Return to Transcripts main page
NANCY GRACE
Anthony Weiner Sexts Again; Stanford Swimmer Convicted of Rape to Walk Free; New Video in Legal Battle Between Millionaire Scott Mitchell and Wife. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 29, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. High-ranking presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton`s aide`s husband busted sexting raunchy crotch
shots to a busty brunette while his tot boy, just 4 years old, laying right beside him in the bed! The tot boy, again just 4 years old, becomes part
of Daddy`s raunchy sexting! Is that legal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anthony (INAUDIBLE) made horrible mistakes.
ANTHONY WEINER, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: I apologize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accusation of sexting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone deserves an apology here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In one of the photos, Weiner appears only in his underwear next to his sleeping child.
WEINER: I apologize first and foremost to my wife and to my family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I have made the decision to separate from my husband."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Stanford University ex-champion swimmer gets a slap on the wrist for raping an unconscious co-ed, just six months in county jail after a
jury finds him guilty on three felony sex attacks on an unconscious girl outside a campus party. The Stanford swimmer turned rapist has three of
those months cut off. He is set to walk free in just days!
But breaking now. Court documents revealing Brock Turner smiling and laughing right after the sex attack because he thinks the whole thing is,
in his own words, "ridiculous."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge`s decision to sentence former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to just six months in county jail and probation for
sexually assaulting a woman who passed out drunk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the witnesses who found Turner in the act said that Turner laughed as they caught him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Florida, a millionaire, Scott Mitchell, releases video -- take a look at this! It`s crazy. It`s his ex-fiancee, quote, "beating
herself up" after she claims he attacked her. He calls off the engagement, and then the blond beauty claims he leaves her covered in bruises, giving
her a black eye. Well, take a look.
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A very high-ranking presidential hopeful`s aide`s -- it`s Hillary Clinton`s aide`s -- husband is busted sexting raunchy crotch
shots. And I mean raunchy. I don`t even want to have my face beside it, but it`s going to happen -- sexting raunchy crotch shots to a busty beauty
while his tot boy lays right beside him in the bed. The tot, just 4 years old, becomes part of Daddy`s raunchy sexting to some woman he`s never even
met! Is this even legal?
Take a look at this guy. This is Anthony Weiner. Now, beside him is a top aide to Hillary Clinton. Now, Hillary Clinton has been through enough with
Monica Lewinsky and the blue dress, it goes on and on and on, Gennifer Flowers. Will it ever end? No.
And now her top aide is sexting pictures of his erect genitalia to women all over the country, and this time includes his baby boy. His 4-year-old
baby boy is actually in the picture with his erect genitalia.
OK, I want to hear the whole thing. Miguel Marquez, CNN national correspondent, I don`t understand how this is not child endangerment
because if you had a hooker bring her child along on a gig, that would be child endangerment. If you bring a child in bar, that`s child
endangerment. So how is this OK?
Let me hear all the facts. Maybe I`m missing something here. Start at the beginning again.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don`t know all the facts. We know what "The New York Post" put on their front page this morning, which
is splashed across their front page, "Pop goes the Weiner." That picture of that young boy sleeping next to Anthony Weiner in "The Post`s" story...
GRACE: Well, I didn`t even see it. Your hand was right over it.
MARQUEZ: Well, that...
GRACE: Hold on. Give me this in full, please.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Hold on. Miguel, I see what you`re talking about.
[20:05:02]There`s the husband without a shirt on, holding up -- looks like he`s taking a selfie. OK, I could have done without that. But there`s the
picture we`re talking about. That`s what Miguel is talking about right beside the word "Pop Goes." There is his crotch with erect genitalia, and
beside him is the 4-year-old boy.
All right, Miguel, we`ve seen it. Now tell me.
MARQUEZ: Anthony Weiner is only wearing his underwear in that picture. According to "The New York Post" in their story, that he -- at the time
that that picture was taken, he had been sexting with this woman, this 40- year-old divorcee from out West, as they call it, they say. They were in the middle of a sexting conversation when he sends her that photo with the
message, Someone climbed into my bed. And that was the result.
