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Bail for Pistorius; Interview with Mike Blasky; States of Emergency in Kansas and Missouri; Arias on Stand; Sequestration One Week Away

Aired February 22, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, everyone. I'm Christine Romans in for Ashleigh Banfield.

The "Blade Runner" walks for now, a bombshell ruling in a marathon announcement from Pretoria.

She squirms, she smirks, she tries to stick to her story, Jodi Arias, cross-examined in her ex-'s grisly murder.

And pole position doesn't equal victory, but two days away from an historic Daytona 500, Danica Patrick's on a roll.

Oscar Pistorius is getting out on bail. The "Blade Runner" will walk out of a courthouse today after days of uncertainty. His bond has been set at $1 million South Africa rand, cash. That's about $112,000.

Pistorius can't return to his house. He must report every Monday and Friday to a police station. He must avoid witnesses, and he's got to surrender his passport and he can't go near an airport.

The magistrate took two hours to explain his decision and why he doesn't consider Pistorius a flight risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESMOND NAIR, CHIEF MAGISTRATE (voice-over): It may not necessarily be the case that he is now committed to face 15 years imprisonment or life imprisonment.

I cannot find that the accused -- or, I cannot find that it has been established that the accused is a flight risk or that that ground has been established that seeks -- or that is needed to be established.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Our Robyn Curnow is live from Pretoria, South Africa.

Robyn, tell us what happened in that court today. Are people happy with this bail decision? ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the one person who is happy who walked past us just a few minutes ago was his lawyer, Barry Roux. We managed to get a comment from him.

My colleague, Nic Robertson, asked him, are you pleased? And he said, yes, I am pleased.

There was one other bail condition, quite a strange one I suppose, is that he is not allowed to drink alcohol.

And Nic put it to Mr. Roux, Oscar Pistorius' lawyer, what about that bail condition that he's not allowed to drink alcohol? And he said, you know, that's fine. Oscar doesn't drink.

Now, I'm hearing in my ear that you're bringing up pictures that we shot just a short moment ago. These are the pictures of Oscar Pistorius leaving the magistrate's court here.

He's in a silver Land Rover. The windows are tinted. You can probably see our cameraman trying to get a shot.

We get that few brief seconds. Oscar is in the back seat, swashed in the middle between two people. In the passenger seat, his uncle, Albert, as he makes his way out of the Pretoria traffic jam that is on the street from where we are coming live.

So, he makes his bid for freedom, essentially. He is released from bail. He's not allowed to go to the house where the crime took place.

He has a few other houses, but I get a sense from his family from speaking to them in court that they are going to very protect him in these coming months.

I don't think he's going to be left alone. I think many people close to him are worried about his emotional state.

So, unclear where Oscar Pistorius went in that Land Rover, but it's no doubt somewhere where he is going to be safe. protected from his family.

And I think many people also today, when you talk about reaction, don't forget Reeva Steenkamp. And I think this country is very much dividing along the lines of "for Oscar" and "against Oscar."

Many of these people behind me have been saying that this is a travesty of justice, that he shouldn't have got bail. He's admitted to shooting her, that he should stay in jail until trial.

I think this is going to still be a hot topic of conversation and debate in South Africa.

ROMANS: And certainly, Robyn, when you look at those pictures of him leaving, very grimfaced men in that car, men and women, I think, in that car, far different from the first pictures we had of him when he was being arrested where he was hiding his face.

This is just the beginning, right? This was just the bail part of this. When does the trial start?

CURNOW: Absolutely. I mean, it's the beginning of a long ordeal, not just for Oscar's family, but also for Reeva's family.

I get a sense from legal expert that the earliest, the soonest we're going to see a trial by the end of the year, early next year. And that trial might take year. I mean, it could be at least another two years until there's any sense of his fate.

And you talk about looking drawn. I mean, I was just talking to my CNN producer, Diane McCarthy, who was in court today. We were outside doing lives all day. And she was describing words that he looks gaunt. He looks withdrawn. He looks isolated.

