This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 25, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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JOHN KASICH, GUEST HOST: In the "Is It Legal?" segment tonight: gay adoption gets the green light from a Florida judge, President Bush commutes the sentence of a rapper who was convicted of smuggling cocaine, and the mother of an 8-year-old boy accused of killing his father and another man defends her son despite his taped confession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERYN BLOOMFIELD, MOM OF 8-YEAR-OLD BOY ACCUSED WITH MURDERING HIS FATHER: He's very outgoing. He's — he loves animals. He likes to ride his dirt bike, skateboarding, you know, outdoor things.
He had a very good relationship with his father. He did a lot with him. He — you know, they did everything together. He loved — he loved his dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KASICH: With us now, FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly and FOX News legal analyst, Lis Wiehl.
I mean, why would a judge let an 8-year-old boy who confessed to killing two guys and apparently, you know, shot them, reloaded the gun, according to his confession. Why is he getting out for Thanksgiving? I don't get this.
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MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Because he is 8. It's not like he's 18. He's a little boy. And we do have the presumption of innocence in this country, even though we've seen a taped confession. Let's not forget the child first denied doing it at the beginning of the tape, and then after some cross-examination by the police, then he confessed. I'm not saying he didn't do it.
KASICH: Are you — are you...
KELLY: I'm not saying he didn't do it. I don't know whether he did or not.
KASICH: Are you for him getting out?
KELLY: For the furlough for Thanksgiving?
KASICH: Yes.
KELLY: I'm OK with that.
LIS WIEHL, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: No, I am absolutely not. I hate to be the big meanie here, John.
KASICH: I'm stunned.
WIEHL: I have kids of my own. But this kid may have killed two men. What we do know is that there are two dead guys. Goodness forbid that he goes home to Thanksgiving with his mother and the mother or somebody else winds up dead. How are you going to feel about that, Megyn?
KELLY: Mother is going to watch the child especially close. Why are you rolling your eyes?
WIEHL: Because if the kid actually...
KELLY: You think the father would have watched him a little differently if they knew that he allegedly shot two people?
KASICH: Megyn...
KELLY: The woman now has the knowledge that he's accused of shooting two people. She loves her son. This is a horrible circumstance. Let's not pretend the kid is 18. He's 8. He can be controlled.
KASICH: Megyn, there's two people dead. Now, let me ask you this.
KELLY: They had no warning...
KASICH: Hold on. Hold on.
KELLY: ...he was potentially dangerous. Now, he can be watched for two days.
KASICH: Wait a minute. But if he killed two people, why is he going to get out? Let him have Thanksgiving in the — here is the question I have for you. I know they're saying that maybe this confession is not legitimate. There was no lawyer.
KELLY: Right.
KASICH: There wasn't any grown-up there.
KELLY: Or parent.
KASICH: But I — but you were a prosecutor. Didn't they gather evidence right there?
KELLY: She was the prosecutor.
WIEHL: Look, that confession may not come in because, you know...
KASICH: But don't they have evidence? Don't they check it out, what's on his hands?
WIEHL: I mean, there's, you know, fruit of the poisonous tree. There's things like that that you — you know, maybe a lot of this evidence is thrown out. But that doesn't go to your question as to whether or not this kid should be going home.
And I would say to you, I would say if every other child in that juvenile facility is let to go home for Thanksgiving, every other kid, because they're going to be shoplifters and they're going to be petty thefts in there. If they're allowed to go home, then maybe you'd start thinking about it. But if he's...
KELLY: Eight. How many others are 8?
WIEHL: It doesn't matter.
KELLY: How many others in the facility are 8-year-olds?
KASICH: How many 8-year-olds have killed two people? Here's my point. The authorities will know if they've got a case.
KELLY: There is no suggestion that he is some sort of serial murderer. This kid obviously, if he did it, had some sort of a freak breakdown.
KASICH: So what age should — would he be serious? Not until he's 18?
KELLY: Certainly not 8.
KASICH: OK, what age? Nine?
KELLY: Have you seen the tape?
KASICH: No, I don't agree with that.
KELLY: Have you listened to the little boy?