He also says in that article that he and this woman were friends for some time, that he considered their conversations private and that all of their
texts back and forth were always appropriate, calling into question, I guess, his take on what`s always appropriate.
GRACE: Whose texts were appropriate?
MARQUEZ: Anthony Weiner told "The New York Post" that their texts, the texts between him and this 40-year-old woman, 40-something-year-old woman,
were always appropriate.
GRACE: But wait a minute! Wait a minute! What -- is that a business associate, this 40-year-old woman?
MARQUEZ: It is somebody that he has known and been texting with since January of 2015 until just recently. He says that they were friends for
some time. It is not clear -- it doesn`t sound like they ever met in person. He actually invited her...
GRACE: Can I ask you something, Miguel?
MARQUEZ: ... to New York.
GRACE: Miguel, a little off the topic, but are you married? Just curious.
MARQUEZ: I am not married.
GRACE: OK, let me tell you something. When you ever do get married and your wife, your partner is asleep in bed at 3:00 AM in the morning texting,
I can tell you right now that`s not appropriate! What business person would you be texting at 3:00 o`clock in the morning? And if it really is
appropriate and it is, for instance, a business associate, why would you suddenly send a picture of the genitals? I just don`t believe it!
MARQUEZ: Well, look, there was...
GRACE: Where`s Marquez? Please put him up.
MARQUEZ: There was clearly a long discussion, a sexual discussion between the two over text. It is not clear that they ever met in person. This is
certainly not the first time for Anthony Weiner, as well. He was a congressman from New York. In 2011, he was forced to step down after he
wanted to tweet a 21-year-old an explicit photo of himself...
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! You`re going so fast, I can`t even take it in. Miguel Marquez, CNN national correspondent, hold on
just a moment, OK?
Now, you`re saying, Well, according to "The Post" or we don`t know if it`s true -- when you don`t know a horse, Miguel, take a look at its track
record.
Now, what were you just saying? What -- and this is a top aide to Hillary Clinton. Every time I see Hillary Clinton, she`s in the background
whispering in her ear, giving her advice.
What -- what do you mean this has happened before? I want to hear the whole thing.
MARQUEZ: Yes, Huma Abedin is vice chair of the Clinton campaign at the moment. She was the chief of staff when Hillary Clinton was at the State
Department. So this is somebody who has been a very loyal and long-time staffer to Hillary and knows the Clintons very well.
2011, she is greatly embarrassed when her husband, then Congressman Weiner, is forced into the public eye when he tries to send a -- what he thought
was a direct message, this sexually explicit direct message via Twitter to a 21-year-old woman. Turns out it he sent it to the entire world. It took
some days for him to admit that he had actually sent it. He`s saying that his Twitter account had been hacked and that it was somebody else.
Finally, he admitted it, was forced out of Congress.
GRACE: What was in the text?
MARQUEZ: That was him with a -- a -- a certain state of arousal and only a very skimpy pair of underwear covering up his man parts.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! So he`s got an erection or a quasi- erection again, and he has to take a picture of it and send to somebody?
MARQUEZ: In this case, it was a 21-year-old woman that he was -- he thought he was direct messaging.
GRACE: Another business associate?
MARQUEZ: This is not a business associate. This was somebody that he was clearly interested in sexually. It`s not clear that he ever hooked up with
her or met up with her in any way.
GRACE: Well, OK, can I ask you something? Just curious because I didn`t ask you had he hooked up with her, had he met her. But you just had to
defend him, OK? Now, I`m curious about that. Do you think that somehow, his account was hacked, or did he just accidentally send another picture of
his genitals out?
MARQUEZ: No. He clearly stupidly sent -- in 2011, sent it rather than direct message, which is private, to the entire world. In this case, these
were text messages via phone. That was also the case during 2013. Amazingly, after the 2011 scandal and he stepped down from Congress, he ran
for mayor, if you`ll remember in 2013.
GRACE: I remember.
[20:10:00]MARQUEZ: He was competitive. He was doing actually quite well in all of that until yet another round of sexual texts were released. He
was using the name Carlos Danger at the time.