And many of the journalists and observers in court, and I noticed yesterday when I was in court, is that there's a sense that he looks like he's aged. He's got -- his hair seems to be going grayer and he's certainly lost weight. We know he hasn't been eating a lot.

This is a man coming to terms with the fact and the consequences, perhaps, of what he did on Valentine's Day morning.

ROMANS: All right, Robyn Curnow, thank you so much, Robyn.

CNN tonight, conflicting evidence, tearful admissions, shocking twists, this murder case has sparked worldwide intrigue and debate.

So, whose story do you believe? Watch the "AC 360" special, "Blade Runner -- Murder or Mistake," tonight at 10:00 Eastern on CNN.

A desperate search is under way for the person or persons responsible for a shooting and a fiery six vehicle wreck early yesterday on the Las Vegas Strip.

Two people died inside this fireball. One was 62-year-old cab driver Michael Bolden, his passenger also dead.

The taxi burst into flames when it was struck by a Maserati apparently fleeing a black Range Rover. That set off a violent reaction.

Here's what police think happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF DOUG GILLESPIE, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: What we believe at this time is the incident began as an altercation in the valet area of the Aria Hotel.

According to witness statements, shots were fired from the Range Rover at the Maserati.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Maserati driver was killed. He's been identified as rapper Kenneth Cherry, also known as "Kenny Clutch." A passenger in his car was hurt. Mike Blasky is a crime reporter with "The Las Vegas Review Journal." He joins me now on the phone.

Mike, you have a lot of new details today about what led up to this violent altercation. Fill us in with what you've learned.

MIKE BLASKY, "LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL" (via telephone): Hi, thanks for having me.

Well, we don't know exactly why this started, but we know where it started. It started in the valet parking lot of the Aria Hotel which is right there in the center of the action, and then continued on the streets of the Las Vegas Strip.

Both cars traveled north about a block where they crashed into the -- excuse me, the Maserati crashed into the cab.

What we're hearing now is that this Las Vegas rapper, "Kenny Clutch," also he went by his real name, Kenny Cherry, may have been involved in a dispute with another rival pimp in front of the Aria that morning, possibly stemming from some sort of dispute in a nightclub earlier that -- the previous evening.

ROMANS: How well known was Kenny Cherry in Las Vegas?

BLASKY (via telephone): Not really that well known, not -- especially not for his rapping.

If you look at his YouTube videos, they only have a few thousand views and they're -- they don't appear very expensive. I don't think that was how he was making his money.

The rumors and the allegations from his friends and from police even is that this -- he was making money as a pimp, and that might have been at least a reason for what happened that morning.

ROMANS: Have police spoken with the Maserati passenger?

BLASKY (via telephone): They have. They haven't released -- excuse me -- they released anything that the passenger may have told them. They're keeping everything very sensitive to the investigation, private as they look for this Range Rover.

That's been the primary focus of the Las Vegas metropolitan police department this last 24 hours or so.

They've wanted to get out the description of the car and put that as far as they can go. I know all the authorities in neighboring states have been alerted and they're all looking out for this Range Rover with the black rims and dealer plates.

ROMANS: It just almost disappeared after this. The Venetian surveillance camera caught it for a moment after the crash and then it was gone.

Mike Blasky from "The Las Vegas Review Journal," thank you. The huge snowstorm that buried the Midwest is now headed toward New England.

Yeah, bus service suspended in downtown Kansas City yesterday because of scenes just like that one. The city got more than a foot of snow.

Governors of both Kansas and Missouri declaring states of emergency.

Airports slowly getting back to normal today. This flight from Denver got bogged down after landing in Wichita, getting it unstuck took a while, but the passengers took it in stride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody was in really good spirits. We all chatted and had a good time. It got a little long, but for the most part everybody stayed in good spirits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By far, the most entertaining delay I've have ever had in my life. It's just been laughable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: For the latest on where the weather storm is now and who will get it, Karen Maginnis joins us from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta.

