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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect in Court; Putin Holds Annual Press Conference; Detsails of Boko Haram Attack on Sunday; Looking at Pakistan School Attack Site; George Stinney Exonerated on South Carolina Murders, Though He was Executed Long Ago

Aired December 18, 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 HOST: This is just in. Brand new courtroom sketches of the accused Boston bomber. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in court today for the first time in 17 months.

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect had his final hearing before his trial effective again January 5th. Not a whole lot went on to the courtroom today. Prosecutors and defense lawyers talked about ground rules for the upcoming trial. You'll remember that Tsarnaev is facing 30 federal charges relating to the bombing at the Boston Marathon back in 2013 and you may also remember that the government is going for broke, seeking the death penalty against that young man.

In Russia today, the president, Vladimir Putin took questions from journalists. You're ready for this? For more than three hours. It was his annual news conference and he talked about the faltering Russian economy, this year's takeover of Crimea, and one reporter asked him what he thought about the accusations that Russia was trying to start a new Cold War by contributing to the world's tensions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Russia's only made contribution, where it is supporting its national interest in a harsher (ph) way. We're not attacking anyone. We're not warmongers. We are only defending our interest and the dissatisfaction of our western partners are huge because of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: What I love about the annual news conference, this time around somebody asked the reporters to keep their questions short so that they could hear more from the President. Last year the news conference was four hours.

So, just to wrap it up, in those three hours, President Putin also said that he wants his country to be a partner in fighting global threats like terrorism, drug trafficking, and infectious diseases like Ebola.

Reports are now surfacing of another horrific raid by the militant group, Boko Haram in Nigeria. Officials say that attackers stormed a village in the country's northeast on Sunday killing dozens and kidnapping at least 185 women and children.

I want to bring in CNN's Nima Elbagir who has reported extensively on Boko Haram and she joins us from London. So what's the very latest on this and does anyone have any idea where these captives are?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We now understand, Ashleigh that actually this was part of a series of attacks. There was an attack on the 4th of December that was in Chibok (inaudible). You remember that was here the 276 girls were abducted, 53 people were killed in that attack.

Boko Haram managed to control that area, until the time it took (ph) them to then move on to a separate village on the 14th of December and that's where that abduction of 185 women and girls happened that Nigerian government has no idea where these girls are, where they've been moved to, and they still don't have any idea where the remaining girls who were abducted back in April.

We spoke to some of the parents of the girls from the original abduction in Chibok and they said that this obviously brings back so many difficult memories but it's also a reminder for them that this isn't over, that they and their families still aren't safe, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, we have this horrible story. It went worldwide. There was the numberBringBackOurGirls, even the first lady held that hashtag up in a photograph and the Nigerian government responded saying we're going to protect our people better.

So now we have another almost 200 women and girls stolen as well? What's going on?

ELBAGIR: Well, it feels like nothing is being done. We keep hearing from the Nigerian government that they're moving, that they're pushing their forces out. In fact, about a month and a half ago, we were told that they were this close to agreeing a cease fire with Boko Haram and bringing those girls back and then nothing.

I think it feels like because we talk about this so often and we hear about this so often, that something on the ground must be being done. But the reality is that nothing has changed in these people's lives.

BANFIELD: Just so incredibly sad. Nima, you're doing such a great work. First on Ebola, you know, huge congratulations. And on this story as well. Thank you.

Nima Elbagir joining us from London. I want to take you now to that horrific massacre at the school in Pakistan. Coming up, our Nic Robertson has done it again. He is going to take us on an inside look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this is when things get really bad. The army says that the children fled for the door over here and the door here. A hundred of them were gunned down as they were trying to escape cold blooded murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Funerals continue today in Pakistan for the 148 students and teachers who were murdered by terrorists at the school on Tuesday. CNN's Nic Robertson got a remarkable inside look at this school but before I bring you this report, I do want to warn you that the video and the content in it is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: This is where the Taliban got into the school. They cut the barbed wire at the top of the wall, scaled it using bamboo ladders, another team got in just down here, and then they took off towards the main buildings. They burst into here, the main auditorium. They split into two teams. It was full of children here taking classes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): They shot me as soon as they came in. We tried to run. I was shot in my shoulder. The people who came, they have no sense of humanity in them.

