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Jodi Arias to be Sentenced Today; Severe Storms on the Horizon; Hofstra Student Killed

Aired May 20, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield, reporting live in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Maricopa County courthouse where, in just hours, Jodi Arias and jurors are set to return and, this time, Jodi could find out in as early as a day -- believe it or not -- whether this jury want to see her die for the crime of killing Travis Alexander in a most cruel way. We are watching the proceedings here.

And we are also watching a story in New York, a tragic story of a young and upcoming Hofstra University student killed by a police officer, a police officer who was trying to save her from a potential killer.

It is a tragic set of circumstances and so much more to find out. We are on that story for you as well.

And, also, one of the largest payouts in lotto history in this country and, still, we do not know who it is who has the one winning tick. We're going to take you directly to the source and slow you just how close we may be to finding out who the luckiest person or lottery pool in this country just may be.

But to the breaking story here at the Maricopa County courthouse, every morning Jodi Arias gets into her jailhouse stripes, gets on a bus and is bussed over to this building behind me where she faces a jury.

But it's getting more and more serious and her days may be numbered in terms of just how long she comes to this courthouse, just how long she may be in a cell, and just how long she may by a live on this planet because now it is literally the life and death question.

Ted Rowlands has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIRK NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She's right here. This is the girl right here.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight men and four women will decide if Jodi Arias should live or die.

Jim Carano knows what that feels like.

JAMES CARANO, DEATH PENALTY JUROR: I will tell you, firsthand, that sitting on a jury trial involving the potential death sentence is -- it's a humbling experience, and it's almost sometimes beyond comprehension.

ROWLANDS: Carano served on an Arizona jury last year that decided the fate of David Anthony. Anthony was convicted of killing his wife Donna and stepchildren, 14-year-old Danielle and 12-year-old Richard. Their bodies, found by a construction crew, had been partially dissolved in acid.

CARANO: None of us took this potential outcome lightly during the deliberation process. Believe me, we were in there deliberating for several days.

ROWLANDS: Carano says deciding on a death sentence for Anthony was difficult. Several jurors initially didn't want to and the vote had to be unanimous.

CARANO: There were actually four of them, then three, then two, that really had second thoughts about sending somebody to their death.

ROWLANDS: Eventually, Carano says, they all agreed. He thinks it may be more difficult for the Arias jury because they've spent four-and-a- half months in a courtroom with her, including her 18 days on the witness stand.

CARANO: I think it could be problematic. I really do. And I'll tell you why. She's just as articulate as she can be. She's a bright young lady, and all it takes, as you know, is one.

SAMANTHA ALEXANDER, TRAVIS ALEXANDER'S SISTER: Our lives will never be the same. We can never get him back.

ROWLANDS: Jurors have already heard from the Alexander family. Next up, it'll be friends from Jodi Arias.

The last statement they'll listen to is expected to come from Jodi Arias, the woman whose life is in their hands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And I'm joined live now by CNN's Ted Rowland and HLN's legal correspondent Beth Karas.

And, Ted, first to you, we have covered a lot of cases, a lot of death penalty cases, where there is no shortage of people who will stand up and beg for mercy for their friend, their sister, their daughter, their lover, their student.

But in this case, we had only heard about two, and we may not even have that many. What exactly is going on?

ROWLANDS: Well, because it's televised, because so many people are watching, there is a backlash, and that's what we're seeing transpire today.

There are reports now that Patty Womack who is a childhood friend of Jodi Arias who was supposed to speak today in front of this jury possibly has backed out.

What we do know for sure is that she will not be on live television. Because she was so concerned about that, the judge last week issued an order saying that, when she is talking to this jury, the people watching this trial will not be seeing it.

There's been tremendous backlash for anybody supporting Jodi Arias, and that is going to be a factor. If, indeed, this woman doesn't testify, that could be something that's looked at on appeal.

Bottom line is there aren't those people coming forward for Jodi Arias. the high school teacher, the other things that you see in most death penalty cases, people that plead for the life of this individual. We're just are not seeing it with this woman.

BANFIELD: Well, Beth Karas, you're a former prosecutor and I'm sure you know well that, if a witness doesn't to appear because she's afraid because of backlash from a televised trial, that's, I think, a very ripe appeal.

But what about the alternative and that is that perhaps that witness does not want to stand up for Jodi Arias, regardless of cameras or anonymity that the judge can give her. That's not an appeal issue, is it?

