york city cop. sources say officer andrew kelly was totally wasted but managed to avoid a blood test for more than seven hours. by that time, his blood alcohol content, bunch of big fat zeros. officer kelly pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter and dwi and now a grand jury and internal affairs trying to

figure out, hm, was there a cover-up? i will ask the victim's dad what he thinks about the hours and hours it took to test officer kelly. and what about the officer's flamboyant defense attorney. check out his off-the-wall behavior right here. >> can you tell us the status of the andrew kelly case? >> ah, look what you're doing. you're doing. >> i'm just asking. >> at this point, for us, the case is brand new. we're investigating everything. we are not surprised, we knew what the blood alcohol results were going to be, because we knew what he did that night or what he didn't do that night. >> that dance, beyond inappropriate. i want to welcome back don clark, also joining me, detective lieutenant steve rogers of the nutley, new jersey pd and my special guest,

reverend valnord and his attorney, sanford rubenstein. i want to start with the attorney's reaction to the clip you just saw, officer kelly's attorney dancing around. what is your reaction and why do you think he was so gleeful? >> look, i think what's really important here is not so much the reaction of an attorney, but the fact that at the scene of this horrible tragedy, the police officer kelly admitted to drinking six to eight beers to investigators. his eyes were bloodshot. he was speaking with a slurred voice. he refused to take a breathalyzer test and he refused to let blood be taken from him until a court order had to be obtained. now, there are three police officers who have been disciplined for their action with regard to what happened here. one police officer was in the car who fled the scene. another police officer who has been suspended for giving kelly two glasses -- two bottles of water and gum. what was his motive, right before the blood test. and a third officer was

transferred for at least an hour delay in transferring kelly from the precinct house to the hospital for the blood test. >> i want to ask the victim's dad, reverend valnord, i know this has to be very difficult for you, sir. >> yes. >> the way that this man danced around, does it say to you that there is an attitude about your daughter's death that is disrespectful? >> i believe it's really disrespectful because my daughter is dead. i'm suffering. i don't see if he's dancing why he has to be dancing over the death of my daughter. >> i want to take a closer look at the hours following valnord's death. 12:41 a.m. officer kelly refuses a breathalyzer at the scene. five hours later a warrant is issued for a blood test. then 7:00 a.m. kelly leaves the station and finally goes to the hospital, finally, an hour later at 8:00 he has his blood drawn.

seven hours and 20 minutes. what was going on all the time that kelly was at the station? why the foot dragging? and of course his blood alcohol came up 000. which is one of the reasons why this attorney's dancing. it's going to be hard to prove this case -- >> well, i'm not is sure that it's going to be hard to prove this case. because the prosecutors have enough evidence based on the own statements of kelly of six to eight beers, based on investigators on the scene, to get a conviction in this case. >> i don't know about that, sir. the reason i don't know about that is because whereas you're alleging that there's a possible cover-up at the scene, so if those officers, some of whom were allegedly engaged in some kind of cover-up, are the ones testifying, they're the ones who could very likely say he didn't have blood on his breath, he didn't have -- he didn't slur. >> the issue of cover-up, the fact of the matter is the internal affairs bureau of nypd is investigating now. and if there was criminal acts with regard to obstruction of

justice or tampering with evidence they should be prosecuted as well. >> well, but there's more than that. obstruction of justice is a minor thing, jane. and i agree with you. i think it's going to be problematic here because evidence has to show this officer had blood alcohol -- sh officer had blood/clol -- what his blood/alcohol was. that's what the defense gets paid for. and if they had just followed there, just done what they were supposed to do and treat this officer just like any other civili civilian would have been treated -- >> i love the cops but this situation stinks. more on the alleged boozy cop who killed in a moment. but first -- >> friends, not booze. >> that was 700 marchers around central park.

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