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CNN NEWSROOM
Russia's Putin: Gay People Welcome At Next Year's Sochi Winter Olympics; Police Mom Sells Girls' Virginity; Ride Operator Charged With Assault; Chris Brown In Court On Assault Charge; Movie Standoff Over, Two In Custody; Ex-Child Prostitute Who Killed Pimp Granted Parole Under New Law; Funeral For Massachusetts High School Teacher Allegedly Killed By One Of Her Students; Boy With Tourette Syndrome Fights Bullying
Aired October 28, 2013 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Will it work? Well, he made these comments to the president of the International Olympic Committee. He was properly happy to hear him because the IOC has been trying to walk an uncomfortable line between voicing concern about discrimination, but at the same time not upsetting Russia by offending its sense of sovereignty. But I doubt that gay activists, human right activists around the world are going to be satisfied by this because they're not just concerned about what this law would mean during the Olympics. They're angry about this law's very existence and what it will mean before, during, and after the Olympics for gay people in this country -- Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking of the Olympics, what now 100 or so days to go. How are preparations going for the games?
BLACK: Well, they've achieved a lot, built a lot. A pretty impressive sporting venues here that weren't there before, but there's still so much work to do. There's really a last-minute building frenzy going on in this city because this city had a special challenge to get ready for next year's winter Olympics. Doesn't just to have to build the sporting facilities, it was an old, run down, neglected Soviet city, they're rally re-launching the city, building a whole lot of new infrastructure. There's a great deal of work still to de, but the expectation is to happen because with President Putin, failure is not an option -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Phil Black, thank you very much, in Sochi.
Now to this story, 300,000 Colombian pesos, approximately $160, that's what police say a mortgage charged men for the virginity of one of her young daughters. This mother of 14 was arrested this week along with a contractor who police believe impregnated one of the girls. Police say she would begin selling her daughters to men as soon as the girls turned 12 years of age. That was the age for these girls, 12.
And that she did it to make ends meet. The mother is strongly denying these allegations, but we have much more now from CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor, Raphael Romo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): Did you force your daughters into prostitution, a reporter has asked. No, my darling, the woman answered through tears. Margarita Zapata, a 45-year-old mother of 14, who police say did the unthinkable, selling the virginity of 12 daughters. It was one of those daughters who reported the woman to Colombian police. The girl is now 16, but police say her mother sold her to a man who she was 12. Two years later, she gave birth to a son.
COLONEL CAMILO CABAL, BOGOTA METROPOLITAN POLICE (through translator): As soon as her daughters turned 12 years old this mother contacted men of means so that they would go to her house and there for anywhere between $160 and $210, she gave them her daughters so they would have sex with them. She would offer their virginity.
ROMO: A 51-year-old man was also arrested along with Zapata. Police said he fathered the baby with the girl who reported her mother to the authorities, a girl who is now with a Colombian child protection agency.
CABAL (through translator): This is a crime that according to Colombian law is classified as rape of a 14-year-old. That's what the man faces. The woman, this mother, is facing charges of sexual exploitation and sexual trafficking for profit.
ROMO: At the Carolina neighborhood in Bogota where the suspect and her children lived, residents expressed their disgust.
JORGE OSORIO, NEIGHBOR (through translator): This is something I never would have imagined. I still can't believe this case. This is one of those things in life that are unforgivable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: An investigator says some of the older daughters who were forced to drink alcohol and do drugs ended up working as prostitutes and can't be found, and Brooke, listen to this. Of the women's 14 children, three are in the custody of the government's child protective agency, the two youngest ones an 11-month-old boy and a 9- year-old gird, as well as the 16-year-old who reported her mother to police, very, very sad.
BALDWIN: So it infuriates me. So we are talking 14 kids, 12 were girls. All of whom were sold. Their virginity sold. The one girl who was not, she was too young, three years too young, not quite 12, but what about the Johns? What about more arrests? ROMO: That's the second part of the investigation. Police told us is that they first wanted to target the mother to stop this from happening again, and now what they're doing is trying to find dozens, potentially more than 100 men who were paying to have sex specifically with underage girls and also specifically the men who were for that part of the deal, to get the virginity and pay $160 to $200 for that.
BALDWIN: That's disgusting. Thank you for shining a light on what's happening here. Rafael Romo, thank you. Coming up next, Chris Brown due in court any moment after being charged with felony assault. He's currently, keep in mind, on probation for punching his e ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. Could these new allegations land him behind bars? We'll take you live outside the courthouse, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: An operator working a ride that malfunctioned at the North Carolina State Fair has now been charged with multiple accounts of assault with a deadly weapon. He's accused of tampering with the machine's equipment after it had already been inspected. He is Timothy Tataro. He was arrested over the weekend. He's now being held on $225,000 bond and is expected in court at this hour.
Here's what happened. Several people were riding this ride. It's called the vortex were injured when the ride started to move while they were trying to get off. Witnesses, they dialed 911. They told operators the ride flipped upside down, dumped everyone out. We're talking nearly 20 feet worth of fall. Investigators say several critical safety devices were tampered with and compromised. His lawyer said he's devastated over what happened but authorities, they're angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE TROXLER, NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: It makes me mad to think that anybody would put people's safety in danger like they have. And I'm not mad, I'm furious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Five people were injured and the company that owns the ride released a statement saying it has never before experienced an incident with any of its rides like this one.