ROBERTSON: So many of the children afraid trying to hide underneath these benches, the class was going on. A brigadier was giving a lesson in first aid. The dummy, the apparatus left where he fell. And this is when things get really bad. The army says that the children fled for the door over here and the door here. A hundred of them were gunned down but as they were trying to escape cold blooded murder.

Everywhere you walk here, blood splatters are all over the ground. The Taliban, not satisfied with their killing downstairs, come up here to the computer lab and one look inside this room and you can see immediately what's happened. Children gunned down while they're just typing at their computers.

Classroom after classroom, a pair of glasses sitting here, child's pencils and pens lying on the floor, torn pieces of school work. This child just been writing in his lessons. And here on the board where the teacher would have been standing, bullet holes and then the place where the teacher fell.

And this is where the final showdown took place. The administration block, one of the attackers blowing up his suicide vest here, shrapnel marks the wall, little pop marks from all the ball bearings inside his suicide vest. And over here, rebel on the floor, another suicide bomber has blown himself up. Chaos, devastation, the principal's office down here, she's killed.

And right at the end of the corridor, the last suicide bomber blows himself up. The deputy principal hides in there, she survives. And this here is what's left of the last attacker.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BANFIELD: Nic Robertson joins us now live from Islamabad. Nick, watching that report it is just so harrowing to imagine what went on. What was that like when you were walking through that school just trying to report in the aftermath of it?

ROBERTSON: Yes. Ashleigh, I came out of that feeling that I've lost something. I mean it is a really harrowing experience. And this is what we do, we go to places and we try to explain to people what's happened, we learn the facts. And that's what we did, we went in, we went around with an army officer, showed us what had happened and I was learning the facts, trying to figure out how to tell the story, how do I explain what happened, how to put it together.

Getting through the auditorium was tough. But when I went into that computer classroom there and just saw the way that those kids were just so brutally gunned down. And when I'm listening to it again, I'm hearing it, I'm hearing my voice crack and that's real emotion. I mean you cannot be in there and just know that these were children, you know, there are -- many of us are parents, you know that there are parents not far away, who are suffering, who are heartbroken as lives have been wrenched apart because of what took place in those rooms.

The remains already an indication of the suffering that's going on and, yes, you feel it when you're in there, there's no doubt about it.

BANFIELD: But perhaps if there's anything to come of this, the condemnation against the Taliban has never been this widespread, this -- almost complete.

ROBERTSON: Yes, you have. And we saw them today, groups of people coming to the school with their placards, they're angry that the government isn't doing enough to stop the Taliban. They're afraid, they are concerned, it could be their children next. They want the government to do more.

This is a moment where the government, if it gets its policies right, can really seize the moment and try and make some momentum here to crack down on the Taliban. But the government isn't always in spec (ph) with the military or the intelligence services, there are sort of perceptions of good and bad Taliban.

So, this is a moment where the government can use this groundswell of anger and frustration. But time -- and again in the past, has missed that opportunity, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: With this scale, with this many young kids just massacred, there have to be a lot of formerly sympathetic Taliban supporters, if not members, who are completely rethinking what they've gotten themselves into.

ROBERTSON: You would think so. You would hope so. But people here tell themselves, you know, different things. We've heard from the Prime Minister and other people who are saying, "The Taliban did this and planned this and trained for this in Afghanistan." And that the Afghans must do more to crack down on the Taliban. In Afghanistan, you hear the same thing about Pakistan, Pakistan must do more. So, you know, by sort of playing the blame game, then you're not going to get to those people whose perhaps minds and attitudes should be shifted by this, could by shifted by this because they're going to blame someone else and they're not going to look at the root of the problem. This Taliban organization and its spin-offs and offshoots had been able to grow here, there's a reason they've been able to grow here.

And unless that's tackled at the grassroots level, none of this would change and that's what makes people afraid here, it's a generational thing, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And seeing your report though Nic, I can only think that the Taliban, that faction anyway has just done the biggest job at destroying a support base and -- that the government couldn't possibly effectuate.

