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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Las Vegas Shootings; Friends Mourn Slain Vegas Cops; Truck Driver Who Hit Tracy Morgan's Limo Bus, Reportedly Awake for Over 24 Hours; Taliban Offers Different Account of Bergdahl's Imprisonment

Aired June 9, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Very impressed. Very impressed.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you with us, Brooke. Always a pleasure.

BERMAN: That is all for us AT THIS HOUR. I'm John Berman.

PEREIRA: And I'm Michaela Pereira. "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Bizarre details behind the tragic shooting in Las Vegas. (INAUDIBLE) sort of extremist views drove a couple to gun down a policeman and a shopper before killing themselves? The more we learn, the stranger and the sadder it gets.

Also ahead, the battle over Bowe Bergdahl's release intensifies as we find out more about his five years in captivity and hear more from a friend of the family about the threats the family is facing.

And another helicopter prison break. A massive manhunt underway this hour after a chopper swoops in and quickly flies off with three inmates aboard.

Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It is Monday, June the 9th, and welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

What we are learning about a cold-blooded shooting spree in Las Vegas over the weekend seems to get more strange by the minute. It started when a married couple with extremist views towards law enforcement walked into this Cici's Pizza restaurant, shouted something about a revolution, and then shot and killed these two policemen as they ate lunch.

Igor Soldo, on the left, leaves a wife and a baby. Alyn Beck, on the right, leaves behind a wife and children also. After killing the officers, it wasn't over. The couple headed straight to a nearby Wal- Mart and then gunned down a shopper in the parking lot before the woman killed her husband and then turned the gun on herself, killing herself. The motive at this point, still an absolute mystery. But a law enforcement official tells CNN, they did leave behind a manifesto of some kind at the scene. Our Dan Simon is in Las Vegas with the very latest.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, this appears to be a calculated attack on police officers, especially now that you have this manifesto and other online writings where this couple expressed anti-law enforcement views. Now police are just trying to piece it all together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): A raid at an apartment in Las Vegas, possibly the home of the two suspects involved in Sunday's shooting spree. An area around the apartment was cordoned off. Local affiliates report an explosion. Apparently by a flash bang grenade set off by police. A law enforcement source tells CNN the suspects were a married couple with extremist views towards law enforcement.

SHERIFF DOUG GILLESPIE, LAS VEGAS METRO POLICE: It's a tragic day. It's a very, very difficult day.

SIMON: Around 11:22 a.m. on Sunday, about 10 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, two people, one male, one female, opened fire inside this pizza restaurant. Witnesses hear them declare the ambush a revolution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had a backpack and I saw the gun in their hand and he just told me to tell the cops that it was a revolution.

SIMON: When police arrived, they discovered that two of their own were murdered. They'd been identify as 41-year-old officer Alyn Beck and 31-year-old Igor Soldo, both leaving behind wives and young children.

GILLESPIE: What precipitated this event, we do not know. My officers were simply having lunch.

SIMON: Authorities say one officer was able to fire back before being killed. The assailants then grabbing the officer's guns and their ammunition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man that shot him was hugging him, like -- like this, but I think he was going for his gun, try to get the officer's gun.

SIMON: The duo then headed across the street to this Wal-Mart, killing a woman near the front entrance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But no (ph) (INAUDIBLE) you can see a whole bunch of people start running towards the back.

SIMON: Police converged onto the scene, exchanging gunfire inside. But before they could apprehend the pair, the female attacker shot the male suspect, then turned the gun on herself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Police also found backpacks at the scene belonging to the suspects, although the contents have yet to be disclosed. They also found some flags or insignias, once again indicating that this had been thought out. But why this particular day and why those police officers, we still don't know.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Dan Simon for us in Vegas. Thank you for that, Dan.

And joining me now to talk more about this couple's extreme views are CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns, as well as the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Mark Potok, who's live with us from Montgomery, Alabama.

And the Southern Poverty Law Center, by the way, tracks people with extreme views on racism and government and law enforcement. And I will get to that in just a moment. But first to this couple. I know, Joe, that you have been tracking more details on this couple, what they left behind, what their motives might have been. What have you found out?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, first, let me say, CNN is not reporting the name of this couple, at least at this point. The key question being raised right now is whether the shootings were somehow (INAUDIBLE) motivated. Police are said to be investigating whether this couple had espoused anti-government views in the past.

