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NANCY GRACE

Husband Shoots Teacher Wife`s Teenage Lover

Aired March 22, 2007 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, a stunning twist to a student/teacher affair. A young father of two pulls a long gun after his teacher wife lures a teen student into a sex affair. Tonight, the husband-turned- shooter tells his story on air, claiming accident. But does a 911 call to police prove he really plotted and planned to murder his teenage love rival?
And tonight, caught on video, an off-duty cop brutally attacks an unarmed female bartender -- she`s half his size -- while all the other patrons right there in the bar stand back and watch. Should they all be thrown behind bars, as well? I say yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The regulars gathered at this neighborhood bar in Chicago while a security camera recorded tape. In this surveillance video, notice the man in the upper right corner of your screen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I`ve been telling him that I`m not going to serve him anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you were concerned that he was...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, was...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... getting wasted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has since been identified as Officer Anthony Abbate. At one point, Abbate surprises Karolina and comes around to her side of the bar. But when Abbate bumps into the bar, he explodes. He punches her repeatedly. Keep in mind, according to prosecutors, Abbate is 6-1 and 250 pounds. Karolina says she`s 5-4 and 130 pounds. As frightened bystanders keep a distance, Officer Abbate walks away. Karolina gets up despite multiple hits to her back, head and ribs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is one of the most brutal and savage attacks that I`ve ever seen caught on tape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors have charged Officer Abbate with aggravated assault, a felony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karolina, what was your reaction (INAUDIBLE) the person who beat you is a police officer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s what I couldn`t believe. I thought police was to serve and protect, not to beat up people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. First, a stunning twist to a student- teacher affair. Did it end in murder?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is yet another case of a female school teacher having a sexual affair with a male student. But unlike the Mary Kay Letourneau case or the Debra LaFave case, this one, police say, has ended in murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean was here about two weeks ago, and he wouldn`t let me answer my cell phone. And I said, What? And he said, Well, Mom, it`s my counselor at school, and I`m going out with her. And I said -- he wouldn`t talk about it. And then Saturday night, she called me -- I had never met her -- and said Sean`s been shot. He`s dead. And I said, What? And the phone went dead. And then she called me back, and I said, Who shot him? She says, The psychopath. And I said, (INAUDIBLE) She said, Harris (ph). I said, Who is Harris. And she said, My husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`d suggest to you that having a young kid come over and take away your wife of 11 years might send you into the heat of passion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, the husband-turned shooter tells his story on air, claiming it was all an accident. But does the 911 tape to police prove he plotted and planned to kill his teenage love rival? Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, "TODAY": And I`ll ask you point blank, did you shoot Sean Powell?

ERIC MCLEAN, SHOT WIFE`S TEEN LOVER: Yes.

LAUER: You knew that she was having an affair?

MCLEAN: I mean, I`ve -- I`ve -- I pretty much knew. I think I was just, like, in denial for a long time, you know?

LAUER: Why not leave? Why not leave her?

MCLEAN: I don`t know. I just couldn`t leave her.

LAUER: Explain that. Why not?

MCLEAN: Because I love her!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Breaking down in tears, he sniffled and cried throughout the entire interview, that emotional exclusive interview Eric McLean gave to the "Today" show`s Matt Lauer. But believe you me, it will be seen again in court.

Let`s go straight out to Don Jacobs, reporter with "The Knoxville News-Sentinel." Welcome, Don. What happened?

DON JACOBS, "KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL": Well, Mr. McLean took a gun and shot Mr. Powell once in the head with a Winchester 30-30, you know, normally associated with a hunting rifle.

GRACE: To Diane Dimond, investigative reporter and author of "Be Careful Who You Love." Welcome back, Diane. What`s the background on the story? It didn`t all start and end when a husband took a long gun from his car, took the time to walk all the way to the front of his home. This teenage boy had been sleeping in front of the home, Diane, for two days -- sleeping, camped out in front of the home where his teacher/lover lived. For two days, he had been there. So now McLean goes out to the car, shoots the guy in the head.

That`s not the beginning and end of the story. Where did it start?