GRACE: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! So...
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: His on-line name is Carlos Danger?
MARQUEZ: That was the name that he was sending those texts...
GRACE: He ought to be put in jail for even using that name, OK?
MARQUEZ: Well, Carlos...
GRACE: Because that`s so wrong.
MARQUEZ: Carlos Danger ended his political career, as well, once and for all. Then he was Mr. Mom, basically.
GRACE: So that`s two.
GRACE: So that was two.
GRACE: And so...
MARQUEZ: There were other reports along the way, though. I mean, only two weeks ago, there were reports of him sending sexual texts or suggestive
texts to women who worked for Republicans. So you know, the story was that he kind of went both ways politically, didn`t really care, and now this
one. Huma Abedin, I will say, from our Jeff Zeleny who`s talked to them -- she apparently was unaware of these texts and this story until this
weekend...
GRACE: Wait a minute! How can she be unaware? This is at least the third time it`s happened!
MARQUEZ: This particular story. This particular story. He`s gone to counselling. He has apologized.
GRACE: Well, the thing about -- here`s the thing...
MARQUEZ: There were tearful apologies...
GRACE: ... about her. Her reputation is sterling, sterling, pristine because you know, because of him, her husband, she`s probably been
investigated. She`s probably been watched, everything that she does. Never a bad word against this woman except the husband.
Take a listen to what Weiner said last time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEINER: I believe that everyone deserves an apology here, and I certainly...
(CROSSTALK)
WEINER: I`m -- I`m...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where`s your wife right now?
WEINER: I apologized to (INAUDIBLE) I apologize to the many other members of the media that I misled. I apologize first and foremost to my wife and
to my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Who cares about apologizing to the media. We`re not married to him. So that was his apology the first go around. I mean, come on,
Miguel, he had to know people were watching him. In fact, people were probably texting him, hoping that he would do something just like this.
But here`s my big question. That`s their can of worms to sort out, what they`re going to do between them. But when you bring a 4-year-old child
into the scenario with your sexting and your genital shots, that sounds like child endangerment to me. Now, that`s when I`m jumping on board,
Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Well, look, there`s no indication that he is going to be charged with that or anything else at the moment. This has certainly...
GRACE: Why?
MARQUEZ: ... gone into the real of politics...
GRACE: But why?
MARQUEZ: ... because Donald Trump has released a statement on all of this...
GRACE: Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh! Don`t care what Hillary says. Don`t care what Trump says. I want to know why there aren`t charges on child endangerment
because if some ordinary Joe had been caught sending out pictures of their genitalia with a child beside them, they`d be going to court on child
endangerment charges.
Hold on, Miguel. Matt Zarrell, what is the definition? Read it.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): OK...
GRACE: Do not ad lib!
ZARRELL: I am not ad libbing...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Child endangerment -- what is it?
ZARRELL: He or she knowingly acts in a matter likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than 17 years old.
GRACE: OK, Miguel, why -- if somebody else did this and not the husband of a high-ranking Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump aide, anybody else, and the
police found out about this, there would at least be an investigation. Why not now?
MARQUEZ: Well, I don`t speak for the NYPD, and it is certainly possible that there could be an investigation. But look, parents take pictures with
their children in all sorts of states all the time. That`s not the issue. The question is whether or not it is true that he sent...
GRACE: I don`t know about that. I don`t know if people post lewd and lascivious photos of themselves with their child by it.
MARQUEZ: I didn`t say post lewd and lascivious photos. I said they take pictures. You know, whether they`re naked together or not, you know, you
could make a case for art on that case. But with regard to Anthony Weiner in this situation...
GRACE: No, I`ve never thought I`d live to see the day where Miguel suggested that a shot of Weiner`s genitalia could be compared to art! Did
I hear you say art?
MARQUEZ: I don`t -- I`m not much of an art lover. One knows it when they see it. But I don`t think that I would consider this art.
