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CNN NEWSROOM

Boston Bomber Deliberation Begins; Closing Arguments in Aaron Hernandez Trial; Rand Paul Set to Launch Campaign; Yemen on the Verge of Collapse. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 7, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] CUOMO: 6,000 boxes of free cookies for the parents and families of Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. And you know what, sometimes a little sweet treat goes a long way when you're dealing with those families, with what they're dealing with.

PEREIRA: That's the intention behind it. Love it.

CAMEROTA: So wonderful.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Thank you for that. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

PEREIRA: Good morning, Carol.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We start this morning in Massachusetts and the hunt for justice in two major cases.

In Boston, jurors in the Boston bomber trial will begin deliberating any moment now. Three people died in those attacks, hundreds more were injured. The big question, will the jury buy Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense that he was a misguided teenager acting under his brother's spell.

And in Fall River, Massachusetts, lawyers in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial are set to begin their closing arguments. But with little motive, no witnesses and no murder weapon, can prosecutors prove their case against the former New England Patriot?

We have reporters standing by at both courthouses, but first let's take a look at the evidence the Tsarnaev jurors will be poring over during their deliberations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the story you've heard, the evidence you've never seen before. Tsarnaev running from the blast site. Minutes later, shopping for milk at a Whole Foods grocery store in Cambridge and the bloodstained message meant to explain it all.

Marathon Monday, a surveillance camera near a bar captured Tamerlan and Dzhokhar walking down Boylston Street. They're carrying backpacks with the pressure cooker bombs inside. They split up. Tamerlan heads toward the finish line, Dzhokhar takes his place in front of the Forum restaurant. There is a phone call between the brothers, then the first explosion.

Inside Marathon Sports shattered glass, shell shocked victims. Outside, video never seen before of the horror, the helplessness, and the heroes.

Further down Boylston Street in front of the Forum restaurant, there's confusion. Heads turn toward the finish line. Dzhokhar gives a backward glance and leaves his backpack behind.

Six-year-old Jane Richard loses her leg in the blast. Her 8-year-old brother Martin is hurt even worse. Their father Bill remembers, "It was the last time I saw my son alive, barely."

Lucy Lu and Crystal Campbell can't be saved. Three days later all hell breaks loose. Six shots ring out on the MIT campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer down. Officer down. All units.

FIELD: Officer Sean Collier is killed. Surveillance cameras catch two men walking towards his squad car and then taking off less than three minutes later. A student riding by on a bicycle will place Dzhokhar at the scene of the crime.

Tamerlan confesses to the murder and the bombings after carjacking a Chinese grad student Don Meng. He testifies Tamerlan says, you know who did it, I did it. Held at gun point and forced to hand over his ATM, Dzhokhar withdraws money from his account. Meng makes his getaway when the brother stopped for gas. Dzhokhar is inside stocking up on snacks. Meng narrowly escapes Tamerlan's grip running for his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have the stuff with them. Explosions.

FIELD: The manhunt intensifies. Police uses a safety feature with the GPS inside the Mercedes to track the brothers down. Watertown, there was a firefight. The brothers hurling pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs. At least 56 shots are fired from the .9 millimeter handgun used to kill Officer Shaun Collier. Police fire at least 210 shots.

Tamerlan dies after his brother drives the Mercedes over his body. A days later Dzhokhar is pulled out of a boat in a backyard riddled with more than 100 police

bullets. His message etched in pencil. "We Muslims are one body. You hurt one, you hurt us all."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now from Boston. She's outside of the courtroom.

Alexandra, it was a dramatic day on Monday. The defense and prosecution delivered closing arguments. Set the scene for us.

FIELD: Sure. These are survivors who were inside that courtroom, Carol, who have been waiting for justice, wanting justice. This was an emotional day for him -- for them. They heard arguments from both the defense and the prosecution. The prosecution again retelling some of the most horrendous details of the attacks that changed their lives and took four lives.

Prosecutors over and over again hitting home the point that Dzhokhar was an equal partner in crime with his brother, that he left that message in the boat where he was found hiding and that it explained his motive, that he wanted to terrorize, to attack the American people. The defense for their part standing up saying that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is ready to accept responsibility in the form of a verdict.

The defense has never denied Dzhokhar's participation in the events but they made the point that they have repeated throughout this trial, which is that if not for Tamerlan, none of this would have happened -- Carol.

[09:05:14] COSTELLO: OK. So the jury will decide whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is guilty or innocent, and then phase two of the trial begins. Tell us about that.

