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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Women Completed U.S. Army Ranger School; Prep School Rape Trial; Caitlyn Jennr May Face Manslaughter Charges from February Car Accident. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 21, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


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[12:31:21] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at these very beautiful ladies.

They are not beautiful ladies, they are bad ass officially. And it is official. They have the badge to prove it.

The United States Army has just written itself a brand new chapter in military history it happened today. Not for opening a door to women that was previously closed because that door was opened three years ago.

But never before this moment at Fort Benning, Georgia has a female soldier made it through one of the most challenging military training courses in the world, the Army's Elite Ranger School. And not one but two of them have done it.

Capt. Shaye Haver an apache helicopter pilot if she weren't cool enough before hand. And Lt. Kristen Griest a military police officer if she weren't cool enough before hand.

400 soldiers thought they tried their hat at this, tossed it in the ring and they thought they might get through ranger course. And out of 400 only 96 went through graduation today.

Griest and Haver both West Point grads are the first women ever, ever to wear the army's ranger tab. So they are officially pioneers of the highest order.

This woman is also a pioneer. Brenda Robinson, she was the first black woman to become a U.S. Navy pilot that was back in 1980, although you don't look a day over 15-years-old. And you flew seven times an aircraft in your military career.

So this is a great K. I mean, look if you're a woman and you're always looking for the trail blazers. These two aren't just trail blazers. This could have a profound impact on how we fight as a nation, couldn't it.

BRENDA E. ROBINSON, FIRST BLACK FORMER U.S. NAVY PILOT: It is amazing to see what they have achieved. It is -- I have been through a basic training of my own Aviation Officer Candidate School. And since that is probably a fraction of what they went through and it was the ultimate and the highest that I've ever achieved in my life. I have to just commend them and congratulate them for all of that that they've done.

And I've seen them along a panel of folks that we're discussing when they were graduating.

I want to give out a -- an information of gratitude to the guys that are actually on that panel too because I'll tell you what, without that support you cannot get through that program. The military wants to see how you work as a team.

The whiners and the complainers and the quitters, they can get rid of them really quickly and that's what the whole point is, to get rid of them because they know they're going to quit in the middle of something.

BANFIELD: I love that.

ROBINSON: And now you have this program. Yeah, I don't even like to hear anybody whining.

BANFIELD: You know, I love that you brought that up Brenda. I love that you brought that moment that you have to do this with support. And then it takes a unit. And the unit have to be cohesive because a lot of critics...

ROBINSON: That's right.

BANFIELD: ... have said if you got women, in a man's unit it is not going to be the same kind of brother. And it won't be the same kind of cohesion. There is a moment that happened earlier where I think it was Lt. Havers, yeah because Lt. Shaye Haver's colleagues sitting to the left of her was asked about how hard it got for him. And how he actually said if it worked for her I wouldn't -- let me play it for you, I hope we got the right one.

Let me just tell my controlman it's a sound by where we got the officer beside Lt. Haver talking about Lt. Haver. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE JANOWSKI, 2ND LT. OFFICER U.S. ARMY: There's one night ready on a long walk, how's the 320 gunners had a lot of weight on me and I was struggling. And I stopped and I asked at halfway point "Hey, can anyone help take some of this weight." I got a lot a deer in the headlight looks, you know, a lot of people were like "I can't take it anymore weight." Shaye was the only one to volunteer to take that weight.

[12:35:04] She took the weight off me, she carry it the last half of that route, literally save me. I probably would not be sitting here right now, if it wasn't for Shaye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Shaye, Shaye took the weight when everybody...

ROBINSON: ... so important.

BANFIELD: Amazing. Everybody else had deer in the headlight, like they were on their last moment of breath. And, you know, and calorie and there she was saying "You got a brother, I'll do this for you."

It's such a fantastic development. I wanted to ask you though having gone through the same kinds of barriers. Did you ever feel that way with your male colleagues? Did you ever feel they looked at you the same way and thought, you know, what we are one.

