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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Israel Buries Three Murdered Teens; Grand Jury Reduces Charges Against Teen Who Killed Alleged Bully; "Cannibal Cop" Conviction Overturned; Monica Lewinsky Does National Geographic Interview; Six- Months of Legal Pot in Colorado; Kindergartner Accused of Sexual Misconduct; Serena Williams Out; World Cup

Aired July 1, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Israel has buried those three murdered teenagers, one of them a U.S. Israeli citizen, that burial happening today, and a huge crowd followed the ambulances that were carrying their bodies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself gave the eulogy and blamed the kidnappings and killings on the militant group Hamas, which he says will pay. And, in fact, that retribution really got started overnight because Israeli warplanes bombed 34 targets they said were terror targets in Gaza.

There is a new twist to a murder case in the Bronx, New York. A grand jury has reduced the charge against 14-year-old Noel Estevez who he claims had bullied him for months to second-degree manslaughter.

He's accused of stabbing his former friend Timothy Crump. Again, he claims Crump bullied him, and the stabbing happened outside their Bronx middle school. According to Estevez, Crump and others jumped him in a dispute over a missing cell phone.

A federal judge overturned the conviction of New York's so-called "Cannibal Cop." It happened just this morning. NYPD officer Gilberto Valle was found guilty by a federal jury in March, back in 2013, of plotting to kidnap women.

Prosecutors say it went on from there too, that he planned to rape them, to torture them, cook them, and eat them. His lawyer argued the former police officer's e-mails and online postings were just fantasy, role playing, and dark improv theater.

But the prosecutors said something very different. They said he was deadly serious, and that he took actual concrete steps.

In overturning Valle's conviction, the judge said that the evidence used to convict him was insufficient.

And joining me to talk about this case is CNN national correspondent Deb Feyerick, doing double duty today. First of all, we talked about this case back when it happened.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BANFIELD: It was so controversial. This was like the thought police coming in to say, you're crazy in your head, and it amounts to crime that's actionable, and you can be put away for 25 or so years.

Ultimately, this federal judge has decided, yeah, it is a crazy fantasy, and he should never have been convicted.

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. And, look, the thinking -- Gilberto Valle's thinking was deviant, as the judge called it, but it wasn't ultimately criminal.

He overturned the conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He's been acquitted on that. And the judge basically said that, you know what, the problem is this conspiracy existed only in cyberspace. No one was ever kidnapped. There was no attempted kidnapping, all conversation about dates and places and things like that sort of disappeared.

BANFIELD: I know.

FEYERICK: But the judge -- look, it was very interesting, because a lot of us in the court didn't believe that prosecutors would actually convict on the charges because there were multiple conversations and multiple sort of victims, some 21 of them.

But prosecutors only charged on three, and the judge said, look, you can't basically say this group of women, this was fantasy, but these three, no, it was more.

BANFIELD: Here's the thing that bugged me about the case. For starters, you can't get a conviction for someone just saying creepy things. That's your First Amendment right. You can be as creepy as you want.

FEYERICK: Of course.

BANFIELD: You can say awful things. You can join any creepy Web site that you want. You can't be convicted for that.

What the prosecutors said, though, is that he went beyond that, and that he took those magical steps that cross you into the line from fantasy to reality. He actually surveilled some of these women. He broke into Web sites or databases, law enforcement databases he wasn't supposed to get information, and ultimately then started to conspire with other people.

Those were the actual concrete actions that the prosecutor said made this a crime. Why did that all of a sudden go away?

FEYERICK: You raise an excellent point. Here's what the judge said. The judge said, quote, "The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to prosecutors, to the government is at least as consistent with innocence as it is to guilt." So he basically said, look, he did access this database, and he was not supposed to but he never used that information to go after the victims. There was no concrete steps.

BANFIELD: Real quick, is he getting out? I know he still has to serve the time on breaking into the databases. He didn't get cleared on that.

