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Weekend Early Start

Obama Boosts Key Allies in Mideast; Teens Charged in Baby's Murder; The Week That Was; Bleacher Report; Supreme Court to Hear Gay Marriage Case; Jodi Arias Trial Recap

Aired March 23, 2013 - 06:00   ET

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


VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is EARLY START WEEKEND.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

The lights are on now, but for -- not for long. Several of the nation's control towers getting the axe all thanks to Washington.

BLACKWELL: A Georgia mom says two kids tried to rob her and then they did the unthinkable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRY WEST, MOTHER: All of a sudden he walked over and he shot my baby right in the face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Wow. Now two arrests in this small southern town.

ROMANS: Also, she can sing, she can stretch, she can even do head stands. But why in the world did Jodi Arias do all of this during a police interrogation?

It's Saturday morning, March 23rd. Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans in today.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's great to have you with us. It's great to have you with us.

ROMANS: It's nice to be here. Nice to sit with you this morning.

First up, it's been a long time coming, but just about an hour ago, yes, at 5:00 a.m., at 5:00 a.m. the Democrat-controlled Senate passed its first budget in four years. It took a marathon overnight vote-o- rama to get this done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The yeas are 50, the nays are 49. And the concurrent resolution is agreed to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Move to reconsider.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lay it on the table. Madame President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Senate has passed a budget.

Madame President --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Senate has passed a budget, Victor. That's something we haven't been able to say in about four years.

BLACKWELL: They kind of dragged through it like, Madame President --

ROMANS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Because they're tired. They are tired.

ROMANS: They are tired. All night long the Democratic-sponsored measured squeaked by on party lines, winning by just one vote, 50 to 49. It calls for a trillion dollars in tax increases over the next decade and some spending reductions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Over the last two decades, the average budget resolution considered 78 amendments. We've done 101. The average vote-a-rama, 35 amendments. We've done 70. Twice as many. Doing this has been a herculean feat.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I know everyone is exhausted and you may not feel it at the moment, but this is one of the Senate's finest day in recent years. And I commend everyone who has participated in this extraordinary debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Senate's non-binding plan will now go up against the House Republican's plan which calls for many more spending cuts, of course. Neither of these bills is likely to make it to President Obama's desk, but they do set the stage for talks.

BLACKWELL: Well, speaking of President Obama, he's wrapping up his visit to the Middle East. In a few fours, he'll board Air Force One and head home. Now, the final stop on his trip after Israel and the West Bank, Jordan. One of Washington's closest allies in the region. And CNN's chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin is traveling with the president. As she reports, the president's visit comes at a critical moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The final stop in the president's hopscotch around a region in tumult, a visit with Jordon's King Abdullah.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The thing I mainly remember when I came here was that his majesty was kind enough to personally drive me to the airport. I won't tell you how fast he was going, but Secret Service, I don't think, could keep up.

YELLIN: Close U.S. ally, Jordan's king is facing new strain. Political pressure as one of the only royals still standing after the Arab Spring, and economic troubles made worse with more than 400,000 Syrian refugees fleeing to safety here. So, President Obama jetted to Amman to show support, but he arrived late, delayed by a sandstorm earlier in the day.

OBAMA: The (INAUDIBLE) delay, but we ended up having a dust storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

OBAMA: We had to drive (INAUDIBLE).

YELLIN: To the kingdom of Jordon, he announced an additional $200 million of U.S. aid. To the world, he promised an end to Assad's slaughter.

OBAMA: And I'm confident that Assad will go. It's not a question of if, it's when.

YELLIN: But asked how that will happen, he struck a defensive note.

OBAMA: It's fair to say that the United States often finds itself in a situation where if it goes in military, then it's criticized for going in militarily. And if it doesn't go in militarily, then people say, why don't you doing something militarily?

YELLIN: Action proved easier in Israel, where the president scored a diplomatic coo (ph), arranging a detente between the prime ministers of Israel and Turkey, former allies whose three year stand-off has had ripples effects across the region.

OBAMA: During my visit, it appeared that the timing was good for that conversation to take place. I discussed it with Prime Minister Netanyahu and both of us agreed that the moment was right. And, fortunately, they were able to begin the process of rebuilding normal relations between two very important countries in the region.