DIANE DIMOND, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, we don`t know exactly when it started, but according to everything I`ve read, and especially the search warrant returns are very -- they`re chock full of information. This man suspected way back in December that something was wrong because his little boy came to him and said, I saw Mommy holding hands with someone, a man. He confronted his wife. She denied there was anything going on. But he said as a student teacher, she always talked about this one particular student. So he went to that one particular student, Sean Powell, asked him, Are you having an affair with my wife? He said, No, no, absolutely not.

But on this day, about 12 days ago, March 10th, this young man came to the house, and the husband said, Wait, you can`t be here. Go away. He didn`t listen. He just kept marching up to his house, to the McLean house, as if it were his own. And he went in to see this student teacher of his, this woman who everyone believes he was having an affair with.

Now, the situation is going to be tough in court, Nancy, for this defendant because what he did seemed controlled. It seemed contrived, almost. He called 911, said, There`s a guy in my house. Oh, never mind. He`s leaving. The kid started to leave, got in the car, but he still shot him anyway.

GRACE: Joining us also tonight, Bethany Marshall, Dr. Bethany Marshall, joining us out of LA, and also author. Bethany, think about it. Let`s think about it from the family`s point of view, the victim`s parents. They`ve got an 18-year-old, just barely 18. You`ve got this woman who is a student teaching, like a teaching internship there. Now he`s dead.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: And you know what? You said something -- this didn`t just happen out of the blue. These homicides -- this guy fits a typical profile of someone who commits a crime of passion, an emotional homicide, in that it appears to come out of the blue, but he was probably contemplating this at either a conscious or unconscious level for some time.

Usually, these guys, the precursor is some type of jealousy, that they feel that a third outside party is interfering in love, and (INAUDIBLE) a great deal of persecutory distress. They feel tortured. They feel upset at the person they plan to murder, but they cannot seek solutions. The nuances of resolving conflicts are very lost on them. Having a conversation, going to marital therapy, even leaving a relationship is something that they cannot bear to contemplate. It`s either you must die or I must die. Something`s got to give. That`s how they think.

GRACE: Joining us by phone right now is a very special guest, who was there in the interview with Matt Lauer and the defendant. It is the defense attorney in this case. So I`ve got to hand it to you, you certainly tainted the jury pool to the benefit of your client. Joining us tonight, a veteran trial lawyer out of the Knoxville, Tennessee, jurisdiction, Bruce Poston. He is Eric McLean`s attorney. Mr. Poston, why didn`t you save it for the courtroom? Why did you decide to air it on national TV on the "Today" show?

BRUCE POSTON, MCLEAN`S ATTORNEY: How do you figure I tainted the jury?

GRACE: Because your guy looks very, very sympathetic, crying and sniveling. Hey, even I liked him a tiny bit until he got to that one little detail. What was it? Oh, yes, the murder part. He played himself to be very sympathetic, very straightforward in the interview. And now, if the prosecution is tricked into it, they may end up playing that, relieving your client of the duty to take the stand.

POSTON: No, because I don`t think it`ll be introduced as evidence. And secondly, Eric McLean is Eric McLean. People saw him. They can judge for himself whether he was crying realistically or faking it. I don`t think you`re that good an actor to fake that.

GRACE: No, I agree with you about your client crying. I think he deeply, deeply regrets what happened, but the law is one they instantly regret the deed, but that does not in any way reduce malice.

POSTON: No, and I`m kind of amused listening to you all talk about something you don`t know anything about, particularly the lady in LA talking about someone without any facts of this case. As you know, because you`re experienced, there are different levels of homicide. There`s premeditated, planned murders. There`s second degree, which is a knowing killing. There`s voluntary manslaughter, which is knowing. And the difference is, it`s in the heat of passion. There`s reckless homicide.

You know, people are saying, Why did you -- why did you do this? Well, I`ll tell you, one of the reasons why is that, frankly, I`m just sick of the state and the prosecution having it all their way at the front end.

GRACE: Mr. Poston, has the prosecution given any interviews on the "Today" show, like you did?

POSTON: No. What they do is they charge premeditated first-degree murder, and that prejudices the entire state before any facts are out.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Well, don`t you enter a not guilty plea?

POSTON: I don`t think there was anything that came out in that Lauer interview that wasn`t in public knowledge from the media at one point or another. But what it did was, right here, right now, let people judge for themselves about this young man.