You see a passenger with a little baby stuck in an airport and you got to admire the smiles on their face.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And a very frustrating day.

And just when you think spring may be around the corner then you get one of these late winter storm systems that wallops the central Great Plains, it is now moving towards the Great Lakes, but it is not the system, it's a lesser system, than what we were looking at just 24 hours ago.

Look at these snowfall totals. I did see some isolated amounts in Kansas of 20 inches, but there in Nashville, Kansas, 18 inches, 14 inches in Wichita.

All right, here's that low area of pressure that we're watching, just kind of making its way into the Great Lakes region, Chicago, 3-, 4- inches of snowfall. Those were some of the latest amounts.

Well, this is going to continue to move up into Canada. We'll watch a secondary low pressure area develop off the coast of the Carolinas, but heavy, soaking rains all the way down towards Daytona, I hate to tell you, fans.

But let's look at some of the effects, or who enjoyed the snow the most. Take a look at this bull dog. This is from an iReporter coming out of Blue Springs, Missouri. Yeah, the dog is crazy going downhill. The owner, the iReporter, Karen, says that the dog just is absolutely obsessed with snowboarding, so one person had some fun.

We'll continue to update you on the storm system throughout the afternoon, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, and, Karen Maginnis, again, that snow is headed our way here in the Northeast. Thanks, Karen.

All right, the manhunt for cop-killer Christopher Dorner was set off by a tip from his mentor. Teresa Evans says it was a hunch and a long shot, but something told her the killings of an Orange County couple were payback after Dorner was fired from the LAPD. It was Evans who trained Dorner to be a cop.

Thirty-eight-thousand pounds of sausage are being recalled over fears it may contain small bits of plastic. Among the products Smithfield Packing Company is recalling, one-pound packages of Gwaltney mild, pork sausage roll with a use-by date of March 12. They were sold in 11 states and Washington, D.C.

Your morning cup of coffee's getting cheaper. Kraft Foods has lowered the price of Maxwell House coffee and some other brews by five-to-six percent. The new price applies to select ground and instant coffees. It follows a similar move by the maker of Folger's.

It is now legal to gamble online in Nevada. Governor Brian Sandoval signed the legislation after it was passed in both houses as an emergency measure. Lawmakers wanted to beat New Jersey of becoming the first state in the country to approve interstate online gambling.

The crime, the lies, the faulty memory now, Jodi arias is grilled under cross-examination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did you decide to tell the truth, when you're in this court and no place else? Is that what I'm hearing from you?

JODI ARIAS, ACCUSED MURDERER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just because you're in this court doesn't mean you have to tell the truth, I mean, that's what you're telling us, right?

ARIAS: That's not what I'm telling anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Our great legal minds, Judge Glenda Hatchett and Paul Callan, discuss the demeanor in the courtroom, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Those automatic federal spending cuts will begin kicking in one short week from today. Most lawmakers in both parties and the White House eager to find some alternative and most Americans agree: 54 percent, to be precise, according to a brand new Bloomberg survey. Forty percent say they're OK with taking $85 billion from a wide array of government departments through what's left of the fiscal year.

Eight grand a month for going to meetings that rarely if ever took place. A half dozen former city council members in the L.A. suburb of Bell, California, have been on trial for misappropriating more than $1 million in public funds. And their case could go to a jury as soon as today. The defense lawyers say the group really did do work and didn't know they were overpaid.

Prosecutors tore into Jodi Arias at her murder trial during cross- examination yesterday. They asked her how she could remember so many details about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, and she could remember so little about what happened when he was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: When did you decide to tell the truth, when you were in this court and no place else? Is that what I'm hearing from you?

JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: No.

MARTINEZ: Just because you're in this court doesn't mean you have to tell the truth. I mean, that's what you are telling us, right?