To our nation's capital we go. We're awaiting word concerning the fate of this guy, Chris Brown, R&B superstar. You see Chris Brown is flirting with prison. This YouTube video here posted on this YouTube page was shot some time Saturday night hours before his arrest on a charge of felony assault. In case you have forgotten, Brown is already on probation, and this could blow it for him.
CNN's Brian Todd is outside that D.C. courthouse, and Brian, has Chris Brown made his appearance yet?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, he has not appeared in court yet. There are several cases in front of him, and we're told that he could come up at any time. We do have a copy of the arrest record of the police report from late Saturday night, early Sunday morning. Where the victim in this case said that essentially what happened was that he tried, the victim tried to get into a picture being taken with Brown and a female fan.
The victim says that Brown said to him, quote, "I'm not down with that gay expletive," and then, quote, "I feel like boxing." And then according to the victim, on this police report, he said Brown punched him in the face, and then that Brown's body guard stepped in and punched him in the face.
So that's, again, the account on the police report from the victim in this case of what Chris Brown allegedly did. We have not heard, again, from Brown or his attorneys yet in the courtroom today, Brooke, but that should come any minute.
BALDWIN: OK, so we'll wait for him any minute. Let's say, Brian, that he makes bail. I'm going to bet there's a judge or some kind of probation officer in California who wants to talk to him, yes?
TODD: That's right, because he is already on probation for the 2009 assault against the singer Rihanna. He was given five years probation for that assault. And already twice this year, prosecutors in L.A. County have filed charges against him for violating that probation. And what we're told is that just about any legal trouble could get him back in jail. Our legal analyst, Danny Cevallos, spoke to us about this just a moment ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Without question, the new arrest and potential new crime even without a conviction, can trigger a violation of that probation and the judge can, again, decide to send him to state prison for the duration of his probation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now, that could be for up to a year in jail for Chris Brown because he was sentenced to five years probation. That was four years ago. So that could be some serious jail time for the singer if in fact the L.A. County district attorney and L.A. County superior court judge decide to sentence him for that. The L.A. County D.A. is not commenting on this particular arrest in D.C. -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right, Brian Todd, keep us posted on the goes-on inside that courthouse behind you. Appreciate that.
Coming up, a California woman sentenced to life in prison for killing her pimp when she was only 16 years of age. Now flash forward 20 years. That woman will be walking free. Her incredible story is coming up.
Plus, we're just getting word that standoff we told you about at the top of the hour, that movie theatre in North Carolina. It's over. See how it ends. We have new video, just in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Got an update for you on the breaking news we brought you at the top of the show with regard to the movie theatre standoff under way in Raleigh, North Carolina. We have the video just in to us at CNN, and you can see, it looks like folks on the top of the roof. In fact, this must be -- this is the second of these two suspects who were apprehended after this robbery attempt in an around this movie theatre facility. This is Raleigh, North Carolina. Police telling us no one was injured. So once again, all is clear, the standoff is over.
Sarah Cruzan was only 11 years old when she says a man sexually abused and groomed her to ultimately become a child prostitute. By the time she was 16, the man was her pimp until she shot him dead in 1994. She is now 35 years of age and she has been serving this life sentence without parole for that killing at a Riverside, California, motel.
Cruzan's case became a cause celebre for campaigns against the practice of locking juveniles up for life. And now, the news is that she has been granted parole under a new state law. California Governor Jerry Brown is about to set her free. Sarah Cruzan's impending release is renewing this whole discussion over juvenile defenders sentenced to life without parole.
So joining me now to discuss the legal implications of this is our CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Danny Cevallos. So Danny, why is California doing this?
CEVALLOS: Well, you have to go back to how the Supreme Court has treated these cases. They have been very busy dealing with the issue of juvenile sentencing. The bottom line is constitutionally, children are different. That's what the Supreme Court said. It's chopped away, gotten rid of life without parole for non-homicide cases and gotten rid of mandatory life without parole and outlawed the death penalty for juveniles.
However, the court has been silent as to whether those rules apply retroactively. In other words, does it apply to juveniles who were already sentenced before the Supreme Court dealt with the issue? Because of that, different states have been allowed to arrive at different conclusions. California is one state that has introduced legislature to deal with the problem, to require that a juvenile who has served 15 years, may have come before some tribunal, may have his case re-evaluated and possibly be eligible for release.
BALDWIN: So with the 15 years, that's interesting because that is the issue in California. Wait until 15 years at least, but some advocates are saying there are already more than 1,000 prisoners who under that could be set free under the law in California.
CEVALLOS: Absolutely. More than thousands and thousands nationwide. So the question becomes, is this legislative effort retroactive enough, I should say. Does it go back and address all of the things that the Supreme Court said, essentially holding that children are constitutionally different, they're less culpable and less likely to commit crimes as they grow older and become more mature. This legislation does begin to address the issues addressed by the Supreme Court, but there are proponents who say they need to go further.
