Christopher Lane Murder Not About Race
LEMON: This is really a terrible story. He survived the war in the pacific, taking a bullet to the leg during the battle of Okinawa, but now this World War II veteran has become the victim of a heinous crime. Delbert Belton was beaten and left for dead by two teens outside a lounge in Spokane, Washington, Wednesday, a place he loved to go and play pool. Police found him in the parking lot. He later died at the hospital. Cause of death? Blunt trauma to the head. Friends from the pool hall held a vigil last night in his honor. Still shocked by what happened.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Because that's senseless, man, beating an old man, what kind of person does that? With a -- excuse the expression, a wimp.</s>LEMON: Yes, there are more words for people who would do that. One juvenile has now been arrested and charged with robbery and murder. A second is still on the run. Police say the teens appeared to have picked Belton at random. I want to bring in now psychologist Wendy Walsh and criminal defense Attorney Holly Hughes. I think both of you will agree, this is a disgusting crime. Both suspects have been arrested and convicted in the past according to the police chief. What do you make of this? First to you, Holly.</s>HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Don, this is just another one of those random, violent acts that we see our young people engaging in, and it reminds me you were just reporting on Reverend Al Sharpton's speech and how he's encouraging young people, that the thug life, it's not cool to be in a gang, it's not cool to be a thug. And Don, that's not just one community, that's all the youth, all of our communities.</s>LEMON: All communities. Thank you.</s>HUGHES: Every race, every religion. We need to tell our young people it is not cool to go out and commit these type of crimes, because these young men will now be charged as adults and they will be doing hard prison time, Don...</s>LEMON: Right.</s>HUGHES: ... and I don't think there's anything cool about that.</s>LEMON: Yes. Instead of people thinking they're living some of the songs that they're hearing --</s>HUGHES: Right.</s>LEMON: Yes. You'll be living it in jail. Wendy, you know I've been talking about this in my no talking points, making the same points. Who's to blame here? Obviously the teens are responsible. But is it the parents? The schools? The society? What's going on?</s>WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: You know, in the next hour, Don, we are going to be talking much more in-depth about all the factors that contribute to teen violence. But I think the lack of a caring adult in the home, these guys are waiting until a judge keeps them in line, and you know --</s>LEMON: Wait, wait, can you say that again? Can you please say that again?</s>WALSH: A lack of a caring adult in the home, particularly male. You know, I've said this over and over, that 14 million single mothers are raising one in four American children. And, you know, it's not alimony that we need, folks, it's a guy butting horns with that young buck, keeping him in line. And I think that you don't want to wait until a judge parents your kids.</s>LEMON: Thank you very much. Good points. Let's switch gears a bit here and turn to the case of Christopher Lane, the Australian exchange student who was shot in the back while jogging along a road in Duncan, Oklahoma, last week. Three teens have been charged in his death. And last night, the D.A. handling the case spoke to CNN about what role race played in the killing. Listen.</s>JASON HICKS, PROSECUTOR: I don't believe that this is a racial crime at all. I have nothing in any of my files, any of the paperwork, any of the audio recordings that we have that would suggest that Christopher Lane was killed either because of his race or his nationality. I tend to think that the police chief's comments that they did this out of boredom are probably accurate. With respect to the race issue, again, we don't have anything that's going to lead us to believe that this was a racially motivated crime.</s>LEMON: Holly, do you agree with the D.A. there that this should not be prosecuted as a hate crime?</s>HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: I do agree with that, Don. Hate crimes -- and I've read Oklahoma's Hate Crime Statute -- they do have a category for national origin and ancestry and race, but what you need to determine when you charge a hate crime is what is the mind of the defendant, and there's no indication that these suspects even knew Christopher Lane. So they didn't know he was Australian. They didn't know where he was from. They --</s>LEMON: Holly, can I jump in here, though?</s>HUGHES: Absolutely.</s>LEMON: Can I ask you this?</s>HUGHES: Yes.</s>LEMON: They can see with their own eyes that eyes he's white.</s>HUGHES: Right.</s>LEMON: If you look at their social media writings, they said on social media that -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- that most white people are bad, and there were some other indications that things that they talked about white people on their social media sites. That's not going to be -- you say taking into account their state of mind, that's not going to be taken into account?</s>HUGHES: Well, it could be taken into account, but what you need to prove to a jury -- remember, just because it's not charged as a race hate crime doesn't mean they're not going to be charged with first- degree murder. They will absolutely be charged as adults with murder. When you get into the motivation, just because these young men don't like white people doesn't mean that they committed a murder because of that dislike. They may have very good legitimate reasons. Maybe they have been treated terribly by white people. When you get into the mind of a defendant, when you charge a hate crime, you have to show a huge pattern, not just speech. But are they part of a group? Do they subscribe to racist literature? All of that.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>HUGHES: Do they subscribe to racist literature, all of that.</s>LEMON: I get you. I want to get Wendy in. Wendy, do you think this is another case of bad choices made by young people? Do you think there was race? Do you disagree with the district attorney?</s>WALSH: I do agree with the district attorney. I don't think there's race here. I don't know if you noticed, Don, one of the shooters is white. And I want to caution all of us old folk here to be very careful about looking through a lens of an over-40 person when you are talking about teenagers. This new generation of teenagers is less concerned about race. They have enough other problems with this generation, and there are cohorts within races and between races.</s>LEMON: And one of the suspects there is white, but the shooter is the African-American young man. Accused shooter, I should say that. Thank you, Wendy. I'll see you both soon. I appreciate it, Wendy and Holly. For weeks, there's been a battle on Twitter and on the blogs between myself and hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons, and the battle has been over race and my controversial advice to the black community. I've invited Russell Simmons to the program several times and he finally said yes to my interview. Our emotional conversation, next.