(LAUGHTER)
MARQUEZ: Whether or not this rises to the level of charges, though, is a different matter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:18:20]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anthony Weiner caught in yet another sexting scandal. The disgraced former congressman, husband to long-time and
powerful Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin humiliated once again, this time on the front page of "The New York Post." And this time, it`s not
just a lurid photo of Weiner on the front page. The selfie he sent to a woman not his wife shows him in his underwear, this time with his child
beside him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, yet another scandal is rocking the presidential election because now a very high-ranking aide`s to Hillary Clinton husband has once
again been sexting women other than his wife. OK, that`s their problem.
But this time, he includes his 4-year-old son, his tot boy, in the picture, in the bed with a photo of his erect genitalia. Now, there is Anthony
Weiner on the right. There is the photo he sexted a busty brunette at 3:00 o`clock in the morning while his wife is out making a living for him, and
this is what he`s doing. Daddy`s sexting while taking care of his 4-year- old tot?
When does this become a crime? Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Ashley Willcott, certified child welfare law specialist out of Atlanta, Kenya
Johnson, defense attorney, Atlanta, and Robin Ficker, defense attorney out of Maryland.
Ashley Willcott, what exactly is child endangerment, and would it fit here?
[20:25:00]ASHLEY WILLCOTT, CERTIFIED CHILD WELFARE LAW SPECIALIST (via telephone): Yes, I think it would, Nancy, because this is conduct which,
number one -- completely inappropriate. But number two, it is likely to be injurious to the morals of the child and possibly even could result in
contact, whether inadvertent or not.
So it`s not only child endangerment. We also have to consider that it fits the definition of child neglect or maltreatment, which is improper
supervision of your child, which in this case it clearly was.
GRACE: You know, let`s go to Robin Ficker, defense attorney out of Maryland. You know what I don`t like is two tiers of justice, one for rich
people and one for everybody else. The fact that he is not even being investigated right now for child endangerment or child cruelty -- it fits
so many different levels -- why? Why shouldn`t he be prosecuted, Ficker?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s a private conversation that`s been going on between two adults, two mature adults. The fact that a child
inadvertently interrupts the picture is not his fault. He should not be prosecuted in any way.
GRACE: Hold on. Did you say "inadvertent"? Have you looked at the front page of "The Post," for Pete`s sake? He takes a selfie, and the sentence
before that is, Somebody just crawled in bed with me.
FICKER: The child inadvertently...
GRACE: I guess he thought that was being coy.
FICKER: The child inadvertently...
GRACE: I know, but his photo was not...
FICKER: ... crawled into the photo.
GRACE: ... inadvertent. Well, what -- what -- Kenya, what are you smiling about? This is not inadvertent. This was intentional. He took a selfie
of his erect genitalia with the child right beside him.
KENYA JOHNSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Child endangerment is absolutely inappropriate. The child may have been asleep. And in that case, the
child was neither in physical nor emotional harm. He didn`t see anything. How many kids have not seen their parents naked in some state? It doesn`t
mean that they`re permanently scarred for life. It`s something that we all go through and...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Put her up. Put her up. Put her up. Put her up. I`m not saying there`s anything wrong with naked. Naked is the
way God made us, for Pete`s sake. I don`t think there`s anything wrong with being naked in front of your children. But sexting basically porn
shots, sexting shots of your erect genitalia to a lady, to a woman not your wife -- that`s -- you know, that`s a whole `nother issue!
Now that I think about it, Ashley Willcott, the fact that he`s transmitting this photo is a whole `nother layer of this because transmission of this
type of image is a whole different violation!
WILLCOTT: That`s what I was going to add, as well. Absolutely. And now you`re looking at what type of child pornography is it. And on top of
that, what about for the trauma that`s going to be caused to this child because how many people in America will now see that this 4-year-old was
exposed to his father`s actions?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:27:00]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anthony`s made some horrible mistakes.
WEINER: I apologize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accusation of sexting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone deserves an apology here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In one of the photos, Weiner appears in only his underwear next to his sleeping child.
WEINER: I apologize first and foremost to my wife and to my family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I have made the decision to separate from my husband."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, another bombshell, another scandal erupting within the presidential election.
