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CNN NEWSROOM

Jailed Mother Back In Mexican Court; Royal Caribbean Praised For Response; Half Of U.S. Faces Weather Threat; New Concerns Over Rutgers AD; Bachmann Won't Seek Re-Election; Drone Strike Kills Pakistan Taliban's Number Two; Marine Shooter Tied To Wife's Death; Arias Jurors Break Their Silence

Aired May 29, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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


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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, wild weather.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are watching a tornado this to our northwest. It is rain-wrapped.

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COSTELLO: Oklahoma in the bulls eye again. In the northeast, heat wave. Good-bye chilly, hello 100 degrees.

Also, trapped in a Mexican prison, an American mom in court accused of drug smuggling.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bars they had like a diamond pattern metal bars.

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COSTELLO: Innocent or framed by Mexican police?

Plus, no, Beyonce, a fan dares to slap her there. Don't mess with Queen B. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. We begin with an Arizona mother of seven accused of trying to smuggle drugs across Mexico. She now sits in a jail cell in Mexico as she and her family fight for her released. This morning, Yanira Maldonado was back in court hoping to persuade a judge to set her free.

The Mexican military says she had 12-pounds of pot under a bus seat while heading back to the United States. Her family doesn't believe it. They insist she was framed and a short time ago, Maldonado's daughter told CNN how she's holding up.

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ANNA SOTO, YANIRA MALDONADO'S DAUGHTER: I think -- I don't know, I know she's scared. I know she really wants to be let free. I know she, she's scared.

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COSTELLO: CNN's Rafael Romo has more on this situation from Mexico.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): This is the prison in Nogales, Mexico where Yanira Maldonado has been held since Friday. The American citizen who is accused of trafficking marijuana is being held in a temporary cell, isolated from the general population at the women's prison.

VERONICA ANAYA, YANIRA'S SISTER-IN-LAW (through translation): The family is very sad. They know she is innocent. She is a mother of seven and a decent woman. She is a Christian. This is an injustice.

ROMO: The 41-year-old Yanira Maldonado and her husband, Gary, were stopped by soldiers last Wednesday at this military checkpoint as they traveled by bus in the Mexican state of Sonora. Authorities say they found more than 12 pounds of marijuana under Maldonado's seat. But her family says the couple was returning from a relative's funeral and suspect they were framed.

JOSE ANGEL SOTO, YANIRA'S SON (through translation): It's not true. She didn't do that. I know my mother. She goes to church regularly. I know her. She's a good woman.

ROMO: Maldonado's trial started Tuesday at this federal courthouse in Nogales.

(on camera): Since there is no trial by jury in Mexico, her fate is in the hands of a judge who will ultimately issue a verdict based on the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense.

GARY MALDONADO, YANIRA'S HUSBAND: It's been tough, but Yanira seems to be strong and holding up. She's not happy where she's at. She has high hope that she will be free. She is falsely accused of this accusation against her. I got here yesterday.

ROMO (voice-over): An official with knowledge of the case told CNN that it was highly unlikely that anybody can board a bus with almost 6 kilos of marijuana completely unnoticed. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity suggests Maldonado might have been framed.

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COSTELLO: All right, Rafael Romo joins us by phone. So Rafael, Maldonado is expected to appear in a Mexican court. How does that work in Mexico and why is the family encouraged?

ROMO (via telephone): Well, first of all in Mexico, especially in her case, this has not been a trial by jury. So what essentially happens is that a number of members of the prosecution and defense attorneys stand in front of the judge. Yanira Maldonado is actually not in the courthouse. She's still being held at the jail.

The witnesses give their testimony. The problem with the way it's done is that everything is written down. It's typed up in a typewriter. So this makes the process excruciatingly slow. It started on Tuesday. There was some testimony on Tuesday afternoon. They hit it again yesterday for several hours.

They're going to do it again today, one of the soldiers who made the detention last Wednesday is supposed to appear before the judge. But, again, ultimately, it will be a federal judge here in the city of Nogales who is going to decide whether Yanira Maldonado is guilty or not.

COSTELLO: All right, Rafael Romo, you will continue to follow it for us. Thanks so much.

Royal Caribbean must have been taking notes during competitor Carnival's infamous cruise from hell earlier this year. The company is getting some praise for its response to the midnight fire on the "Grandeur of the Seas." Erin McPike is in Washington this morning. Erin, what are passengers saying?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you might be a little surprised to hear so many of these passengers were actually satisfied with their experience. Listen to what Larry Haden who was on that ship had to say about it yesterday.

