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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Abuse Survivors Rally Together in Response to Ray Rice Controversy; U.S. Claims They're Close to Finding Foley's Killer; Mystery of Jack the Ripper's ID May be Solved

Aired September 9, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This incident has a lot of people asking this very simple question. And it sounds simple. Why Ray Rice's wife stay with him? Why'd she actually marry him after being punched unconscious?

That question sparked my next guest to get online and almost without thought tweet about why she stayed with an abusive partner. And now that hash tag is trending, and it has spawned another campaign, why people leave.

She joins me next with the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Janay Palmer became Mrs. Janay Rice about one month after Ray Rice punched her in that hotel elevator one day after Valentine's Day.

And the question that people ask, it seems every time they here something like that is, why on earth would anybody stay? Why wouldn't they just leave?

Janay's Instagram post defending her husband isn't the first time she's spoken out in support of him. In fact, at a news conference back in may, she not only pledged her love for Ray Rice, she took some of the blame for the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANAY RICE, RAY RICE'S WIFE: I do deeply regret the role that I played in the incident that night. But I can say that I am happy that we continue to work through it together.

Ad we are continuing to strengthen our relationship and our marriage and do what we have to do for not only ourselves collectively but individually and we're going to be better parents for raven and continue to be good role models for the community like we were doing before this.

I love Ray and I know he will continue to prove himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So hard to watch that. This is a simple question and perhaps even understandable if you don't know much about domestic violence.

But here's the thing that a lot of people might not understand. According to the Domestic Violence Abuse Hotline, it takes an average of seven tries for a victim to leave an abusive relationship.

Someone who knows that harsh reality all too well is Beverly Gooden. She saw herself in Janay Rice and she created the hashtag, #WhyIStayed. She just started and the ball was rolling from there. It's now a viral campaign.

Beverly, thanks so much for being with us. I just want to ask you that question and from the horse's mouth, I'd love to hear that answer from you. Why would someone like Janay Rice have married her abuser within weeks of that attack?

BEVERLY GOODEN, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR (via telephone): You know, the answer is just as complex as the question. Janay is me. I'm Janay. A lot of us are Janay. I married my husband after the first time that he hit me. He'd hit me several times, and I still married him.

And the answer could be because she loves him. She feels a need to protect him. Her finances are tied to him. It could be a multitude of reasons. And I can't speak for her. I can only speak for me.

There are a multitude of women out there who stay with the person who abuses them, who stay with them and they love them and they try to help them and they want the best for them. It can be as complex as there are children involved, he could be threatening her or her family, or she could love him.

In my situation, I loved my husband. I loved my husband before he was my husband. I wanted to protect him from arrest. I didn't want him to get in trouble. I didn't want him to lose his job. So I was thinking about him and not necessarily myself.

And I think that's the story of a lot of people out there. We're afraid. We're scared. We're worried about our future and everything that we know, our entire existence is tied up in this person.

And it is not easy to take yourself out of that, especially if that's your home, that's your family, that's your love, especially if you're isolated and that's the person that you're with or it's just as simple as you love them. We all have loves of our lives and sometimes that's not easy to get away from.

BANFIELD: When I'm listening to you, I'm almost matching verbatim what you're saying with what Janay Rice's Instagram message says, that everyone else is destroying the life that she loves, that she wants, inadvertently or whether these are unwanted opinions that are being sent out, she says, that we need to leave her alone.

She even says, "I know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is." Do you have advice for Janay Rice?

GOODEN: For Janay, I don't like to speak for other people. But I will say, Janay, when you're ready, when the time is right, if the time comes, there are people out there that are ready and willing and available to help you navigate that.

If you want to stay, stay. By all means, do what you think is best. But if you're seeking to protect him, you don't have to do that. If you're worried about your income or your life or things -- all things that are valid -- there are people out there that can help you.

And that is really the message for all women, all men, all people who are in a violent situation or in an abusive situation. The hash tag really showed not only that there are complex reasons why people stay, but there are people out there who are come out of this.

We are here to support you, we're here to cry with you, to laugh with you, to talk about it. And the most important thing is we understand. I started reading the responses on "WhyIStayed," I was like, yes, I identify with that, yes, I identify with that.