FIELD: Right. Right now they're looking at those 30 counts. They're going to decide innocence or guilt. If they find him guilty of just one of the 17 counts that carry with it a possible death penalty, then you will see basically the reset of this trial. That will be the penalty phase in which jurors will weigh whether or not to spare Tsarnaev's life. So when you hear the defense making these arguments about Tamerlan being the leader, well, those may not play so significantly into the verdict portion of the trial where jurors really just need to establish whether or not Dzhokhar carried out the crimes that he's charged with, whether or not he was involved with those crimes.

They're really setting up this idea of Tamerlan because the why comes into play during that sentencing phase, Carol. That's when they'll look at who could have motivated him, why he would have carried out any crimes that he's convicted for -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alexandra Field reporting live from Boston. Thank you.

Let's talk more about this with former prosecutor Dan Schorr and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Danny Cevallos.

Welcome to you both and thanks for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

Tsarnaev's lawyer, Judy Clarke. She's a master at saving clients from the death penalty. If you're wondering about the lives she's helped spared, Susan Smith who drowned her children. She also represented Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympic bomber, and Jared Loughner who shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

So, Danny, I'll start with you. How did Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get such a lawyer?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: By being indigent. That's how defendants get the federal public defender, and in capital cases lest you think that there's anything wrong with the Public Defender's Office, I'm here to disabuse you of that notion. They're the first people I go to when I have a question. And when we're talking about federal capital crimes, that is some seriously rarified air in the world of federal public defenders.

They are eminently and specially qualified. So with the small pool of federal public defenders qualified to handle this case, once he was declared indigent, in other words, there's evidence that he doesn't have money to hire counsel for himself, then he will be assigned a public defender. And at this level I have to imagine that politically on some level the same way the U.S. Attorney's Office does the same thing, the office selects who would be perfect or I'm sure she has some discretion, too, in deciding or wanting the case.

COSTELLO: So is it safe so say that he hit the jackpot in this case, Dan?

DAN SCHORR, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, certainly if you're going to be facing the death penalty, this is the attorney you want. She's had success in the past. She knows how these cases work and she's handled defendants who are just hated by society in general and you have to still focus on a jury to get one juror to vote not to have the death penalty.

COSTELLO: And she is a champion at humanizing her clients. I want to read something she said during a 2013 legal conference. She said, "The first clear way death cases are different is the clients. Most have suffered from serious severe trauma, unbelievable trauma. Many suffer from severe cognitive development issues that affect the core of their being."

Do you think that could be true in this case, in the case of the Boston bomber?

SCHORR: Well, certainly someone who's mentally well adjusted doesn't commit an act like this, but in the end, remember. This is different from a regular trial because it's not about guilt or innocence. When you think of a defense attorney you think of them trying to get a defendant acquitted so they're not convicted.

Here it's all about the penalty phase. It's all about setting the stage for after the conviction to try to convince at least one juror not to sentence him to the death penalty. And she's going to use arguments like that, he has problems in his past, he's under the influence of his brother, et cetera.

CEVALLOS: I love that quote because that shows that she is at her core a mitigation specialist. And by that I mean that she's got her mind already in the penalty phase, which is what her job is designed to do. Tsarnaev might not be served as well by defense attorneys whose view would just be to get a not guilty. I mean, that's a hail Mary. It's not likely to happen. So I really like that quote by Judy Clarke because it really shows where her mind and where her training is.

I mean, after all these years specializing or focusing in this area, she thinks like a mitigation specialist. And that is the penalty phase where you show a jury, hey, this person's life is worth saving.

COSTELLO: Well, she's done a lot, too, in her actions to humanize this kid. She's like justice assured as he came into trial, you know, she pats his back, she rubs his shoulder, she calls him a teenager. The problem for her, though, is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has shown little emotion in court, he hasn't shown one bit of remorse if you look at his body language.

SCHORR: Right. She also refers to him by his American nickname which is an Americanized version of his foreign name. She's trying to humanize him. And now this is just a preliminary part of humanizing him. In a death penalty phase you'll see her take it to the next level calling witnesses to try to humanize him more. And that's what this is all about down the road. Will he get the death penalty or not?

[09:10:01] There's so much evidence here and they're conceding that he contributed to these acts. That of course he's going to be convicted. Will he get the death penalty? That's the big question.

COSTELLO: All right. Dan Schorr, Danny Cevallos, thanks so much to both of you. I appreciate it.

We have a bit of breaking news to report about Senator Rand Paul. We can report this now, am I correct, producers? Yes? Senator Rand Paul has officially announced he will run for president. He did so on his Web site.