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LARRY HADEN, ROYAL CARIBBEAN PASSENGER: The crew was wonderful. If I can say something, the crew was great. They were on spot. They were well informed. They kept us well informed and they were looking out for our safety all the time.

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MCPIKE: And it was like that from passenger after passenger, yesterday, Carol, back in Baltimore, all wine and roses for the crew. Everyone thought they did a really good job.

COSTELLO: Maybe Carnival should like talk to the people at Royal Caribbean and get some pointers because those people were not happy. Although, they were adrift for a number of days unlike the passengers on board the Royal Caribbean. A question for you, for those of us who would like to take cruise some day, when you look at these incidents, it looks like there are too many to take the chance.

MCPIKE: Well, you know, from a public relations standpoint, there might be some concern about it. Listen to what Richard Burke had to say to us. He is the executive director of the Global Maritime Institute. He actually says these cruises are some of the safest ships on the water.

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RICHARD BURKE, MARITIME COLLEGE, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: I don't see a pattern necessarily in these activities, these incidents aboard cruise ships. You know, fire is an ever present danger on a ship and, you know, just as in any large city at a given evening, are you going to have a number of fires around the city. If you have enough ships out there, inevitably, you are going to have a few incidents of fire.

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MCPIKE: So, in other words, Carol, he is saying that these things happen. Don't worry. If you want to take a cruise, you are still more than welcome to do so. Things are OK it seems.

COSTELLO: OK. So roll the dice and you are likely to win. Erin McPike, thanks so much.

Millions of Americans may want to keep their eyes on the skies today, severe weather bearing down on nearly half the country, always a cause for concern, but especially in the nation's mid-section. The tornado season there has gone from quiet to catastrophic just since last week.

Here's a tornado ripping across Central Kansas last night, one of several reported across the state. Today, there could be an outbreak of storms and tornadoes from Central Texas all the way north to Nebraska. That includes parts of Central Oklahoma, which is still covered with the ruins of last week's deadly tornado.

Part of the happiest place on earth became a ghost town for a few hours on Tuesday. A plastic bought him with dry ice exploded in a trash can at Mickey's Toon Town at Disneyland in California. No one was hurt and there was no damage. The area is back opened and happy again today.

The nation's largest retailer admits it broke anti-pollution laws in two states. We're talking about Wal-Mart. It will have to pay $82 million for violating the clean water act in California and for illegally dumping pesticides in Missouri. Let's bring Alison Kosik in New York to explain. Good morning, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So it looks like at least in theory that Wal-Mart has cleaned up its act. All of these violations happened before 2006. Since then, what Wal- Mart has done is it's implemented a full environmental compliance plan across the company.

It includes having an actual staff dedicated for its compliance office. It has employee training on how to handle hazardous wastes. It has clear labels on its hazardous products and a hazardous waste management system that Wal-Mart called it an industry leading hazardous waste program.

So just to give you the background on this that $82 million fine, what it does is it settles six violations of the clean water act in California, separate charges in Kansas City. What these employees did was improperly throwing away things like fertilizer, bleach, hair spray, nail polish and deodorant. They either tossed them in municipal trash bins or pour them right into the sewer system, something that isn't legal and isn't safe either -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange this morning.

Rutgers University is on the defense again with new allegations about Athletic Director Julie Hermann. Court documents say Hermann was named in a 2008 sex discrimination lawsuit while she was working at the University of Louisville.

On Saturday the New Jersey "Star Ledger" reported that the University of Tennessee women's volleyball players accused Hermann of abuse back in 1997. Not exactly a good start for a woman brought in to clean up the athletic program at Rutgers.

Joining me now on the phone is New Jersey State Assemblyman Tom Giblin. Good morning, Tom.

THOMAS GIBLIN, NEW JERSEY STATE ASSEMBLY (via telephone): Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So as these latest revelations come into light, what is going through your mind?

GIBLIN: Well, it's very disheartening in view of the recent issue we had as far as, you know, the coach and the athletic director, to find out yet again another problem as far as the sports program at Rutgers.

COSTELLO: Of course, she was brought in to clean up after you mentioned the coach here, Mike Rice. We are looking at him. He was the basketball coach fired for calling players homophobic names and hitting them with basketballs, and being generally abusive. I don't know. It makes you wonder if Rutgers brought this woman in to like, you know, clean up the program. Didn't they do a background check?