I`ll tell you, a few months ago, I did a murder trial, and the prosecutor stood up and said, you know, How can you believe this man? It`s been 18 months since this happened. He`s had 18 months to practice with a lawyer, practice his tears, practice getting on the stand and telling the story. I think that`s the new thing they`re teaching in prosecutorial schools. Well, guess what? Whoever handles this case isn`t going to be able to do that, are they.

GRACE: Well, it was beautifully put by Eric McLean`s lawyer, Bruce Poston. But let`s talk about the nuts and bolts of the law itself. Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Alex Sanchez, Doug Burns, Susan Moss, as well. Welcome to all of you.

First to you, Alex Sanchez. Let`s talk about premeditation. All of you lawyers know that premeditation, murder one, malice murder, can be formed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. It does not require a long, elaborate plan. Now, let`s think this thing through. The defendant in this case had to go to his car. This kid`s been sleeping in the car for two days, Alex Sanchez -- two days. Asleep, all right? This guy has to go to his car, get out his long gun, a rifle, then walk all the way across the front yard to the car, point, one shot to the head.

Now, not only -- there may even be some required action to the gun to pull the trigger. He has plenty of time to think it through. This is not part of an argument. This is not self-defense. He doesn`t say -- he doesn`t trip and fall and the gun goes off. He walks up to the car and pulls the trigger. That is premeditated murder.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I disagree with you. I think for the past two days, if this kid was sleeping out in front of that house, he was mercilessly provoking the defendant in this case. And the wife was mercilessly provoking the defendant. She`s having an affair...

GRACE: By sleeping?

SANCHEZ: That`s right. She`s having an affair with a student, and the person she`s having an affair with is coming and sleeping in front of the house? Do you expect this guy to go to sleep every night or for the next two days just to ignore that, it`s not going to bother him in any significant way?

GRACE: He got the death penalty for sleeping in his car? What about it, Doug Burns?

DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, no matter how you slice it, this is a vigilantism type of situation. In other words, the facts are going to be established one way or the other, and the judge is going to explain the different gradations, as his lawyer explained, of homicide. And the jury is going to decide it. But make no mistake about it, Nancy. You`re also - - I know you don`t like big terms, but you`re also going to have possible jury nullification -- we`ll see -- which is that a jury can do whatever they want. And that interview...

GRACE: Doug, let me clarify something.

BURNS: Yes?

GRACE: It`s not that I don`t like big terms, it`s that I find lawyers, possibly one or two of them on the panel tonight, use them around laypeople to impress them. Explain jury nullification.

BURNS: Jury nullification is a jury`s ability to find somebody not guilty, no matter what the proof is. Many defense lawyers ask for that jury instruction. Courts routinely will not give it. But the instruction is, You have the power to find them not guilty, no matter what your view of the evidence is. This is a case where -- you can`t cross-examine a television. That`s why he did the interview, OK?

GRACE: OK, to you, Susan Moss. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: He got out of the car, and I told him that he couldn`t be here. Then he started to ignore me, walking through the yard. And I told him...

LAUER: Did you say...

MCLEAN: I can`t talk about it.

LAUER: ... Erin, make him go? Make him leave?

There was a second 911 call made about seven minutes later, and that one was made by Erin. And during that 911 call, Erin told the dispatcher that Eric had shot someone. So I guess I have to ask what happened in those seven minutes, Eric?

MCLEAN: I can`t -- we can`t go through it. That`s going to be -- that`s critical to the trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To you, Bruce Poston. This is Eric McLean`s lawyer joining us. I thought you were going to come clean with Matt Lauer, tell the whole thing. That was a very emotional interview with your client you gave on the "Today" show. Why not get to the crux of it? Why leave out the critical seven minutes?

POSTON: Because you`re a lawyer and you know I can`t do that. Courts frown very seriously about talking about the evidence that`s going to be introduced at trial.

GRACE: You already talked about the evidence! The whole interview`s about the evidence!

POSTON: What evidence? What evidence did we talk about, with the exception of the one question that the media already knew? Don Jacobs is a reporter in town. There`s no doubt -- and I think lawyers, defense lawyers that travel down the road of, Make the state prove I`m the shooter, when it`s clear you are, they`re stupid. They`re asking for trouble and they`re playing with the jury because...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: That may be true, but that`s not the question that I asked you. I asked you...

POSTON: You asked me why did I talk about evidence I can`t talk about.

