http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1803/14/ptab.01.html
BANFIELD: Most people who are accused of murder, they don`t get out of jail free card, but for Brooke Skylar Richardson, it might be a different story, because she got out on bond with just a few thousand dollars. And the prosecutors had been seeking a million.
That`s because she is accused of killing her own newborn baby girl within days of senior prom and then just going ahead, burying that little body in her parents backyard.
Brooke is an honor roll student, headed to a nice college, enjoying the summer maybe with friends in the backyard, maybe even polishing up the convertible that she got for her sweet 16.
Because some people say that Richardsons were a family to keep up with. And that a surprise baby, well, that probably just would not fit into the picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID FORNSHELL, WARREN COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Skylar and her family, particularly her mother, were pretty obsessed with external appearances and how things appeared to the outside world. And you have a situation where, you know, she is a cute high school graduate -- recent high school graduate, she was a cheerleader, described a good girl by her attorney as you heard after the arraignment.
And I think that kind of perception is one that Skylar wanted to perpetuate and her mother wanted to perpetuate. If members of the community will find out that the Richardson girl was pregnant and perhaps gave birth and even after giving birth gave that child up for adoption, that was something that simply was not going to be accepted in that household.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): So you`re describing a spoiled self- entitled teenager who was more worried about vanity than keeping the life of a baby alive. That sounds really horrible.
FORNSHELL: Those are your words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: While her high school buddies moved on with their lives, beginning their careers or on spring break even right now with their
college friends, Skylar is not. She is sitting at home. Maybe hanging out with a dog.
But she is awaiting a murder trial. The details, however, of that night and the narrative about Skylar still need to be set straight. Because depending on who you talk to, there are vast differences in the story. We got some new information tonight.
Wit me now, Stefano DiPietrantonio, investigative reporter for CNN affiliate WXIX. Stefano, there is some unusual reporting going on. A brand-new article that is out on cosmopolitan.com --
STEFANO DIPIETRANTONIO, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WXIX (via telephone): Right.
BANFIELD: -- with some details about explanations for why we do not know whether this newborn baby`s body was burned before it was buried or just buried and on -- God`s green earth I can`t figure out how you have ash on a body that doesn`t get burned. What is the reporting that is coming out now about that very discrepancy?
DIPIETRANTONIO (via telephone): Well, from what I read in the article and this is not my reporting, this is reporting from a freelance journalist, it`s her article that appeared in Cosmo today.
It talks about apparently the spring of flowers that she had taken to prom with -- that she got from her current boyfriend, that she had thrown them and burned them in the fire pit.
And apparently when she went to bury the baby, she thought she would -- according to the article, place those flowers on the baby`s body before she finished burying it there in the backyard.
That`s all according to the article and the very first time we hear anything like this that could explain potentially how some ashes may have
gotten on the corpse.
BANFIELD: And some of this makes me also think it`s a little like asking Mrs. Lincoln (ph) how the play was. Because the truth of the matter here is, we are dealing with a first-degree murder and aggravated murder.
And, you know, that is extraordinary if that baby was born alive and killed. Would it even matter if the corpse was burned before being buried?
I mean, you know, they seem to be hashing out a lot of this story. Does it even matter at this point?
DIPIETRANTONIO (via telephone): Well, I think it was interesting today. Last week, we had a hearing that lasted all of five minutes. We were waiting in court. The bailiff came out. And after five minutes of waiting, they said it`s not going to happen today. And there was an issue over a petition for a change of venue.
Well, the memorandum was back in and then at this next hearing today, we waited for almost an hour and a half, waiting for the family to walk in.
They never did walk in. I believe they were in the room right next door to us.
And we were told that a motion to suppress information that you reported last week that may have been heard in that listening device in the thermostat there in police department, when she would have been speaking with her parents, not in police presence, that that the motion to suppress, those conversations were dropped.
[18:45:02] I thought it was kind of interesting today.