KASICH: Here's the — here's the thing that's interesting to me. When they charge him they can either charge him as a juvenile at 8. They can't charge him as an adult. They have to wait until he's 14.
KELLY: Right.
WIEHL: Right.
KASICH: Now, what sense does it make to say you either get him at 8 and he serves until 18 or you let him skate for six years and then you charge him at 14?
WIEHL: Well, something that could happen in between. He could be charged in the juvenile system, at least now, for something else. I mean, if there's a lesser crime that would keep him in. And then you — I'm not so hung up about whether he should be charged as a juvenile or adult. I'm looking at people's safety and getting this kid — I care about the kid. Get him evaluated. Get — make sure that, you know...
KELLY: To even suggest that this kid should be charged as an adult is ridiculous. An 8-year-old is not an adult.
KASICH: No.
KELLY: They're not fully cooked yet. Their brains aren't fully cooked. This kid didn't know what he was doing, if he did this. There's a reason people don't vote until they are 18.
KASICH: Megyn — Megyn, do you think kids — you don't listen.
KELLY: Yes, I do.
KASICH: I have 8-year-old kids. They know what they're doing.
KELLY: Oh, my. John, are you kidding me?
KASICH: You've got an 8-year-old kid that takes a gun. He's a hunter. The kid is a hunter. He goes into the house, allegedly. Allegedly.
KELLY: This is ridiculous.
KASICH: Wait a minute.
KELLY: John, how do you argue that he's comparable to an 18-year-old? That the judgment of an 8-year-old is the same as 18.
KASICH: The kid is a hunter. He knows his dad is there, and he reloads the gun, according to the confession. What do you think he thought he was shooting at?
KELLY: He didn't — do you think he had the presence of mind to understand he was murdering his father?
KASICH: I do. I do. How does a guy reload a gun and shoot two people, Megyn?
KELLY: Because he doesn't know. Because he never had any trouble.
KASICH: We've got to...
WIEHL: Get this kid evaluated because he has a serious problem.
KELLY: He needs help. His whole life should not be ruined.
KASICH: You think — you know why they're holding him? Because he broke the law. And the prosecutors are going to decide whether they have the evidence to charge him.
KELLY: I agree.
KASICH: And so the fact is it's a heinous crime.
KELLY: Right.
KASICH: OK. And if, in fact, he did it, and they convict him, I'm not for letting him out every holiday because he's 8 years old.
KELLY: You want to put him in prison and throw away the key.
KASICH: He's a juvenile. And he'll be in juvenile court.
KELLY: So you agree: Don't charge him as an adult.
KASICH: No, I'm saying that — you know what I can't believe, is that you charge him at 8, but you have no opportunity to do anything at 14. You have to choose now.
KELLY: Why would you want that? Why would he want that?
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: If he commits another crime while he's in juvie, then....
WIEHL: You can't put an 8-year-old in a cell.
KASICH: Let me move on to one other topic here while we have the chance, OK? And that is, real quickly, the Bush pardons. Now you got a guy that was convicted of not only having cocaine but having it for purposes of distributing it. Now Bush has pardoned them. What — what — why?
WIEHL: I don't have a problem with that. Look, Bush has complete authority to do that. This guy was a first offender. It was a lot of cocaine, but he did seven years. The guy that he was — the guy that hired him — this is what gets me. The guy that hired him to do this got zero time.
KASICH: Yes.
WIEHL: So, you know, when you look at it like that…
KASICH: Would he have gotten — if he wasn't supported by celebrities would he...
KELLY: Well, I don't think President Bush is very sweet on celebrities.
KASICH: No.
KELLY: Listen, I have to say. It was — the reason I think he got out is because he was a first-time offender. And first-time offenders get slapped with serious sentences in this country when it deals with drugs. He did. He was sentenced 14 years. He served 7. So he got...
KASICH: I've never understood — I've never understood these pardons. But they're — here...
KELLY: They're good if you can get them.
WIEHL: Right under the Constitution, yes.
KASICH: Well, if I were ever president, I would pardon or commute anything that you guys did.
WIEHL: That's sweet, John.
KELLY: Feel the love.
KASICH: OK. We have got to go, ladies. Thank you.
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