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NANCY GRACE

Teens in Beating Video Charged as Adults

Aired April 14, 2008 - 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, real, live "Mean Girls" takes on a whole new meaning after a brutal all-girl gang attack on a teenage honor student cheerleader, all caught on video, the so-called popular girls accused of luring a classmate into a vicious beating at an upscale Florida home, leaving the girl unrecognizable even to her own father and with loss of hearing and sight, the girls gone wild videotaping to star themselves on YouTube and MySpace, even laughing it up behind bars after their arrest.
Headlines tonight: Nobody`s laughing now after felony charges come down, charges that could end in serious jail time. As of tonight, all eight bonded out on low bonds and are walking free. Bombshell. The last girl behind bars bonded out by none other than talk show shrink Dr. Phil. Was it in exchange for an on-air interview? Regardless, all eight will be treated as adults in court. So bye-bye, juvenile detention slap on the wrist! The victim? Now she yanked out of public school out of pure fear and being home schooled as of tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wearing jailhouse jumpsuits and with their heads hanging low, the eight teens listened as a judge doubled their bond to more than $30,000. Their ages range from 14 years old to 18, but all are being charged as adults for this videotaped beating of a cheerleader and all are facing kidnapping and battery charges. Three have an additional charge of tampering. The kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell her -- tell you that we have photographers of her where she`s got two black eyes, her nose is swollen up. Her mother describes to us that she`s not recovered complete vision in her left eye or hearing in her left ear. And only time will tell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TV`s Dr. Phil says one of the...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight: A single secret phone call from behind the walls of the secluded 1,900-acre Texas compound for girls as young as 13 forced into spiritual marriages brings down the biggest child protection bust in U.S. history, 416 children, 139 women literally hauled off by the busload. Tonight: All parties gear up for an unprecedented child custody battle over hundreds of children. Police confiscate cell phones to stop other cult members on the outside from intimidating the witnesses. Tonight, primetime exclusive, the lawyer repping the 50-year-old man accused of fathering children with underage girls, one who made that desperate call -- that lawyer tonight taking your calls live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hearings in Texas about the 416 children removed from a polygamous sect and whether they will be allowed to return to the compound. New video from inside the compound taken by "The Deseret News" newspaper in Salt Lake City showing bedrooms and other rooms. And for the first time, we`re hearing from the children`s mothers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever I talk to people in there, I think, The children need you. They`re asking for you. How can you not hear? And I tell them I`ve been trying ever since they took them away to get in there, and they won`t let me in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meantime, family members are asking Governor Rick Perry for help, saying that the children have become sick in state custody, but a physician overseeing medical care at the shelter says the children are in great health.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas Rangers are not arresting the man at the center of that polygamous raid. Dale Barlow met with authorities voluntarily in Utah. So far, the girl who claimed Barlow sexually and physically abused her hasn`t come forward, and Barlow`s attorney said his client hasn`t even been to Texas since 1977.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. A brutal all-girl gang attack on an honor student cheerleader all on video intended for MySpace on line lands felony charges for the real, live "Mean Girls." As of tonight, all eight bonded out of jail and walking free. And just how did Dr. Phil inject himself into all this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrifying images from Lakeland, where police say six girls ages 14 to 17 pummeled another teenager. They said she was trash talking them on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a pack mentality, and they really didn`t care how bad they hurt her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The girls allegedly intended to post the attack on YouTube, but a parent intercepted it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a media circus as reporters descended upon a man who identified himself as a producer from the Dr. Phil show after word came out that the nationally syndicated talk show may have paid the bond for Mercades Nichols, the alleged ringleader of the now infamous videotaped beating of a 16-year-old Lakeland girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can`t really disclose information on who posts bond. Only thing I can tell you is that we did do the bond for Mercades, but as far as information on who did it, I mean, that`s not something I can disclose.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Egan Williams (ph), owner of Heartland Bail Bonds, bonded the teens at $33,000. And now the question remains, did the popular TV shrink pay to get ownership of this high-profile case?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: OK, the whole thing with Dr. Phil apparently bonding the last girl out of jail -- that`s a whole `nother can of worms. We`ll get right to that.

But first of ail, I want to hear about the single biggest story going on in that area of the country. Right now, it`s all about a bunch of mean girls in this video. Explain to me, Rory O`Neill, joining us right now from Metro Networks, what is the latest?

