ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL Transcript
Aired January 10, 2011 - 19:00:00 ET
Coming up next, Misty Croslin in court, she was the last person to see 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings alive. Did she cut a deal to escape life behind bars? We`re going to tell you just how many years she`s going to spend in the clink next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t want you saying nothing that will hurt you, Misty.
MISTY CROSLIN, HALEIGH CUMMINGS` FORMER STEP MOTHER: I`m not, daddy. There`s nothing against me. I`m telling you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your brother told me to tell you -- well, you`re brother told me to tell you he loves you.
M. CROSLIN: I love him, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to get your brother out, too.
M. CROSLIN: Well, worry about me first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. CROSLIN: I will prove to the world that I didn`t have nothing to do with it.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
M. CROSLIN: Everybody can kiss my (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I`m going to get on TV and I`m going to tell them all (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s right. I don`t blame you at all. I mean, they -- they need to give you a nationwide apology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, did Misty Croslin, the very last person to see missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings alive strike a secret deal? The 19-year-old escapes life in prison. Misty was in court today and sentenced to another 25 years in prison for dealing drugs.
But she got a huge lucky break. That sentence was on top of the 25 years she already got in another county. And -- this is the key -- they are letting her serve both 25-year sentences at the same time.
So essentially she got no additional time today. Still Misty is going to be 44 when she finally gets out. I know that sounds tough, but she could have gotten 240 years in prison if they really wanted to stick it to her.
Did Misty finally tell investigators something like where the beautiful little Haleigh`s body is? Misty was baby-sitting Haleigh the night she mysteriously vanished into thin air. That was almost two years ago.
Misty has told a slew of different stories about what happened that night and what happened to Haleigh. But she has always insisted she is not responsible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. CROSLIN: I got up because I had to use the bathroom but I didn`t make it to the bathroom. I seen the kitchen light on and I walked in the kitchen and the back door is it wide open. I didn`t notice about Haleigh then until I seen the back door open. And then I go in the room and she`s gone.
And that`s all I know. Is when I woke up, when -- when I went to sleep she was there and then when I woke up she was gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But police have always believed that Misty is a liar. They are sure she knows exactly what happened to Haleigh. Did she finally crack at the prospect of life behind bars? Did the girl police call the key to this case finally start talking?
I want to begin with my very special guest Chelsea Croslin. Chelsea is Misty`s sister-in-law. Chelsea, what is your reaction to the sentencing?
CHELSEA CROSLIN, MISTY CROSLIN`S SISTER-IN-LAW (via telephone): Honestly, I actually -- I mean, I guess I can be happy it wasn`t as -- it`s possible, you know, I expected a lot more, and much bigger heartache today.
So when we heard 25 we -- we think that that`s definitely the best that we could have hoped for. So hopefully something else will come out in the end, you know, and it might be less time in the end.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And look at her. Boy, she has changed while inside jail awaiting all these sentences. She looked like a child when she first came in. And she`s -- she`s gained weight. She`s -- my heart does go out to her just on a human-to-human basis.
This -- this girl was, what, 17 when this all started? Did Misty cut off her nose to spite her face? Or did she strike some kind of deal? She refused to give cops any answers about what really in the end of the day happened to this precious child. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. CROSLIN: When Haleigh`s found, I will be let out of jail because that the only reason they`re keeping me in here, the only reason they set me up and all that stuff. And that`s why my bond is so high and it`s not right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know.
M. CROSLIN: This has to be -- me being in jail has nothing to do with Haleigh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Art Harris, she only got 25 years and it`s going to be served at the same time as her previous sentence. That`s very light considering she could have gotten 240 years. Did she cut a deal? Are we going to find out in a couple days what happened to little Haleigh?
ART HARRIS, ARTHARRIS.COM (via telephone): I tell you, Jane, that she was made aware that things could go very, very well for her if she gave up some information, and she is -- she`s thinking about it.
But what my sources tell me is she`s afraid of implicating other people in the family close to her. And I can tell you that Joe, Cousin Joe Overstreet, now says that he was not at the trailer, that he stayed at Chelsea and Timmy`s house and they were the ones who drove the van that night.
(CROSS TALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, that`s a very, very inflammatory thing you`ve said there. And Chelsea Croslin is on the phone. I want to give you, Chelsea, the opportunity to respond to that.
C. CROSLIN: Well, honestly -- honestly, it would be -- probably the best thing that ever happened to me my entire life besides the day my children that were born if I was the one that had Haleigh with me here in Massachusetts or anywhere.
I don`t know what happened to her. I have been willing to take lie detector tests. So does my husband. The cops don`t believe we had anything to do with it. And that`s why they hadn`t lie detected us. That would be my dream come true, for Haleigh to come home.
(CROSS TALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, hold on now. I want to bring in Kim Picazio, who is a former attorney for the mother of little Haleigh Cummings. We have all been trying to figure out if this plea deal, if it ever did happen, would go down.
The lightness of this sentence, Kim, does it speak to you that, hey, Misty made some kind of deal with the authorities and more will be revealed like what really happened to Haleigh?
KIM PICAZIO, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR MOTHER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: Right. Well, at first I said, well, Misty had a very good day in court today. I did get an opportunity to speak with Misty`s attorney, Robert Fields, who`s been representing her the entire time.
