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CNN NEWSROOM

Abortion Provider Kermit Gosnell Convicted Of Three First- Degree Murder Counts; Mother's Day Parade Ends In Tragedy; Onil And Pedro Castro Shocked About Brother's "House Of Horrors"; Suspicious Man With Pressure Cooker Stopped In Detroit Airport

Aired May 13, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You are watching CNN breaking news here. Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin.

In case you're just joining us, big, big news in the case of abortion provider Kermit Gosnell here. This jury has now convicted this abortion doctor who owned and operated this clinic for some three decades, found him guilty of three of these four first-degree murder counts, these capital charges and also found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter of one of his patients there at this Women's Medical Society, this clinic he had operated for 30 years in west Philadelphia.

Sonny Hostin was sitting inside the courthouse describing the prosecutor sobbing as this verdict was being read, and Gosnell himself, as she said, just sitting there emotionless and shaking his head.

Sunny, what is next for him now that we have the guilty?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, now that he's been found guilty of three capital charges, Brooke, we're told that on Monday the penalty phase will begin.

And I have been speaking to folks that know this doctor in the community. I spoke to his former attorney, and I've also spoken to family friends.

What they are all saying is that he was known as sort of the neighborhood doctor, someone who devoted his career to this particular community in west Philly.

Some are anticipating that Dr. Gosnell may take the stand. He did not, of course, in the guilt phase. He wasn't required to, but some are speculating that he may, in fact, take the stand in his defense for the penalty phase.

And that would be for the mitigation here because he's 72-years- old, Brooke. He has been practicing for the majority of his career and there are some that are saying that he did some good in the community. And so I suspect we will hear about that on Monday.

BALDWIN: OK. Sunny Hostin, thank you so much for jumping out in front of a camera and letting us know how the jury found this man, this abortion doctor.

Danny Cevallos, let me turn to you now because I know you live in Philadelphia. You are a criminal defense attorney.

So I guess my question to you is sort of two-pronged. One, as someone who lives in this city, how has this trial so captivated this community, A, and B, we heard Sunny mention that there's a possibility that Gosnell could take the stand in this penalty phase. Do you think he should?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY (via telephone): Well, first question there is the way it's affected this city. The attorneys have been under a gag order and they haven't spoken much. So even work in a criminal justice center every day, you don't hear a lot of scuttlebutt in the hallways.

As far as the community, I mean, I think -- when we come to sentencing, this could be as important a phase to the trial as the guilt phase of the trial because we will see a lot of people testify on his behalf, people that thought he was a good person, a good doctor, and it may be very helpful.

Remember, he has a constitutional right to either testify or not to testify. When it comes to the mitigation phase, he may do well to testify and let the people humanize him, see him as a human being and, hopefully, avoid the harshest penalty.

But I think we would -- even though they put up no evidence at the guilt phase of the trial, I think you can very much expect there's going to be plenty of evidence, plenty of testimony when it come to the sentencing phase.

BALDWIN: The harshest penalty being death in this case.

Danny Cevallos, thank you so much for calling in from Philadelphia.

We are following another developing story today. New Orleans police, they are scheduled to hold a news conference any minute now. We're hoping to learn more about that horrific shooting in the middle of a parade on Mother's Day that left 19 people injured.

New surveillance video has just been released. A manhunt is under way. We'll take you to New Orleans next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Mother's Day event meant to unite the community ended with people scattering just to get away from gunfire. Nineteen people were hit, including a 10-year-old boy and girl, at this Mother's Day parade in New Orleans. Amateur video shows the moment of gunfire Sunday afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bang.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police have released surveillance video of a suspected shooter here.

Four victims are still in the hospital. Most of the wounds they say were minor, including those of journalist Mark Hertsgaard who talked to me last hour, said he could tell the shooter was right behind him, but he didn't see a face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HERTSGAARD, NEW ORLEANS PARADE SHOOTING VICTIM: And the shooter was right behind me. I did not see the shooter, but I could tell from the sounds -- and I know what gunfire sounds like from previous reporting -- that the shooter was probably 10 feet behind me.

You can see me there on the video I think you just showed. I heard the pop, pop, pop, pop, and saw everyone running and, like everyone else, I ran and threw myself down to the pavement.

And I was lucky. I just got shot in the leg. There were a number of people who were much more seriously injured. Three people were taken to the trauma unit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: New Orleans police are offering a $10,000 reward for information.

And, again, just a reminder, we are awaiting a news conference from New Orleans police on more information into the Mother's Day shooting.

Next, a chilling CNN's exclusive, Ariel Castro's two brothers sit down with CNN and reveal their thoughts on Castro's alleged house of horrors.

How could they not have known? I tell you. I was in Cleveland last week. That is the question on everyone's mind.

Their answer and this entire interview, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Got some news in from Washington for you. This is according to our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. The fact that we had reported on Friday that there are allegations that the IRS specifically targeted conservative groups like the Tea Party.