ROBINSON: Well, you know, what we are all this thing together. We knew that this was our career on the line, we were working very, very hard, all of us, the women, the men working super hard in order to achieve this goal and we knew that we work together. And we put our differences aside and we will work as a team to get things done.

But the only difference now is because when, you know, back when I was going through after the work was done, its like, "OK, you really don't have any reason to be here." You know, we would go back to that again. But I just feel as though the time has changed over the last 30 years. And the men see their mothers and careers with leadership and doing non-traditional jobs.

And they're not -- they don't feel apprehensive about that, they don't see that as an issue or a problem, it's not a big deal that it used to be. And so because of that they can work a little bit better. Now I'm not saying that somebody didn't have issues.

And let me just tell you something about all of these media, the attention they're getting right now because I know that the women are appreciate. The world knowing that they did something that nobody on the planet has done.

All right, a lot of people have opinions about that. But no, they can't do what these women have achieved.

BANFIELD: Yeah, yeah. No, it's true in the media attention...

ROBINSON: But the focus is on them directly.

BANFIELD: Yeah, it's a big focus and I know that they themselves do not want to have a complete focus, they did not give individual interviews. This was a whole group thing and the media can throw questions.

You know, what lieutenant commander, it's just great to talk to you. They're there because of you as well. So -- if I could salute you, if I were actually military I would do so. But I'll just say hats off and thank you for your service.

ROBINSON: I'm sorry, I can't hear that one. BANFIELD: Oh, so hats off to you. No it wasn't a question. I'm just saying thank you for your service and hats off to you and it's just great to talk to you on such an officious say. Thank you, lieutenant commander.

ROBINSON: Thank you. All right, thank you very much.

BANFIELD: We move on, thank you again.

We're going to move on to this other legal story that we've been following today. And you must probably seen this developed over the week. It's the he said, she said except its prep school and it involves a rape case.

The graduating young man in your -- on your screen right now said he never had sex. But the accuser said she was raped. There are two dimetrically opposed stories in this courtroom. So why was the original story different?

You'll hear next.

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[12:41:51] BANFIELD: Got an update now for you on this disturbing rape trial at an elite preparatory school, Owen Labrie on your screen is expected to take the stand next week. He is 19-years-old and he has charged for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman when he was 18 last year at Saint Paul's Boarding School in Concord New Hampshire.

Yesterday we heard some very emotional testimony from the alleged victim who took the stand, we also heard from two nurses including one who says she saw here two days after the encounter. Have a listen.

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MARY MARZELLI, REGISTERED NURSE, ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL IN CONCORD HOSPITAL: She came to me and asked if she could speak to me privately. And so we went into an exam room. And she told me that she had had intercourse and for the first time and it was unprotected and she was requesting plan B.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you talked about whether the intercourse was consensual or not?

MARZELLI: Yes, so I did asked her those questions. And she that it was consensual, that it was not coerced. She appeared anxious. She was teary-eyed, worried and nervous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Boris Sanchez is live with me here now. He's been covering this trial.

Couple of things really disturbing about that the evidence thus far, this accuser asked for a plan B morning after pill, one would not do hthat presumably unless there is sex, OK. His defense is there was no sex, it just didn't happened

Number two, this man electronically messaged her, asking her if she's on the pill. And then saying hopefully we're going to be OK, I'm paraphrasing because I put it on halfway through presumably alluding to a condom, which one would not need to do or discuss if there was no sex.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BANFIELD: So now is the issue going to be consensual because I'm having a tough time with the jury thinking that he's telling the truth about count one.

SANCHEZ: Whether or not they had sex is a huge full point of contention in this case.

We heard from two nurses yesterday as you mentioned. That nurse that you just heard from right now worked at the school. She didn't take the rape kit as you heard, the accuser told her the encounter was consensual.