GRACE: You`ve already talked about the evidence on air with Matt Lauer. What can get bigger than that?

POSTON: What evidence did we talk about?

GRACE: Well, you talked about what led up to the shooting. You talked about his frame of mind. You talked...

(CROSSTALK)

POSTON: But we didn`t talk about what`s going to be at issue. I`ve heard your prosecutorial lead-in question about, He deliberately does this and walks to the car. You don`t know what happened during that time. You don`t know what caused anything...

GRACE: Well, where did he get the gun? Where did he get the gun?

POSTON: Pardon me?

GRACE: Where did he get the gun?

POSTON: You have to watch the trial.

GRACE: OK. Back to you, Susan Moss, family law attorney. You got to hand it to Poston. He knows what he`s doing. Susan, those critical seven minutes, why did they refuse to comment on that?

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, presumably, he refused to comment because he doesn`t want the press to know what really happened in those seven minutes. And I have a feeling we`re all going to be listening very closely when the trial does happen to find out what did occur.

But the big question is, What about the children? What happens to these two children now? And that`s the key issue. Dad`s in jail. There are going to be serious questions about whether mom is unfit to keep custody. Teachers who have sex with their students are sexual predators. They are exploiting their students. Serious issues have now been raised about the fitness of this woman to be a parent to these two young children, and I predict that there will be other court battles concerning who will raise these children in the future.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Sandy in Kansas. Hi, Sandy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love you. Love your show.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just have a question. I`m wondering, there`s been so many of these female teachers that are doing this. We`ve seen they`re not being charged the same as the male teachers. And could she face any responsibility here? Because obviously, that`s where it all started.

GRACE: OK. I`ve researched it very carefully, Sandy in Kansas, and this is what I`ve learned. I think in that jurisdiction, the minor has to be under 17, and I believe in this case, they met when the boy was 17, and 18 he`s dead. I don`t know that we`re going to get a criminal charge out of it. But if she met him before 17 and the affair started before then, the state`s got a case.

Let`s very quickly go to tonight`s "Case Alert." Experts working around the clock on DNA on 6-month-old Dannielynn, the sole descendent of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith. A Bahamian judge ordered DNA to determine who is the baby`s biological father. And tonight, the cause of death results of the covergirl`s autopsy will be announced Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sean Powell was shot outside the couple`s home just over a week ago. According to police, the husband, Eric McLean, called them to report an intruder was at his home. Minutes later, though, his wife also called police and told them that, in fact, he had shot her alleged teen lover, Sean Powell. McLean is now awaiting a preliminary hearing on his case, scheduled for later this month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A student-teacher affair takes a deadly turn, a father of two now behind bars for gunning down the teenager who turned out to be his love rival.

Let`s go out to the lines. Marcy in Georgia. Hi, Marcy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love your show.

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just have a question. Where are this young man`s parents? Do they not know that he`s doing this?

GRACE: You mean, do they not know that he was in the middle of the affair with the teacher? Do I have Marcy, Elizabeth? OK. Marcy, are you there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GRACE: Your question, did they know he was having an affair with the teacher?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GRACE: You know, out to you, Don Jacobs. Where have the parents been in this whole thing?

JACOBS: Sean was adopted about 10 years ago by a couple that lives in West Knoxville and I understand are very dedicated parents. They have declined, up to now, including this morning -- I stopped by their house -- they have declined to grant any media interviews.

GRACE: OK. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean was here about two weeks ago, and he wouldn`t let me answer my cell phone. And I said, Well -- and he said, Well, Mom, it`s my counselor at school and I`m going out with her. And I said -- he wouldn`t talk about it.

And then Saturday night, she called me -- I had never met her -- and said, Sean`s been shot. He`s dead. And I said, What? And the phone went dead. And then she called me back and I said, Who shot him? She says, The psychopath. And I said, Who is that? She said Harris. And I said, Who is Harris? She said, My husband. And she said she had an open marriage. And I said, If your marriage was so open, why did he kill my son?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then Saturday night, she called me -- I had never met her -- and said, Sean`s been shot. He`s dead. And I said, What? And the phone went dead. And then she called me back and I said, Who shot him? She says, The psychopath. And I said, Who is that? She said Harris. And I said, Who is Harris? She said, My husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Now, that is the biological mom of the victim in this case. Earlier, Don Jacobs was referring to his adoptive parents. He was absolutely correct, they have not given a statement.

