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CNN NEWSROOM

"USA Today" Lists 713 NFL Players Arrested; Who Asked for Rice Video, Who Didn't; Dealing with Domestic Violence

Aired September 9, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And this Ray Rice story, it has hit fans like a ton of bricks. Compelled many to dump their jerseys bearing Ray Rice's former number 27. A Baltimore pizzeria gave slices away to anyone who brought in a Ray Rice Jersey. And there was another shop that pulled the number from the store shelves or deeply discounted leftover merchandise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY YATES, THE ZONE SPORTS: Just want to get rid of the merchandise. It's upset a lot of people. And we don't want that stuff lingering around if he's not a part of the team anymore.

KIM KNOX, RAVENS FAN: He did a lot for the team, does a lot for the community, and they should have stuck in there with him, not just drop him like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So just like you heard, not everyone agrees with the Ravens' decision to drop Rice after that initial two-game suspension, he returned to a standing ovation, by the way.

And this whole controversy has a lot of folks taking a second look at exactly how the NFL handles arrests. "USA Today" keeps this data base of arrests goes back to 2000. And I tell you, you scroll and you scroll and you scroll. 713 players listed going back to 2000. 713. Plenty of misdemeanors, yes, scuffles in bars. But there are much more serious charges, as well. Let me run through the most recent. You have San Francisco's Chris McDonald, on suspension of domestic violence a couple of days ago. He played in Sunday's game. Carolina's Greg Hardy convicted of assaulting his girlfriend a couple of months ago. He played Sunday, as well. San Francisco's Chris Culver accused of felony hit-and-run and possessing illegal brass knuckles. Then, the one you've heard a heck of a lot about, Aaron Hernandez, on a charge of murder last year in Massachusetts.

Don Yaeger, a former associate editor of "Sports Illustrated," and he also co-wrote the book "Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL."

Don, welcome to you. Nice to have you on.

DON YAEGER, FORMER ASSOCIATE EDITOR, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED & AUTHOR: Brooke, thank you very much. I wish this was one of the days you're glad to be on television talking. Unfortunately, it's a sad day.

BALDWIN: I'm sorry, you have to be on. I'm sorry we're talking about this. And I'm sorry, too, I think I killed a lot of trees because I wanted to see what 713 arrests looked like going back to 2000. You wrote this book, by the way, before any of these arrests happened.

You wrote it back in '98 and take away is, this is not a new problem. This has been happening for years in the NFL.

YAEGER: And I think that's the craziness in this. It's interesting. So in 1998, what we did was we took the opening day roster from the previous year. We actually did public record background checks on every player that was on an opening day roster in the NFL.

And what we discovered was the 21 percent of the league's players were convicted of -- were convicted criminals. Many of them for domestic violence, for significant crimes. It was fascinating that the NFL's response -- right here, your network did a wonderful segment on the project, research and all the details. The NFL refused to send a representative to be part of the debate. When it started to roll a little bit, a couple months later, there was a domestic violence summit in Florida and we were asked to speak at. The NFL sent a representative who argued, are you kidding me? They're giving up two out of their 16 paychecks for, you know, this issue. Isn't that a significant enough penalty? And back then, they would take that. Today, it's a different story.

BALDWIN: OK, so here's the question. You know, when we look at all of these numbers and at first, it's hard to wrap your head around it, but, Don, is the league's arrest rate totally out of sync with society? Or is this appropriate given the age group, demographics, et cetera?

YAEGER: Now, again, demographers would tell you that number is outrageous, right? It's way off the charts, especially if you factor in the fact most of them have college education. You know, we're not saying college degrees, but college education, opportunity to do those things. And they have the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, again, you have to factor -- there were factors that go into any kind of statistically relevant argument. The NFL tried to say, hey, you know if you were to throw this at society at large, this isn't that big of a deal, you know, our guys are representative of society as a whole. Again, you take 734 pages, kill a lot of trees and you could make a pretty good argument that that's a pretty -- if that's representative, we've got bigger problems.

BALDWIN: Didn't mean to kill so many trees, had no idea.

Don Yaeger, thank you so much. Your book, "Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL." Thank you, sir, so much for coming on.

YAEGER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And back to this video that TMZ obtained. Who knew this Ray Rice elevator video existed? Janay Rice, the then-fiancee, now wife, was seen walking into this elevator in that Atlantic City casino. The next time she was seen, Ray Rice was dragging her out of it. But moments ago, the owner of the casino revealed who received the video. That's next. Stay with me.