BETH KARAS, HLN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: No. If she withdraws and certainly if Jodi Arias doesn't fight it and consents to it, I don't really see it as an issue.

We did see her in court last week. She presumably went home. She doesn't live in this area. I know there are reports that Patty Womack won't be back.

But she has made appearances during this case on networks. She did appear on HLN by telephone. She has spoken out in support of Jodi Arias.

Why she's not doing it today, if that is indeed the case, I don't know because she is out there already and her image is out there.

BANFIELD: And, Ted, when we get to this point in any trial, a defense has an obligation to do literally everything in its power to try to save a client, even if the client doesn't want to be saved.

And, in that respect, this defense has even put forth a motion to this judge that the prosecutor shouldn't be allowed to bring forth any witnesses to testify in this particular phase?

First of all, why? And second of all, is there a shot at this?

ROWLANDS: Well, basically, they're saying that because Juan Martinez hasn't identified potential witnesses that he should be barred from bringing on a rebuttal witness if, indeed, he wants to after we hear from Jodi's friends.

Now from the prosecution side, they likely don't know who they want to bring on because they haven't heard what these people are going to say, so if X person gets up and says, Jodi did this, well, then they want the ability to refute whatever that person said and that's going to be up to the judge.

A motion has been filed asking the prosecution not be allowed to bring any rebuttal witnesses. We haven't gotten a ruling on that. It's possible the judge could go along with that. We'll just have to wait to see.

You can't predict anything in this trial, Ashleigh, because it is just day-by-day. Things change by the hour.

BANFIELD: It's just -- it's been a wild ride, I have to say. I've seen a lot of death penalty cases with a lot of twists and turns, but this one takes the cake.

Ted Rowlands and Beth Karas, I'll ask you to stand by if you will for just a moment.

Court is going to be in session today. It starts at 1:00 Eastern and, as soon as Jodi Arias begins to speak, we're going to bring you her allocution.

More than likely, it'll be an allocution. It could be testimony. She could be up on the stand and swear under oath, but, more than likely an allocution, just an unchallenged comment.

We're going to bring that to you live. And I'm also going to be back on live with you from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here in Phoenix to be on this story and give you all the latest breaking elements.

And believe me, daily, there is some right angle thrown at us at this courthouse.

I want to bring you the story out of the South. At least one person dead now, entire neighborhoods flattened and more tornadoes now may be on the way with severe weather possible all the way from Texas all the way up to Michigan.

At least two dozen twisters reported across five different states yesterday. About 300 homes have been damaged or destroyed in just one state alone, Oklahoma. Another twister already touched down in Missouri this morning.

I want to take you live now to meteorologist Chad Myers who has been tracking this for us.

Where is the biggest threat for anyone who's watching right now and living within that tornado belt and even on the fringes of the tornado belt? Who needs to be most cautious today, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you have sunshine right now, if you have a lot of humidity in the air -- you can you go out and feel your hair frizz -- and if are you east of a line from let's say Kansas City to Oklahoma City, anywhere in this area right through here, this is where the humidity is. And what I'm concerned about this morning is that it is sunny. And you think, well, it's sunny. That's a great thing. No, in fact, that is not good as all.

When it is sunny, that means the air is heating up and it can heat up rather quickly. And when it's warm and hot, then all of a sudden, it goes straight up in the air with a cold front and some dry air to the west wanting to push it farther into the sky.

So Oklahoma City, back towards Shawnee, Paul's Valley, eastward, Henrietta and south of there, and on up even into Fort Smith, that's our danger zone today, probably even more tornadoes today than yesterday.

Really, we only had about seven thunderstorms producing about 10, 20 or so, maybe, tornadoes. We haven't counted them all up yet because some were skipping a little bit.

But there is your zone. There's Springfield, back to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Wichita Falls, and down to the Red River. We'll be here all night, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: OK. Chad, I know you're going to keep an eye on that all throughout the day in the Severe Weather Center. Thank you.

Bring us any updates as soon as you know them if you would, please. We would appreciate that. Chad, reporting live for us.

A young college student killed in her own home, shot during a robbery, not shot by the home intruder, instead, shot by a police officer.

We're going to tell you how this unraveled, why it happened and what is happening with that officer now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A graduation ceremony is not often a place where it's quiet and thoughtful. Instead, it's usually a time of joy, but a moment of silence instead was observed during Sunday's graduation at Hofstra University.

The students and the faculty there were remembering one of their own, Andrea Rebello. She is the student who was shot and killed this weekend by a police officer's bullet, all a terrible, terrible accident.