We have now learned that the committee will be holding a hearing into this, this coming Friday, and, of course, all of this happening on the day that the president of the United States specifically remarked on these allegations saying, quote, "There is no place for this."

So look for that happening on the Hill on Friday.

In Cleveland, their brother is accused of the unthinkable. In the 24 hours after Amanda Berry escaped that home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Onil and Pedro Castro were arrested.

Soon after, they appeared alongside their brother there in court. But their small-time charges were nothing compared to what their brother now stands accused of.

These two brothers are now talking to CNN, to our correspondent Martin Savidge, telling them what they think of the man they once called their kin and they now call him a monster.

We have an exclusive interview. Let me tell you, these men are candid, they are angry, they are unforgiving.

And we'll look at what they told police -- quote, "We are innocent."

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you in any way know, help, assist your brother in the horrible things he's accused of doing?

ONIL CASTRO, ARIEL CASTRO'S BROTHER: Absolutely not. No idea that this horrific crime was going on.

SAVIDGE: Pedro?

PEDRO CASTRO, ARIEL CASTRO'S BROTHER: No.

SAVIDGE: you know there were people who will say you had to know. How is it possible for so long in that home, your brother, you couldn't know.

P. CASTRO: For those people out there, I'm going to tell you something. I had nothing to do with this.

And I don't know how my brother got away with it for so many years because that would never cross my mind.

SAVIDGE: He fooled you?.

P. CASTRO: He fooled me because I used to go over there more than he did, to work on cars, clean the yard, you know, help him out and stuff, but never go beyond the kitchen.

SAVIDGE: Onil, there was nothing?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely nothing that I can see that was unusual in that back yard.

I can't say in the house because I haven't been in the house in years.

SAVIDGE: Do you worry now that people will always suspect that you actually did have a role?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely.

P. CASTRO: Yes.

O. CASTRO: And the people out there that know me, they know that Onil Castro is not the person, has nothing to do with that.

P. CASTRO: I could never think of doing anything like that.

If I knew my brother was doing this, I would not be -- I would not -- in a minute, I would call the cops because that ain't right.

But, yeah, it's going to haunt me down because people are going to think, yeah, Pedro got something to do with this and if Pedro don't have nothing to do with this -- if I knew, I would have reported it, brother or no brother.

SAVIDGE: What is your brother to you now?

O. CASTRO: A monster, hateful, I hope he rots in that jail.

I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail to the last extent.

I don't care if they even feed him with what he has done to my life and my family's.

P. CASTRO: I feel the same way.

SAVIDGE: To the both of you now, he no longer exists?

P. CASTRO: Right.

O. CASTRO: Yeah.

SAVIDGE: He is gone?

O. CASTRO: He's goner.

SAVIDGE: Almost as if he were dead.

O. CASTRO: The monster is a goner.

I'm glad that he left the door unlocked or whatever he did. Whether he did it on purpose, maybe he wanted to get caught. Maybe time was up. Maybe he was inside too much; he wanted to get caught.

But if he did that, he shouldn't have went to momma's house and picked me up and put me in a car if he knew that was going to happen.

SAVIDGE: If you could talk to Gina, if your could talk to Michelle, if you could talk to Amanda, and in a way you are, I guess, what would you say?

P. CASTRO: I would tell her -- I would tell them that I'm sorry that you had to go through this, that I was thinking about these girls being missing and I'm just grateful that they're home and, you know, out of that horrible house.

And I just -- I'd just tell them I'm sorry for what Ariel done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the brothers send a message to the family of one of the victims and explain what why they decided to come forward in the first place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before we continue with the Castro brothers' interview, you are about to hear from police in New Orleans speaking about that Mother's Day shooting rampage during that parade, 19 people injured.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED COVERAGE - JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SUPERINTENDENT RONAL SERPAS, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: ... superficial glancing wounds, and there were some that were direct-on gunshot wounds.

We have no ability to give you the condition of those who went through surgery yesterday, but we do know they are still receiving medical care. We cannot really discuss their conditions.

We are still trying to determine whether there was more than one gunman and whether there was more than one weapon open the scene.

We have recovered ballistic evidence an the evidence is giving us very good leads to work on.

Our detectives from the fifth district under the leadership of Commander Goodly (ph) and Lieutenant Hart (ph) have worked virtually nonstop since yesterday afternoon with many members of the New Orleans police department in support, our gang unit, intelligence unit and certainly many of our partnerships in the federal government, the FBI, the ATF, the DEA and others.

One of our best partners in this entire thing is, of course, Crime Stoppers. And last night, Darlene Custanza allowed us and authorized us to announce at the 10:00 news cycle that a $10,000 reward was being offered. As soon as that issue -- literally, as soon as that went out, we started getting more information. So again, we want to thank Crime Stoppers and we want to remind people, please call if you know anything.

We also want to remind people that the advanced use of cell phones and handheld video devices has been throughout this event, so if you know of anyone or you have any such audio or video evidence, please forward it to us.