The official announcement will come in Kentucky where he'll be in a fancy hotel there, a big, famous hotel, and he'll announce it to the country, but Rand Paul has already announced it on his Web site. He said, I am running for president. We'll talk -- actually, do we have Dana Bash now? We do have Dana Bash.

So, Dana, tell us more.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, when it comes to the potential candidates in the Republican field, I think it's fair to say that Rand Paul has been the least coy about his plans for 2016. Pretty much since he got into the Senate five years ago he's made it pretty clear that he is very likely to do exactly what he's doing today, which he'll do in this press conference or this big announcement speech here. And I'll tell you more about that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In a matter of hours the fate of ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez will be in the jury's hand. Court resuming just moments ago.

[09:15:00] Both the prosecution and defense will each have 90 minutes to make their final appeals. The road to closing arguments drastically differed with the prosecution presenting 132 witnesses and testimony lasting for more than nine weeks. The defense calling only three people and resting in less than one day.

Susan Candiotti is following the trial from outside of the courtroom.

Susan, tell us more. Good morning.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

As a matter of fact, right now those closings have begun. They are underway with the defense going first followed by prosecutors who get the final word.

Now as you said, the defense may have had a short case, but it's pretty normal, very normal, in fact, for them to make their main case during a very tough cross examination of all those prosecution witnesses, mainly arguing that the evidence was handled in a sloppy way and challenging, for example, that Glock, that grainy video that we see of Aaron Hernandez holding a black object in his hands. Prosecutors saying it is a Glock. The defense saying, no, it wasn't, it was just an iPad.

Prosecutors even giving immunity to the fiancee of Aaron Hernandez, Shayanna Jenkins, who takes the stand to say that he ordered her to remove a box from the basement a day after Odin Lloyd is killed. However, the defense got her to say she smelled marijuana in that black thrash in the box, and there's no word of what happened to the murder weapon.

Prosecutors arguing that Aaron Hernandez is the one who organized and orchestrated the plot to kill Odin Lloyd, picking him up driving him to his death in the industrial park. The defense saying that it was the two other codefendants who were being tried separately who were high on angel dust trying to shift the blame to them.

Throughout, Carol, Aaron Hernandez's demeanor in court has been very serious. When the cameras are not rolling and the jury is not in court, we see him swagger into court and frankly smiling a lot at relatives who are occasionally there and laughing with his jurors.

So, we really have been seeing two different sides of him. But now, it will be up to the jury to decide whether the prosecution has met its burden of proof -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Susan Candiotti reporting live for us this morning -- thank you. And keep it here on CNN. Our special report "Downward Spiral: Inside

the Case Against Aaron Hernandez" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Five years after he burst onto the national political stage as part of what he calls a Tea Party tidal wave, Rand Paul is ready to call the White House home. In just a few hours in Louisville, Kentucky, the junior senator is expected to speak after announcing his 2016 presidential bid on his Web site moments ago. A recent CNN poll showing Paul in third place among Republican voters trailing Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.

So, what does Paul need to say to pull voters into his camp?

Joining me now from Louisville, our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

And Rand Paul's goal is to show that he's not your average politician. One of the ways he's doing that is with one of his first campaign posters. If you check it out, it looks familiar. It means that you've probably been to the eye doctor.

And that's the point. He was trying to remind people he was an ophthalmologist for 20 years before he ran for the Senate, as you said, five years ago, proof, he says, that he's not your average politician.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: It's time for a new president.

BASH (voice-over): In this preview video, Rand Paul unveiled a new tag line for his emerging presidential campaign. Standing up to the Washington machine put Paul on the political map five years ago when the first-time candidate snatched his Senate seat from the GOP establishment.

PAUL: There's a Tea Party tidal wave.

BASH: The Libertarian Kentucky senator quickly bucked the president and his own Republican leadership, grabbing headlines with a 13-hour filibuster protesting the U.S. drone policy.

PAUL: I will speak as long as it takes.

BASH: Paul argues he's more electable than other Tea Party candidates like Ted Cruz, citing his work reaching out to minorities.

PAUL: The biggest mistake we've made in the last several decades is we haven't gone into the African-American community.

BASH: The Senate is his first elected post, but Paul has politics in his blood. PAUL: Ron Paul believes in the Constitution, that there are checks

and balances.

BASH: Spending years campaigning for his father, former congressman and presidential candidate, Ron Paul.

Rand Paul is inheriting legions of his father's young anti-government supporters for his own White House run now.

PAUL: The phone records of law abiding citizens are none of their damn business.

