let's bring in attorney and legal analyst areva martin. what does the law say about this areva?religious organizations including religious schools have a great deal of latitude under the federal and most state laws. and they get to choose who they admit into their schools. and even though we've seen this amazing you know change in the country around gay marriages and you know gay rights, religious institutions still have this very special place in our society, and they're exempt from most of the laws that would apply to public institutions. >> so let's just say these -- the children had a disability, or the parents had a disability, and -- would that make a difference? >> it gets a little trickier. and it's important to distinguish between private schools and religious organizations. so if this is a private school then absolutely. americans with disabilities act, and the federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination would apply in those private school situations. but when you go to those religious organizations those religious institutions even under those strict antidi

areva, thanks to neil as well. >>> ahead tonight on this broadcast, millions watch the patriots withthe colts. was the patriots cheating every time they caught the ball? and cost poker players $10,000. police accused the money from tournaments and it was perfectly legal. we investigate ahead. (woman) caring for someone with alzheimer's means i am a lot of things. i am his guardian. i am his voice. so i asked about adding once-daily namenda xr® to his current treatment for moderate to severe alzheimer's. it works differently. when added to another alzheimer's treatment, like aricept® it may improve overall function... and cognition. and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. (man) namenda xr doesn't change how the disease progresses. it shouldn't be taken by anyone allergic to memantine, or who's had a bad reaction to namenda xr or its ingredients. before starting treatment, tell their doctor if they have, or ever had a seizure disorder difficulty passing urine, liver, kidney, or bladder problems, and about medications they're taking. certain medications, changes in diet, or

>>areva, do you agree with that? >> i think the standard of proof is less.preponderance of the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt and i can't imagine there will be a part on the part of the ferguson police department to reach a resolution which is what often happens in the lawsuits. rarely are they played out in the trial. often there is a e pretrial settlement, but again in this case, i can't go back to the case of justice. even though the family may succeed in the civil lawsuit and obtain monetary damage it still does not address the question to what happens to unarmed african-american men who are shot by police officers. that question looms large in light of the statements made by the attorney general and even the president, and four cases have been investigated shootings this in 2004 and the american public wants to know if any of the cases are doing to be prosecuted and how do we address the disparities in the criminal justice system. >> well, anderson i think that you have to be careful, because each case has to be decided by the facts off that case, a

areva, as you know journalists have gotten tremendous support. is there anything more that can be done to help them? >> i think the outpouring of support from the television, print media, heads of states other governments coming forth, saying that this is an atrocity that it has played an important part has continued to keep the pressure on until the three men are freed. >> areva martin thank you, happy new year. great to have you. >> palestinian leader mahmoud abbas took steps to join the international criminal court. the decision coming a day after the u.n. security council rejected setting a deadline for israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. joining the court is seen as an attempt to put pressure on israel by raising the spectre of war crime charges against israeli officials. both condemned the move. the u.s. released five detainees after being held for 12 years without charges. the men are from yemen and tunisia. they'll be transferred to kazakhstan. >>> the first bodies recovered from the air asia plane will return from indonesia

. >> thank you, areva martin joins us. what are the target of these seizures? >> the police actually targeted those individuals more so than they did other citizens. and activists have been fighting for years to get the justice department to do something about these civil asset seizures, approximates eric holder as part of his legacy building took a very bold step in ending state and local police departments' dpens dependencepolice departments'dependence on these seizures. >> war on drugs. >> absolutely, profit out of crime so they targeted drug king pins and drug cartels and they took pack the assets, you know, the fruits of the ill-gotten gains, so cars and boats and airplanes were seized and eventually it was expanded to include cash. but local law enforcement agencies started using this asset seizure as a way to fund their local police departments and it incentivized them to stop people to do warrantless searches and to seize large amounts of cash. >> so if law enforcement -- if police departments can't keep the money? does it go? >> under the state law thi

areva martin great to see you. thank you very much. >> thanks john. >> newly released video shows how a traffic stop in new jersey ended with a passenger shot and killed by press. >> the video was taken from a police car dashboard camera. showing jeremy reid stepping out of the car with hands up. within seconds, police opened fire. one of the officers said he saw a gun, and a weapon was recovered. both officers have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. >>> president obama arrived in kansas. his latest stop on a tour to promote his economic plan one laid out at the state unfortunate union. turning those proposals into reality may be a tough taftenght taftenght -- tough tausk. >> reporter: president obama on the road. many dismiss it his agenda as a pipe dream. >> for six years we rebuild the economy on a new foundation. thanks to your hard work and resilience, america is coming back. >> president obama seemed self-assured and defiant as he talked about turning the pages on bad economy. >> we

. >> let's talk about this case with attorney areva martin. thank you for joining us. >> thank you jonathan. first of all it's a mass murder and the defendant is still alive. in most mass murder shootings the defendant is killed by police or law enforcement or they take their own lives. now we have a young man who is actually going on trial has to face his victims and answer for the killing of 12 people and as you say the wounding of over 70 people. >> that young man james holmes has complete not guilty by reason of insanity. how strong a case does he have? >> i think it will be a unique challenge for him. colorado has a strange law that requires the prosecuting attorney to prove he was sane. we are talking about legal insanity. the definition of whether he knows right from wrong or whether he was impaired by reason of mental defect. was he legallily sane is going to be the question. >> reporter: how do prosecutors prove that, when a person commits these crimes for apparently no reason. clearly people will say he was insane. >> a clinical defi

now, if yoarngo e swearing ice he is morning at cio center, d o t plic at 8:30 trn seats areva oa rs come, firsrvis. reporting ven mth news 4. eun, back ou >>> you ca stay on top of all the events on nbcwashington.com and the nbc washington app. the inaugural events begi tomorro >>> montgomery county police say 2:00 a.m., a man was walking near the tracks and hit by a 6:0 now. it's been more than two days since anyone has seen him. there is website set up to help find this popular yoga teacher. frids and family are looking for him now. jackie benson spoke with his wife from mexico. >> they chartered a helicopter. we chartered our own hicte and the federal police came. >> smith says her husband is an experience hiker, but she worries heaybe injured. searchers have not consistently had access to a helicopter with infrared radar. the search does continue. >>> someid in prince george's ty say they should not have to pay to feel safe after a shoot-out and murder at their apartment complex. they wereil on the top floor of the camden college park apartmentsar yesterday morning. those livi a