Straight out to Dr. Charles Sophy, psychiatrist with the LA County Department of Children and Family Services, author of "Side by Side."
Well, you`re the specialist. You run the entire DFACS, Department of Children and Family Services, in LA. If this were anybody but a
presidential candidate`s aide`s husband, would they be investigated?
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: Absolutely. It shouldn`t matter who it is. This is a child endangerment. We`re talking about a parent`s
inability to have judgment. It`s not even anything past judgment. It`s a bad judgment call to do that.
GRACE: Out to special guest Robyn Walensky, senior news anchor with TheBlaze network. Robyn, we were earlier talking to Miguel about this. I
want to go through what leads up to this.
ROBYN WALENSKY, THEBLAZE RADIO NETWORK: OK, I`ll give you the timeline, but I really want to say one thing, Nancy. This guy, in a word -- let`s
save everybody a lot of time. He`s a pervert and he is sex addict and he needs help.
And this is his third offense of doing this. He was a congressman in 2011 and he happened to be in a towel, I believe he was in the gym that the
congressional people work out in, and he sexted that photo of him in the towel with his chest. He`s an egomaniac. He thinks he`s got a great body.
And then two years later, he does it again. He becomes Carlos Danger, and he sexts pictures of himself to the woman, Sidney Leathers (ph), a porn
star, allegedly. And then now he`s doing it again.
So what haven`t you learned? Three times and you`re out. You`re done. And now she`s going to leave him.
GRACE: You`re seeing shots right now of Anthony Weiner, and it has all culminated in tonight. And what makes this bout of sexting different from
the others is, this time, we know his child was in the photo. And it`s landed on the front page of "The New York Post." Now, unless they`ve
doctored the photo, which I doubt pretty seriously, he`s in a lot of hot water.
Tonight, calls from victims` rights groups that he be at least investigated for child endangerment or lewd and lascivious.
So Robyn Walensky, what has been his wife`s response to this? I mean, this is three strikes that we know of.
WALENSKY: Right, the ones that we know of. She is going to leave him. She has issued a statement today that they are, quote, unquote, "separated"
and they`re going to be separated. And she`s busy running around the country and the world with Hillary Clinton. So she hasn`t been around
during this past episode of the 19 months that he`s allegedly been texting this woman in his full glory.
[20:30:02] GRACE: And question, the aide, his wife, Huma, just pictured smiling in the back of an SUV with Hillary Clinton. And, you know, a lot of
people are making a lot about that. But, here`s the deal around what else can she do, cry in front of the camera? She`s not going to do that. I would
say her legal action speaks enough, right?
WALENSKY: Right. And this is a woman who listens. If Hillary Clinton gets elected president, she could go on to hold a very high cabinet position or
work for Hillary herself. So, at the end of the day, I think that she knows that it`s best for her to leave this man. Keep in mind they were married by
Bill Clinton himself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Finally, I just got the first look at the actual cover of our new book, "Murder In The Courthouse." I want to share it with you, here it is.
It`s the third in Hailey Dean Murder Mystery Series and Hailey is added again. What is it is Hailey Dean. Whenever she shows up, people drop like
flies, dead. But, this time well, Hailey be the next murder victim.
Portions of proceeds from this book go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help find missing children. Help us, help them,
and pre-orders for this book come with a signed manuscript page. Go to Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and more or for that manuscript
page go to murderinthecourthouse.com.
[20:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two different witnesses passed the dumpster and see what appears to be two people having sex but the woman was lying
"motionless, passed out".
According to Turner`s testimony, he was struck by how ridiculous the situation was.
Police arrived on scene and find Jane Doe 1 unconscious, in a fetal position, half-naked, hair-tangled, and covered in pine needles.
GRACE: Wait a minute. He thinks that that`s ridiculous and starts laughing. I`m talking about a Stanford University Champion Swimmer who gets a slap on
the wrist for raping an unconscious woman on the ground in the dirt by a dumpster.