BANFIELD: It is interesting. There`s a lot of back and forth and we are less than a month away from trial at this point where I`m sure we are going to get a lot more clear reporting of what`s going on in this case.
But so I am clear, in the Cosmopolitan article that come out I believe today or at least within a day or so, the mother is telling the reporter
that the baby tested positive for ash, because the baby buried and Skylar reached over into the fire pit where she had thrown her prom flowers for some reason --
DIPIETRANTONIO (via telephone): Right.
BANFIELD: -- and decided to put those ashen from flowers over top of the newly-dug grave which is weird. This is why we see pictures like this. The forensics team is going through the fire pit, et cetera.
And now we are hearing also that the family, and I think this might be according to the aunt through this article, wants those remains back so that they can have a proper burial and that Skylar wants a funeral. Is that the current reporting from the family?
DIPIETRANTONIO (via telephone): That`s only what I have seen in the article there, Ashleigh. In fact, it does quote, the aunt Vanessa saying that Skylar apparently in the article says she knows she might have done something wrong by burying the baby in the backyard, being scared that she shouldn`t have buried her there.
And apparently, the family is requesting that the baby girl named Annabelle (ph) which, you know, when they release the lawsuit, that`s the very first time in nine months that we ever heard a name surface about this child.
BANFIELD: That cuts both ways. Does that ever cut both ways. She named the baby, so was that baby alive or she named that baby prior to that baby being born dead? Stick with that for a second, Stefano. I want to come back to it in a moment.
Next up, more of what Skylar`s family told reporters. Does it jive with what we are hearing from police?
[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: An Ohio teenager accused of killing her newborn baby within days of the senior prom. But Brooke Skylar Richardson might just get a lucky break, because there seems to be a whole lot more questions than answers about what she did or did not do that fateful night, after the remains of her newborn baby were found buried in the family`s backyard.
These were remains that prosecutors have said had been charred although the defense said the prosecutors have withdrawn that accusation. We don`t know that to be true yet, but we cannot wait, and we might find out when the trial begins in about a month.
Defense Attorney Randy Kessler joins me now. Randy, it is fascinating without question. The back and forth about whether this newborn baby girl`s body was charred before it was buried, but does it matter?
At this point, yes, there is a charge of abuse of a corpse. But it`s far more serious to be facing, you know, aggravated murder, isn`t it? I mean, would the charred or non-charred corpse make a difference?
RANDY KESSLER, TRIAL ATTORNEY: You know, that`s not what the defense are going to focus on. The prosecution probably shouldn`t focus on that. I think the real hardship for the prosecution is how do you prove this baby was alive? We might think the baby was alive, but that`s why it`s an interesting case, is because we have all have doubt.
And that burden of reasonable doubt, proving it beyond reasonable doubt is significant one. All the facts to talk about why she did this, why she killed the baby to avoid embarrassment, those facts also support the idea that she would have been embarrassed had they known she gave a stillborn child --
(CROSSTALK)
KESSLER: -- the same facts as why.
BANFIELD: They do. I am just going to throw an idea out to you here. They have said they know the baby or that you can know a baby is alive because if the baby aspirates, that`s what the remains will tell you. If the baby takes a breath, that baby is born alive.
But let`s just say for a minute, a teenage girl gives birth to a baby is exhausted, a baby takes a breath and then dies and teenage girl then does not know baby was ever alive. Isn`t that plausible?
KESSLER: Yes. That`s another point for the defense. I mean, you will have a hard time proving it. Murder trials are hard enough when you have somebody who was an adult, who was alive for sure, and there was no eyewitness to what happened. In this case, there was no eyewitness to what happened whatsoever. All we know is that there is a baby that is not alive.
They have to prove two things. They have to prove a live birth and a murder. That`s twice as much if you have to prove an average -- if there is such a thing as an average murder case.
BANFIELD: That is a very good point. There are two burdens here, you are right, and that is tricky. Randy, stand by. Thank you for that.