By the way Nic, I would -- I want to draw our viewer's attention to the piece that you wrote for cnn.com, it's excellent. It's right on the homepage as well. So if you're near a computer, please checkout Nic's pieces, it's just -- well, you saw it, you could hear it in his voice. We're all parents, this is really hard to report, it's horrible if you're there.

Nic Robertson, thank you sir, excellent work as always.

A 14-year old boy was convicted and sentenced to death in the murder of two little girls in South Carolina, and that, 70 years ago. But now, George Stinney Jr. is being exonerated. He has been cleared of those charges. Sure, a symbolic victory, they executed that boy.

But what difference might it make? Got the details on that case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A teenager charged with the murder of two little girls, a teenager who was scarcely even defended at his trial and ultimately was wrongfully convicted. Well, now, this 14-year old behind me has finally found some justice, sort of.

A court in South Carolina yesterday exonerated George Stinney Jr. Sadly though, the state put him to death 70 years ago. CNN's David Mattingly has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At 5 foot 1 and 95 pounds, he was just a skinny little teenager, only 14 years old growing up in the town of Alcolu, South Carolina back in 1944. George Stinney Jr. was tending to the family's cow with his little sister in this field near an old set of railroad tracks when they crossed paths with two young white girls looking for flowers. George's sister remembers it clearly.

AIME RUFFNER, GEORGE STINNEY'S SISTER: They said, "Could you tell us where we could find some maypops?" We said, "No." And they went on about their business.

MATTINGLY: They were the last known to see the girls alive. A Coroner's report at the time describes a viscous murder. 11-year old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year old Mary Emma Thames were beaten to death. Multiple severe head injuries suggested the killer used a hammer. The Stinney family fled in fear after police came for little George.

RUFFNER: They were looking for somebody to blame it on. So they used my brother as a scapegoat.

MATTINGLY: The motive was attempted rape. And in a dizzying rush to judgment, George Stinney's trial reportedly took just three hours, the all-white jury deliberated just 10 minutes before the judge sent him to electric chair. His defense attorney called no witnesses and filed no appeal.

With attorneys representing the Stinney family today...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where the girls...

MATTINGLY: I went back to where that tragic encounter happened. To find the railroad tracks rusted, covered in kudzu and the field littered with painful memories.

A rushed judgment I can almost understand, but why was there no appeal?

RAY CHANDLER, STINNEY FAMILY ATTORNEY: George Stinney needed to needed to be dead soon. George Stinney sitting in jail for a year would have been an incredible difference in the facts and circumstances of this case. And I think in that way, they swept completely under the rug.

MATTINGLY: In spite of a confession, police say, they got from Stinney, family attorney say a new examination of the few records that still exist shows a botched investigation. Stinney's alibi, his little sister was never questioned. There was no evidence of attempted rape. No evidence of blood on Stinney's clothing. And no murder weapon consistent with the wounds found on the girls.

What is left seems like an almost impossible story that little George Stinney was somehow able to murder both of these little girls, beat them to death without a struggle, then carried both of their bodies and their bicycle about 300 yards that way to hide them in a ditch.

70 years later, the Stinney family asked to South Carolina court to throw out George's conviction. All of the authorities from that era are gone, along with most of the court records. Surviving relatives of the murdered girls continue to believe in Stinney's guilt and question his family's timing.

FRANKIE BAILEY DYCHES, NIECE OF BETTY JUNE BINNICKER: I have sympathy for the parents and the sisters and the brother. I feel like that they've know that he did it. And that's why they never have revisited the grave. They never have put a headstone there, a footstone, and they never talked about it.

AMIE RUTTER, GEORGE STINNEY'S SISTER: If we have allowed a stone to be there and somewhat find out where my brother was, they probably would dug his grave up and throw him to wolves (ph). Even if you think I'm wrong, my brother did not do it. And I hate no man.

MATTINGLY: In the end, the Stinney family got what they were looking for, the judge agree young George's rights have been violated and threw out his conviction.

Described by his family is bright and talent, George Stinney wanted to be an artist when he grew up daring to dream beyond the limitations of life and the segregation of self. Instead, his name will be forever linked to a tragic story of Jim Crow era injustice.