He gets just six months in a county jail after a jury finds him guilty. A jury trial finds him guilty on three felony sex attacks on an unconscious
girl outside a campus party. The Stanford Swimmer turned rapist then has three of the just six months` sentence cut and he is set to walk free in
just days -- days from tonight.
The breaking right now, court documents actually reveal Brock Turner smiling and laughing moments after the sex attack because he thinks the
whole thing is ridiculous. Straight out to Dan Simon, CNN Correspondent, Dan, thank you for being with us.
Who says -- who has revealed in the court documents that he was laughing and smiling as the lady -- the girl is laying in, in the dirt and a pine
straw has gotten up all over her and he is laughing. Who said that?
DAN SIMON, SAN FRANCISCO CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nancy, as you and other people who have been following this case may recall that Brock Turner was
caught by a couple of guys who were on their bikes. Two Swedish exchange students who are studying for their Ph.D.s at Stanford, they came across
what was going on and wound up restraining Brock Turner.
They confronted him and they restrained him and one of those people testified that when they were talking to Turner, when police came, that he
was smiling. And the guy said, you know, why are you smiling? And later Turner said that he was just basically nervous laughter. That`s what he is
talking up to.
GRACE: Nervous laughter, I guess he was nervous and that`s why he said the whole thing he said ridiculous as the girl is still lying in the dirt. You
know what I`m going to play the Good Samaritan that Dan Simon just told you about. Listen, roll it Liz.
CARL-FREDRICK ARNDT, SWEDISH PHD STUDENT AT STANDFORD UNIVERSITY: I picked her and she didn`t move at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carl-Fredrick Arndt and his friend later told authorities that they saw Turner on top of the victim aggressively
thrusting his hips into her.
ARNDT: The guy stood up then we saw that she wasn`t moving still. So, we call him out and then the guy run away. My friend, Peter chased after him.
GRACE: That`s from CBS this morning. You know, the thought of him Dan Simon, jumping up and running away and then when he`s confronted by these
guys he starts laughing. And Liz, can you roll that video of him in court.
I`ll tell you what, it could be a cold day, Dan Simon, a cold day and you know where no attending court chewing gum. That a defendant, a rape
defendant will be smacking gum right in front of the judge.
I just wanted to just slap his lips right off his face. And if he would be disrespectful in court, what would he do to this girl? When is he set to
get out, Dan?
SIMON: He`s actually going to be released this Friday, Nancy. You`ll recall that the judge sentenced him to six months in the county jail. That`s why
this judge is under so much scrutiny why he is facing a possible recall.
Anyway, he`ll be out on Friday and after that, he has to register as a sex offender and it`s believed that he is going to back to his home State of
Ohio.
GRACE: With me also tonight, Michelle Landis Dauber, Stanford University Professor, friend of the victim. Professor Dauber, thank you for being with
us. I`d like you to weigh in, please.
[20:40:00] MICHELLE LANDIS DAUBER, SOCIOLOGIST, LAW PROFESSOR: Well, I actually think that you are right Nancy that Mr. Turner did not take this
matter seriously. And unfortunately, he was right because he didn`t guess wrong that the judge didn`t take it seriously either. That`s why we are
working to recall that judge because he gave Mr. Turner only essentially three months in jail.
GRACE: You know there were other cases Michael Christian that came before this judge and with me tonight is Anthony Brass, the attorney for Ikaika
Gunderson. What was Gunderson charged with and what was his sentence, Michael Christian?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE REPORTER: Nancy, he was charged with basically domestic abuse for allegedly beating up his ex-girlfriend. He was
sentenced to four months in jail and three years probation. So, almost exactly the same sentence that Brock Turner got.
GRACE: He got what?
CHRISTIAN: Four months and then three years probation.
GRACE: Was it a felony?
CHRISTIAN: Yes.
GRACE: A felony. So, to be a felony, Michael, it`s got to be aggravated assault. You can`t just slap somebody and get a felony. Wooh, look at those
biceps. They look like Virginia hams for peed sake. So, he beats up his girlfriend to the tune of an aggravated assault, felony, and I caught that
t-shirt and he walks free too.