YELLIN (on camera): Turning back to the slaughter in Syria. Jordon's King Abdullah had previously offered Syria's Assad asylum here in Jordon, but when asked if that offer still stands, he did not renew that pledge.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, traveling with the president in Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: In other news, a 10-year-old boy is dead this morning. At least one other person clinging to life after a display sign fell on them in an airport in Birmingham, Alabama. Our affiliate WIAT reports that the sign, which displays arrivals and departures, fell on the child, his mother and three siblings. The mother is in critical condition this morning. Injuries to the other kids are not known at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SNYDER, EYEWITNESS: The family was crushed. The little kids crushed under the sign. And everybody was scattering to lift it up. I helped lift it up and helped pull people out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The accident happened in a new section of the Birmingham- Shuttlesworth Airport that opened this month. Investigators now trying to figure out why that sign fell.

BLACKWELL: The forced spending cuts. They are kicking in. It's forcing the FAA to close air traffic control towers at 149 regional airports across the country. Although that's 40 fewer than initially thought. The shutdowns, which start next month, will save the FAA $637 million. But a lot of controllers say they're worried about safety with fewer working towers. To see a full list of which air towers are closing, go to cnn.com.

Police say a French passenger failed to get a business class seat, but instead succeeded in entering the cockpit while posing as a pilot. But he never took off. Police arrested the 61-year-old retired winemaker at the Philadelphia Airport. Now, investigators say he warn an Air France uniform and badge, but the crew could tell something was off since he didn't know how to strap himself into the jump seat. That's the seat behind the pilot. Now, police say the fake pilot said he, quote, "hated Americans," but there's no signs so far his act is linked to terrorism. He's being held on $1 million bond.

ROMANS: In Georgia, a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old are in custody. They're charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 13-month-old boy. The boy's mother says she was pushing him in a stroller Thursday morning when two you men approached her and demanded money. But the aunt of the older suspect, De'Marquis Elkins, says her nephew couldn't have been there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATRINA FREEMAN, SUSPECT DE'MARQUIS ELKINS' AUNT: I am devastated. I'm sad because they got the wrong person. I hate what happened to that baby, because know baby deserved to go through that. But at the same time, they taking someone to jail that is innocent. I am 100 percent positive that De'Marquis Elkins was not at that crime scene. He was at my residence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Our Nick Valencia is in the small town of Brunswick this morning.

Nick, have police responded to that woman's claim? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Police have not responded to that specific claim, but after the press conference yesterday, I asked the police, how could you be so sure that you got the right guys? As you remember, the mother was the only eyewitness to what happened. Now police said the arrest came as a result of the physical description given to them by the mother. They also -- this is an interesting point -- cross-referenced area schools with the attendance records of who was missing that day. You mentioned, Christine, that this is a very small town. Only about 15,000 people. It's a type of place where everyone knows everyone.

Now, we stopped at a gas station on the way in this morning to get the morning paper and I asked the gas attendant, you know, what do you think? Do you think that they got the right guys? He said, this is a small town. Not only am I positive, I'm sure that they got the right guys. I mean so people here are very much so talking and confidence that the arrests were the right ones.

ROMANS: Oh, it just -- when you see the picture of that little baby, it just breaks your heart.

VALENCIA: Yes.

ROMANS: But, you know, I understand that helicopters, police dogs, they were used to search for these suspects. What else do we know about how police tracked them down?

VALENCIA: Well, as I mentioned, they used those area schools. They cross-referenced attendance records. We were there yesterday at the corner of London and Ellis (ph), where this tragic travesty happened at about 9:30 Thursday morning. And they were using K-9 police dogs going up and down the block to search for any signs of the suspects. What confused police the most, though, Christine, is that there were no eyewitnesses. People reported hearing those gunshots, but no one saw anything.

Thankfully, though, this community is just shocked by what happened, but thankfully there is some sort of resolution. This is bittersweet in a sense for the family. I spoke to the father yesterday after the arrest. In fact, I was the one to tell him the name of one of the older suspects. He doesn't have a TV, so he was aware that the arrests were coming, he just didn't know who they were. And he told me, I'm hanging in here. He said, you know, it's bittersweet for him. Sweet because they have arrests, but bitter because they're without their 13-month-old.

ROMANS: Right.

VALENCIA: This is -- this is so tragic for the family. They're really going to miss young Antonio Angel Santiago. He was just starting to form his personality. And as the headline reads this morning, I mean this is how the community feels for the family, they're just -- they're just devastated.

Christine. ROMANS: Right. And the two -- and the two suspects are, of course, innocent until proven guilty. There will be court proceedings from here. Do they have the murder weapon?