Let`s go out to the lines. Judy in Pennsylvania. Hi, Judy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering, I know it appears that this was a crime of -- you know, of premeditated murder, but I was wondering if it may be like a crime of passion and qualify for temporary insanity?

GRACE: Well, a crime of passion is called voluntary manslaughter, and I think that`s what the defense is going to be arguing.

I want to go out to you, Owen LaFave. Everybody, you know Owen LaFave, the husband of Deb LaFave. We`ve discussed her case many times. Do you recall the same feelings when you learned your wife had had an affair with a student?

OWEN LAFAVE, EX-HUSBAND OF DEBRA LAFAVE: Well, Nancy, no one on the panel tonight understands what Eric McLean went through more than I do. And you`re absolutely right -- the pain, the anger, the just absolute fit of rage and just the -- I guess, humiliation of it all. And I`d be lying to America right now if I didn`t said I didn`t have those same thoughts. But for the love of God, don`t pull the trigger.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sean Powell was shot outside the couple`s home just over a week ago. According to police, the husband, Eric McLean, called them to report an intruder was at his home. Minutes later, though, his wife also called police and told them that, in fact, he had shot her alleged teen lover, Sean Powell. The husband, Jason Eric McLean, is charged with first-degree murder, but his father says he`s an excellent person who was under a lot of pressure because of his wife`s affair. McLean is now awaiting a preliminary hearing on his case, scheduled for later this month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A student-teacher affair takes a deadly turn, and now a father of two is accused of going to his car, retrieving a long gun, walking to the front of his property, and shooting a teenager in the head, his alleged love rival. Then, the defendant goes on the air claiming it was an accident. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, TODAY SHOW: And I`ll ask you point blank, did you shoot Sean Powell?

ERIC MCLEAN: Yes.

LAUER: You knew that she was having an affair?

MCLEAN: I mean, I -- I pretty much knew. I think I was just like in denial for a long time, you know?

LAUER: Why not leave? Why not leave her?

MCLEAN: I know, I just couldn`t leave her.

LAUER: Explain that. Why not?

MCLEAN: Because I love her.

He got out of the car, and I told him that he couldn`t be here. And he just started to ignored me, and walking through the yard. And I told him...

LAUER: Did you say, Erin, make him go?

MCLEAN: I can`t talk about it.

LAUER: Make him leave?

There was a second 911 call made about seven minutes later, and that one was made by Erin. And during that 911 call, Erin told the dispatcher that Eric has shot someone. So I guess I have to ask, what happened in those seven minutes, Eric?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can`t go through that. That`s going to be -- that`s critical to the trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Man, what a tease. That was a very emotional interview, an exclusive interview Eric McLean gave to "Today Show`s" Matt Lauer. That can be brought into evidence if the proper foundation is laid before a jury.

I want to go out to Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop, also a former fed with the FBI. Let`s talk about this whole accident theory. What do you think?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE OFFICER: Accident? He pulled the trigger. That`s the bottom line. If he was so intimidated...

GRACE: I think that`s supposed to be the accident part, Mike.

BROOKS: Yeah, you know what, you know, as I always say, the guns don`t kill people; people kill people, Nancy. That`s the bottom line.

But if he was so intimidated for those two days where he was camped outside the house, how many other times has Eric called the police? If he was so intimidated by this person, he should have called the police the first time he even noticed him out in front of the house and had him removed instead of having him hang out in front of the house.

I don`t know what his defense is going to be. I pulled the gun out and it went off accidentally? They don`t go off accidentally, Nancy.

GRACE: That`s a really good question to bring up to McLean`s attorney, who is with us tonight. And he`s a veteran trial lawyer. He`s tried a lot of cases. Bruce Poston.

Mr. Poston, if the kid had been camped out there for 48 hours sleeping in his car, had your client called police to complain about it?

POSTON: Not to my knowledge.

GRACE: How come?

POSTON: I think that there was a tremendous embarrassment about what was going on. I think you saw Eric loves his wife, didn`t want to jeopardize this negative publicity. This kid was having an affair with his wife. She is a teacher. He`s trying to hang on to his family. I think it`s obvious, you can tell.