To Anthony Brass the attorney for Gunderson, another guy, the same judge lets off the hook, Judge Aaron Persky. Isn`t it true, Anthony, of you
course you did a great job for your client. You got him off scot-free. Didn`t he send your client away to Hawaii for a period of time?
ANTHONY BRASS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR IKAIKA GUNDERSON: Yes. What the situation was there was unlike Brock Turner, Ikaika Gunderson actually
plead guilty. He didn`t go to a jury trial. And you are right to make that as a distinction that people don`t often understand. When a defendant says
prove it and then loses, the punishment should be much, much sterner.
Ikaika did plead guilty. And what he did was he entered a deal where he would suffer the same consequences as anyone else in his situation but he
would get to delay it for a year so that he can continue to pursue his education and...
GRACE: You mean his...
BRASS: ...football at the university...
GRACE: ...you mean his football scholarship. By him going away, he went to Hawaii even went to Washington. I mean if you`re convicted on a felony,
you`re not even supposed to leave the state, but this judge right there, Aaron Persky, let another elite athlete, a college athlete, this one on
scholarship go scot-free. That`s true, isn`t it, Mr. Brass?
BRASS: He actually wasn`t on a scholarship. He has to try out at the University of Hawaii. I think the concern was that he had it almost once in
a lifetime opportunity to attend college there and in fairness, Ikaika Gunderson is from Hawaii. His family is actually from there, so he was...
GRACE: Wooh, where did he beat up the girl? Where was the aggravated assault, was that in Hawaii? No.
BRASS: No, that was here in the Bay area.
GRACE: That was in California. OK, so the victim is in California. The conviction of aggravated assault is in California. And I heard you say this
was all a back flip by the judge, so your client would not endanger his football career in college. You just said that.
BRASS: It was so he could pursue his education at the University of Hawaii and try out for the football team. Both were things he had planned to do
before the assault. And so he could...
GRACE: You`re making it worse.
BRASS: ...he did that with conditions.
GRACE: You`re making it worse just so you know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:00] GRACE: To Florida where a millionaire, Scott Mitchell, releases video of his ex-fiancee beating herself up after she claims he attacks her.
Now, he calls off their engagement, but then the blond beauty claims he leaves her covered in bruises giving her black eyes but I want you to take
a look at this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mary Hunt claims her relationship with millionaire, Scott Mitchell, was full of abuse. But a newly released video from the
millionaire`s surveillance camera tells a different story.
The video allegedly shows Hunt appearing to hit herself in the face repeatedly on a bed inside Mitchell`s mansion. This new development is part
of a legal battle between the former couple.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY HUNT, FIANCEE OF SCOTT MITCHELL: Please stop.
SCOTT MITCHELL, MILLIONAIRE FIANCE OF MARY HUNT: Get out of my house.
HUNT: Please stop.
MITCHELL: Just get out of my (beep) house.
HUNT: Please stop, Scott.
MITCHELL: Get out of my house.
HUNT: Please stop. Please, I don`t want to do this.
MITCHELL: Get out of my house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. You know what I hate the most about this is what it does to real domestic abuse victims. To women that are getting beaten with an inch of
their lives in their own homes. To children to see mommy being beaten, abused, mistreated, dragged along the floor and now this -- now, this woman
and I`ve got her lawyer with me, Rohom Khonsari but this woman claims she`s a victim of domestic abuse.
Watch this.
Take a look at this. She`s in his home. He never gets near her. She`s beating herself over and over and over then puts in documents that he gives
her oww, oww, black eyes. Look at this. Now, if the guy didn`t have a security camera, we would never have seen this, I guess.
[20:50:00] GRACE: Now, is this before or after he breaks up with her, I don`t know. But, this is not normal. But to do this to yourself and then
claim your partner is the one that beat you up, that he gave you black eyes. Let`s go straight out to Roger Schulman, News Director of WGUL.
Roger, what happened?
ROGER SCHULMAN, NEWS DIRECTOR, THE ANSWER WGUL: Well, apparently she got upset at him and he was telling her to leave the house and she made another
video where she was accusing him of being violent with her. All he was being violent with was her cloths and asking her to leave. She...
