Is Mama June Putting Kids at Risk for Sex Abuse? Plus, Analyzing Ferguson’s No-Fly Zone

Criminal defense attorney Mike Cavalluzzi and former prosecutor Loni Coombs team up to discuss the media no-fly zone by police in Ferguson, Missouri, plus the connection of TLC reality star Mama June to a convicted sex offender and the prosecution of a parent who posted a photo on Facebook of her baby hanging from a hook.

The conversation kicks off with the cancellation of the TLC reality series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo amid allegations that the mother on the show, Mama June, is in a dating relationship with a convicted sex offender.

Cavalluzzi said he’s not surprised the series was canceled, since the Screen Actors Guild union has strict rules governing TV sets that include protecting children from potentially harmful behavior.

If Mama June is dating a registered sex offender, Coombs said it is quite possible that he would be required to keep away from any minor children still residing in the household.

“They can date whomever they want to date,” she said, adding that doing so is taking a huge risk. “But let me just say to you women out there who think this child molester is reformed, and it’s okay to have him near my children – they may not be dating you for you. They might be dating you because you are a mother with children, just think about that.”

“I think it should trigger an investigation absolutely and I would not have a problem if the conclusion of that investigation is that the kids have to be removed from her. Because I think what she’s doing here is so dangerous, so disrespectful, it’s the worst kind of parenting you could ever imagine,” Cavalluzzi said.

Addressing a government-imposed no-fly zone requested by police in Ferguson, MO following the fatal police shooting in the city of Michael Brown, Coombs said it was obvious to her that the media was treated “horribly” during coverage of the shooting and resulting demonstrations.

“Apparently they went in and wanted a no-fly zone and got a general one. But then the traffic control people were saying, wait a minute, we have an airport right here, we need to allow commercial flights to come through, so they said yeah, okay.” She said the discussion went back and forth on exactly which types of flights to ban, and this ended up being the media helicopters.

Cavalluzzi explores the issue from a First Amendment perspective, and how much influence police can impose on the media to infringe on their right to adequately cover the story.

“I really have an issue with it, because I really think it’s the media that should be making those determinations, and the FAA that should be making those determinations of how that riot is covered – and not necessarily Ferguson, which has such a motive to block media coverage and effective coverage.”

He adds: “Seeing those riots from the air would have been very impactful and could have made it very different in terms of how they were playing out.”

The panel also addresses the case of a mother who is now facing child abuse charges for posting a photo of her baby on Facebook hanging from a hook. Apparently the husband provided the photo to authorities because they couple was fighting and he wanted to get her back and the male child can be seen crying in the photo while hanging from the hook.

“As far as postings on Facebook, that can start an investigation, but a photograph alone, we don’t know who posted it, we don’t know that the context is, we don’t know what the reason was behind it. We don’t know if there were any injuries,” Coombs said.

She added that in this case, the photo did initiate an investigation and authorities spoke with the mother about the incident, which she admitted to doing and claimed she was just joking around. “They investigated and looked at the baby and the baby was fine, so they did file charges on her and they’re going to move forward with it, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anything super serious.”

She points out the complexities involved in child abuse cases relating to what charges to file, as well as what punishments to pursue if there is a conviction.

“They’re 18 years old, what do we expect?” Cavalluzzi asks, referencing the couple’s young age. “What do we expect to happen when we put babies in the hands of babies… This is what happens, they take them and hang them from hooks in closets.”

He adds: “I don’t see this as child abuse, I mean this is a silly prank and yes, it could have ended badly, but there are always pranks on children that could end badly, it doesn’t appear that this one did.”

Watch the full episode to also hear a discussion of assisted suicide in the wake of last weekend’s death of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill woman who took advantage of Oregon’s right-to-die law to end her life on her own terms.