You can forward it to Crime Stoppers, or you can forward it to the police department, or you can forward to the DEA, the FBI, the ATF. Whoever you feel comfortable with, please forward that information.

There were dozens of people in yesterday's second line. We know that there are still some of you who still know information, so please reconsider and let us know.

I don't think anybody who lives in the city of New Orleans wants to know something that could help us solve this case, thinking about the young children who were hurt.

Think about the 10-year-old who was hurt, the nine-year-old who was hurt, and if you have information that could help us, I know you want to tell us. So please call Crime Stoppers and let them know and let them help our detectives.

Our lead detectives, Robert Hearst (ph) and Ray L. Johnson of the fifth district under the leadership of Sergeant McCabe in the fifth district are making significant headway in this case.

I can assure whoever did this, we know a lot more about you than you think we do, and my recommendation to you is to collect yourself and turn yourself in to the nearest police facility, the district attorney's office or anywhere you may want.

At this time, we would like to ask Darlene Custanza to say a few words and Phil Durham (ph) with the ATF -- it was ATF that helped advance the award amount last night from $5,000 to $10,000 -- and then we'll take some questions after that

We're also joined today by Dave Reichert (ph) of the FBI representing the FBI. Darlene?

(END LIVE FEED COVERAGE)

BALDWIN: OK, so you've been listening to police in New Orleans there talking about that shooting just yesterday on Mother's Day in the middle of this parade. And we've seen some surveillance video.

Really the headline that stuck out to me was the fact that we heard the individual saying that they do not know if there was more than one shooter or more than one weapon used. Looking into that, investigating that. Again, 19 people hit by bullets just yesterday. And he reiterated the award is now higher at $10,000 for information that could lead to an arrest.

When we come back, we are getting some news here involving a pressure cooker and involving a man arriving to the Detroit airport, coming specifically from Saudi Arabia who's been in federal custody, arrested here.

More news as this story is trickling in here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More breaking news here on this Monday, we are just getting word of this man who was found in the Detroit airport. A customs officer found a pressure cooker in his luggage and several pages of his passport sort of mysteriously missing.

Todd Sperry is on the phone with me now. He's a CNN senior producer with the aviation and regulation unit.

And, Todd, who is this guy?

TODD SPERRY, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, I tell you his name is al Kwawahir Hussain and, right now, he is being held in custody temporarily.

He had his initial appearance in court at 1:00 in Michigan this afternoon. And he's been assigned a federal defender.

He hasn't been able to explain why those pages were missing from his passport, and he went through a secondary screening after he initially went through customs and they thought, why are the pages missing.

They sent him to the secondary screening area. At that point, they found the pressure cooker, which, of course, is the focus of attention right now because of the Boston marathon bombing last month.

BALDWIN: Right.

SPERRY (via telephone): So at that point, he told them a story that he allegedly changed during the time they were asking him about the pressure cooker, saying that he had brought it for his nephew and, right now, they're just trying to figure out what exactly is the story here.

BALDWIN: Todd Sperry, thank you for getting the story to us. As you mentioned, this man on a flight from Saudi Arabia to Detroit, now temporarily in federal custody.

We'll look for more reporting on that. Thank you.

To Cleveland now, we go, Martin Savidge joining me now on this stunning interview, Martin, that you got with these two brothers Onil and Pedro Castro, brothers of who they're now calling "The Monster," right, Onil Castro who lives in the home just over your left shoulder.

I mean, after -- I don't know how long the interview went on with the two of them, Martin, but what was your biggest takeaway?

SAVIDGE: I think it was the fact that you could sense the emotion. I mean, it was a physical force inside of that room.

As we sat down and talked, these are men clearly not used to television lights, or not used to all the attention, and they definitely did not want to be thrust into the horrible limelight as a result of their brother.

But they were motivated by two things. Number one, they wanted to make sure that the families of those young women knew that they were not responsible in any way.

Cleveland police had already said that, but they felt it was important that they went to the world, because their face had been shown to the world, and denied that they had any involvement whatsoever. And I really pushed them on those points.

And the other thing was that they wanted to make sure that the families knew they were also so relieved that their daughters were now free.

So, you know, the fact that they could take the questions, the fact that they were willing to take whatever I might throw at them and answer honestly -- and I think it comes through that they are very sincere.

They're scared to death, but they are sincere in the way they talk.

BALDWIN: Just the way they were speaking, how candid they were with you, I know you and I -- I saw you last week up there, and so many people were saying, how could they not have known?

But again, we're hearing stories from Onil Castro's daughter of, well, she would just come over and hear loud music being played. And she never really thought twice about it because he was in a band and loved music.

So it's an incredible interview. We have the whole thing posted on CNN.com.

Martin Savidge, thank you so, so much, incredible reporting there from Cleveland here, as we now know Ariel Castro faces multiple charges involving kidnapping and rape of those young women.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for being with me at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Now to Washington, Jake Tapper and "The Lead" starts now.