I don`t believe there`s been any type of new information given by Misty. I think that they`re still in that pressure stage. I think now at this time they`re going to let her sit there and she, of course, can come back to the court and apply to have that sentence reduced but at this point, after speaking with her attorney, I`ve also stayed in contact with law enforcement, I do not believe that there`s been any major breaks in information in the case.
However, I do know that they are looking at different angles, new witnesses pop up all the time. They are still investigating. But unfortunately for Haleigh Cummings, we do not have a conclusion today.
(CROSS TALK)
HARRIS: And that --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An undercover drug bust landed Misty and many of her family members behind bars. You`re look being at video -- in a second you will be -- of the sting, ok. Now, once they were locked up, people finally started talking. This is the undercover video.
Misty`s brother told cops Haleigh was tied to a brick and her body was dumped into a Florida river. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY CROSLIN, MISTY CROSLIN`S BROTHER: Tell her I got to something that I should have done awhile ago.
FLO HOLLARS, GRANDMOTHER: Do what, baby?
T. CROSLIN: Tell her I have to do something that I should have done a long time ago.
HOLLARS: Said he`s got to do something that he should have done a long time ago. And I don`t want to hear the answer to it because I already know it.
T. CROSLIN: I`m just scared. I don`t want no one to hurt my kids.
HOLLARS: I know it. I know it. Oh, my God.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, cops brought Misty in handcuffs down to the banks of the St. John`s River and they grilled her, they pulled up a blue cooler, cinderblocks, rope, but they did not find the little girl`s body.
I have to go back to Kim Picazio. I don`t understand why she would have gotten such a light sentence if she hasn`t given any more information. They clearly have leverage on her.
PICAZIO: She does have an appeal that is pending before the Florida Supreme Court for habeas corpus. I believe there are groups that are attempting to say that the mandatory minimum struck too harshly in this accord on a teen girl with literally no priors that were scorable (ph).
And I think that they were looking at that. Here this judge must have been under some heat to say that you know what, you can`t charge this girl for -- just in order to pressure her to give information in a different crime.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. More on the other side. We`re just getting started. We`re taking your calls.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY CROSLIN: That girl there she`s real nice. She did my hair. Can you see it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I see it. It looks good. I had mine done like that.
CROSLIN: She had to do it through the little bars but she did it for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She done it?
CROSLIN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t cut it.
CROSLIN: I`m not cutting it.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t cut it at all.
CROSLIN: They can all put this on TV and kiss my (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Not so cocky now. She`s going to be 44 before she could get out. Tonight, Misty Croslin in court; she was facing life behind bars but she got a lucky break. She can serve her two 25-year sentences at the very same time.
My question is, why so lenient? Did she finally strike a deal and give cops critical information about Haleigh?
Lynn, West Virginia, your question or thought, ma`am?
LYNN, WEST VIRGINIA (via telephone): Hi.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
LYNN: I have two comments regarding the case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.
LYNN: My first is that I honestly don`t think that Misty could have masterminded any of this by herself. I think she`s just a small pawn of a (INAUDIBLE). I think part of her was afraid for her own life.
And secondly, I have mixed feelings about the actual murder of Haleigh. I don`t think that one crime should be substituted for another crime. I know that, you know, she messed up in dealing with the drugs and the pills and everything. But the --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ma`am, I agree with you entirely. In fact, that`s my big issue tonight, extreme punishment. Even though she got a lucky break today, Misty is still going to be in jail until she`s 44. This is a teenager who was pushing about three grand worth of pills.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROSLIN: They`re not going to put me away for something I didn`t do. And I didn`t have anything to do with Haleigh. If I knew who did, I would tell. I told them everything that I can tell them. They need to leave me alone about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Levi Page, there`s a growing chorus of people saying hey they should not punish her on these drug charges because they believe she was somehow involved in something nefarious involving little Haleigh Cummings.
LEVI PAGE, CRIME BLOGGER: Well, I`m not of that opinion. I think that Haleigh Cummings is dead, according to the police. They say this is a homicide and she`s not going to come back in 25 years and suddenly come back to life.
So Misty Croslin can whine all she wants about the sentence but it`s a bunch of bullcrap. She`s lying. She failed multiple polygraphs, a voice analysis. And her grandmother Flora Hollars (ph) said she`s going to school and making A`s so she`s growing a brain. How about she grow a conscience and tell what she did to this child?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t know, Kim Picazio, what she has to lose by speaking. Nobody can get to her if she has something that she`s afraid of. She`s behind bars. They can`t get to her.
PICAZIO: I agree. There`s been a lot of theories. And I do know she tried to contact family members to try to secretly tell them her confession so that they get the reward money. There`s all of these things going on.
To tell you the truth, I believe that the cops have enough forensic evidence to know when and if she tells the truth, and all we can do is sit back and hope that maybe in three years, she`s matured, she`s grown up and maybe she will have a jailhouse confession to a roomie. Who knows? That`s probably where this case is going to end.
It`s my understanding after speaking with a friend of mine and a colleague, Robert Fields, her own attorney, that they are no closer today to making charges in the Haleigh case and surely you cannot charge someone in an effort to pry out information from another crime.
And thank God the constitution does not allow that.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The mystery persists. That`s where we have to leave it. You`re watching ISSUES.
END
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