GIBLIN: Well, what concerns me is, you know, they initially hired a search committee, you know, organization to seek out candidates for the athletic director's position and, in fact, at the last moment, one of the Rutgers officials threw the name of Julie Hermann in there. I'm not sure this search organization did an extensive background check. The question is, did they pay this organization and why was the name thrown in there at the last minute?

COSTELLO: What would you like to see happen?

GIBLIN: Well, I think first of all, we should find out what the procedure was for recruiting a new athletic director. When you look at her background, I realized things have involved as far as coaches are concerned. I mean, I was raised in Newark, New Jersey. You know, we talked a little of that language years ago when I was younger.

But now, you are looking for a standard with our youngsters and our athletes about role models. So I think we have to look at that. The other thing is, I'm not sure if a signed contract has really been consummated here as far as her future is concerned. I'm not sure if it's an economic issue that we also have to deal with.

But when you look at her background and some of the things she might have said or done as compared to the previous athletic director, there were perhaps he should have been dealt with slight discipline. So that's something that has to be evaluated.

COSTELLO: All right, Assemblyman Tom Giblin, thank you so much for joining us. And Rutgers as far as we know is standing behind its new athletic director.

Onto world of politics, Michelle Bachman, a one-time Tea Party presidential candidate, is calling it quits. The Minnesota congresswoman announcing overnight she will not -- she will not run for a fifth term in Congress.

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REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Looking forward after the completion of my term, my future is full, it is limitless, and my passions for America will remain. I want you to be assured that there is no future option or opportunity be it directly in the political arena or otherwise that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and progressive conservative our great nation for future generations.

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COSTELLO: Kind of surprising since Bachmann became the faith of big government rage. In fact, "Newsweek" tagged her the "Queen of Rage" in 2008 and for a time, Bachmann became not only a political star, but the butt of a thousand jokes.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While I'm disappointed that my campaign has come to a close, I am also looking forward to resting, to spending some time at home and, most of all to blinking for the first time since this all started.

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COSTELLO: Didn't every politician become the butt of a joke in 2008? Anyway, no worries, Bachmann insists she won't fade away. She insist her tough re-election battle last November played absolutely no role in her decision not to run again, nor did an investigation into her presidential campaign. As I said, she says, she will be back.

Still ahead in the Newsroom, forget the iPad, it's all about a computer you could actually wear on your body. Wait until you hear what Apple Head Tim Cook is saying about the next gen of technology.

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COSTELLO: It's 17 minutes past the hour. It's time to check our top stories. A drone strike has killed the number two leader of the Pakistan Taliban. That's according to a local tribal leader and intelligence officer. It happened today in a tribal region of Pakistan. That drone strike killed four people including Akman and an aid.

This is the first drone strike to hit Pakistan since elections there were held two weeks ago. In a statement, Pakistan's government said they have consistently maintained that the drone strikes are counter- productive, entail the loss of innocent civilian lives, have human rights and humanitarian implications and violate the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law. They say it was an American drone.

President Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie joined forces again Tuesday. The bipartisan duo met up on the Jersey Shore to celebrate the area's recovery from Superstorm Sandy. Last year, Christie took flack for joining the Democratic president on a tour of storm damage. It was just days before the presidential election if you recall. This time around, it's Christie the Republican, who is up for re-election.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is joining other high-tech leaders at this week's All Things Digital Conference in California. During one Q and A session, Cook spoke about practical aspect of wearable technology on faces such as Google Glasses.

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TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: I wear glasses because I have to. I can't see without them. So I kind of have that problem. I don't know a lot of people that wear them that don't have to. People that do wear them generally want them to be light. They want them to be on obtrusive. They probably want them to reflect their fashion, you know, their style and so forth and so I think from a main stream point of view this is difficult.

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COSTELLO: Without being specific, Cook suggested Apple could enter the wearables market someday. Why don't we just implant the computer into our bodies? It would be a lot easier, wouldn't it?

Images of storm damage coming from Flint, Michigan, you can see a home that's been destroyed after what people there believe was a tornado passed through late last night. A nearby Mount Morris, you can see knocked down trees, took out power lines and damaged homes in the area. As I told you early, there was a lot of wild weather in the atmosphere all over the country. So please, be careful today.

Also, this morning, there is a new death linked to Lance Corporal Stabin Smith, the U.S. Marine who went on a killing spree over the weekend. Police say a body found in a hotel room near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina is confirmed as his wife. She appears to have been stabbed to death.