VALENCIA: No, they don't have the murder weapon. They also don't have a clear motive. Now, if you remember, the mother had been saying that these two suspects, these two young boys, had come up to try to rob her. That was not cooperated (ph) by police during their two press conferences yesterday. They said this is still an open investigation. They still don't have a clear motive. They're waiting to find that out. And they're also looking for the weapon. They also don't know how these suspects got their hands on the weapon. So we'll be getting those details later this morning hopefully, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nick Valencia. Thank you, Nick.

BLACKWELL: Just heartbreaking.

ROMANS: Uh-huh.

BLACKWELL: I covered that town for four years, and it's a quaint little town, very tight-knit, but, you know, 13-months old. The mom said that she tried to perform CPR. The lungs were expanding, but the child just didn't recover.

All along the East Coast -- now I didn't see it because I was asleep getting ready for this show --

ROMANS: Me too.

BLACKWELL: A bright streaking fireball caught people's attention last night. Look at this. It's captured by a dash cam. Look right in the center there. Got a circle around it to help you. This is in Washington. And experts say it was probably a meteor.

ROMANS: The flash lasted several seconds. But because it happened around 8:00 Eastern, it also lit up social media with sightings reported from Florida to Quebec. And I, you know, I noticed this morning all the people talking about, did you see the meteor, did you see the meteor? Very interesting.

BLACKWELL: No, we were asleep. We didn't see it.

ROMANS: No.

BLACKWELL: And just ahead, a new look for some drivers licenses in North Carolina after the state faces some pretty intense criticism.

ROMANS: Plus, Major League Basketball is suing this Florida clinic accused of giving performance enhancing drugs to A-Rod. We've got the inside story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back. Boeing is announcing some major layoffs in its Seattle area factories. They're eliminating approximately 800 employees from its 787 and 747 programs by the end of this year. Boeing says that these reductions have been expected and come as production is streamlined. It adds that an additional 500 jobs will be reassigned within the company.

North Carolina is announcing a new look for licenses issued to some undocumented immigrants. The licenses will look like the one you're seeing right here. Very similar to traditional licenses but will carry the words "legal presence, now lawful status." North Carolina drew fire over its original licenses which had a pink stripe across the card, so critics compared that to a scarlet letter -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: A little late for Li Lo, Christine. A home somewhere over the rainbow. And the Tiger is not on the prowl, for now. It's all part of "The Week That Was."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Tiger Woods and skier Lindsey Vonn are officially an item.

JIMMY KIMMEL, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": It's nice to see Tiger with a woman whose not holding a Waffle House menu or a subpoena for the change.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: That's why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples.

CRAIG FERGUSON, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON": Now she faces her greatest challenge yet, getting her husband to support a straight marriage.

KIMMEL: Lindsey Lohan showed up nearly an hour late for the case. You know what she really needs to steal is a watch.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Lilo, a little late. Hillary on human rights. And the motorcade that can't get motoring. Um. Uh-oh. This is not good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It's driver filled up using regular gas instead of diesel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, this is kind of embarrassing.

BLACKWELL: Secret Service later denied that claim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine times out of 10, somebody else did it.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Tiger is an incredibly private athlete.

BLACKWELL: I wouldn't go that far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Facebook official, Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn are dating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They made it Facebook official, if you want to call it that.

KIMMEL: And the best way to keep your relationship private is to post about it on Facebook.

BLACKWELL: The two have known each other for some time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just today he took her home to meet his other girlfriends.

CLINTON: I suppose marriage for lesbian and gay couples.

BLACKWELL: Whoa, what?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN: Hillary Clinton has come out in support of same- sex marriage.

BLACKWELL: Wait. Why now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fueling speculation that she will run for president.

BLACKWELL: Ah.

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: For every gay couple in the country that gets married, she'll give them free pants suits.

BLACKWELL: Every gay couple, however, will not get one of these.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is brand new, gay pride rainbow house --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Across the street from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.

BLACKWELL: Who?

JEANNIE MOOS, CNN, (voice-over): You know, the group that's always calling gays the "f" word.

BLACKWELL: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything worse than fighting neighbors?

BLACKWELL: That's putting it mildly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Kate, Jake Davis in (INAUDIBLE) --

BLACKWELL: Did you see this video of the teen in L.A. asking supermodel Kate Upton to prom? Well, not only did he get a Twitter response from her?

MOOS: How could I turn down that video. I'll check my schedule.