FEYERICK: He didn't, but he's already served -- he's already been in prison for a couple of months. He's probably out. Right now, they're figuring out --

BANFIELD: Well, ladies --

FEYERICK: -- an ankle bracelet on -- hey, look, exactly.

BANFIELD: Ladies, that fellow's out there.

FEYERICK: Exactly, but this is the danger.

BANFIELD: Mr. Fantasy.

FEYERICK: These online sites, you find communities, and in the end, you know, can you be found guilty if you haven't taken actual steps? The judge said, no, you can't.

BANFIELD: P.S., police officer, that was one of the more disturbing aspects of this case. Gilberto Valle, police officer in New York City.

Like I said, ladies, that's his fantasy, and he's out there, so mind your business. Deb, thank you. Appreciate it.

FEYERICK: Of course.

BANFIELD: All right, so, Monica Lewinsky is not holding back. She's talking about the White House scandal involving then president Bill Clinton, and she says she was the most humiliated woman in the world.

The former intern talked on video. So you probably heard about this, this text interview that she did before, but now the National Geographic has the first TV interview in a decade.

Lewinsky remembers the very day that the special prosecutor, Ken Starr, released that massive tome of a report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONICA LEWINSKY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN: That was would be of the worst days of my life. I was a virgin to humiliation of that level until that day.

To have my narrative ripped from me and turned into the Starr Report and things that were turned over or things they delved out of my computer that I thought were deleted. I mean, it was just a violation after violation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I don't know what it is. You know, you've heard the stories before. It's not that the information is new, but just seeing her, because she was such an epic moment in the '90s, it's just kind of fascinating in a strange way.

The "Today" show actually previewed the interview as part of an upcoming documentary on National Geographic. And I don't think any of us are going to forget the Barbara Walters interview either.

By the way, today marks the sixth month anniversary since the state of Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use. So how's that going? How's that working out? Seen any increase in DUIs by pot users? Any increase in crime, nefarious activity? Was it the apocalypse?

We're going to look at all that, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Today marks a full six months since it became legal in Colorado to sell and to use recreational marijuana, and pardon the pun, but pot sales are sky high.

As Anna Cabrera shows us, the state's cashing in, but the jury is still out on the fears and the myths and the realities of legal pot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm holding what's become one of the most popular strains of marijuana here in Colorado. This one's called Strawberry Diesel. Its name relates to how it smells, a combination of strawberry fields and diesel gas.

It's popular because of how it makes you feel. We're told it's supposed to bring a euphoric high, that it feels like sunshine when you smoke it. It's now one of hundreds, possibly thousands, of strains of marijuana that have hit the market since it became legal to sell pot for recreational use.

We're about six months into this Colorado marijuana experiment of sorts, and we're told right now business is still booming. In fact, one pot shop owner says he sees about 10,000 customers every month. About 20 percent or so are coming from out of state.

It makes you wonder how many people are getting high and hitting the road? Colorado state patrol says they just started keeping track of marijuana-specific DUI numbers, and month to month so far, we're seeing about 10 percent to 15 percent of total DUIs are marijuana- related. They're still seeing more people driving under the influence of alcohol.

The other issue that's popped up has to do with marijuana edibles. This is one of those marijuana-infused chocolate bars, small but potent. It has 100 milligrams of THC in it. This is the equivalent of ten doses or servings of marijuana. People are getting into trouble for eating too much. Overall, a lot of Coloradans will say they believe that legalizing marijuana has been a good thing, especially if you look at the tax money. Colorado has already collected more than $11 million in marijuana taxes this year.

We know a lot of other states are watching Colorado. Is this the beginning of the end of pot prohibition? We'll wait and see, but we do know people who are cannabis enthusiasts are stocking up on their Strawberry Diesel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I think that might be my favorite part of this whole movement is the naming of all the different strains.

Joining me live from Denver is Anna Cabrera, the author and the reporter in that report we just saw. It was a great report. I loved that.

