Holloway Attorney: 'Extraordinarily Painful'

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," December 3, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Imus threatened to sue CBS for breach of contract when he was fired and CBS settled for an undisclosed amount. Imus's new radio show features a new cast, including two African-American comedians.

And the Kalpoe brothers are free. Satish and Deepak Kalpoe walked out of jail on Saturday. John Q. Kelly, the lawyer for Natalee's parents, spent the weekend with the Holloways in Aruba and met with the prosecutor, Hans Mos. Will there be an appeal? What's going to happen next? What do the Holloways think about all of this? All these questions for John Q. Kelly, who joins us in New York. John, how was your weekend?

JOHN Q. KELLY, HOLLOWAY ATTORNEY: Disappointing, Greta. I think it was disappointing to me and actually extraordinarily painful and almost cruel for Beth and Dave after being down there.

VAN SUSTEREN: And the reason is because the prosecutor doesn't know what he's doing?

KELLY: Well, you know, it's just a combination — raised expectations, misleading statements in terms of, you know, "significant new incriminating evidence," you know, the possibilities of getting some answers and getting some resolution in this case, and you know, approaching with skepticism and finding out that you're never pleasantly surprised. It's the same thing. They've made no progress and no results down there, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. The misleading statements is probably the - - you know, the big headline out of what you just recited...

KELLY: Sure.

VAN SUSTEREN: ... because that's really bad. The prosecutor had misleading statements?

KELLY: Well, in their press release and even in conversations. I had a long discussion with him Thanksgiving morning after the arrests, and you know, he indicated that they were very confident, this new evidence they had, this incriminating evidence. And it turns out, quite frankly, that it is nothing new, Greta. It's just the — you know, the — you know, the contradictory statements the boys made and some other accounts and the timeline and things like that that's been out there for two-and-a-half years now.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So you can say with 100 percent certainly there's nothing new, right?

KELLY: I can say it with 99 percent. Unless everybody's pulling something off at this point, I don't think there's anything new. The defense attorneys know there's nothing new, so I don't think I'm speaking out of school in saying that, either, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: And nothing new, incriminating, 100 percent certainly, or 99, whatever number you want to put on it.

KELLY: Well, clearly. I mean, a judge determined there wasn't even enough to hold the Kalpoes for further interrogation. I hate to say it, I'm fairly certain Joran Van Der Sloot will be released Friday, if not sooner. And if he wasn't released by some chance, I think the prosecution would probably, you know, agree to have him released shortly thereafter.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, if the judge says that and if you agree with that and the prosecutor thinks otherwise, somebody's nuts.

KELLY: I hope it's not me, Greta. And you know, I feel pretty confident about this. I know expressed it to you, I expressed it to Beth and Dave right after it broke. And you know, it's really unfortunate. It's really sad. You know, Beth and Dave want nothing more than to bring Natalee home. They'd like to say goodbye. They'd like to get some answers and they'd like to see some progress made. And it's not fair to bring them down there with the false promises, with raised expectations, sort of a dog and pony show down there with no substance.

And it was — it just really took whatever spirit, almost, that Beth and Dave had left, went through that this weekend. It was really — it was terribly painful, for lack of a better expression.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is it over, number one, in terms of the investigation? And number two, is the investigation incompetent?

KELLY: I think it's clearly over. As I said, when you don't have enough evidence to even hold the primary suspects for further interrogation, you certainly don't have enough to hold them until trial, and you certainly don't have enough to try them and/or convict them. It's pretty simple. And I said that directly to Hans Mos at the end of our meeting Saturday. It's — you know, it's pretty easy...

VAN SUSTEREN: Incompetent?

KELLY: I think it was extremely incompetent to start. You had three young men, the last ones who were seen with her. They knew what car she had bee in. She was missing without ID, credit cards, money, no cell phone, nothing. She didn't disappear on her own. And they didn't seize the car. They didn't detain the boys originally. They didn't question them separately. I think it was all incompetent.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I sat with the prosecutor, and I actually thought he was a pretty smart guy until all this unfolded. But he told me that the reason the investigation had failed was because of two reasons. One is the family and bringing in the DA who happened to be there on the island at the time. And the other is the media. That's why he said that this has failed.

KELLY: You know, that's so sad because even now, as I speak, as I said, everything I might say based on conversations with him, you know, defense attorneys have had in their hands for 10 days now, two weeks. So it's nothing new being revealed here. And to — you know, he's the one holding press conferences. He's the one that sat down for the long interview with you before I ever spoke to you.

And you know, I'm sure he's a very smart guy, but he had no answers to any of the questions we asked when we were down there. It was kind of sad that even the first questions we started asking him, he had no answers to.

VAN SUSTEREN: Karin Janssen, the former chief prosecutor, look good right now?

KELLY: I think she brought more passion to the case. No more answers, but I think she was fully committed to the case, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I — you know, there's still — obviously, things are not revolving today or soon, but maybe some day, they'll get the answers, whatever they may be. John, thank you.

KELLY: OK. Thanks, Greta.

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