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BALDWIN: OK. Just want to get exactly direct to what we're getting as we're talking about this whole Ray Rice incident in this elevator video and who exactly had the video and who was asking for the video and who wasn't asking for the video as I explained this.

CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, Sunny Hostin, joins me. HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson, joins me.

So, welcome to both of you.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let me read what I have here in my hand. So we now know the company that owns a casino where this Ray Rice incident happened said they cannot confirm whether or not the NFL went to them and asked them for the video. But here's what they did tell us. They "cooperated fully with the investigation, gave that tape to the Atlantic City police, to the Atlantic County prosecutor's office, the Division of Gaming Enforcement and Ray Rice's own attorney."

JACKSON: Yikes.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's interesting. I think so many people have been coming down on the NFL. And, oh, my goodness, they never requested the tape or perhaps they requested it and --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Didn't give it to them.

HOSTIN: I think what is more astonishing to me, quite frankly, when I see that statement, is the Atlantic County prosecutor's office has that tape. And after seeing the tape, a prosecutor allowed him to enter into a diversion program.

JACKSON: Where the charges will be dropped, yeah.

HOSTIN: Where the charges are dropped, where he does maybe some community service, does some counseling. And then just, the charges are then just dropped.

BALDWIN: Can you explain that for me, why that would happen?

HOSTIN: Well, it doesn't happen generally. It's very difficult in domestic violence cases to get into a diversion program.

JACKSON: Yeah.

HOSTIN: I can tell you, when I was prosecuting them, you had no shot of getting into a diversion program. What we see is people that -- defendants that hit and abuse typically do it over and over and over again. And so that victim you're trying to protect could end up dead if you do not penalize, if you do not prosecute someone to the fullest extent of the law and put them in jail.

JACKSON: Very good point.

HOSTIN: So I'm really actually shocked it happened here.

I think there was celebrity justice. Perhaps afoot. And what's interesting to me is I'm a New Jersey lawyer. And in New York, as well, I found out is if you have an arrest or a conviction or a charge for animal cruelty, you can't get into a diversion program. That's exceptionable.

JACKSON: But for this, you can.

HOSTIN: So I'm flabbergasted.

JACKSON: And Sunny, when you say you're barred in Jersey, it means you're permitted to practice in Jersey, not barred from being in Jersey.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: But, it really does raise some concerns. And when you look at this whole incident, the NFL sees the other tape where she's dragged out, his then fiancee, right?

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Saw the end of the tape, his then-fiancee, now wife, she's dragged out of the elevator. So, Brooke, what happened in the elevator? And how does this change the dynamic? Now, certainly, it's deplorable. The conduct, absolutely. But the issue is, did the NFL drop the ball from day one? Should there have been a heightened suspension? You see the tape now and say, oh, really, did he do this? Of course, he did it. She was unconscious as he was dragging her out of the elevator.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I asked you this yesterday.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

BALDWIN: And still like befuddled over this. Who asked those questions? Why didn't the NFL? Who is watching them?

JACKSON: Well --

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: That's very interesting. Because I've been from the beginning of this story saying, you know, Roger Goodell has made so many mistakes along the way. And he's sort of the Teflon commissioner, right? So who watches over Roger Goodell because he allegedly is the person that is supposed to be doing his job and making sure that the penalties are appropriate and the punishments are appropriate. But then, Brooke, in your last segment, we see that over 700 of these types of incidents have occurred.

JACKSON: 713 to be exact.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes.

HOSTIN: So we're talking, and most of them resolution undetermined. And I think that says a lot because there are a lot of domestic violence and assault type behaviors on this list. The "USA Today" published today and it's remarkable. I do wonder, you know, who -- who is running this organization? Who is responsible for making sure that the NFL did see the tape?

BALDWIN: Can I throw something crazy out there? One thought I was wondering, is there any chance in hell that Ray Rice could appeal what's happened?

JACKSON: I think he will. I certainly think --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You do?

JACKSON: Oh, absolutely. Couple of things. The first thing is, to your question, who oversees the commission? The team owners. And he has to have the confidence. If he doesn't, he's done. We saw him discipline a team owner in Indianapolis. And so, he has to walk that fine line because if you lose the confidence of the people you work for, then you're done.