BLACKWELL: "The Today Show" also put the nervous teenager on the phone with her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Kate. BLACKWELL: If she says yes, he promises to keep her out all night. Well, you know, sort of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll love it. (INAUDIBLE) my curfew.

BLACKWELL: Lindsay Lohan was back in court this week.

KIMMEL: She does this on the third weekend of every month.

BLACKWELL: And she was almost an hour late.

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Who in their right mind would schedule a Lindsay Lohan court appearance for the morning after St. Patrick's Day? Come on.

BLACKWELL: But she got there and she copped a plea to charges of reckless driving and lying to police.

KIMMEL: And she'll be forced to watch the TV movie "Liz and Dick (ph)" in its entirety.

BLACKWELL: And that's a look at "The Week That Was."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: I don't know, I go back, Victor, to the kid who's asking Kate Upton to his prom and I think about all the other girls at that prom who now could have to have all the paparazzi and Kate Upton --

BLACKWELL: Yes, because it is about the girls. I mean --

ROMANS: It is -- well, from my perspective it's all about the girls.

BLACKWELL: Well, it is. From our perspective, too. It has nothing to do with us. We just have to match whatever you choose.

ROMANS: Where's your corsage this morning?

BLACKWELL: I know.

ROMANS: I need a nice purple on there.

BLACKWELL: Well, I'll find something.

ROMANS: All right. So have you be catching any of these wild March Madness basketball games?

BLACKWELL: Oh, wait until we talk about these brackets, who's at the top, who's at the bottom. We'll talk about this --

ROMANS: Wait, who's at the top? Wait, who's at the top?

BLACKWELL: No, we'll talk about it -- we'll talk about it in a minute. She's been bragging all morning. We're going to talk about these upsets.

ROMANS: It's called trash talk.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ROMANS: I've been trash talking all morning.

BLACKWELL: And I'm in no place to trash talk because I'm at the bottom. Highlights and more from the big dance, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, time to talk basketball. Day two of the big dance is in the books and the upsets keep on coming. Andy Scholes joins us with more on today's "Bleacher Report."

Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Yes, good morning, Christine.

Well, this is one of the craziest first two days of basketball and tournament history. Thursday we saw the ivy leagues, Harvard, take down New Mexico. But the biggest upset of round two belongs to 15th seed Florida Gulf Coast as they shocked the word last night by beating two seed Georgetown. And you may have never heard of Florida Gulf Cost before. That's because they're so new that this is only the second year they've been eligible for the tournament. But the Eagles didn't play like newcomers. The Atlantic Sun Conference champions went on a 21-2 run to pull away from (INAUDIBLE) in the second half and they never looked back. The Eagles won 78-68, became just the seventh 15th seed to beat a two seed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNARD THOMPSON, FLORIDA GULF COAST: We just came out there and we just played -- played our hearts out. We know it's win or go home from here. So we just had a great feeling. Just excited. I don't really know what to do still with myself, so --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Well, if your bracket was bad after the Gulf Coast win, it probably only got worse after 13 seed La Salle beat four seed Kansas State. The Explorers, who had to win a (INAUDIBLE) game to get to this point, outscored the Wildcats by 18 in the first half and were able to hold on for the win. This result coupled with the Florida Gulf Coast win left zero perfect brackets out of the over 8 million that were filled out on ESPN.

And the action continues this afternoon with round three. We'll see if Hartford can keep their Cinderella run alive as they play Arizona. Another one to keep an eye on is top seeded Gonzaga versus Wichita State.

Well, the Heat streak continues. LeBron James poured in 29 points last night as Miami took down the Detroit Pistons 103-89 for their 25th consecutive win. The Heat are now just eight wins away from tying the '71-'72 Lakers for the longest winning streak in NBA history. They'll host the lowly Bobcats on Sunday. And for more of the Heat's record streak, check out bleacherreport.com.

And, guys, I'm sure you'll all be talking about it a lot at the desk over there. Christine in first place right now amongst CNN anchors. Victor not doing as well.

BLACKWELL: Not nearly.

ROMANS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Nearly as well.

ROMANS: Andy, but God love you for bringing it up for me so early on a Saturday morning.

SCHOLES: You're welcome.

ROMANS: I'm going to -- I'm going to enjoy it while it last.

BLACKWELL: Apparently everybody's going to do it this morning. Everybody will bring it up.

ROMANS: Thanks, Andy.

