Family of Murdered Student Sue Yale
BALDWIN: The family of a murdered Yale student is now suing the university. Annie Lei was murdered two years ago by a Yale lab technician. He pleaded guilty. Ultimately he was sentenced to 44 years in prison. But now Lei's family said Yale has not done enough to prevent crimes against women. Sunny Hostin is on the case for us today. And Sunny, this is two years later here. We know the why, but why now?</s>SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": You know, I think it's clear that they feel Yale could've done more to prevent their daughter's death. I don't know if I agree with that, Brooke. I don't know if that is true. But it sounds like in this case this is a send- a-message lawsuit. They want something to be done. And we all know that, you know, Yale has had a problem in terms of claims of sexual harassment, the campus not doing enough to protect women from sexual assault and sexual harassment. But I've got to tell you, I'm not sure that their suit will be successful because if you listen to what Yale did say in response to the suit is that there's no basis here because we couldn't have done anything different. And that really would be a defense to their claims.</s>BALDWIN: Let me jump in because to that point they say, quote, "it had no information Raymond Clark could commit this crime." So the question is, can the university -- could a company for that matter be held responsible if an employee with no prior criminal record commits a crime?</s>HOSTIN: Generally, no, especially if they've done their part in terms of screening, asking the appropriate questions, having sort of policies in place where if this woman had been harassed or abused by her co-worker and had she reported it to Yale and had they not done anything then absolutely a company could be held responsible with those sets of facts. But that is not my understanding of what happened here. So this is going to be a difficult lawsuit for the family. But again, I think it's one of those send the message lawsuits. Yale, you've got to be a good corporate citizen, you've got to do more.</s>BALDWIN: OK, case number two, what we're hearing more about that California mansion mystery out of San Diego raising more questions than answers. The story was this, the millionaire's girlfriend here found hanging naked and bound from a balcony. This was back in July. This is days after his son apparently accidentally fell down some stairs, he died. Police we now know, Sunny, this was absolutely suicide. But the medical report says this girlfriend had minor bruises to her scalp. There was blood in her thighs, and a t-shirt wrapped around her neck also stuffed in her mouth. When you hear these details, what's your read?</s>HOSTIN: You know, it sounds odd to me. I've got to tell you. Typically, when people are going to commit suicide, there's a suicide note found. The circumstances are just a bit awry here, they're odd. Now the coroner doesn't necessarily work with the law enforcement, it's an independent office, the office of the medical examiner. So it's quite possible that law enforcement is going to maybe look into this a bit further. But it does appear to me to be suspicious. And in cases like this, Brooke, investigations are ongoing. We may be hearing more about this case.</s>BALDWIN: So the family of this girlfriend, they say, yes, this was a case of a homicide. They don't believe investigators have the true and complete story. Is there a way for them to proceed with the case even though the police have thus far said no foul play?</s>HOSTIN: Yes, that's a tough call. As certainly if a family has the resources to hire a private investigator, we've heard of that before to ask other law enforcement authorities to get involved to try to help solve this mystery. There are other avenues at, you know, families' disposal to try to push the ball forward. But I think it's going to be very difficult considering, as you mentioned, that this investigation, according to the sheriff's department is closed.</s>BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin on the case, thank you, ma'am, very much. I want to stay in California, get more news for you on our breaking story out of Orange County. That bomb threat that a school in Orange County today students they've been evacuated. This man hunt is underway for a missing member of the military. We now know who he is and what police are asking the public to look for. That's next.