I did it spontaneously. I wasn't planning "WhyIStayed." It was reaction to all of the -- why didn't she stay, why didn't she get out of there? She didn't hit herself. She didn't knock herself out. Someone knocked her out.

So it was really just reaction to these things, and I just wanted to change the tone of the conversation and give everyone else a voice, not just to say why they stayed but to demonstrate that there are people out here who are living and breathing and ready and willing to help.

BANFIELD: I was looking at some of the reasons that you tweeted for "WhyIStayed." He said he would change, my pastor told me that God hates divorce, ad I can imagine you saw some of these so similar to your situation.

What I found fascinating and enlightening was a parallel hash tag campaign that started up right after yours went viral and it's "WhyILeft."

Were you heartened to see that happen?

GOODEN: I was very happy to see that happen. I wasn't a part of that. But I think it was just a natural progression of things. Sometimes when you think of why you stay, you realize you're speaking to people who may actually be still there. They're still in that situation. They made the choice to stay there.

So "Why I Left" walks you through the process and hopefully out the door if that's what you want. I think it was a natural, beautiful progression. And it's amazing. It's amazing how many people are responding openly and publicly.

For me, I kept that secret because I wanted to protect him, because I didn't want to be embarrassed. I felt like I knew better. My parents had been married for almost 38 years. And so that wasn't my example.

So this hashtag and the subsequent hash tags that have popped up really show that we're tired of being accused, of being blamed, of being silent. We want our voice back. We want to show we have this power and control over our stories and our voice.

That was taken away from us during these abusive situations. It's so beautiful, necessary and so now.

BANFIELD: It's so good to talk to you. I applaud you for taking to your keyboard and the result has been nothing short of terrific. I hope you've been able to help other people, particularly Mrs. Rice.

I hope she's getting help. She survived this one. Who knows if there might be another one?

Beverly Gooden, thank you, good luck to you.

GOODEN: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Beverly joining us.

By the way, if you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can get a lot of information about how to get help. We've got it all compiled for you at CNN.com/impact.

And we have another top story that we're following again today, a possible break in the search for the man who executed American journalist James Foley.

What we're hearing now from U.S. officials who believe they just may have identified the man behind the mask.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We now know that President Obama's address to the nation on ISIS is planned for 9:00 tomorrow Eastern Time, p.m., and it goes without saying that CNN is going to bring you special live coverage of that event as only CNN can.

Another key moment is going to come about two and a half hours from now. The president's calling in the top four leaders of Congress in search of buy-in, as he puts it, for his long awaited plan to degrade and ultimately destroy the terror group that calls itself Islamic State. For now at least he isn't seeking formal authorization for military action, though he may make the case for a multibillion-dollar counterterrorism fund.

And he could cite some new CNN poll numbers to do it too. A majority of Americans now say that they are, quote, "very concerned" about ISIS. Look at that, 53 percent. Another one-third say they're somewhat concerned. Seventy-six percent support continued U.S. air strikes on ISIS in Iraq. And look at this, a virtually identical number supports air strikes in Syria. Our poll numbers show that Americans do not support U.S. ground troops in either Iraq or Syria and they don't support the United States acting alone either.

Ever since ISIS released that terrible video of James Foley's murder, the execution-style killing, the United States and Britain have been working feverishly to unmask the killer. And now United States officials tell CNN that they are very close to finishing the task. CNN justice correspondent Pam Brown joins me live now from Washington with that.

So, Pamela, what do they know and how do they now it?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, sources say U.S. and British law enforcement authorities believe they have identified the man known as Jihadi John, the masked man as we've seen shown putting a knife to James Foley's throat in the execution video. And sources say it's believed that this man is a British citizen tied to a group of extremists based in London. But so far officials are declining to name the suspect citing the ongoing investigation and there are a number of sensitive here publicly identifying him. ISIS still has other American hostages whose lives are in danger and investigators want to nail down who the suspect's network of possible co-conspirators are.