BLACKWELL: Hey, here's a question, a serious question, here. Does it violate the Constitution for voters to ban gay couples from marrying? That's the question facing the Supreme Court this week. And some people are already lining up outside the court to hear the debate. We'll take a look ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's 30 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.

BLACKWELL: Thanks for starting your day with us. I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five stories we're watching this morning.

First up, this really bizarre story. Philadelphia Police say this retired winemaker from France posed as a pilot and walked into the cockpit of a flight as passengers were boarding. Investigators say he wore clothing with an Air France logo and he had a badge and tried at least to buckle into a seat behind the real pilots.

Officers say the man was upset after his request to upgrade his seat was turned down. Now, they say the man was not drunk but it appeared he had been drinking.

ROMANS: Bizarre story.

Investigators say they are trying to see if the dead ex-con possibly linked to the murder of Colorado's prison chief had any involvement in the murder of a Texas prosecutor in January. Evan Ebel was a former member of a white supremacist prison gang. Police say the probe into whether he was connected to the death in Texas is "routine investigative work" since the two cases do have similarities. Ebel died after a shootout and car chase with Texas police on Thursday. An airport flight display board collapses killing a ten-year-old boy, critically injuring his mother. It happened in a new section of the Birmingham-Shuttleworth Airport in Alabama. WIAT reports the board fell on the boy, his mom and three siblings as the father was checking into their flight. Injuries to the other kids are not known as this point.

BLACKWELL: So, it's Saturday, but the post office's plans to stop delivering letters on Saturday, this plan are hitting a snag. The U.S. Government accountability office says, mail must be delivered six days a week, must be delivered. It made the statement in a legal opinion. Now, the post office insists it's not really ending six day mail service, that it will still deliver packages. It also said, it does not expect a legal fight.

ROMANS: All right. President Obama is wrapping up his four day trip to the Middle East and will be heading home in just a few hours. He made stops in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. The president was on something of a charm offense there. He called on Israel to re-start direct talks with the Palestinians and helped broker an apology from Israel to Turkey over a deadly commando raid.

BLACKWELL: On Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear arguments on California's controversial Prop 8. This is the ban on gay marriage voters approved. Now, some of the most influential voices in California understandably are Hollywood stars and a lot of them have come out in favor of same-sex marriage. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD PITT, ACTOR: What makes this nation great is our freedoms and the idea of equality.

LADY GAGA, POP ARTIST: We must demand full equality for all.

MATT DAMON, ACTOR: That's about time the Supreme Court weighed in on it and, you know, hopefully they will come down in favor of it.

JULIE BOWEN, ACTRESS: Absolutely will be done this week. I just can't even imagine anything else. To me it's an embarrassment that it has not already been done.

JANE LYNCH, ACTRESS: You know the thing is that the march towards history always leading - I'm quoting Martin Luther King here, it always leads towards equality and I think I just terribly paraphrased that, but that's what we are hoping for here.

LANCE BASS, SINGER: I think it's you know, it's definitely going to be overturned I hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Even after Tuesday's oral arguments we likely won't get a ruling - another ruling for months, but look at this, more than a dozen people are already in line outside the Supreme Court to hear this historic debate. There are only 250 seats for the general public. Remember, no cameras. It's expected to be a packed courthouse.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely. And it's so much anticipation because the case has had a long and complicated path to the Supreme Court. CNN's Joe Johns explains from Washington.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christine, the battle over same-sex marriage has been going on for years in California and it has finally arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court. We talked to one of the couples involved in the case who win or lose have already assured themselves a small place in history with their legal challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Paul Katami is a fitness instructor and personal trainer.

PAUL KATAMI: How are you feeling?

JOHNS: Jeff Zarrillo, manager of Cineplex. They are two of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court battle over marriage equality.

JEFF ZARRILLO: The biggest was probably the fact that we can't get married and we love each other.

JOHNS: Jeff and Paul say they never thought they would become the face of gay marriage, but their fight to put an end to California's Proposition 8 started when Jeff saw this antigay marriage video, which used actors telling stories based on real incidents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm part of a New Jersey church group punished by the government because we can't support same sex marriage.

JOHNS: Jeff sent it to Paul.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a Massachusetts parent, helplessly watching public schools teach my son that gay marriage is OK.

JOHNS: Just to get a reaction.

ZARRILLO: And sure enough, when I finally got him to launch it, he stood up off the couch and he did, he stood off of the couch and said we have to do something.