From what we can tell, this couple appears to have been active on social media. The people we believe to be this couple have pictures on Facebook pages of people wearing various costumes. CNN has been told by sources they did leave some type of written manifesto, but the details on that right now are limited at best. It's also been widely reported that when they started shooting, they asserted that this was the beginning some type of revolution. There's a lot of other information floating around out there, but until CNN is comfortable reporting the names, we're not able to go there, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, and that may be very well what a lot of family members of the dead would appreciate, not to make these people more celebrated than they hoped possibly to be.

Mark, let me talk to you a little bit about this. We don't know everything yet, but what we're learning from the police is that they definitely were connected to militia movements in some way and that they definitely had anti-law enforcement, extreme anti-law enforcement views. Your work tracks this. Do you have a good gauge of just how bad the circumstances are out there? How many of these types of people might just be out there?

MARK POTOK, DIRECTOR, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Well, we have followed up on the couple who we all believe carried this out. We have the names. And looking at their Facebook pages, we see very clearly they absolutely are in the anti-government patriot movement. They have all kinds of connections to other groups. They posted there -- he posted -- the man posted the day before the shooting saying a new day is coming, and hoping that all their sacrifices will be worth it.

Moreover, the same man posts on his page way back on May 25th that he, in fact, was at the Bundy ranch standoff, which occurred in mid-April, or had been, rather, and, in fact, had been there through the whole thing. So, you know, I think what happened with that standoff between Cliven Bundy, the rancher, and armed federal agents back in April was a huge victory for the patriot movement, for the militia movement. These groups felt --

BANFIELD: Well, and I want to be really clear, Mark - I just want to be really clear that, you know, CNN has been trying to track down the movements of these two shooters, specifically with regard to the Bundy ranch, and Mr. Bundy himself, Cliven Bundy himself, says that there were thousands who showed up and he doesn't know if, in fact, they were there. And it is also not 100 percent confirmed that they were there. Just that a lot of the rhetoric seems to be very similar. But we're continuing our work to try to track that down as well.

And my thanks to both Joe Johns and to you, Mark Potok, for looking into this and try to track down any kind of detail as to what would lead to this kind of action. Thank you to the both of you.

The extreme and the violent views ended up being very deadly for two police officers and for an innocent bystander as well. And a friend of one of those officers has written something very, very powerful, not only about his friend on the right, but also about the kind of person that would do this, and how we all need to keep it all in perspective. That story, the live interview, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: One of the strangest details coming out of this bizarre shooting in Las Vegas over the weekend is that the shooters apparently thought they were starting some kind of revolution. Eye witnesses say they heard the shooters yell the word "revolution" as they shot and killed two police officers who were simply eating their lunch. And then the rampage continued toward the Wal-Mart where a shopper was then killed. A friend of the slain police officer, Alyn Beck, is now speaking out with a blog post that is getting a lot of people talking online. I want to read part of Tracy Smith's emotional statement about his friend, Alyn.

Quote, "these two idiots didn't start a revolution, they just ripped the life from two heroes as they ate. They took fathers from their children. They brought darkness into the lives of those who loved these two men. They traumatized people who witnessed the tragedy, probably for the rest of their lives. They left a horrific scene for dozens of police officers to have to process emotionally and mentally. And the greatest irony of this infuriating act of horrific stupidity and delusion is that if they were truly acting out some kind of perverse revolutionary intent, they only hurt their own cause, whatever that is."

Tracy Smith is now kind enough to join me live now from Salt Lake City.

Tracy, it's a very profound piece that you have written and that you've posted online. And you are getting a lot of traction.

I'm so sorry that you and I are meeting under these circumstances, but I'd really like it if you could start this interview by telling us a little bit about your friend Alyn.

TRACY SMITH, FRIEND OF SLAIN LAS VEGAS POLICEMAN: Thank you, Ashleigh. I'm honored to be on your show to talk about Alyn. I'm grateful you're talking about Alyn. He really is the key to this story, he and his partner and the poor victim that fell at Wal-Mart.