RORY O`NEILL, METRO NETWORKS: Well, as you reported, that the last of the suspects in the case, the 18-year-old, Steven Schumaker -- he did bail out last night. So he was the last one of the group to be set free. Most were charged as adults and made their first appearance in court back on Friday, and Schumaker got out just last night. And it was Friday night that the 17-year-old Mercades Nichols was the girl who was released with the help, we believe, of Dr. Phil`s program.

GRACE: Now, you say that they`ve all bonded out. What was the bond?

O`NEILL: It ranged anywhere from $31,000 up to $37,000, so...

GRACE: Excuse me? From what to what?

O`NEILL: From $31,000 to $37,000.

GRACE: From $31,000 to $37,000. Let`s unleash the lawyers, Daniel Horowitz, defense attorney out of the San Francisco jurisdiction, and Alan Ripka joining us from New York.

To you, Horowitz. Everybody knows that $37,000 really means $3,700. You only have to put up 10 percent of your bond amount. You can get that overnight from a bail bondsman.

DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, Nancy, for most people, that`s still a lot of money. I mean, this...

GRACE: No, I`m not saying it`s not a lot of money. I`m saying that they don`t actually have to put up any of their own money.

HOROWITZ: Right.

GRACE: If you own a home, if you own a car...

HOROWITZ: Of course.

GRACE: ... all you have to do is sign a note and you walk free. That`s what these girls did.

HOROWITZ: Right. That`s the interesting issue. Do they have houses to put up? Because you pay 10 percent every year to the bail bonds company, but you also have to put up security, usually, unless the bonding company waives it. So they have to have a house or some substantial assets or a really nice car to be worth (INAUDIBLE) $30,000.

GRACE: And to Alan Ripka. Everyone`s making a big deal about the on- air shrink, Dr. Phil, injecting himself into this thing and bonding the last girl out. Bottom line, anybody in this country, if you want to go on down, shuffle on down to the jail and bond somebody else out, you can. It doesn`t matter.

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That`s right, Nancy. The bail bondsman doesn`t care who gives them the 10 percent. They`re going to make money later. In this particular case, he had an agenda. He wanted to get a story, so he thought he`d get her out of jail.

GRACE: Bethany -- Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author -- is joining us tonight. Dr. Bethany, is that a violation of any type of ethical code?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, I would imagine. I mean, Dr. Phil is a mental health professional, and you know as a mental health professional that you don`t reward kids for bad behavior. In fact...

GRACE: Oh, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Do you see the monitor, Bethany? Look at this. Did you see that? They`re all crying and looking down. They`ve got their hair all down their face. Don`t look at me. Hello? These are the same girls that brutally beat another girl on video so they could become celebrities on MySpace!

MARSHALL: These kids are completely disconnected from the brutality of what they did. And I think what we`re going to discover is that there was basic primitive pathological envy, which is they felt this girl had something they didn`t have. She was cuter, a better cheerleader, maybe she had a bigger house. And what did they do? They tried to destroy the object of their envy. You think you`re cute? Oh, we`ll see how you look after I bash in your face. You think you`re smart? Well, you`re not going to be so smart after you`re rendered unconscious. You think you`re more popular than us and the other kids like you? We`ll see how you feel after we humiliate you on YouTube.

GRACE: Speaking of how she looks, back to Rory O`Neill with Metro Networks. How does she look? We have heard that the girl victim has two black eyes, she still is suffering from loss of vision, some loss of hearing. What do we know about the condition of the victim, Rory O`Neill?

O`NEILL: Well, she is still recovering from a concussion, which she also suffered from the attack. So her father has said he won`t talk in any more specifics now about his daughter`s condition, but he did reaffirm that, again, she is still trying to heal from the loss of hearing and the loss of vision in the left eye. But she`s also trying to get over that concussion, and that can take a while for -- especially for someone of that young age.

GRACE: To Dr. Steve Cina, deputy chief medical examiner joining us out of Miami. What is a concussion?

DR. STEVE CINA, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: A concussion is basically a jarring of the brain due to an impact to the head.

GRACE: You know, bottom line, these girls look so meek and mild in court. They don`t look too meek in -- Ow! -- in this video. Did you see that right punch right to the face?