Now, how officials were able to do this, we're learning they used old- fashioned investigative work, Ashleigh, to figure out the identity through human and technical means. I've been talking to former investigators who say authorities probably relied heavily on voice analysis to trace that man's accent to London and from there they likely used human source intel, perhaps even talked with some of the hostages released by ISIS to close in on the identity, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Just a couple seconds left, Pam, but once they do, if they do complete the task and find out who it is, then what? Can you actually think they could go after him in places like Syria?

BROWN: It's going to be a big challenge. You know, they now believe they know who it is, but figuring out where he is, is a totally different challenge, Ashleigh. Right now, authorities are gathering intelligence, trying to figure out his whereabouts, whether he's still in Syria, whether he left, went to another country or went deep underground. And if and when they do find out his location, they have to assess how good their intelligence is, how difficult it is to get so that target and weigh the risks from there of sending in special operations.

BANFIELD: Wow.

BROWN: So there's a lot to calculate in that regard and you can bet the White House, the State Department, the Department of Defense and British authorities will all be involved in that.

BANFIELD: Pretty impressive, though, that they could get all of that from just that video.

Pamela Brown, thank you, live from Washington, D.C.

Up next, we're going to take you to the streets of London, to the scenes of the brutal murders of none other than Jack the Ripper. This just one day after a man tells us he knows the identity of the Ripper, over 100 years later. Identity based on good old modern DNA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back to LEGAL VIEW. Next we want to tell you about a murder mystery that is more than a

century in the making. You may have heard the claims that Jack the Ripper has finally been identified and it's happened through DNA evidence, that foolproof stuff we use in courts today. But is the process behind this supposed discovery reliable -- as reliable as the court would be? CNN's Erin McLaughlin takes a closer look at the 126- year-old crime and the evidence that could crack the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICK PRIESTLEY, RIPPER VISION TOURS: The killer kneels by her right side, produced a long, thick, very sharp blade, around eight inches long, and stuck it into the left side of her neck.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Catherine Eddowes was Jack the Ripper's fourth victim.

PRIESTLEY: The original report was said that the killer had attempted to fully behead her.

MCLAUGHLIN: That was 1888. Tourists still visit the spot where police discovered the 46-year-old's mangled body. Now the mystery of who killed Catherine Eddowes and up to 10 others may finally have been solved. Author Russell Edwards says he has definitive proof that Jack the Ripper was 23-year-old Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski.

RUSSELL EDWARDS, JACK THE RIPPER AUTHOR: He was committed shortly after the murders been - to Colney Hatch Asylum after being diagnosed with mania.

MCLAUGHLIN: Edwards bought this shawl, believed to have belonged to Catherine Eddowes, at an auction. He claims DNA tests show it contains Kosminski's semen and Eddowes blood. He says it took him and other scientists over seven years to match the stains on the shawl to their descendant's DNA.

EDWARDS: So this is the only piece of physical evidence left from the scene or any scene of the Jack the Ripper murders.

MCLAUGHLIN (on camera): This is where Catherine Eddowes mutilated body was found, but it wasn't another 100 years that this shawl with the DNA actually surfaced. One of the many reasons some experts doubt that it points to Aaron Kosminski as Jack the Ripper.

PRIESTLEY: There's no record where this shawl apparently came from. The policeman who apparently found it isn't mentioned in any documents. The -- they're now talking the actual science test that they did on it were under questionable conditions. It's the latest in a long line of Ripper yawns (ph).

MCLAUGHLIN: To the people who do not believe your findings, who think you have not found Jack the Ripper?

EDWARDS: Let them read the book. No matter how ironclad this any (ph) evidence would be - there will always be someone to doubt because this myth is a myth and it will always be perpetuated by those that like to perpetuate it.

PRIESTLEY: It seems incredibly unlikely that any evidence will come forward at this point to prove once and for all who he might actually have been.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Perpetuated, make money off of it.

PRIESTLEY: So, for the rest of time, that is Jack the Ripper!

MCLAUGHLIN: Some say that as long as the mystery remains unsolved, Jack's memory will continue to stalk the streets of London.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: It's still eerie. By the way, we've got calls into Scotland Yard to find out how they feel about this and whether they're doing parallel tests. We'll keep you updated. In the meantime, other enthusiasts are waiting to read the book before they comment on this newest evidence.

Thanks for watching, everybody. My pal Wolf starts right after this break.

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