Alyn was a wonderful person. He was the best of people. He was always about service. He was the funnest guy. He was, you know, you think of some people who are good in eulogy only, and Alyn is the absolute opposite of that. Alyn is easy to eulogize because that's all he was, was good.

BANFIELD: And Alyn is the picture to the far right of the screen, for those who are looking at their monitor right now. Let me ask you this. There will be those who decide to polarize on this cause. They will take to the airwaves and to the blogosphere and they will complain about government and law enforcement, et cetera. And you have spoken very specifically to this. Tell me your thoughts.

SMITH: Yes, sure, people have their opinions about this sort of thing. And I have my own. I have a small little blog. Sometime, I put my opinions on there. Oftentimes they're political. But on this one I didn't want it to be political. I wanted it to be about Alyn. And I wanted it to be about the tragedy. And I didn't want it to be Second Amendment. I didn't want it to be gun control. I wanted it to be the fact that two people came in and did something horrible and took the lives of beautiful people. And that's really what the issue was about to me.

BANFIELD: You also mention sort of a cry to those who follow this sort of twisted logic about law enforcement and government. And you mentioned, if you're frustrated with the government, I'll paraphrase here, if you're worried about the republic, start a blog, write a book, go to a protest, join a cause, call a senator, you know, call a talk show, run for office, do what people in a free society do. And yet we are seeing so many of these incidents for all sorts of different twisted logics. Do you think there's anything more to these people than just maniacal murders? Is there a greater cause out there that we need to be concerned about?

SMITH: I don't - I don't know. I can't speak to them. The irony of it is, is that they -- Alyn was a type who had a cause. Alyn was the type who had a cause to help people. Alyn was the type who he believed in a strong but controlled government. He wasn't - he would never have supported this.

And he wasn't some kind of dark storm trooper for the evil, you know, great government or whatever either. Alyn was a good person who all the wanted to do was help people. He was a fun guy. Alyn was the type -- he believed in a strong but controlled government. He never would have supported this.

And he wasn't some dark storm trooper for the evil government either. Alyn was a good person who all he wanted to do was help people. We're talking about a guy who, on one hand, was a deadly, trained weapon, capable of massive amount of force, strong and powerful. And on the other hand, he was tender, he was gentle, he was -- it was so amazing to see how wonderful touched he was, that his wife was pregnant again after 10 or so years after not having a new child. They had a daughter --

BANFIELD: You have spoken to his wife, haven't you? How is she doing?

SMITH: I haven't spoken directly with her, but I know she's struggling. I know she's grateful for all the prayers that are going out to her, and, Nicole, we love you so much. She's struggling. It's a horrible tragedy. Alyn is greatly missed.

BANFIELD: Well, and I am so sorry, again, to speak with you about Alyn under these circumstances. It is a tragedy that the entire nation needs to realize. The entire nation needs to realize these were honest, hardworking -- they were, as you mentioned, the janitors of society, cleaning up the mess for the rest of us, so that we can live safely.

I thank you for your time. And, Tracy, my heart goes out to you and rest of us here. I hope you're going to be OK as you move forward.

SMITH: Thank you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Tracy Smith joining us live this afternoon.

Some new details this hour about comedian Tracy Morgan's condition in the hospital and the injuries he suffered in that highway crash.

We're also learning more about the truck driver who allegedly called this deadly wreck. According to the charges, he had been awake more than 24 hours, further details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Some stunning new information in the New Jersey highway crash that killed one person and injured five others, including comedian Tracy Morgan.

Morgan is still in critical condition, with multiple injuries, including a broker femur and broken leg, but his publicist says he is more responsive and improving.

Now we're learning that the Wal-mart driver that slammed into Morgan's limo bus was allegedly awake for more than 24 hours before the accident happened. That driver, Kevin Roper, will be arraigned in court later today. He's been charged with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto.