GRACE: Yes, I noticed in that video that she keeps coming back to him and not leaving the house. But with me right now is special guest, the lawyer
for this lady, Mary Hunt, Rohom Khonsari. How can your client say that her ex, her fiancee gives her bruises when I see her beating herself up?
ROHOM KHONSARI, MARY HUNT ATTORNEY: Nancy, this video is released by his lawyer who is representing him in a federal civil case presently. This
video is from June 23rd, which predated the breakup as you mentioned a little bit ago. The date that he gave her the black eye was on June 30th,
seven days later.
And we have a picture and a text message that Mary sent to Scott Mitchell the next morning on July 1st, where she clearly has a black eye and the
message that she sends him is do you want me to blame this on the dog? So, this release of this video is just in retaliation to the information that`s
being released about Mr. Mitchell to the media. And...
GRACE: But, you know, after what I`m looking at now, Rohom Khonsari, out of St. Petersburg, how am I supposed to believe anything she says. As a matter
of fact, I think you better show this video to your client.
(VIDEO CLIP)
That`s from "Liar Liar," Universal Pictures I mean come on who would believe him now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Florida millionaire has released video of his former fiancee hitting herself in the face in response to claims that
he abused her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I don`t want to call the cops, please stop.
MITCHELL: Call the police, Mary.
HUNT: Can you just calm down for me, please?
MITCHELL: No. Get the (beep) out.
HUNT: Please just calm down.
MITCHELL: Get the (beep) out.
HUNT: I will get out. I just want to get out in a safe way.
MITCHELL: Where`s your key?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: If you`ll notice as that video goes on, you can play at least but drop the audio. She keeps going up to him going you`re being violent,
you`re being violent. He`s just standing there throwing her clothes out. He never touches her. He keeps saying, go ahead call the police. I want you to
call the police.
To Dr. Sean Enloe, Forensic Pathologist joining us out of LA, Dr. Enloe, thank you again for being with us. How can you tell Dr. Enloe whether
wounds are self-inflicted?
DR. SEAN ENLOE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: The short answer is you can`t. The bruising is evidence of trauma and you need to have supporting evidence
from one or the -- from different aspects. We have the evidence as far as this video. If the timeframe of being a week out is likely and then seeing
the wounds that you showed, it`s less likely that this produced those injuries; although, I don`t know that that timeframe is accurate and I
don`t know if there was a subsequent time where she might have hurt herself. So, from the evidence presented, I can`t say for sure that she did
or not.
GRACE: To Rohom Khonsari, the lawyer for this woman, I mean I just don`t know how you would expect after this video for anyone to believe that he
inflicted bruises on her.
KHONSARI: Nancy, we have quite a bit of evidence that he has held a gun to her head, he`s hospitalized her before, that the bruise that was -- that he
caused on June 30th, a week after this incident was a fresh bruise and a text message that was sent to him. He has a history of lying.
He frankly is a psychopath and has had several filings against him for disarming (ph) other people before. Whenever this man feels rejected, he
lashes out against people. And the federal government was presented with this case because they were interested in picking up the case and they
declined to pick up the charges after they learned of everything about this man.
GRACE: OK. You know what, Mr. Khonsari, you`re between a rock and hard spot on this one. Take a look at this video. She`s now claiming he attacked her.
Let`s stop and remember American Hero Army Staff Sergeant, David Jones Senior, 45, Augusta, Georgia. A world and military history buff, a
corrections` officer back home. Widow, Karen; son, David; daughter Christy. David Jones Senior, American Hero.
And Happy Birthday to Shirley Talbert (ph), mother, grandmother, loved, husband, Dave. He fought in Vietnam and has recently passed away. She loves
arranging flowers and leaving them on Dave`s grave. She bakes the best sugar cookies in the world, Happy Birthday.
Thanks to our guest but especially you for being with us, Nancy Grace signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8 sharp Eastern and until then,
good night friends.
[21:00:00]
END