Just hours earlier, Smith, himself, was shot in a police shootout in Texas. It was the violent culmination to a shooting rampage in which the combat veteran killed one person and wounded five others. CNN's Sara Ganim is here with more on this story. Good morning.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, you know, finding Ruby Stefania Smith's body in this hotel room just nearby Camp Lejeune is really, like you said, another tragic turn in a case that has been going on since Sunday. I want to take you back.

So you know, Sunday morning is when this rampage started at 4:30 a.m. in Eden, Texas. A woman was shot in her vehicle injured. About 10 minutes later, two more people shot in their vehicles in Brady, Texas. The police allege that Lance Corporal Smith went back to Eden injured another person the same way, shooting that person inside his vehicle.

Then around 6:00 a.m., a fourth person, 41-year-old Alicia Torres shot and killed inside her vehicle. At this point, police say Smith was fleeing. He was driving on Highway 83 in Texas, north of Eden, when he got in a shootout with the sheriff and injured Richard Dawn who is the sheriff of Consho County, Texas.

At that point, backup arrives, they shoot and they killed Lance Corporal Smith. Now that's where really the investigation stood still and so they were able to find evidence that linked Lance Corporal Smith to that hotel room. They make this really tragic discovery finding his wife, Ruby.

COSTELLO: So no motive for the killings of the other people.

GANIM: Yes. Unfortunately, it seems like all were random acts. I want you to take a listen to one man, who actually, his cousin was one of the victims.

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ERNEST TORRES, COUSIN OF SHOOTING VICTIM: As I got out of bed and walked in the living room, somebody had taken off. I looked out. There was no one around except for the vehicle had been shot at and it wasn't until I came out and stood on my neighbor's porch that I realized it was my cousin who had been shot.

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GANIM: Another man and his wife who were actually shot in their car in Brady said the shooter just looked at them with a blank face. Police are not talking about a motive. Really, what's difficult here is that the evidence is about 1,500 miles apart. It takes 24 hour hours straight through to drive from Jacksonville, North Carolina, which is where that hotel room to Concho County, Texas, where the shootings happened.

So it's not clear when Ruby Smith was actually killed. The medical examiner's office is still completing their investigation. They don't have a time frame at this point, but police, all they really are saying is this was random. He was going after people. They don't know why Concho County, Texas, you know, Estefan Smith is from California.

COSTELLO: All right, keep following it. Sara Ganim, thanks so much. Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, some of the jurors in the Jodi Arias case are breaking their silence. Hear why text messages may have convinced some jurors to save Arias' life.

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COSTELLO: After sitting through five months of gory testimony in the Jodi Arias trial, some jurors are spilling the beans now on the inner workings of the jury. Juror Diane Schwartz voted for Arias to get the death penalty, but the jury was dead locked 8-4. But Schwartz told HLN's Dr. Drew about why jurors couldn't agree.

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DIANE SCHWARTZ, JODI ARIAS TRIAL JUROR NUMBER SIX: There was a big factor on she had been abused that as a child and in her relationship with Travis, and that was key to many of the people. Those were some of the mitigating factors and then remember that all of the evidence presented before us in the actual criminal case. That evidence could be used as mitigating factors.

So some of those feel looked at text message itself and voice mail, et cetera, that had been left and felt there was some abuse there. That was their personal decision and it was up to each person to assess that and weigh it how much it meant to them.

DR. DREW PINSKY, HOST, HLN'S "DR. DREW ON CALL": When Stephen and I guess, Samantha, too, was giving their testimonial, you were maybe a few feet away from them. What was that like?

SCHWARTZ: That was absolutely, when they call them an impact statement. Let me tell you, it had an impact that was unreal. Stephen and Samantha were probably about 5-feet directly in front of me. I wanted to reach out and hold them. I saw how angry and upset Stephen was, but so emotionally distraught. I think that that, you know, we never knew what their family was really all about until that day.

Because I did not know that there were eight siblings in that family. We kind of surmised that was the family as we walked out. We really didn't know until they stood before us that day. I think that's what precipitated me say I'm sorry. I was so distraught over not being able to reach a unanimous verdict.

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COSTELLO: Arias could still get the death penalty. She'll die by lethal injection if she does. Her conviction for first-degree murder does stand, but a new penalty phase with a new jury is set for July.

Next in the NEWSROOM, a baby girl's death brings new attention on the escalating violence in Chicago. Now two months after that little girl was shot and killed, the man accused of her murder makes his first court appearance.

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