But with regard to Rice, the thing that concerns me, from an attorney's point of view, is that you investigate the case, the NFL brings down a suspension, and we could argue over the propriety of that suspension. Was it too lenient? Absolutely. Should it have happened? Absolutely not. He should've been suspended for way more than that. But then, you see this. In instances, when there's newly discovered evidence, then you have an issue for let's heightened the suspension. This isn't newly discovered evidence, this is evidence that an investigation, if you exercise due diligence, would've revealed. And the fact it comes out now, is the NFL saving face now? Or are they really taking a stance? BALDWIN: There's so many questions.

JACKSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: BALDWIN: So many questions. We could do an hour.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you, both, so much.

JACKSON: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll continue talking about this. Excellent questions. Appreciate it very much.

As we talk about this story, we talk about the legalities, we have to talk about domestic violence. It scars far too many women in this country, including one of my own colleagues, a CNN anchor, who is a survivor of domestic violence. She will share her story. She will react to what has happened over the course of the last 24 hours, next.

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BALDWIN: Those are some of the tweets, some of the stories people are sharing in the wake of what's happened with Ray Rice and his wife.

And a member of the CNN family has endured domestic abuse herself. She is weekend, "New Day" anchor, Christi Paul, and she wrote about her experience in her book titled "Love Isn't Supposed to Hurt."

And last year, Christi talked to Joe Biden about what needs to change, despite the fact that the Violence Against Women Act was enacted in 1994. And the vice president told her that women still get blamed for becoming victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Young women would testify before us and say, this happened to me, that happened. I'd ask the question, what was the response to your girlfriends? I said, why were you wearing what you were wearing? Why were you --

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN "NEW DAY" WEEKEND ANCHOR & AUTHOR & DOMESTIC ABUSE SURVIVOR: How do we change that?

BIDEN: The way to change that is to begin to educate the public. For example, what I say to men, I say, if a man gets drunk in a bar and he's just dead drunk, he staggers out of a bar walking down the street, he gets mugged and a concussion, does anybody blame him? No, they don't. They go ahead and blame who they should, the robber, the mugger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And Christi Paul joins me now.

PAUL: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: I immediately thought of you, as I'm reading and seeing everything related to this story. What is your, from your perspective, from your life perspective, your reaction to the story, to the video?

PAUL: Well, the video is -- I tell you, I gasp. When I physically saw the punch, I gasped. I sat there jaw dropped for the rest of it. I couldn't believe there was no kneeling down to see if she was breathing. No picking her up gingerly. And he had the ability to check on her. He had the ability to pick her up and carry her. He's a big guy. He can do that and give her some dignity walking out of that elevator. And the fact that he didn't, it scared me for her, scared me for her daughter. And it -- I think that's what has a lot of people asking is it the first? Is it the last? I hope that they're safe, you know. I hope they're safe.

BALDWIN: That's right. They have a child. But you, Christi Paul, briefly, can you share your story with us?

PAUL: Thank you so much. Yeah. I never went through anything like that. I was never hit like that. Mine was more verbal, emotional, a little bit of physical, but nothing, I was never knocked out or anything like that. But I understand. I hear from people on a daily basis. Men are on the receiving end, as well as abuse. I want to point that out. And they stay -- people stay for a lot of reasons. They stay because they can't afford to leave. They want to keep their families together, because they feel so worthless. When you're with somebody who tells you you're stupid, you can't do this, eventually you start to believe that.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: In my situation, I was married and didn't feel I had the right to leave. And a lot of people say the same thing to me. They say, I don't think I have the right to leave a marriage. Yeah.

BALDWIN: So you found -- you found the writer, you garnered your inner strength. How did you do it?

PAUL: I think I did it because I thought what if I had children? I don't have any children with my ex. My children are with my current husband. And I thought, I don't ever want my daughter to hear that and think that's what she should expect. I don't want my son to think he has license to treat somebody like that. And I knew if I didn't leave like so many people I hear from, you just become robotic. You live in denial. You get through the day and you don't live with any purpose.

And we are all meant to live with purpose. And somehow, I think, you know, I say my faith and laugh when I say it because I felt like I had very little faith. But when you realize god is watching out for you and you have family and you have friends, things really can change. She's the only -- a grown woman, the only one that can answer why she stays. She's the only one that knows what's happening behind closed doors. I hope she's safe, but at the end of the day, last thing she needs is our judgment. At the end of the day, I think we, as people, need to recognize until someone is healthy enough to deal with you in a respectful, dignified manner, they're just not helpful enough to be in your life.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Agreed. Admire your strength, Christi Paul. I'll never forget our cab ride in New York.

PAUL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you, my friend.

PAUL: You're the best, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: We'll be right back.

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