Out to the lines. Chad in Florida. Hi, Chad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I was just wondering how much time do you think each suspect will spend in jail or what their punishment will be.

GRACE: Excellent question. We know, Chad in Florida, that they are not going to be treated as juveniles. Now, that involves what is called the bind-over process. If you are a teen under, usually, 17 or 18, you go to juvenile court, where you get the maximum of maybe two years in a dormitory -- juvenile hall. If it`s a certain designated felony, such as kidnapping or aggravated assault or aggravated battery, such as in this case, the judge in juvenile court has the ability to bind you over to adult court. And that is what has happened in this case.

So let`s take a look at it. Eben Brown, investigative reporter, what exactly are the charges, the adult charges against these girls and these two boys who acted as lookouts?

EBEN BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Good evening, Nancy. The charges range from kidnapping to misdemeanor battery and to witness tampering, and all of these teens that are charged are facing life in prison.

GRACE: Life imprisonment? On what, the kidnapping or the ag battery?

BROWN: On the kidnapping and the battery, as well as witness tampering. A couple of these teens threatened this victim, saying, If you go to the police, if you tell anybody about what happened, we`ll make the next one even worse. The police and the state`s attorney`s office are considering this to be witness tampering, threatening of a witness to a crime, and that`s been tacked on to what they`re charged with. All of this means they could be spending the rest of their lives in prison, if they`re found guilty.

GRACE: To Rory O`Neill. Who is the attacker right there in the white tank top and the pink pants? It`s not a secret anymore. Who is she?

O`NEILL: I`m afraid I can`t see the playback, so I don`t know exactly which one you`re talking to here.

GRACE: You know, I can`t -- from this angle, I can`t tell which is which. They`ve all appeared in court. Speak of in court, Rory O`Neill, the charges go from kidnapping to aggravated battery. In answer to Chad in Florida`s question, they could face life behind bars on adult charges. Rory, what exactly happened in court?

O`NEILL: They just made a quick, brief appearance, but it`s done via remote from outside the -- at the jail in Polk County, which is a relatively rural county located between Orlando and Tampa. They just made an initial appearance via videoconference with the judge, and the bond was set. The girls actually said nothing at the hearing, and one or two of them were seen almost trying to control laughter at the time they made their appearance in court. But the parents were not in the courtrooms with them. They`re not allowed in there. So it was a simple, quick proceeding that took place just after...

GRACE: Rory...

O`NEILL: ... they were charged.

GRACE: Rory, did you just tell me that some of them were laughing in court at this hearing you`re seeing? This looks like an -- is this an in- jail court hearing?

O`NEILL: It is -- there is -- it is a hearing room that is set aside for this video link with the court.

GRACE: Yes. I can tell from the cement block walls that this is no ordinary courtroom. So are you telling me that some of these girls were still laughing as they were in their bond hearing?

O`NEILL: Yes. One or two of the girls...

GRACE: OK.

O`NEILL: ... could be seen either nervous -- we`d like to think it`s nervous giggling, but...

GRACE: To Mike Brooks. Thoughts?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Nancy, you know, they ought to tack on contempt of court. I mean, if they`re in front of -- if they`re in front of a judge, the judge wouldn`t have put up with that. But this videotape -- you know, the whole video thing -- put them in front of a judge, let them feel like what it`s really like in a courtroom.

Now, you know, when we look at all this -- these kids who were -- not kids, adults who were involved in this -- they beat that girl, Nancy, for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes is a long time. And one of the lookouts who was outside, one of the boys, had to tell them to keep it down, to not to make so much noise because the neighbors were starting to wonder what was going on in that house. It`s just disgusting!

GRACE: You know what, Brooks? You know what? You and I both dealt with cases where the pack mentality took over and defendants did things as a pack that they would not normally have done alone. It is a miracle that this girl didn`t end up dead or with more serious injuries.

BROOKS: You`re absolutely right, Nancy. But they lured her there. They knew exactly what they were going to do. You know, did they initially -- did they plan to beat her? You know, was it (INAUDIBLE) Who knows? But I tell you what. You`re absolutely right. She`s very lucky that she got out of there alive. And then they put her in one of the girls`, Mercades Wilson`s (ph) grandmother`s car, took her out, then dropped her off and said, If you tell the police, you`re going to get a worse beating. That`s just disgusting!