So I'm still curious, though, about the fallout. You know, with alcohol we have breathalyzers to determine if someone on the road is impaired. What do we do to determine the impairment of someone who's been eating some of those candies or smoking weed?

CABRERA: Well, ultimately it's a blood test, Ashleigh, that determines whether somebody is impaired because of marijuana or other drugs for that matter. So the testing really hasn't changed with the new law, but we can tell you they've had to set a legal limit since it's legal to consume marijuana here in Colorado, so similar to alcohol.

The legal limit for driving under the influence of marijuana here in Colorado has been set at five nanograms of THC per millimeter of blood. There's still argument about whether that is an accurate assessment or measurement of whether somebody is impaired under marijuana, because it affects people differently, especially depending on your tolerance.

But, Ashleigh, that is the state standard at this point.

BANFIELD: It's also weird because I think it stays in your system a lot longer, so you might have, you know, smoked a day before and been driving, completely fine, and yet your blood -- there's a lot that will have to be worked out, but there's still so much to -- and I like your location, very interesting --

CABRERA: It's not black and white.

BANFIELD: It sure isn't.

Anna, great story, thanks. Nice to see you.

CABRERA: Thanks, good to see you too.

BANFIELD: Anna Cabrera, reporting for us, live.

This next story really is going to have you scratching your head as much as it did my team, a 5-year-old boy accused of sexual misconduct. Let that sink in for a minute. Sexual misconduct. A five-year-old. And it's going on his permanent record at school. What? We're going to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: OK, buckle up for this one. A five-year-old kindergartner is being accused of sexual misconduct. This is not a joke. Five. Eric Lopez. His mom says that another student told her son -- you know, that I dare you kind of thing -- told her son to pull his pants and underwear down on the playground or else he'd do it for him. That's all happened to all of us, hasn't it? So little Eric did what that friend of his told him to do.

And for all to see, down came the pants on the playground at Ashton Ranch Elementary School in Surprise, Arizona. The thing is, teachers saw what happened and then they stepped in and took action. They took Eric to the principal's office where he had to actually sign a document -- a five-year-old. I don't even know if they have a signature at that age - but the document labeled his actions sexual misconduct. They got a detention. And the sexual misconduct label is now going to be stuck in his permanent file as long as he is in that school district.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICA MARTINEZ, ERIC LOPEZ' MOTHER: They have made that remark that he is old enough to know what's going on and what he is doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's five. Do you believe that?

MARTINEZ: No. Once I seen that it had sexual misconduct, I said, there's no way I'm going to sign this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yes, sign this. A five-year-old. Students are not required to have their parents present for disciplinary meetings unless they ask for the parents to be there. Kind of sounds like you have to assert your right to your Fifth Amendment and also to have a lawyer present at the age of five. Eric is five. Eric didn't know he had that choice. Eric doesn't know anything unless you tell him what to do. He's in kindergarten.

I want to bring in CNN commentator and defense attorney Mel Robbins and CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace.

OK, first, Kelly, to you, seriously?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Seriously, right?

BANFIELD: How is this going on?

WALLACE: I know. And if this -- what allegedly happened to this boy happened to my kids, to your kids, I think we'd be as outraged as this mother. You know the district is saying, you have another example really here, right, of districts feeling like they have to strictly follow school policies, state guidelines, without bringing in common sense and compassion. The mom says this boy doesn't even know the difference between right and wrong. How does he even know what sexual misconduct even is?

BANFIELD: So the assistance superintendent, Jim Dean, with Dysart Unified School District, gave us this statement. And I'll read it verbatim. Quote, "our school district uses consistent language for disciplinary infractions in order to provide clarity and track discipline data accurately."

Mel -

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BANFIELD: Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better at all. Get me off the ledge, as I always say.

ROBBINS: I don't know - I don't know if I can, I'm sporting the USA colors and getting ready to drink at 4:00.