JOHNS: What they ended up doing was producing a response video called "Weathering the Storm."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A storm has arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Created with lies and misrepresentations.

KATAMI: I think we ended up being in the legal case because we were loud mouths about how Prop 8 really, you know, again defined the damage that we felt.

JOHNS: Debate over same-sex marriage has gone back and forth in California. June 2008, a court decision made it legal, that November proposition 8 voters eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry, then in 2010 federal court started declaring the ban unconstitutional. One issue was whether a state can still ban gay marriage if it's already agreed that gay relationships and straight relationships generally deserve the same treatment. The dividing line is whether marriage between a man and woman is unique because of procreation.

AUSTIN NIMOCKS, ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND: We have marriage laws because every child has a mom and a dad, and marriage legally binds together mothers and fathers to each other and to the children that will come forth from their union.

JOHNS: Gay marriage supporters say that view is too narrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being married, it means a lot more than just procreation, as our opponents refer to it. It's a public show of love and commitment, it's a declaration of love.

JOHNS: Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami live together, but they say they never signed up for California's domestic partnership because they say they don't see it as the same as marriage.

ZARRILLO: The term marriage is important. It has global recognition. Noone celebrates a domestic partnership-versary, they celebrate an anniversary of marriage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Still, California is one of only a handful of states that gives most of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples in domestic partnerships, one question is whether any ruling by the court on California might affect all of those other states in the same way. Victor and Christine?

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Joe.

BLACKWELL: All right, so - the Jodi Arias trial. A lot of people have been talking about it and watching it. Watch this, though, How Jodi reacts when no one is looking.

(VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's right, she is doing a handstand. It's not a gym. This is the interrogation room where she is questioned about her ex- boyfriend's death. And that's not all she did in there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about it. The Jodi Arias trial now and newly released surveillance video of the suspect, this is from 2008. This is inside the interrogation room at the interview, there were cameras recording areas. The moment she found out she was being charged with murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander. Look at this and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The grand jury indicted you. JODI ARIAS: So it's all public now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's public record.

ARIAS: So, does everyone know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody goes on and checks the public record they can check it and they would come up with an indictment.

ARIAS: But will it be on the news tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't report anything to the news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That's bizarre. At other moments Arias is seen fluffing her hair, she's standing, doing head stands. Really bizarre. Earlier, I asked HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell what she thought about Arias's peculiar behavior.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST, HLN'S JANE VELEZ MITCHELL: It's so telling, Victor. This woman is a malignant narcissist. It's all about Jodi all the time. And if you can't get positive attention, she will go for negative attention. Put another way, she didn't achieve fame in her life, where she would like to have achieved, so she is going for infamy.

BLACKWELL: There is one point in the tapes where Jodi asks to see the crime scene photos and she knows she killed Travis Alexander. What do you make of that? What's the rationale for that?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, there is two possibilities, and maybe they are both right. One, of course, Travis's friends say she is a stalker, so maybe this is part of her obsession? Even in death, she still is obsessed with Travis Alexander, wants to study and get close to anything - that has anything to do with Travis? Look at his body again? The other is, that she is on the hot seat being grilled by detectives and she wants to come up with a story. This is right around the time that she comes up with that story that oh, two mass intruders bursts into the house and killed Travis, these ninjas and I managed to escape, so was she looking at those crime scene photos and concocting that story in her head?

BLACKWELL: Do we think that the prosecutor will introduce this video into his --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, they've had these interrogation tapes for years, and if they thought that was that significant, of course, they could have introduced them at the beginning of the case. But this is a three-dimensional chess game. And it could be, let's say if the next witness for the defense, this expert for battered women, this domestic violence expert, hits some home runs, maybe they decide, hey, we are going to counteract and try to get this in and show her behaving in an erratic manner, of course. She stands on her head. She sings. She does a back bend, a very erotic yoga backbend. Maybe they will try to introduce that is evidence that no, she is not really a battered woman. She was trivializing this entire tragedy right up until the moment that they put the cuffs on her. So we don't know what's going to happen yet. We are in the end game.