GRACE: OK. To you, Owen Lafave -- this is Deb Lafave`s former husband, he`s now an author, has been through -- there`s no other way to put it -- hell, after Deb Lafave was exposed and in court for having an affair with a very minor minor.

Owen, you were talking about the feelings you had when you learned the same thing, but you didn`t grab a rifle and pull the trigger.

OWEN LAFAVE: You`re absolutely right, Nancy. Like I said a moment ago, I mean, it`s not to say I didn`t have those thoughts. I mean, it was very painful, and I understand the rage he went through and the pain he went through. But you don`t grab the gun and you`re absolutely right. You have a little bit of self-control and you stop yourself from doing those things.

GRACE: And back to you, Mike Brooks, accident -- accident. You have got to think this thing through. So he sees this guy out there for 48 hours, parked -- I`d be mad, too. He`s rubbing your face in it. But let`s talk about the crime. To go to your car, reportedly, to get the rifle. You`re thinking about it. You walk all the way to the front yard of the property, you`re thinking about it.

The kid died of one gunshot wound to the head. Now, that`s a heck of an accident, that the one shot goes off and hits the kid in the head. And I`m wondering -- we don`t know yet if there`s going to be any gunshot residue -- for close-range shot.

BROOKS: I will tell you what, Nancy, he had two days to think about this. Now, he might have been better off if he had let the kid come into his house and shot him inside the house. Then he could claim he was burglarizing his home. Then he might have had some kind of a defense.

But, Nancy, there`s no defense if this happened outside the house. There was two days that he could have called the police. He didn`t. And then all of a sudden now he`s intimidated and he feels threatened by this person? I don`t know, Nancy. Something happened, also, within those seven minutes that law enforcement took all the statements and then the prosecutor said, premeditation. Something happened in that seven minutes that made them think premeditation.

GRACE: Well, also to you, Diane Dimond. Reportedly, the wife has tried to commit suicide -- it didn`t work -- by an overdose of some sort of pill. What happened?

DIMOND: Right. Prescription overdose. And they took her to the hospital, saved her life. I don`t know if she was really intent on killing herself or getting more attention. But the upshot is Mr. Poston, I believe is the attorney that filed papers, to try to get their boys now out of her custody and into the paternal grandparents` custody.

You know, I think one thing we`re forgetting about here. We`re talking about Knoxville. This is a different kind of -- part of the country than, say, New York City. They may be sympathetic with this husband.

GRACE: And why would that be?

DIMOND: Well, simply because...

GRACE: Do you think people in the South, for instance Knoxville, like murder more...

DIMOND: No.

GRACE: ... more than people in New York?

DIMOND: No. No, ma`am. But I think that they do have a sort of dominion feel about a man`s home is his castle, and here was this kid, as you just said, coming in, rubbing it in his face, sleeping out in front of the house like he just snapped, and jurors can identify with things like that.

GRACE: I think they can identify, but one gunshot wound to the head on a teenager -- very, very disturbing.

Speaking of what Diane Dimond, investigative reporter, just told us regarding the mom, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: The woman has -- is attempting to commit suicide. She is taking pills. She took them -- she took them a while ago. She is about to expire.

OPERATOR: Is this a house or apartment?

CALLER: It`s a house. 9-0-4-G-A-L-E lane. I`m pretty sure it`s a house.

OPERATOR: OK, I got it. I need -- so calm down, answer some questions for me. What did she say?

CALLER: I don`t know, ma`am, but she`s dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To you, Dr. Bethany Marshall, failed suicide attempt?

MARSHALL: Well, I mean, obviously -- I think probably what happened is she feels really hopeless. She doesn`t have her young lover anymore. There`s shame and humiliation. But also, she is probably really enraged at her husband for having done this. And one of the ways to think about suicide is rage towards another person that gets turned back against the self. So she may have been so angry, she didn`t know what to do about it. She took a bunch of pills.

GRACE: Courtney in Missouri. Hi, Courtney.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

CALLER: My question is regarding the biological mother of this victim. I`m somewhat appalled that she didn`t feel any kind of duty to report this to at least the school administration, but could she be facing any kind of criminally negligent charges for not reporting it to at least law enforcement?

GRACE: Don Jacobs, when exactly did she learn about the affair?