BANFIELD: Whoo-hoo, nice. Nicely done.

ROBBINS: And I think you need a drink when you hear about this story. There's a couple things that are just alarming. First of all, you and I both have young sons, Ashleigh. And the bottom line is that the idea that a kid who's number one getting bullied on the playground is now the one that's getting punished is alarming. Secondly, that they would have a disciplinary meeting, make the kid sign what is basically a contract, and, by the way, Ash, in Arizona, you've got to be 18 years old to be able to sign any kind of legal document. So the fact that this kid was able to kind of --

BANFIELD: Well, that's what I would think -

ROBBINS: Yes, absolutely. And then that the mother wasn't even told about this, Ashleigh, until after everything was said and done. It is absolutely absurd. I mean the school district is sticking by this.

BANFIELD: What I find so shocking, Mel, honestly, is they're calling this sexual misconduct but I highly doubt this five-year-old even knows what sex means. And I just want to read something here -

ROBBINS: Well -

BANFIELD: That there's this initiative called Arizona Safe and it's supposed to provide clarification to the districts around that state. You know, clarification to help them do this data collection, you know, their rules.

ROBBINS: Right.

BANFIELD: Under the definitions for sexual offense, the state recommends that every district take into account the age and maturity of a student before placing their actions in the sexual offense category. Kelly, this mom is trying over and over again to have this taken out of his permanent record.

WALLACE: I know.

BANFIELD: This will follow him right to 12th grade as he tries to enter colleges because he took his pants down in the playground.

WALLACE: I know. And you have officials saying, you know, when they have the conversation with the student, they focused on the action and they're not focused on the label. But as you said, the label is there and it really brings to mind this story, we all remember it, right, the six-year-old in Colorado who was accused of sexual harassment for repeatedly kissing another girl.

BANFIELD: Oh, yes. Yes.

WALLACE: Now, he was doing something. This little girl did not want him to kiss her. So there was, you know, misconduct. And after the national outrage and all the criticism, you know what the school did? They removed sexual harassment and they called it misconduct.

BANFIELD: Yes.

WALLACE: I think schools have got to take another look at all of (INAUDIBLE).

BANFIELD: Mel -

ROBBINS: Here's the other thing.

BANFIELD: Super quick, Mel -

ROBBINS: Here's the other thing, is, yes, I -

BANFIELD: Just one thing, I need you to answer this. So, does this mother have legal recourse? If she's trying through the school channels to get this expunged from his record, can she do this legally? Can she sue this district?

ROBBINS: Absolutely, she can sue the district. Now, whether or not she would be successful is another thing because they're just following established guidelines.

BANFIELD: Right.

ROBBINS: But one of the things that I find surprising is that I bet if you ask your sons at home, they know exactly what pantsing is.

BANFIELD: Totally.

ROBBINS: It happened to my son at gymnastics practice two years ago. His pants were pulled down in the locker room.

BANFIELD: Yes. Yes.

ROBBINS: And so it's not sexual misconduct, it's bullying that's happening here. BANFIELD: It's - it's - I mean, look, it's happened to every single

one of us. I've had the same phone call from the school about one of my boys. And they had no idea. They think it's hilarious, that thing down there. They did not think it was sexual.

All right, Mel Robbins and Kelly Wallace, thank you. Go USA. I love your scarf.

ROBBINS: Go USA. Exactly.

BANFIELD: All right, to the two of you, great stuff.

OK, so there's some breaking news I want to get you up to speed on after the break. Serena Williams, she did not have a good Saturday. She was eliminated from singles in Wimbledon. And, guess what, something strange has happened on court during doubles. The photos tell the story, but there's a lot more to it. You're going to find out from Rachel Nichols in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So just in. Some breaking news. You know her as the number one women's tennis player in the world, Serena Williams. She has just pulled out of the Wimbledon doubles match. And something strange is going on, on the grass, because there was some very bizarre behavior going on and now there's some talk that she has a strange medical issue going on. A lot of mystery here, but Rachel Nichols has been watching this and I hope you can fill in what's happened because she ended up in tears.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, "UNGUARDED WITH RACHEL NICHOLS": Yes. Yes. She was actually in tears even before the match started.