GRACE: Yes. You know what, Alan Ripka? There`s nothing like a little witness tampering to put the icing on the cake. It`s not as if, Alan Ripka and Daniel Horowitz, that you`re not looking at life behind bars on kidnapping, but just to add the frosting on top of that cake for the prosecution, they threaten her and witness tamper. What about it, Alan Ripka? What are they really legitimately looking at? What kind of jail time?

RIPKA: Well, Nancy, listen, these -- most likely, these girls have no prior criminal record. Most likely, they will get probation, have to attend some sort of anger management programs and they`ll put them behind them, as far as I`m concerned, because that`s probably what it deserves.

GRACE: Let`s get back to making bond, Dr. Phil, the talk show shrink, injecting himself into this a la Britney Spears. He just got over that stink, going to visit her and solicit in the hospital, according to sources. He says her parents asked him to come help Britney. And now he`s popped up again. What, if anything, does that mean? As far as I`m concerned, it simply means somebody unrelated bonded her out of jail.

To Natasha in Delaware. Hi, Natasha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I was sickened when I saw this tape. I was so angry. But my question is, what is the school district doing? I know in Delaware, we have House bill 85, where if you even did something like this, you`re automatically suspended.

GRACE: To Rick Phillips, the executive director of Community Affairs (SIC), joining us in Santa Rosa, California. Rick, what should be done, what is being done by the schools?

RICK PHILLIPS, EXEC. DIR., COMMUNITY MATTERS: The schools really need to focus, Nancy, on education. It`s really time to break this bystander culture that appears so prevalent in our schools today. Young people are reluctant to speak up, reluctant to break a code of silence. And education has to begin to teach young people and help them find the courage to confront each other when incidents like this are happening increasingly every day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t want to speculate, but I mean, when you have that many videocameras and camcorders involved (INAUDIBLE) before, I mean, obviously, it appears to be premeditated. And what their intentions were, I don`t know. But that`s, you know, what my daughter conveyed to me after the beating. She was an honors student, going to school. She had a job and she was living. And that`s the most I can ask out of any daughter. And she just didn`t deserve to be beat (ph) down like a dog.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Just how many camcorders were involved in this? These so- called popular girls -- I call them mean girls, take a look at this -- lure an honor student cheerleader into an upscale home. There you see that wide-screen TV going in the background.

Back out to Eben Brown, investigative reporter joining us out of Tampa. How many camcorders did they have going on, videoing this thing?

BROWN: Well, it`s hard to tell. The video kind of jumps back and forth a little bit. At one point, we hear the girls -- the teens say, OK, we`ve got 17 seconds left, make it good, or something to that effect. And this was all going to be edited together posted completely together to these video-sharing sites as some sort of retribution for what this victim had supposedly said about these girls on her MySpace page.

GRACE: That leads me to another question, Rory O`Neill with Metro Networks. How many camcorders do you think were involved? Just give me a number. And what was it that the victim allegedly said to set this thing off?

O`NEILL: To your second question, it`s still unclear as to what set that off. The first question, there have been some reports that there were as many as three cameras. There were six girls that were allegedly involved in the attack, the two boys outside keeping watch. So the belief by policy is that three -- as many as three cameras may have been in that room.

GRACE: So you know what? The victim`s father is right. They bring in this many cameras, that shows premeditation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a media circus Friday night as reporters descended upon a man who identified him as a producer from the Dr. Phil show after word came out that the nationally syndicated talk show may have paid the bond for Mercades Nichols, the alleged ringleader of the now infamous videotaped beating on a 16-year-old Lakeland girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrifying images from Lakeland, Florida, where police say six girls ages 14 to 17 pummeled another teenager. They said she was trash talking them on the Internet. The girls allegedly intended to post the attack on YouTube, but a parent intercepted it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Man! Every time I look at it, we start to see more and more of the video, it gets worse and worse.

Out to the lines. Laura in Louisiana. Hi, Laura.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Good evening, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, it`s more of a comment in regards to Dr. Phil. This video not only was repulsive, but the act he took upon himself to bail out one of these teenage girls out of jail for an abuse that she created upon this poor teenage girl -- could you imagine how this teenage girl, when she hears that Dr. Phil, a famous person, bails out her abuser? She`s already harmed for life. This is something she will carry forever. I`m a survivor of abuse. But to know that you were bailed out by this famous doctor is just repulsive. I will never watch a Dr. Phil program again.