David Mattingly, CNN, Alcolu, South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, you just heard David reporting that the Stinney family ultimately got what they wanted. But really, did they? What does this case say about the death penalty and how it carried out in the United States, it took 70 years for anyone to even admit that that child was murdered by the state. I'm going to talk about this with my legal panel. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back, you just heard the story of George Stinney, a 14-year-old boy who was arrested on murder charges, convicted and executed, all of that in the span of four months.

And if you think four months sounds like a short period of time, how about a trial that lasted fewer than three hours, how about a deliberation that lasted 10 minutes, a death penalty deliberation?

Yesterday, 70 years later, a judge in South Carolina threw the whole thing out and cleared George Stinney's name. So what good does that do?

I'm joined Sunny Hostin and Heather Hansen.

For the families, this is what they said they wanted, at least the family of George Stinney, they wanted to clear his name. But is there more that they can get out of this whole debacle? Is there a wrongful death case, is there a feckless (ph) of a right violation?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know I suppose, you can always do something like that. But I think that they certainly wanted to clear his name and I think the good thing that has come out of it is that it once again shines the light on our system, our death penalty system. I mean we're talking about this that happened so very long ago, 70 years ago.

But since 1989, there have been I think 324 post conviction DNA exonerations from the Innocence Project. And then when you look at the number of those, 20 of those men had been on death row.

BANFIELD: And by the way, the innocence project can even take all the cases that they get.

HOSTIN: They can even take.

BANFIELD: These are just sliver that they take, you know.

HOSTIN: Yeah, so you can just imagine how many people have been put to death wrongfully,

BANFIELD: So but how do we even get a case and I get the old Jim Crow business. But how do you even get a case with a child who gets 10 minutes of deliberation in three hours on a death penalty case, a child.

HEATHER HANSEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There were so many things wrong with that case, Ashleigh. I mean the judge went through bit by bit, all of the violations of this kid's due process right. All I could think of is Maya Angelou's quote, "When you know better, you do better." And I think it was incumbent upon us to go back and to reverse the conviction so that we could look back and say we did better here.

Because what happened to this kid was -- I mean just the fact that was put to death violated the Eighth Amendment. But on top of that, all of the due process violations that were there, I think that this judge did the right thing despite the fact that the state did fight against it.

BANFIELD: Why do take 70 years?

HOSTIN: Well because I think when you look at our Constitution and Constitutional Law, the pendulum sort of swing. So what's acceptable in society that reflects sort of societal norms at one time may change over time. And we have seen that. We have seen I think the change in due process in how we view children, in how we view the mentally ill as they apply to the system.

BANFIELD: I completely hear you but I got to this country 20 years ago as a happy immigrant and I knew that was wrong. What they did, there's just a wholesale ugliness to everything.

HOSTIN: the system was very different for African-Americans then, but I will say this, when we're now talking so much about police officers shooting unarmed black man, none of them getting indicted recently. It goes to show you how very long it takes to really affect change.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: I think that might be an unfair comparison in this circumstance when we look at what happen to this child and the evidence against him and an indictment.

HOSTIN: Well, we're talking about a young African -- we're talking about a young African-American kid. BANFIELD: ... I know that a lot of people will be very upset about a comparison like that when we have this kind of...

(CROSSTALK)

HANSEN: It also shows that the system can work, you know. So that when we look at the system and we're unhappy with it, we also have to say that there are times where we see our mistakes and we fix them and that's what this judge has done.

(CROSSTALK)

HANSEN: Well, I know and of course, I mean obviously if we could go back in time and fix all of our mistakes, it would be wonderful but we can't. And so what we have to do is move forward recognizing that we've made mistakes and looking forward to try to come together and find a way...

HOSTIN: That's there's certainly a long way to go.

BANFIELD: And listen, don't even get me started on all the things that we do wrong. We are so imperfect, I don't know how we can ever expect that we could be perfect in a death penalty.

HOSTIN: But we do enough right.

BANFIELD: We do a lot of right but we also do a lot of wrongs.

Ladies, thank you. Heather Hansen and Sunny Hostin as always.

Thank you very much for watching, fresh out of time but it's so great to have you. I'm going to take a little break tomorrow but we've got some excellent people on staff to cover the desk.

In the meantime, Wolf starts right now.