JACOBS: I believe she would have learned about it after he had already left the West high school. He was no longer a student at the school. The circumstances of him leaving the school have not been revealed because of confidentiality, but he was no longer enrolled in the school and was no longer a student of hers at the time of the shooting.

GRACE: Well, it`s trial 101. One of the theories the state may proceed under is felony murder. For instance, if you commit a felony such as aggravated assault, trying to scare someone with a rifle, and a death occurs, whether you intend it or not, that is felony murder in every jurisdiction.

When we come back, caught on video. A cop brutally beats an unarmed female bartender half his size when she cuts off the liquor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINA OBRYCKA, ASSAULTED BY OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICER: It began with the customer being very rude to me. I don`t think that he was actually drunk. He was, like, more not thinking what he was doing, which, when I refused serving him, then he got very mad. I got an anger inside me which that is what probably helped me to get through that. I couldn`t just get out from his hands. It was not that easy. So it was just an awful time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And all the patrons in the bar just stood back as the lady bartender, at about 115 pounds there on the floor -- there you go -- right punch, right punch, right punch, throw her to the ground, kicking her, right punch. This guy weighs 250 pounds.

Now, it`s not over yet. But check out all the other guys. OK, hey, I think I`ll call home and tell mom. Hey, mom, guess what`s happening? An off-duty cop is killing a lady bartender. She is, I believe, 5`3, 5`4, 115 pounds. There are three other guys here that I see doing absolutely nothing.

As it turns out, this is an off-duty Chicago police officer. He`s already got one DUI to his credit, and he also has a case in which he allegedly was sued in federal court for beating up an arrestee. Not a very good track record.

Out to you, CNN reporter Keith Oppenheim is with us. What happened?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there were actually two incidents, Nancy, when this guy, Officer Anthony Abbate, came around the bar to where the bartender, a woman by the name of Karolina Obrycka, was serving. And the first time that he came around, she pushed him away. She`s a tough young lady, and she wasn`t afraid to handle him.

But the second time he came around, he came back with a chair. And as you can see from the videotape, when he kind of bumps into the bar, he totally loses control.

She said that not only was he getting belligerent, but he didn`t have money to pay. He was getting money from other customers to pay for his drinks, and he was also getting more and more drunk. So she wouldn`t serve him. And when he hit the bar, that`s when you see the things that we see now, where he just starts to wale on her.

GRACE: Well, you know, Diane Dimond, Keith Oppenheim is absolutely correct, but it didn`t end there. Now there are claims of delay, lack of prosecution, lower charges than there should have been, even charges of bribery and threats.

DIMOND: Yep, absolutely. You know, I just wince looking at that tape. It`s unbelievable.

But this happened, a month later, they finally arrested this fellow. The police department said they didn`t have access to him because he had checked into rehab.

Well, Nancy, if it had been you or me, they would have found a way to get access to us, to charge us, arrest us and charge us.

And when they charged him, they only charged him with a misdemeanor. It wasn`t until just recently, with all the outrage, that they decided it should be upgraded to a felony. And worse than this, it looks like there`s two different kinds of justice in Chicago. Apparently, there were threats. Reportedly, there was some cash offered if this woman would not file charges, and there`s an investigation now to see if it wasn`t other police officers doing that.

GRACE: Well, there are also reports, Diane, I think it`s gone even one step further, that it was suggested to the bartender and possibly the owner -- or another employee there at the bar -- that if they didn`t let this go away quietly, there may be some dope that turns up in their car, and the police would just have to bust them on that. Take a listen to this, Diane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBRYCKA: Mentally, I don`t feel good. I think that I get, like, flashes that I see this guy in my house, or I got this feeling that he`s going to come to my house and again beat me up, or do something more. You never know. And then -- well, physically only my head and my back is hurting.

I got an anger inside me, which that was probably helped me to get through that, but it was like -- it just happens like a few seconds, but actually it felt like it was like 15 minutes or more. So it was just an awful time, which I couldn`t just get out from his hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former Fed with the FBI -- Mike, you and I, we`re on the side of the prosecution almost our whole lives. And I take it very personally when one of our own does something like this. What`s your response?

BROOKS: I tell you what, Nancy, he makes me want to puke. He`s a wimp and all those other men standing around that bar, they`re all wimps, too, Nancy. They should have jumped in there. I don`t care if -- he`s a cop, so what? He is assaulting this woman. I mean, right there, I mean, there`s enough here to charge assault with a deadly weapon (inaudible) -- but when he starts kicking her, it`s just ridiculous. And then to have somebody come in and offer money? That`s just unbelievable to me, Nancy.