BANFIELD: What - what's the problem?

NICHOLS: They have announced that she has a viral illness. They haven't gotten any more specific than that. But she came out for her doubles match with her sister Venus, as we've seen hundreds times. And in the warm-up, frankly, it was bizarre. Here is one of the most feared servers in the game. She couldn't get the ball over the net. It was almost like she didn't know where she was supposed to go. She starts bouncing the ball when she's trying to serve. She couldn't quite focus enough on where to bounce the ball.

BANFIELD: You mean actually during the game?

NICHOLS: No, this is during the warm-up.

BANFIELD: Oh, during the warm-up. OK.

NICHOLS: So we're not talking about balls flying at her at some incredible professional level pace. We're talking about the same thing you might do on a Sunday afternoon. And she was unable to coordinate her hands enough to be able to strike the ball. So she gets medical attention in the warm-up before the match even starts. She bursts into tears. BANFIELD: Wow.

NICHOLS: She's obviously very upset that she can't do this. She and her sister decide, hey, we're going to try to fight it out.

BANFIELD: Give it a try.

NICHOLS: The gamers (ph). Give it a go anyway. They only got three games into this before they just decided, hey, this isn't working. And you have to wonder, Ashleigh --

BANFIELD: And she - and she double faulted the whole way through this game?

NICHOLS: Yes, you have to wonder if she lost her singles match in the third round over the weekend. And you have to wonder now, was she coming down with something where obviously it affects her this much. And I want to, you know, give it some perspective on this crying and why she might be so upset. She has had so many injury and illness issues. You might remember, three years ago, she had a pulmonary embolism that nearly killed her. Took her off the court for nearly a year. So to have to fight back, regain the number one ranking, and then have this happen.

BANFIELD: The official verified Wimbledon Twitter account says the word from the referee's office is that Serena Williams is suffering from a viral illness. They're leaving it at that. But, wow, that's distressing.

NICHOLS: Yes.

BANFIELD: I've got another big sports story for you. Something going on at 4:00 today I heard.

NICHOLS: Yes, I heard there's a soccer match. I don't know.

BANFIELD: USA. USA. Are we going to make it? Are we -- can we believe?

NICHOLS: I would say there's a very good chance you can believe. This Belgium team is not as strong as it looked three or four months ago, but the U.S. will certainly have to put up a good fight. We'll have to see if they can do it.

BANFIELD: So here's what I hear. I hear that these Belgium players are young and strong and hungry. But at the same time, they're beaten up.

NICHOLS: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: They've got a lot of injuries and so this is a really good match-up between the USA and the Belgiums.

NICHOLS: Yes, their defense is not as strong as it has been. They've only been winning their games by one goal. The US Team is ready to be more aggressive today. We should see them playing a little differently than the last few matches. And besides, they've got all the confidence in the world. They have -- BANFIELD: Do me a favor.

NICHOLS: Yes.

BANFIELD: Turn into a business reporter when this is all over and tell me how much economic productivity has been lost to those watching World Cup instead of doing the job.

NICHOLS: Yes. Exactly.

BANFIELD: Some say it (INAUDIBLE) business.

NICHOLS: Just think of it this way, it brings offices together, right?

BANFIELD: Well, I love you more than I loved you yesterday.

NICHOLS: Well, see, maybe it does. That's a good thing.

BANFIELD: Yes. Rachel Nichols, everybody. Thank you. And I will see you tomorrow.

Thank you for watching, everybody. "Wolf" starts right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, an emotional joint funeral is wrapping up for the three Israeli teenagers found dead in the West Bank. Israel's president warning again that Israel will, quote, "get our hands on the murderers and punish them."