BASH: But his father's appeal had limits. For Paul to win, he knows he has to move more mainstream, especially on foreign policy. Paul used to sound isolationist, calling for broad cuts in military spending and all foreign aid.

[09:20:02] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Including the foreign aid to Israel as well, is that right?

PAUL: Yes.

BASH: But with ISI and other emerging threats, GOP primary voters want a more muscular foreign policy and Paul has been inching that way.

PAUL: Stronger, better, more agile military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: In fact, Paul has now proposed an increase in military spending and he is as part of his announcement tour going to appear in front of the USS Yorktown, an historic aircraft carrier in South Carolina.

But, Carol, South Carolina may be a tough hill to climb. But early states like New Hampshire for a libertarian, it has a "live free or die" motto, he could do well there. Caucus states, Iowa, also Nevada, those historically have been pretty good to the Paul family because they are very good at organizing and that matters big time in caucus states. Rand Paul is going to hit all of those states this week -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Dana, I'm just curious what role if any will Ron Paul play in his son's announcement today?

BASH: Very interesting. As I mentioned in the piece, it's kind of a complicated relationship, politically that is. He's going to be on the stage at the moment they bring his entire family up on stage. But he's not going to have a speaking role, and that really signifies the delicate balance that Rand Paul tries to have, not alienating his legion of supporters, very enthusiastic supporters, but also showing that he is not his father when it comes to a lot of issues, especially foreign policy -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Dana Bash reporting live from Louisville, Kentucky, this morning. Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Yemen in flames as the war torn nation teeters on the brink of chaos, as Saudi ground invasion is looking increasingly likely.

CNN's Nic Robertson live on the Saudi/Yemen border with more -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, airstrikes, Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen today killing several school children. We'll have more on that in a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:33] COSTELLO: Yemen is fast ascending into chaos. Fighting has killed an estimated 600 people there in the last few weeks. The Red Cross reports city streets are, quote, "strewn with dead bodies." And UNICEF says, of those killed, 74 were children.

Despite crippling Saudi-led airstrikes, a ground invasion is looking increasingly likely. And Pakistan says Saudi Arabia has asked for war planes, warships, and soldiers to assist their fight against Houthi forces in Yemen.

Nic Robertson is CNN senior international correspondent. He's live at the Saudi/Yemen border with more. Hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, when you hear those requests coming from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, it certainly sounds like the ground troop invasion is not off the table. That's -- excuse me. That is what Saudi politicians here continue to say.

The airstrikes having questionable effect on the ground. Overnight, there were heavy airstrikes, Saudi coalition led airstrikes against Houthi airstrikes around the port city of Aden. Now, there was a lot of fighting there yesterday. More than 50 people were killed there yesterday we were told, however, those airstrikes overnight may have had some impact. We're told that the city was quieter today and for the first time, people in some districts of Aden were actually able to get out of their houses to try to get food and water, but that's in short supply.

The Red Cross trying to get two flights into the country. They believe they have permission for those to bring surgical professionals into the country, an 11-man team they hope to bring in tomorrow. The day after, more medical supplies.

But the news coming a couple of hours ago here that a Saudi coalition- led airstrike involving six aircraft we believe were dropping bombs on a Houthi ammunition dump, an old military base in the town of Ibb in the sort of center south of the country. It was right by a school. It was close to lunchtime.

The school was hit in that strike. Three children killed. Six injured. Of course, the children's U.N. agency, UNICEF, saying that children continue to be caught up in this fight -- 74 killed so far, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic, we were intrigued that Saudi Arabia reached out to Pakistan. So, that's yet another country that's going to be involved in this wider fight.

ROBERTSON: Sure. I mean, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have historic ties. There's this understanding in Saudi Arabia that the Pakistan military owe Saudi Arabia big favors so that they can lean on them as allies when they need military support in the past.

Pakistan gets a lot of development and money aid from Saudi Arabia. There's a lot of potential leverage there the Saudis want to exploit that. But they will certainly look to the Pakistan military and are doing it for the type of assets you need for a sustained campaign. That's the analysis here.

You know, it's such a complex fight in Yemen at the moment. It may be easy going in militarily if you choose the right route on the ground and you go in where you know you've got friends on the ground. But what do you do then and when you get involved in that complex fight, how do you get yourself out of it and how do you achieve your aim?

So, a long-term ground incursion, that could well involve all -- stretching all of Saudi's allies including Pakistan, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from the Saudi/Yemen border -- thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: jury deliberations going on in the Boston bomber trial. Will the admitted bomber get the death penalty? We'll talk about that, next.

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