BALDWIN: We also know that Governor Brown, he signed another bill allowing parole boards to give special consideration to juveniles tried in cases, say the school shooting in Nevada, Massachusetts. I don't know whether the question is, is that the right thing to do, but that seems complicated as well. CEVALLOS: Well, neurologically, the study of juvenile justice is really a study of neurology. At what age does a juvenile start to have responsibility in a way that we can charge them with a crime? The strange thing is because we cannot seem to agree, different states just choose different ages.
And because states have that discretion under their police power to decide what acts will be criminal and what ages are the ages of juvenile understanding or culpability, you get this patchwork type law. It takes a ruling by the Supreme Court to make it universal, but until it does or until there's federal legislation, the states can and will have completely inconsistent theories of liability or they'll draw lines in the sands, and certain ages vary widely from state to state. That's the way is presently.
BALDWIN: It's a patchwork, a patch work until the Supreme Court intervenes. Danny Cevallos, thank you very much.
Coming up, just a short time ago, former Vice President Dick Cheney talked to our own Jake Tapper and made some interesting comments on the spying of world leaders and the future of the Republican Party. Jake will join me live.
Plus more on our breaking news out of Oklahoma, two inmates now in custody. Two others are still on the run after an escape through the jail's shower. Stay right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Friends, family, and students gathered this morning in Danvers, Massachusetts, to say goodbye to Colleen Ritzer. Take a look.
Colleen Ritzer was just 24 years of age. She is remembered as a favorite teacher to so many students, for her smile, her positive attitude. She taught math at Danvers High School, an aunt said she wanted to be a teacher her whole life. Police say one of her students killed Ritzer inside a bathroom last Tuesday after school. A 14-year- old boy has been charged with murder.
Just a decade ago, Jalen Arnold became the youngest diagnosed case of Tourette's syndrome, and today, he's leading the charge to put an end to bullying of students all across the country. Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAYLEN ARNOLD, HAS SEVERE TOURETTE SYNDROME: I'm Jaylen and I have Tourette's syndrome, and I used to get bullied for that, a lot.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cool, calm, confident, 13-year-old Jaylen Arnold is on a mission to banish bullying for all.
ARNOLD: I've felt the pain of being bullied, and I know I have been bullied bad, but I know there are over 100 kids that are being bullied, 100 times worse than I was.
GUPTA: You see, Jaylen has Tourette's syndrome. It's a neurological disorder that caused repetitive involuntary movement and sounds called tics.
ROBIN ECKELBERGER, JAYLEN'S MOTHER: Jaylen began ticking at the age of 2. We went through several doctor appointments. Pediatrician was like, my goodness, I think this is classic Tourette's case and he was only diagnosed at 3 because in order to be diagnosed with Tourette's they have to observe the behavior for one full year.
GUPTA: Jaylen's mom, Robin uploaded a video to YouTube, hoping it would help children and parents alike better understand her son's disability. The video has racked up around 200,000 views. And it also captured the attention of actor Dash Mihok, who is currently starring on Showtime's hit series "Ray Donovan."
"RAY DONOVAN" COURTESY SHOWTIME: I was a fighter.
GUPTA: Together, Dash and Jaylen captivate their student audience working with Jaylen's Challenge Foundation to put a stop to bullying.
DASH MIHOK, ACTOR: I'm here because I have a young brother named Jaylen Arnold who reminds me of me as a kid. He has a message to bring to the world, and doing it at an age that I wish that I had had the bravery to step up and reach as many people as he does.
ARNOLD: And we came up with Jaylen's Challenge because I wanted to stand up and do something to make a difference. It hurts to think about how much torture and how miserable a kid's life can be just because of one person is causing them to feel that their self-esteem and that they're worthless.
MIHOK: Bullying no way.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: First the Obamacare web site, and now spying on world leaders. If it's true that President Obama didn't know about all these issues in his administration until they blow up, we're asking, why the heck not? I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now. Accident or crime, the operator of this state fair ride in court accused of using the vortex as a deadly weapon.
Plus, Julianne Hough apologizes for this Halloween costume. Should there be even be outrage in the first place.
And I'll speak live with one of Lou Reed's best friends about the life of a rock legend.
Here we go, hour two. Breaking news, I'm Brooke Baldwin. We can now tell you two Oklahoma inmates on the run since early Sunday morning have just been captured. Two others who joined their escape are still missing. Take a long look at these pictures here, folks. CNN has confirmed that two of the men, Dylan Three Irons and Prime Brown are now in custody. They were rearrested about 90 minutes ago less than 20 miles from where they first escaped.
How did they manage to break out of jail in the first place? They apparently broke through a hatch in a shower late Saturday night, crawled through the ceiling, walked out of the jail undetected. I know it sounds like a movie plot. It is true.
Larry Levine joins me now. He's a former federal inmate and the founder of Wall Street Consultants. Larry, it's nice to see you again here. Let's first begin with the fact that police or authorities caught up with two of the guys and caught them not too far from the jail, 20 miles. Does it surprise you they didn't get that far?