GRACE: Bethany Marshall -- Dr. Bethany Marshall -- what does it mean? Now, according to the show, it was an associate producer, an assistant producer that did this. It`s kind of hard to believe that when you`re dealing with a case this famous, that everybody on the show didn`t know somebody was on their way to bail out the girl.

MARSHALL: Well, I`m sure everyone had a discussion prior to and talked about how wonderful it would be to have this kid on the show because it`s getting so much attention. But when you think about it, as I said earlier, he`s freely sensationalizing very bad behavior and potential sociopathy, a personality disorder in. And in terms of the victim, a very important authority figure is now saying you get rewarded for this kind of behavior.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Most of their parents did not want to talk as they left the courtroom. That`s the mother of Brittany Hardcastle. Deputies say she was the most active participant in the beating. The beating took place at Mercedes Nichol`s grandmother`s house. She wasn`t home at the time and said she was stunned by the attack and Mary Nichols also apologized to the victim`s family.

Parents of the victim 16-year-old Victoria Lindsey also showed up for the hearing but declined a request for an on-camera interview.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: OK. I believe we`ve identified who is the girl in the white tank top that`s doing the serious, serious beating. We believe it`s Brittany Hardcastle, age 17, top middle. Take a look. And Liz, let`s run that video where you see her -- aw -- giving a serious - ouch -- and she doesn`t let up. She chases the girl across the room. Now, OK, here comes another contender for the new china.

Let`s go out to the lines, Penny in Kansas. Hi, Penny.

PENNY, KANSAS RESIDENT: Hello.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

PENNY: Hey, I love yow your show.

GRACE: Bless you.

PENNY: But my question is that cannot the victim`s parents file a civil suit against these children?

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Daniel Horowitz, joining us out of San Francisco, and Alan Ripka, joining us out of New York, what can they do, Daniel Horowitz? They can sue, of course, teens are going to be judgment-proof, in other words, penniless. Can they somehow boot strap the parents in?

DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, in most states, you just cannot boot strap the parents or there are very strict limits on how much you can get. A good lawyer, though, will sue these youngsters and then go after the parents, also saying they should have supervised them. I mean when I saw that Brittany throwing those punches, bet that`s not the first time she`s punched, Nancy. She an angry, tough kid and the parents are responsible, which is by the way why they belong in juvenile court, not adult jail.

GRACE: I know you may think they`re responsible and you may feel in your defense lawyer heart that they`re responsible, but Alan Ripka, is there a theory in the actual law -- that`s what we are talking about -- under which the parents of these girls could be sued? Maybe the grandmother whose home -- in whose home this happened? But I don`t see a lawsuit against the other girl`s parents, a civil lawsuit for money?

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, if a good lawyer can show that any of the parents knew that these girls were talking about violence, that they were planning any of this, any knowledge whatsoever, then you could connect the parents and you could sue them and you can get money for it.

GRACE: Or even something as simple, as straw as a reed, as thin as it`s the parent`s camcorder. There are a million ways that let me just say a creative attorney can think up a lawsuit or whether it will work? That`s a whole another animal.

Out to Fran in New York. Hi, Fran.

FRAN, NEW YORK RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy, how are you?

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

FRAN: My question is, Nancy, after seeing this repulsive video, the parents of these animals, did they have a kind of comment about what`s going on?

GRACE: Good question. Out to Rory O`Neill with Metro Networks. Have we heard a word from the gang of girls` parents or are they laying low?

RORY O`NEILL, REPORTER, METRO NETWORKS: Now they are laying low. The few brief words that they`ve spoken are just telling the media pretty much to go away and, you know, my daughter didn`t do it or this has gotten out of control. So nothing really in depth to explain -- to attempt to explain the actions of their children.

GRACE: My daughter didn`t do it? Bethany Marshall, my daughter didn`t do it? Well, that video says otherwise.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, didn`t you used to hear that as a prosecutor all the time? My son could not have murdered someone. My husband could not have raped somebody. I mean families of perpetrators often are...

GRACE: Oh Bethany...

MARSHALL: ...in terrible, terrible denial and they do not want to see that one of their own could have had such a heinous, horrible thing, but their very denial makes them the kinds of parents that could have produced perpetrators such as these.