The other nurse we heard from was at a hospital. But she took the rape kit, we also heard from a doctor who medically analyzed her, they said in court that the physical evidence to graphic frankly to say on T.V., does not indicate specifically what happened between them, doesn't support either the defenses or the prosecutions narrative of what happened.

So there's really a gray area here, it comes down to who you believe and ultimately we're setting here from Owen Labrie next week and his account mail, so sway the jury in a certain direction.

BANFIELD: Yeah, that's the kind of thing where the cross can be a lot tougher, because, you know, his an older young -- well, his a young man his 19 as suppose to a 15-year-old underage girl who says that she's been victimized by rape. So that will be electrifying say the least.

Boris Sanchez, thank you for that. I want to do a little bit more on this case.

I want to talk to Laura Dunn who joins us now live from Washington. She is the family spokes person for the teenage accuser. She's also an activist a victim of sexual assault herself on college campus.

[12:45:05] I'm glad that you joined me on this story. This one aspect Laura is troubling in a courtroom to say the least, when a nurse gets on the stand and says that she's having a private conversation with this accuser and asks pointedly was the sex consensual? And the accuser said "Yes."

Can you help me if I'm a juror understand why I should now believe her when she said it isn't?

LAURA DUNN, RAPE VICTIM'S FAMILY REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah, some specific question was asked in a broader contact. So this is a nurse she saw literally every single day on campus for other medication and had gone in just -- it was trying to be as casual as possible and say I need plan B. And because this is the survivor's first sexual experience, because she didn't know how yet to process even what had happened to her, she didn't want to cause wave, she didn't want to cause ripples. And she knew if she said it wasn't consensual that the entire thing would flip.

And it was a graduation weekend her family was there, her sister was graduating, it was a time of celebration. And all of her testimony supports being afraid of saying exactly what happened.

She knew there's also going to backlash which is true. She's no longer at that school. A lot of people have come out pick sides end up push her out of the community.

BANFIELD: Then there's also that other evidence that came out while she was on the stand and its electronic communications between the accuser, person you're representing, the family that you're representing and the accused, the gentleman who's on the screen right now. And, you know, to the layperson, to the grown up out there it sure sounds like these were two teenagers who didn't have an issue with each other after the sex.

Can you explain that or at least help me understand how a jury is going to see that and understand it?

DUNN: Absolutely, so having actually sat through the trial, I heard the testimony. This conversation wasn't just between two people. Actually the victim was sitting with a group of friends, a group of friends who were deeply concern, she had showed injury on her breast, she had said that something had happened, she clearly was not the type of girl that anyone would expect us to have happen to. And so her friends were saying you need to follow up with this young man and ask him to do wear a condom, you need to be worried about STDs, you need to be worried about pregnancy.

So there is a broader context it wasn't just communication between two people and the survivor did a great job, she spent two and a half days on that stand doing direct, facing a tough cross and she explained herself very well, because there is trauma, knowing immediately processes something that severe specially when it's first time and you don't even know the words to describe.

She was uncomfortable identifying body parts on the stand. So it really is hard. But she sat there and she explained it, I do think the jury heard her.

BANFIELD: Well, Laura Dunn, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us as this trial move forward I hope we get another chance to speak with you, there is a -- there's a lot of interest in the case. And it is really a critical problem in today's schools and colleges. Thanks so much for being with us.

DUNN: Thanks for having me on.

BANFIELD: Turning on to another legal story.

Her transition played out in public just over the last few months and now Caitlyn Jenner formerly Bruce Jenner has something else that she's going to have to deal with, some big scrutiny. And this time it's over. A traffic accident, wasn't small it was huge, it happened months ago and someone died.

Is she going to have to face criminal charges over this? We'll talk to the lawyers in the case.