ARIAS: That's not what I'm telling anyone.

MARTINEZ: What factors influenced your having a memory problem?

ARIAS: Usually when men like you are screaming at me or grilling me, or someone like Travis doing the same.

MARTINEZ: So that affects your memory problems, right?

ARIAS: It does. It makes my brain scramble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Let's bring in TV judge, author, and former chief presiding judge at the Fulton County Georgia Juvenile Court, Judge Glenda Hatchett. Nice to see you. And CNN legal contributor Paul Callan.

He's really going after those apparent memory lapses, Judge Hatchett. What do you make of her?

GLENDA HATCHETT, EMMY-NOMINATED TV JUDGE: Well, I'll tell you it seems awfully convenient. I have presided over so many trials where there are so many details and all of a sudden the prosecutor gets up for cross-examination and they can't remember anything.

I do understand that there are traumatic things that may cause someone to lose their memory. But her whole demeanor is different now. I will tell you, I think the prosecutor is going to have a field day with her on cross-examination. I think credibility is a major point and I think the jury is going to start wondering is she telling the truth?

ROMANS: What do you think about her demeanor and how it has shifted, Paul?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think it shifted in a major way. I think back to when I was prosecuting murder cases and a lot of prosecutors when they go into a case like this, they've got very little to work with, no testimony on the record or anything. He's got days and days of her testimony on the stand, her demeanor now radically shifting to someone who's tough and she's fighting back with him.

ROMANS: Well, he's pushing her.

CALLAN: Well, he's pushing her buttons because he wants to show this jury that she's got a cold, hard, calculating side that was capable of planning this murder. And how convenient, you don't remember 27 stab wounds to this person that you killed? So I think he's doing a very, very good job on cross-examination.

ROMANS: You talked, Judge Hatchett, about her credibility. He went after her about her claim that Alexander broke her finger during an argument. Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINEZ: Put up your left hand. According to you, he kicked you and damaged your ring finger on the left hand, correct?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: And, in fact, you even held it up for us, didn't you?

ARIAS: Yes.

MARTINEZ: And it was crooked when you showed it to us, wasn't it?

ARIAS: It's bent, yes.

MARTINEZ: It's bent. Show us how bent it is again, ma'am. Higher so we can se it sideways.

Ma'am, if he caused that damage on January 22 of 2008, that would have been before this picture that we have here, which is Exhibit Number 453; it would've been about five months before that, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So he's really attacking her credibility here, isn't he, Judge?

HATCHETT: He is. And I will tell you, that's really been the risk that the defense counsel has taken on this case, because she was on the stand for so many days, day after day, day after day, with very intricate details that I would think would be impossible for somebody to recall.

And so the prosecutor has so much to work with now on cross- examination. And I think that's why the prosecution kind of took the laid back approach and not many objections, as people criticized him for. But I think that was part of the strategy, because now she has opened a door to just so much, and credibility is going to really be an issue here.

ROMANS: But you know, it's interesting how juries think. I mean, sometimes you just don't predict how a jury is going to think. And so, Paul, he's really pushing her, pushing her buttons, as you said. Is there a risk that he comes off as being kind of bullying to her and that that might be sympathetic to the jury?

CALLAN: Well, yes. There could be a risk. And I think one of the things a prosecutor has to rein himself in on in a case like this; he's got so much to work with, he could probably pound her for another five days. And if he did that it, may shift in her favor. So the idea is to get in, go after her, and do the knockout punch, the knockout blow, in a shorter period of time, and you'll show her up to the jury.

ROMANS: Thanks, Paul Callan and -- HATCHETT: Yes, I think it's wise to keep it succinct on this, I really do.

ROMANS: -- all right, and Judge Glenda Hatchett. Thanks.

Just a reminder, you can watch the Jodi Arias trial which resumes Monday on our sister networks, HLN, truTV's "In Session", or on CNN.com.