GRACE: And threaten to leave drugs in their car and they`ll get busted. He`ll lose his liquor license and the bar will be closed.

BROOKS: It`s unbelievable to me. You know, she did the right thing. She cut the guy off. You know, he`s -- it`s abuse of the badge, and having carried a badge for 26 years, I tell you what, I hope that they bury him under the jail.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Roberta in New Hampshire. Hi, Roberta.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy. I just want to have a quick question to ask you. Is there not in this jurisdiction something that`s called a good Samaritan law, where you must act if you see a criminal act?

GRACE: You know, Roberta, you`re dead on, and I was just going to the lawyers on that. Let`s unleash the lawyers. Doug Burns, Alex Sanchez, I believe we still have our other lady lawyer with us, do we not? Let`s go to the lawyers now.

It`s my understanding that across the country, Doug Burns, there is no good Samaritan -- no duty to act. You don`t have to call police when you see a crime.

BURNS: Good for you, because I thought you were going to go the other way. I mean, law school 101, as you like to say. There is no legal duty to be a good Samaritan, except if there`s a contractual requirement, like a life guard, for example, and except if you start to assist -- this is interesting -- you can`t then withdraw because you may discourage others.

GRACE: And what about it, Alex Sanchez? What about this guy calling somebody? I don`t believe that was a 911 call.

SANCHEZ: All I can tell you, Nancy, this case is an absolute disgrace, and it tells me something, something very frightening occurring here. And that this police officer who behaved in this despicable manner has testified in numerous cases in court...

GRACE: Oh, Lord.

SANCHEZ: Don`t you think he got on the witness stand and did something despicable there also?

GRACE: Every defense attorney who has a case with this cop on the other side from now on can bring in this videotape.

SANCHEZ: All those cases.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: To Headline Prime`s Glenn Beck. Hi, friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, CNN HEADLINE NEWS HOST: Since taking control of Congress, the Democrats have done nothing, nothing but bash the president. In fact, it seems that`s the only thing they can really agree on. Not the real problems facing our country, or find any solutions.

I`ll give you all the details, but be prepared to go insane.

Then, Rosie O`Donnell used to be just, you know, big. But now she`s a big bully, and she`s throwing her weight around on the set, picking fights with her own co-star.

And surprising twist to the imams on the plane story. And an "Idol" update. That and more coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBRYCKA: Well, there was one guy actually standing -- just looking -- you know, he was actually not sitting, he was just looking, which I was surprised, but he was -- I don`t have hard feelings for him. He was just afraid. It happened just too fast, and we were all surprised and all shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Well, I disagree with the victim. All the men standing by and watching the beating go down, in my mind, just as guilty.

Out to you, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst. Abbate kept saying "nobody tells me what to do" while beating the girl.

MARSHALL: OK. What strikes me about this crime, if we can call it that, is how calculated it was. I would guess this guy was a bully before he started drinking, but if he goes and drinks a lot, it can give him the excuse to unleash all that rage. Perhaps the reason he became a policeman was a calculated attempt to put himself in a position of power. And then going and trying to pay her off, sending his buddies in after the crime, that was very calculated as well, and that`s what strikes me about both cases tonight -- the first case, too -- is how calculated was it.

GRACE: Diane Dimond, using alcohol as an excuse. She really hit the nail on the head.

DIMOND: Yes. This guy had such a snoot (ph) full, I don`t think he realized what he was doing, but he did it. He`s a police officer. They haven`t even officially suspended him yet. He should have his badge removed.

GRACE: For starters. For starters.

DIMOND: Just for starters.

GRACE: Mr. Abbate, formerly Officer Abbate, we`ll see you in court!

Tonight, we stop to remember Army Sergeant Ashly Lynn Moyer, just 21, Pennsylvania, killed, Iraq. Already served at Guantanamo Bay. She is remembered as happy, who made others laugh, loved (inaudible), jazz, strong in her beliefs. Ashly Lynn Moyer, American hero.

Thank you to our guests, but most of all to you, for inviting us into your homes. Nancy Grace signing off until tomorrow night. Good night, friend.

END

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