BLACKWELL: I want to play part of the video, and I want to get your reaction to it. It's where Jodi admits she was not comfortable with Travis dating other women and they actually fought about it. Listen.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIAS: She is like, you know, Travis is dating. And I said, OK. And I assumed he was you know going on dates and things, she is like, no, he is really trying to date. And I said, OK. And he said he is desperate to get married, so that night, you know, I confronted him about it and we had a really big fight. It was also where a bunch of things were thrown in the mix together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: There are lots of lies from Jodi Arias, but hasn't she said on the stand the exact opposite of this? That she did not have a problem with it. Could this be the motive for the murder?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, absolutely. There have been so many phrases that have been injected into this case. Dissociative, amnesia, PTSD. The prosecutor says this is an old-fashioned case of if I can't have you nobody else can, that this was a woman who was jealous because she is sleeping with this man, she is having raunchy sex with this guy, but he wants to marry someone else. Indeed, she is not good enough in his mind to take on a vacation to Cancun. He's taking another woman to Cancun. She claimed on the stand, oh, I was not upset about that, but you see that on the interrogation tape, she contradicts herself and says, yes, I was upset about Travis Alexander dating other women. "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned", I hate to quote Shakespeare, but it applies.

BLACKWELL: Stay up to speed on the Arias trial with Jane Velez- Mitchell. She's covering that like no one else. You can catch her program on our assistant network, HLN, at 7:00 Eastern.

ROMANS: All right. Gucci Mane, an Atlanta rapper is accused of hitting one of his fans in the face with a champagne bottle. Police say, they have an arrest warrant out for him. The fan says it happened at a nightclub after he asked the security guard to get a photo with the rapper. The fan is a soldier who served in Afghanistan. He says he suffered a concussion.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's do a little sports now. Major League Baseball has filed a law suit against a clinic in Florida Lake for supplying players with performance enhancing drugs. According to the suite, the biogenics of America clinic gave banned substances to a number of current and former pro-baseball players, a story last month linked the clinic to players like the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod denies any connection to the clinic and its owner.

ROMANS: In other crime news the week was dominated by killers named Layne and a potential mass murder averted. Here is your week of crime in 60 seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Ohio school shooter, T.J. Lane was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday. Lane is guilty of shooting six high school students, killing three. During the sentencing, Lane smiled, smirked and wore a t-shirt with the word "Killer" handwritten on it. A jury found a woman accused of murdering her teenage grandson guilty of second degree murder. The prosecution said Sandra Layne shot Jonathan Hoffman multiple times in her home Her attorney says it was self defense.

The executive director of Colorado's prison system Tom Clements was found shot to death in his home Tuesday. According to a local sheriff's department, a relative of Clemens called 911 and reported he was shot while opening his door, police have identified Evan Ebel, a former Colorado prisoner as the suspect. He was killed by police in Texas after he took them on a car chase.

Police say a 30-year-old man plotted a mass killing at the University of Central Florida before committing suicide in his dorm. According to authorities, James Seevakumaran had about 1,000 rounds of ammunition and four homemade bombs. Seevakumaran's family described him as a loaner without a criminal past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's crime in 60 seconds.

BLACKWELL: And so, how are you on your New Year's resolution? Most people said they wanted to get in shape, lose weight, and when you start, all you hear is protein, protein, protein.

ROMANS: Yes, but too much protein can turn into a big problem. Find out how next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back. Today we are looking at the power of protein. The positive benefits as well as bad news.

BLACKWELL: So, you know who we call - our fitness and nutrition expert Desiree Nathanson, she is here to shed some light on protein. Now, we have a variety of sources here. We were talking about protein bars during the break, we'll get to that at the end, but you never had one.

ROMANS: I am not a protein bar fan, but I know a lot of people travel with them, a lot of people always mention they have protein bars - protein bars around. Is it a good - is it a better source? Is it good source? One of the sources here better than the others for protein?

DESIREE NATHANSON, NUTRITION AND FITNESS EXPERT: Yes, it's not necessarily a better source. These are good options to keep on hand if you are running low on time. You want to get most of your protein from whole foods like eggs, of course, meat has a lot of protein, but people forget about plant-based foods like legumes, soy products.

ROMANS: Which have other advantages ....

NATHANSON: Exactly.

ROMANS: Maybe not some of the drawbacks that meat might have.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

NATHANSON: Exactly. Because protein in the American diet, we tend to eat way too much protein and the body can't store protein ...

ROMANS: Right.

NATHANSON: It only uses as much as it needs, so you're just going to excrete what you're not using. So, too much protein can be dangerous and have a terrible affect on your kidneys.

ROMANS: What about not enough protein?

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

ROMANS: How - what are the signs that your body is telling you that you don't have enough protein, you may be need to have a little more?