GRACE: You know, Mike Brooks, you and I have both seen it, coming out of a packed courtroom, trying a felony case. You walk the gauntlet of the defendants, family and friends when you walk out of that courtroom. And they`re all mad at you, glaring at you, saying things to you for prosecuting the case. None of them ever believe their friend, their son, their brother could have done had it, whatever it may be, Brooks.

MIKE BROOKS, FMR. DC POLICE DETECTIVE SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Not at all, Nancy. It`s all, you know, no, it`s all -- you know, goodness and light and I`m sure we`re going to hear about what great girls that these are. They`re cheerleaders, they`re honors society. It`s all a bunch of crap, Nancy. When it comes down to it, these pack animals, as -- if you will, I mean, look at that picture of Brittany Hardcastle. You look at that picture. She`s got her little mug shot, she`s got on her best bad girl look, if you will, just for her mug shot. You know -- and it`s not the first time (INAUDIBLE).

GRACE: Well, and another thing, Mike Brooks, look at the video. This is them in court. And they`re all downcast looking sad and morose, where we just heard from Rory O`Neall that in this very hearing they were all giggling and laughing about this.

BROOKS: Oh yes. You know, it`s real funny. Well, it`s going to be real funny when they get into jail with adults, because, Nancy, I sure hope, especially Brittany, that she does some hard time.

GRACE: Back to Rick Phillips, executive director of community matters, what about the fact that none of them tried to stop the beating?

PHILLIPS: There were eight people that could have said or done anything to broken that code of silence, Nancy, and spoken up. And I think it really is a (INAUDIBLE) of where we are today this. This is a public health crisis where this bystander culture and we as adults have to begin to educate our children and begin to teach them the importance of speaking up when they witness such things. Those boys were outside for a half hour and either of boys could have called the police, could have knocked on the door and said, you need to stop this. This is not OK. We need to begin to understand what`s keeping those kids from speaking up?

GRACE: With us tonight is Rick Phillips, the executive director of Community Matters.

Everyone, to tonight`s case alert. Very important. The search for an Auburn University, Alabama student who vanishes into thin air. 22-year-old Wes Benford. Please take a look. Last seen March 24 after a spring break trip, Leesville, Louisiana. He was driving a 2001 maroon Ford F-150 Georgia tag, B, brother, Q1A, alpha, H, happy, E, Easter. Benford is 5`10", 170 pounds, light brown here and brown eyes. Please help. If you have info, call Vernon Parish, Louisiana, 337-238-1311.

When we come back, 416 children and 139 women hauled off by the bus load from a Texas compound. It`s the biggest child protective bust in U.S. history. It`s all after a single secret phone call from an underage girl. Now an unprecedented child custody battle over 400 plus children gears up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Under state law, the 416 children at the center of this case each must have his or her own attorney. The attorneys in this case say that there a lot of concerns. One, who is a juvenile, who is not a juvenile? They say there`s a certain amount of disinformation going on among the children being held at shelters here in San Angelo. Secondly, "The Desert News" got a look inside this secretive compound in the town of Eldorado. They had a chance to speak with some of the adults there and the adults talk about the disappointment they have now that the children have been removed from that compound.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER: My children have good mothers. They take very good care of them. We are not child abusers. The only abuse they`ve ever had was that the CPS has -- have taken them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: Right now the state of Texas gearing up for the biggest child protective hearing in Texas history. We`re talking about hundreds of children taking of -- taken off this compound, a 1900-acre compound where now we learn multiple young girls entered into spiritual marriages and giving birth by force.

Out to Michael Board with WOAI Newsradio, what`s the latest, Michael? What about police confiscating these women`s cell phones and just as we go to air, Michael Board, I hear from an Associated Press wire that all the women, all 139 have gone back to the compound, leaving their children behind?

MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, yes, they all went back because now they can`t talk with their children. They can`t use the cell phones to help relay messages from the great leaders about what they should say to the investigators. We`re hearing a lot about what these kids are telling the Child Protective Services investigators. A lot of mistruths, a lot of lies, a lot of misinformation. These kids are scared out of their minds that if they tell the truth, they tell what really happened to them, that they`re going to hell.

And it`s an impossible case for the investigators to deprogram these victims. And Nancy, let`s remember that they are victims, 400 something victims of child-abusing monsters. And like you said, now the fun begins. Now the court case begins, every single one gets their own court case and you can imagine the backlog this is going to cause.

