i want to bring in nbc news chief legal analyst dan abrams.here's no question in this case, dan, theresa lewis did it. what surprised me is she pled guilty. i'm used to let's make a deal. i'll plead guilty. in exchange i don't get the death penalty. >> a lot of times the prosecutors don't want to make a deal. they don't have to make a deal. a lot of arguments could be made for minorities as well. minorities no question are disproportionately represented on death row. if someone is white, versus someone of color, if the person of color is facing the death penalty, they'll more likely get it. that doesn't mean, though that as of right now we simply say we won't apply the death penalty. in only reason in my view that this case is getting so much attention is because it's a woman who is on death row. this is a crime which in any state that has the penalty would be eligible. there are some cases where prosecutors say i'm sorry. this is too heinous. we are not going to cut you a deal. >> so could it be a calculated risk that you're taking? she did i

joining me here in studio, dan abrams, our good friend.i, alex. >> is she getting preferential treatment here? a lot of us when she was sentenced to jail obviously said good and good for her. >> i know that most people don't want to hear this but no. she's not. and here's why. because in this most recent incident, this is a probation violation. and so the question is going to be what should be the sentence for that probation violation? that's still yet to be determined meaning on october 22nd, they are going to decide what should that punishment be? my guess is it will be exactly what they said, which is a 30-day sentence. in the meantime, the question is what do you do with her? and the first judge was saying in the meantime, we're going to hold her withhout bail. now, remember, this is a misdemeanor probation violation. in the state of california, you don't hold people without bail. on a misdemeanor probation violation. so if she had been held and not released, that would have been preferential treatment in the reverse way that most peop

dan abrams, nbc's chief legal analyst, good morning to you.out the responsibility the police may bear in all of this. it took them 30 minutes to set up that permaneimeter around th petit home. in that time, the petit family was being murdered. >> no question in retrospect, the police could have and should have done more. they should have gone right to the house. the question is exactly what did they think and know at the time. i think clint is right, they used their training, they followed their protocol. but the bottom line is that this was more than just someone being held for ransom. my guess is that most of the time, in communities like this, when someone's held for ransom or kidnapped, it's domestic violence, et cetera. >> not used to this kind of violent crime. >> exactly. they would say, we had no idea. that doesn't excuse it. doesn't mean i'm sure the police are feeling very guilty for everything that happened. >> is it a wake-up call, do you think, for these communities, that they need to re-evaluate police procedure? >> maybe. let's

for more on this, let's go to dan abrams, nbc news chief legal analyst. good to have you with us tonight. >> hi, ed. >> how big of a deal is this or is this one of those trivial complaints sort of thrown out there in a political season. >> well you know i would say it's somewhere in between. the bottom line is that the fcc complaint i think is going to, at least, be investigated. i think with regard to the u.s. attorney in delaware, in terms of a real criminal investigation, crew keeps referring to her as a criminal, which i don't think is useful to their cause here. i don't think that's what's going to happen here. might she have to end up paying a fine, maybe. that's certainly possible. but i don't think that this investigation is even going to be completed before the election. so all we're going to have in terms of results are an allegation, questions about effectively, was she using her home as campaign headquarters, are you allowed do that, was she effectively having the taxpayers, the people who are donating to her campaigns pay her rent which would

earlier, i talked to nbc news chief legal analyst dan abrams and i asked him if the troubled actressot. and here's why. because in this most recent incident -- this is a probation violation, right? so the question is going to be, what should be the sentence for that probation violation? that's still to be determined. on october 22nd they're going to decide what should that punishment be. my guess is it will be a 30-day sentence. in the meantime, the question is what do you do with her? and the first judge said we'll hold her without bail. this is a misdemeanor probation violation. in the state of california you don't hold people without bail on a misdemeanor probation violation. so if she had been held and not released, that would have been the preferential treatment in the reverse way that most people think about. >> so you're saying that if anybody here, you, me, anyone here in the studio, if we flrp the same situation, we would not be going to jail. >> no question we'd not be going to jail, correct. on the probation violation. meaning, that again, they wouldn't be going to jail to

this is such a horrible heinous crime, we want to pursue a death penalty. >> dan abrams, thank you so >>> let's get a check of the weather, stephanie abrams in f al. >> i will take you to mexico and show you tropical storm karl right now moving through the bay of campeche and looks like it will strengthen before making a second landfall. looks like it won't affect >> matt, over to you. >> thank you very much, stephanie. it was supposed to be michael jackson's comeback tour, but the pressure by the concert promoter pushed the singtory his death? his mother and children have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company. natalie morales has the details on this. natalie, good morning. >> good morning to you, matt. yes, a civil action suit was filed wednesday by catherine jackson's attorney against aed, the concert promoter. the attorney saying the purpose of the suit is to prove the truth about what happened to michael jackson once and for all, but, again, this morning there are more questions than answers about what the singer was really going through in those final days. >> report

dan abrams is nbc's chief legal analyst. n, good morning to you. >> good morning, matt. >> a little bit of an unusual situation going on here. the state department's got to get involved, then the justice department. how long could this process drag on? >> it could go on for months. i think that's enormously frustrating to the people involved, i'm certain. but the reality is, first, the mexican authorities had to sort of get their ducks in a row and put together the right document to say we want you to extradite him. the state department then takes that and says, okay, we're going to look at this. and then very often, they go back. they don't just look at a document and say yes or no. they'll go back sometimes and say, wait, we need more of this, less of this, et cetera, et cetera. then if the state department thinks there's enough, then they take it effectively to the justice department where the defendant can have an opportunity to say i shouldn't be extradited at all. >> reading the information on this this morning, i was r

dan kerman, kron 4 news. >> for analysis on the judge's ruling kron 4's jonathan bloom spoke with a law professor who studies the death penalty. >> reporter: law professor abramd the judge's 11 page opinion answers some questions about how the execution of albert brown will proceed but leaves open many larger questions about the future of executions in california. >> i think judge fogel was surprised when the state decided unilaterally to schedule an execution. this is the judge's attempt to handle the surprise in a very short window of time before wednesday. >> reporter: why is it giving the inmate the choice solves the problem? >> they're hoping some precedence in which giving inmates choices about this thing has been regards as sufficient compliance. this is not the first time it's been done. >> reporter: but giving him the choice doesn't necessarily guarantee that he won't be executed in a way that causes him pain. >> exactly. >> reporter: is there evidence to suggest using the single drug is less painful for the condemned inmate? >> there seems to be some evidence in this case which did not seem to be the case in the 2008 supreme court >>> >> reporter: i