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[12:52:08] BANFIELD: You have probably seen a lot of news about Caitlyn Jenner and the transition and the makeover. And you might not have seen as much news about a deadly traffic accident that Caitlyn the former Bruce Jenner was involved in. Take a look at the pictures on your screen. It was very, very serious.

And now, Caitlyn Jenner could actually be facing misdemeanor manslaughter charges.

Let me explain how the traffic accident happened because it is critical, there's a chain reaction thing.

Effectively a Prius, either stop or slowdown and then that Prius was hit a white Lexus that came out behind it. And then Caitlyn Jenner's Escalade Cadillac, Escalade rear ended that Lexus.

Well it didn't stop there. The Lexus got pushed out into oncoming traffic. It was then struck by an oncoming Hammer. The driver of that Lexus was killed, 69-year-old Kim Howe. But it's very unusual with the chain reaction that just Caitlyn Jenner might be facing these charges.

I want to bring in, CNN Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos and Criminal Defense Attorney Midwin Charles.

Danny, I'll begin with you. Help me figure this one out, with all those cars involved how do we land on Caitlyn Jenner?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There are two different kinds of misdemeanor manslaughter in California and in many states. And really the difference is between gross negligence and negligence.

Gross negligence is when you do something and you know darn well it's reckless when you do it. Mere negligence is just the failure to apply the ordinary standard of care to drive as a reasonable person would under like circumstances.

And, you know, these cases, I'm sure Midwin knows this two. These cases were you have pileups were car number one is rear ended by car number two and then car number three hits another car, they happen all the time. And it is a subject, not only a criminal charges but very frequently civil charges and the complexity is parsing out, who was responsible among that line of cars. If it the initial sudden stop her, is it the second car. Did that car not used reasonable care and stopping quickly enough or is it the third car fail to stop that too.

BANFIELD: So you think, when they looked at all of that in that chain did they determine effectively. I'm going to have to paraphrase what the investigators said that the Caitlyn Jenner's speed at the time was maybe not what it should've been. And effectively she might be only one has -- that have that dynamic.

MIDWIN CHARLES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And that seems to be what the sheriff is saying here is that he didn't pay attention to the road that day or he was not exercising the sort of care that a reasonable person probably would have.

BANFIELD: In that environment.

CHARLES: So, right. So it's not clear whether or not she was speeding as to whether or not she was not driving at a speed given the temperature or whether it was raining or something like that, right.

BANFIELD: Or that this is all happening maybe ahead of her.

But can I ask you this, you know, if she's actually going to have to challenge misdemeanor manslaughter charges what will that do to her civil action because there's civil action against her for this.

CHARLES: That's right, and I've been involved in many of these kinds of cases on the civil side. And often times what happens in the civil case is not necessarily indicative of what will happen in the criminal case. As you know there are two very different sets of standards of burdens of proof.

[12:55:09] The civil case will focus more on who is liable. In other words who was negligent out of that chain reaction, whereas the criminal inquiry is based upon one person Caitlyn Jenner here and whether or not that person is a -- guilty of this misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.

There's sort of high threshold of gross negligence which Danny just eloquently explained. And so, I think it's very interesting and I wouldn't be surprised if the attorneys for the two cases representing Jenner are coordinating and sharing information in terms of how did this accident happened? Who caused what?

BANFIELD: Ten seconds left. But Danny they often time will hold a civil case until after, well you don't want to change the criminal process by messing about in the civil arena.

CEVALLOS: Not only that, but if you're the plaintiff's attorney you want to wait until the prosecutor does all your discovery for you and tries to prove this case to a higher burden beyond a reasonable doubt then the civil burden which is just...

BANFIELD: OK, got to look at that.

Thank you, guys. Nice to have you Danny always, Midwin thanks for coming. Have a great weekend.

CHARLES: You too.

BANFIELD: All right. Thanks everyone for being with us. I hope you have a great weekend too. But not before, you stay right where you are because my friend Wolf Blitzer has worked very hard on the upcoming program. And he starts right after this break.

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