It happened as she was being held in the grips of a home intruder who had a gun to her head.

CNN's Deb Feyerick is in New York with this story.

Deb, if you could reset how this all unfolded and how quickly it all happened just so the viewer knows exactly what the circumstances were before this young woman died.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and it really happened in just a matter of minutes, but for a police officer, clearly, this is one of their worst fears.

This is a hostage situation. It ends in tragedy. And just speaking to the Nassau County police, pre-dawn Friday, about 2:20 a.m., a serial criminal walks into the off-campus home that Andrea Rebello shares with her twin sister and two roommates. The intent is going to rob them.

Well, thinking quickly, one of the roommates says she's going to go get cash at an ATM. The perp, the gunman, the alleged gunman says, OK, but if she's not back quickly, he's going to kill her friends.

And so anyway, she leaves. She calls 911. Two officers do arrive. One of them enters the home.

The gunman, 30-year-old Dalton Smith, is holding a gun to Rebello's head. And he's using her as a shield as he tries to leave by the back door. But as he's trying to leave, he points his gun apparently at the officer and that's when the officer opens fire, not only fearing for his life but trying to save the life of Andrea Rebello.

Well, the officer fires seven bullets. Seven bullets hit the perpetrator. One of them hits the teenage -- the co-ed. Both of them are killed.

And we did speak with Anthony Cortez's son, John. John was in the house during the ordeal. Take a listen, Ashleigh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY KOURTESSIS, SON SAVED DURING HOME INVASION: I believe that the perpetrator was about to kill a lady. So the police officer tried to save her life after saving my son's life. The police officer saved my son's life and I owe a great deal of gratitude to the gentleman.

(END VIDEO CLIP

FEYERICK: The words of praise for the police officer, who police have refused to identify. He is on sick leave and apparently, he is inconsolable. But the real question, Ashleigh, is why was a man like Dalton Smith, with a long criminal record -- robbery with a gun, he was violating parole -- why was he out on the street? That is the real question today, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And without question, I think that is something that will be parsed and investigated, but at the same, Deb, you can't not investigate what happened in Andrea's house. So at this point with the officer despondent, he's got a family of his own, what are the police saying about what he did and what they're going to do about this?

FYERICK: Well, clearly now, this is all under investigation because the firearm was discharged and so they always look at it. It was used. Two people died, so clearly it's under investigation.

But right now, police are saying that the officer followed protocol. The call that came in was not a hostage situation; it was a robbery. So the response was different. That, too, will be under investigation. Why wasn't the tactical team that usually deals with the hostage situation, very successfully historically, why weren't they the ones who were brought in? And why were only two police officers sent to a location where there was a hostage situation in play, Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Right. A lot of questions still to be answered. Deb Feyerick on the story for us, reporting live. Thank you, Deb.

A split-second decision, as you heard Deb report, life and death consequences. And that is what was facing this police force when an officer decided to enter Andrea Rebello's home. And you know what happened right afterwards.

I want to bring in our legal panel today, defense attorneys Midwin Charles and Brian Claypool. Brian, I want to begin with you if I can. Look, there are a lot of questions that we still need to answer as to what the police knew before they went into the home. But at this point, if they only knew there was a robbery and they didn't know there was a hostage, did this officer do anything wrong?

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Ashleigh, if the officer thought it was only a robbery, I think there are still some aspects of the apprehension and shooting that are questionable.

First of all, two police officers arriving at a scene, they should never separate from each other, number one. They should be communicating. There should be a primary officer and a secondary officer. They're there together to protect one another. So when one officer goes into the house and the other officer stays outside the house, you are escalating the situation and potentially increasing the peril inside the house. So that is a problem.

And that once the officer gets inside the house, realizes, OK, this isn't a robbery, this is a hostage situation, then at that point the officer needs to take what's called a position of cover, never reveal himself, exactly where he is with respect to the assailant, and then try to maybe have a discussion with the assailant before shots are fired.

BANFIELD: I mean, look, I have never been through police training, so I don't know just how skilled they become in making all these remarkable decisions under so much pressure and fear in mere seconds, but I can just tell you this, any officer who goes into a home knowing there is an armed robber inside is pretty heroic.

And I'm just wondering if there's any aspect -- Midwin, maybe you can weigh in on this. If that officer and his account that -- is accurate, that this assailant pointed his gun directly at him and his only option was to fire, why eight times? Does that change the dynamic here, that he fired eight times?