All right, you've seen her in the Go Daddy Super Bowl ads, but this weekend Danica Patrick is in the spotlight for speed. She won the pole, but can Danica win the Daytona 500?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's the biggest battle of the sexes since Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Danica Patrick taking on men of NASCAR in the Daytona 500 on Sunday. She's already made history, of course, becoming the first woman to win the coveted pole position. But there's a long road ahead, of course.

CNN's Joe Carter gets us up to speed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE CARTER, "BLEACHER REPORT" (voice-over): Patrick struggled in this spotlight last year, her first racing with NASCAR after seven seasons with Indycar. Just two laps into her debut at the Daytona 500, she crashed and finished 38. But now, after making history as the first woman to win pole position for this year's race, it's clear that her years of working to make it to the front row are paying off on the biggest stage. DEV PATRICK, DANICA PATRICK'S MOTHER: I think when you have a clear mind and you're happy in your personal life, everything shows. You can do your job well.

DANICA PATRICK, NASCAR DRIVER: I have a lot to learn, too. I understand that. I mean, I've got Jeff Gordon starting next to me, and I've got, oh my god, a herd of them behind me. So hopefully at the end of 500, we're rolling and we have a chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Joe Carter joins me fnow rom Daytona. Is the great American race Danica's to lose?

CARTER (on-camera): Hi Christine. You know, that's a tough question to answer, but I can tell you that her team, as well as Danica Patrick, feel like they're off to a great star. I mean, they feel like they couldn't have scripted a better start to win the pole on Sunday and then to preserve the car yesterday in the duels. Excuse the noise, we're in the middle of a late morning practice session. But for her team to now start Sunday in the front row, they couldn't have scripted a better start.

And you've go to keep in mind, too, that Danica Patrick is a rookie. I mean, this is her first season at NASCAR's highest level. She raced ten races at this level last year, her best finish being 17th. So she has a tremendous amount of inexperience, obviously, and with all the attention she has gotten this last week, of course she has the pressure that follows.

And then you add on top of that, 42 other drivers that look across their car and value her as a legitimate, competitive threat, Christine.

ROMANS: How are all the other drivers reacting to all the attention, though, being centered on Danica Patrick? It's an already very popular sport. It's not like she's shining a light on something people don't know about, but she is really taking a lot of the spotlight.

CARTER: She is. And you know, we call it the Danica Effect. It's kind of like what Tiger does for the PGA, what Oprah did for companies and for books. When Danica does well in NASCAR, the sport does better. Obviously, more people watch NASCAR, more people attend the track, more people are interested in the sport altogether.

So Danica has an effect not only inside the track but also outside the track, and so the drivers, they are feeling -- at least the people that we've talked to -- say whatever is good for NASCAR, is good for the sport, is good for us. We'll take the positive feedback and we'll take more fans.

And if there's any indication of how popular Danica has become over the last week, earlier in the week, Jeff Gordon, who's won at this racetrack three times before, his little five-year-old daughter, Ella, wanted to take a picture with Danica Patrick only because she had won the pole and she didn't know that Danica could actually race with guys. So she had said to her father, "I didn't even know, Dad, that girls could race with boys," until Danica had won that pole. So she's opening up a whole new fan base out there.

Christine?

ROMANS: That's cool. All right, Joe Carter on a very difficult assignment for the weekend, clearly. Thanks, Joe.

All right, Oscar Pistorius, the Blade Runner, released on bail with strict guidelines. Our legal experts discuss the pros and the cons next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's the classic story of David versus Goliath. Three independent bookstores are suing Amazon and the so called Big Six publishing houses. The brick and mortar shops accuse Amazon of violating antitrust laws and trying to keep small sellers out of the ebook market.

The former Illinois cop who was convicted last fall of murdering his third ex-wife will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Drew Peterson was sentenced yesterday to 38 years, minus 4 already served, for the 2004 death of Kathleen Savio.