GRACE: You know what, it would be a very simple matter to bring in ad hoc judges and have lawyers just the way they do, pro se, lawyers in court. You appoint cases to veteran trial lawyers and have them represent these children. Right now, there`s a voluntary lawyer round-up going on in Texas, try to get lawyers to represent all of these children.

So Michael Board, joining from WOAI Newsradio, what you`re telling me is, as soon as they took the cell phones away from the women and nobody could tell them what to say to police, they all packed up and left? I can`t believe they left their children behind?

BOARD: Well, it just shows you that the power that the leaders control over the members of this sect. You know they control ultimate power. They say what happens and they control whether, you know, the kids talk or not. It`s amazing they`re telling some of the investigators, oh no, I`m over 18. The leaders told these young girls to tell investigators that they were of age. They knew that was the right age to get married in Texas and they are banking on the brain washing that they`ve done to these kids to get them off.

GRACE: Let`s talk about the man who is allegedly the source of all of this confiscation and the search warrant, you name it, 50-year-old Dale Evans Barlow.

First to Carolyn Jessop, former FLDS child bride and author of "Escape."

Carolyn, what can you tell me?

CAROLYN JESSOP, FMR. FLDS CHILD BRIDE, AUTHOR OF "ESCAPE": About Dale Barlow?

GRACE: Yes.

JESSOP: I know him personally. He`s married to my cousin. I was also involved in a court case where he was being convicted for having sex with a minor. The girl had been in my 6th grade class and I knew the family well. So I agreed to testify. He fought those charges, claimed innocence, clear up until he realized that I was coming regardless of the fact that my child care had fallen through, and then the minute he knew he would convicted, he pled guilty.

GRACE: So the guy allegedly behind all of this, 50-year-old Dale Evans Barlow, took a guilty plea rather than face you in court, correct?

JESSOP: Correct. That`s correct. When he knew he had to face me and knew I would tell the truth and I knew the facts, he pled guilty, but before that he was not being truthful.

GRACE: Now what exactly, Carolyn, did he plead to? I understand it was conspiracy for underage sex with a child?

JESSOP: I think he -- they -- he was able to get a deal if he did plead guilty.

GRACE: Straight probation. Straight probation.

JESSOP: And this was just in 2007, everyone. In Colorado City, Arizona, he got a cheap sweetheart deal, three years of probation, the actual child sex, statutory rape, was dropped and he pled no contest to conspiracy to commit sex conduct with an underage child.

Out to Allison Arngrim, not that cheap plea in Colorado City, Arizona has come back to bite us in the neck because he is apparently alleged offender in this case.

ALLISON ARNGRIM, NATL. ASSN. TO PROTECT CHILDREN, "NELLE" FROM LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE": Not surprising. So they didn`t put him away then and so now he`s done it again.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Justin in Michigan. Hi, Justin.

JUSTIN, MICHIGAN RESIDENT: Hi. How is it going?

GRACE: It`s going fine. What do you think, Justin?

JUSTIN: I just -- I got a simple question. I heard earlier on CNN that the women that are in the videos looked brain washed. And I`m wondering because they have no tone and no emotion in their voice if anybody else thinks the same thing.

GRACE: And your question is? Justin...

JUSTIN: I`m sorry?

GRACE: What is your question, dear?

JUSTIN: I`m wondering if anybody else has that same opinion.

GRACE: OK. To Bethany Marshall, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author, what about it?

MARSHALL: Yes, and what really speaks about is the fact that they left their own children behind. It speaks to a hostage mentality like the Stockholm`s syndrome where you become confused about who`s dangerous and who`s and you fall in love with the captor. And if these women were molested and raped as children, the moms were, they become completely disconnected from reality and from what`s right and wrong, which is why they`ve been, in turn, do not protect their own children.

GRACE: To Michael Board with WOAI Newsradio, why was it said that they appeared to be brain washed?

BOARD: They were giving misleading comments to different people. They`ve said their different names to different investigators. They have continued this pattern of lying and it just shows you how far the leaders have gone to program these kids.

GRACE: Out to the line, Kerry in Indiana. Hi, Kerry.

KERRY, INDIANA RESIDENT: hi. I was wondering, these kids won`t know anything about their constitutional rights. How is that going to play into this?