MIDWIN CHARLES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It might change the dynamic, but I think what we're all discussing is accurate. The minute he saw that that assailant came down the stairs with that woman, he knew immediately that the game had changed. However, if a gun is pointed at him and he feels -- he fears for his life, he fears that he's going to be imminently harmed or danger or what have you, yes, he had to react. But the question is what sort of training did he have in the sense that it was improper to unload eight directions in the direction of the assailant as well as the hostage that the assailant had at the same time.

So you have to look into whether or not this guy had training to deal with this situation and whether or not what he did went along with proper protocol.

BANFIELD: Yes, and I think there will be a lot of questions that a lot of people will have to answer about this, and a lot of legal fallout as well.

Brian Claypool and Midwin Charles, thank you both for your insight on this. And I just want to add one last note about this very, very sad story. Andrea Rebello is set to be remembered. Her funeral has been organized for Wednesday.

And another story, a jury in total agreement, unanimous -- Robert Redd, a man who murdered his house guest. They said it was murder, but the judge disagreed. It is a rare move. It's a courtroom move. Our legal experts are going to explain this one and tell you why it could happen in your jurisdiction, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: As murder cases go, prosecutors in Southern California were pretty darn convinced that they could not lose this case. And at first they didn't -- and then they did. In a very rare move, the judge reduced Robert Redd's murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter instead.

It happened last week. And then Redd was sentenced to just ten years in prison. All of this despite the fact that a jury, a jury of his peers, unanimously decided that he was guilty of fatally shooting a house guest in the head no less and then for good measure burying him in back yard.

The "L.A. Times" reports that Redd ordered that man to leave the home after he failed to pay rent in the form of meth. So the story gets a little uglier. Redd claimed the house guest had threatened to kill him and that's why he had to kill him right back. And the judge accepted Redd's contention he was, in fact, in fear for his life. Again, despite the fact the jury said no.

Joining us with their expertise on this, defense attorneys Midwin Charles and Brian Claypool. So Midwin, I'm going to go to you first. I think a lot of people might be surprised to find out that the jury of your peers doesn't always have that final say. Can you explain that?

CHARLES: I think you are right. What people don't often recognize is that judges who are actually there throughout the entire duration of the trial, listen to all the evidence, actually sometimes act not just as a referee, an umpire, to the calls made during the trial, but sometimes they act as a safety net. So if the jury kind of misinterprets the law or is unable to, in the judge's opinion, render a decision that he feels or she, you know, falls along with the facts, then they, themselves, can reduce that conviction him.

Now, it's rare and it should be rare, right? Because we all want to maintain integrity in the justice system. We want jurors to feel that their decision that is reached and the hard work that they've done is something of value an something that will hold water. But it with does happen, but rarely.

BANFIELD: I would think it would be very unsatisfying to have sat on a panel, gone through all that, done all the hard work you just talked about, only to have the judge say you got it wrong.

However, and Brian, maybe this is where you can come in. In this particular case, the judge sort of downwardly departed from what the jury decided. Is there any circumstance in any jurisdiction where a judge can go up from what a jury decides? Say, if the jury says manslaughter, can the judge say, no, first degree?

CLAYPOOL: Well, I think a judge can, Ashleigh, but if I might comment on what happened here, you know, I think this sends a bad message to the community. Jurors come into a courtroom. They hear this evidence. They make a determination of the facts in the case and a judge usurps that and defies what the jury said.

In this case, it has to be a reasonably objective standard on whether Mr. Redd feared for his life. And my understanding of the facts is that the deceased was simply cleaning a gun in a private home. That's not even a crime. And he didn't even threaten to kill Mr. Redd, and then Mr. Redd shoots and kills him? I mean, I think clearly this is a bad decision and sends a wrong message to the commune. And it undermines our jury system.

BANFIELD: Well, like I said, if I were sitting on that panel, I'd be astounded. But it is what it is, right? And every jurisdiction is a little bit different. OK, thank you to both of you.

Also want to just remind you, here in Arizona, we're about 90 minutes or so away from the court proceedings getting underway where Jodi Arias is expected to stand up and speak. We're going to carry it live right here on CNN. Who knows whether she's going to beg for her life or beg for her death? It is a very strange dynamic, a true mystery that will only be revealed when that woman appeals to this jury. What will they do, though, with her words?

We're going to take a look, by the way, if they decide to put her to death -- who will her new roommate be on death row? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)