NATHANSON: That is so rare in this country we don't need to worry about that, we need to worry about too much.

ROMANS: Really?

NATHANSON: So, too much protein can cause dehydration, excessive urination. So, getting, you know, over 100 grams of protein a day is just overkill, people think that to lose weight, they have to eat more protein and to build muscle they have to eat protein. What's going to build muscle is lifting weights.

ROMANS: Oh, but that's the hard way.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, I mean I can just ...

ROMANS: I have that fine way ...

BLACKWELL: I can eat these all day if that's the way I can lose weight and gain muscle. But OK, so you say more than 100 is too much. What is the safe range?

NATHANSON: So, I usually tell people general recommendation - one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. So, to get your weight in kilograms, you take your body weight and divide it by 2.2, and that's about the amount of protein you want to get. So, I am about 130, so I need - and since I am active I need a little more than this, but it's around 60 grams to maybe like 75 grams of protein for me a day.

ROMANS: And remind as again the benefits of the right amount of protein in your diet? I mean how it makes you healthier or stronger ...

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

ROMANS: Oh helps you if you're very active?

NATHANSON: Yeah, well, protein - the most important thing with protein is it helps you to build and recover. So, that's why people do associate protein with muscles, because following a workout you want to get protein in right away to get your muscle glycogen back up and feed your muscles so your body stops breaking it down, but you also want to have carbs and fat with that, so that you are not just burning fat and you're not just using protein as your energy source, you want carbohydrates as your energy source and leave the building and the repair to the protein.

BLACKWELL: I think this morning you have made people look at their breakfast and reevaluate everything that they start their day.

NATHANSON: And just one quick - I want to get across broccoli, cauliflower, dark leafy greens have protein in them.

BLACKWELL: That's right.

ROMANS: So, getting a little other benefits as well.

NATHANSON: Oh, absolutely. Vitamins and minerals (ph) and multivitamin right here.

ROMANS: And a lot of fiber

NATHANSON: Yeah.

BLACKWELL: I've got to eat my broccoli.

NATHANSON: Yes, so get your protein from other sources.

BLACKWELL: All right, Desiree, thank you as always.

NATHANSON: Thank you both.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: A blind dog with his own seeing eye dog.

ROMANS: Yeah, sounds too good to be true for one lucky pup, but the story of how these two found each other. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Three minutes before the hour now. In Iowa a fallen soldier was honored with more than 2200 flags.

ROMANS: Sergeant Steven Glass (ph) was killed in Afghanistan in a helicopter crash that killed four others. BLACKWELL: Those flags you see were provided by a gentleman known as the flag man. Larry Eckhardt, he travels around the country bringing his collection of American flags to military funerals.

ROMANS: Eckhardt said he has been doing this for five years, he's provided flags to more than 100 services.

BLACKWELL: It's not too late to get your ticket to the Powerball jackpot, it's now $320 million. That's a nice present. That's the 12th largest jackpot in history.

ROMANS: That's right. No one hit last night's winning numbers. So, there is another draw in tonight. Local stores selling tickets say million of hopefuls have been streaming in to buy tickets before each drawing.

BLACKWELL: I want to skip it this time.

Everybody's favorite groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is in trouble. After once again incorrectly predicting an early spring, Ohio prosecutor - and this is real - Michael Gmoser indicted the little guy for deception.

ROMANS: I know. I talked to him yesterday. He said he wants somebody to pay for all the cold weather they are seeing, all, of course, in good fun, and Phil's handlers are playing along pointing out Phil has been making predictions since 1887, and will probably continue, this Ohio prosecutor also says, maybe it's time for a Punxsutawney Philis. It's time to diversify a little bit ...

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

ROMANS: On the prognostications.

BLACKWELL: Let it try.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: So, I'm sure you've heard of people using seeing eye dogs, you've heard of people with them. Now, according to guidedogs.com, about 10,000 people in the U.S. and Canada use them, but how about a dog with his own seeing eye dog?

ROMANS: Meet this cute couple. Isaac is a blind husky, and Isabella is a small terrier who helps Isaac out. These two weren't trained to help each other, they were found Monday walking the streets of San Bernardino, California, together. Pretty cool. This animal rescue group STAND is now trying to find the pair a really good home. Isn't that sweet?

BLACKWELL: That is a cartoon movie if I've ever heard of one.

ROMANS: It really is. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: We've got much more ahead on "CNN SATURDAY MORNING," which starts right now.