GRACE: Well, the judge right now is trying to appoint lawyers for all of them, each child getting their own lawyer to represent them in court, kind of a guardian (INAUDIBLE). That`s typically what is done when you`re dealing with a juvenile.

Michael Board, were the mothers housed with the children?

BOARD: Yes, they were all in the same general area. Some of them weren`t allowed to talk with their kids all the time. They were doing investigation. Some of the mothers upset at times saying, well, I wasn`t allowed access to my child. Well, that`s because someone was talking with your child, an investigation was going on in here about something serious - - rape. And you know, the fact is, yes, you are the mother, you have access to your child, but there`s something more important going on here. It`s called an investigation.

GRACE: Right now we are being joined the attorney for Dale Evans Barlow. Bruce Griffen is joining us. He is a veteran trial lawyer.

Mr. Griffen, I know our satellite went down. Thank you very much for joining us even by phone. Mr. Griffen, Dale Evans Barlow pled out to probation in 2007 in a very similar charge, conspiracy to have sex with an underage child. But you say he was not in Texas, since when? Back in the `70s?

BRUCE GRIFFEN, ATTORNEY FOR MAN SUSPECTED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING TEEN AT POLYGAMIST RANCH: That`s correct.

GRACE: So right now, I understand that you met with Texas authorities and your client, Dale Evans Barlow, on Saturday.

GRIFFEN: Also true.

GRACE: What did they ask him?

GRIFFEN: They wanted to know whether we`d been in Texas, whether we knew any of the alleged victims, whether we`d ever been to the ranch, things like that.

GRACE: And why is it that your client has not set foot in Texas since the `70s? And how can you prove that?

GRIFFEN: I can prove it a dozen different ways. We have a number of eye witnesses, alibi witnesses, people he works with, people in the community.

GRACE: For every day?

GRIFFEN: Every day. We can cover it.

GRACE: So at this juncture -- joining us, everyone, is the attorney for who is believed to be at the center of this investigation, Dale Evans Barlow.

So your client is denying that at this juncture he has a teenage wife?

GRIFFEN: He is not involved in any way, shape, fashion, or form with anything that`s ongoing in Texas, period.

GRACE: Does he have a teenage wife elsewhere?

GRIFFEN: No, he does not.

GRACE: How many wives does he have?

GRIFFEN: A matter of record from his previous prosecution that he has one legal wife, quote, unquote, "two spiritual wives" through his religion.

GRACE: So three?

GRIFFEN: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: The biggest child protective hearing going down in Texas history after a raid on a 1900-acre apparently polygamous ranch. Joining me is Bruce Griffen, the attorney for Dale Evans Barlow, that one phone call from an allegedly underage girl. That call was believed to be about Barlow.

So Bruce Griffen, are authorities going on the theory that your client was in Texas or that he met this young girl in his home state of Arizona? What is the theory?

GRIFFEN: As I reviewed the affidavit supporting the search warrant and the arrest warrant, they are going under uncorroborated anonymous tip accusing Dale Barlow of being in Texas, being a property, you know, owner there, having committed all this list of sins in the compound in Texas. All of which we can categorically...

GRACE: OK.

GRIFFEN: ...tell you are wrong.

GRACE: Back to Mike Brooks, former fed with the FBI. Mike, the call was made to a Better Women`s hotline.

BROOKS: Right.

GRACE: Or a hotline. Don`t they have call tracing? I mean can`t they identify who this 16-year-old girl is?

BROOKS: Well, still they had not identified who she is, Nancy. In fact, authorities tell CNN now that they didn`t believe that she is not in Texas anymore. And you know, there was also another call by another alleged 16-year-old girl from a compound in Arizona. They are looking to see if they could be one and the same.

GRACE: Thank you to Mr. Bruce Griffen, attorney for Dale Evans Barlow, joining us.

Let`s stop and remember Army Private First Class Justin McDaniel, 19, Hanover, New Hampshire, killed, Iraq. Loved helping others, making people smile, music, video games, TV with friends. Lost his life just before the birth of first child. Leaves behind parents Timothy and Janine, sisters Megan and McKenzie, brother Timothy and widow, Alisha.

Justin McDaniel, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us. And tonight a special good night from a Georgia friend of the show, Jana. She is a specialist at Warner Robins Air Force Base.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.

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