Joining me now live is Mel Robbins, CNN commentator, and HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Those are serious charges and they were levied fast and furious, even before the investigation into this was even -- I would say even completed, but it was before it was almost started. Why come down with such serious charges so quickly before we know anything about the vehicle itself or the circumstances?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, Ashleigh, it's a fair point, but at the end of the day, any defendant is entitled to due process and that due process occurs in a court of law. Allegations, at some later point, they have to be substantiated.

What happened here is investigators felt something was amiss. Something was wrong. There's a tractor trailer going at a rate of speed that was too high and too fast, considering the area he was in and the circumstances surrounding that.

And so I think they concluded that based upon the nature of the accident, how it happened, where it happened, the nature of how it happened, that this is what occurred.

And so the pieces ultimately, Ashleigh, will be put together, and if it's determined that he had been sleep deprived for that period of time, boy, is he in trouble, under that statute, because finally, Ashleigh, that statute allows you, if you are sleep deprived, and the statute I refer to is "death by auto," it allows for an inference to be made that you drove recklessly. And if you drove recklessly, guess what? You're guilty.

BANFIELD: So, Mel, let's -- there are so many nuances to the notion of not having slept for 24 hours. I get it if he was actually dispatched to work and wasn't given a break for 24 hours.

But who's policing your bed? And who's the person who's the arbiter of how much shut-eye you're getting unless you freely admit it, and perhaps this man did? It seems to me that if you're falling asleep on the road, that would be where the charges kick in, as opposed to whether during your break you actually slept.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMEN TATOR: Here's the thing. There's a couple questions, you know, inside what you were just talking about. Joey is absolutely right.

Here's the problem, if he admitted at the scene, and we both read the complaint, and it says that he had not slept in 24 hours, but the complaint doesn't say, Ashleigh, whether or not they're admitting that or they're just inferring it.

So you're right. They are going to have to prove he hadn't slept in 24 hours. And if they can prove that, then Joey's absolutely right, as he summarized the law, there's an inference that you're driving negligently.

Now here's the other piece of this that's interesting. Congress has just passed, literally months ago, new, what are called "hours of service" rules, and under those rules, no commercial driver, Ashleigh, can drive more than 14 hours in one day.

And you're not allowed to drive for more than eight hours consecutively without taking a rest. And you can absolutely take a look at the driving log, you can take a look at the GPS that's in these trucks these days to be able to determine when the truck was moving and when it wasn't.

Now, whether or not he was awake for the last 24 hours, if he admitted it, he's screwed. If he didn't, the prosecutors are going to have to prove it.

BANFIELD: And then there's also the notion that nobody thinks at this point alcohol played a part, but police were quick to say the investigation is continuing.

Mel, Joey, always good to have you. Thank you both.

JACKSON: Pleasure and a privilege, Ashleigh. Take care, Mel.

ROBBINS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Privilege is mine. You're both so smart.

In other news, we're moving to that other big story that's so perplexing. The family of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl reportedly getting death threats, that's according to a friend of the family who is going to join me live to talk about this after this quick break, with some new details from the Bergdahl family as they wait to speak to their son for the first time since he was repatriated into American hands, and that is nine days ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We're learning more, or at least hearing more, about the conditions under which Bowe Bergdahl was held, from the people who actually did the holding.

My CNN colleague Nic Robertson has been in touch with Taliban sources. He joins me now with some accounts that don't seem to quite jibe with what Bergdahl himself has reportedly told his superiors.

Perhaps understanding, Nic, that the Taliban are masters of propaganda and have been so for over a decade, this may not be a surprise, but what are they saying about Bowe's captivity?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, this is a source that doesn't claim to know everything about Bergdahl's captivity, and this is also a source who has proven accurate on other Westerners held by the same Taliban in the same area, information that didn't seem to stand up at the time but later stood the test of time.

So a source who has some level of credibility, but absolutely you're right to put it in this context, that the Taliban are masters of spin and certainly want to spin this in their favor. This is what the source is saying to us right now. He's saying that in the early part of his capture Bergdahl was able to get free, break away from a house that he was in. He was on the run for three days.

But the source said the reason he wasn't able to get any further, get away completely is because the Taliban controlled the whole area, that they policed him up, put him in another compound with much more security around him. At this stage, Bergdahl would have realized, according to this source, that there was no way for him to escape.