Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Devastation in Oklahoma; Jodi Arias Verdict Today; Man Investigated on Terrorism Suspicions, Killed in Gunfight

Aired May 22, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CO-ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield, reporting live in Phoenix, Arizona, where the jurors who listened to Jodi Arias live and sordid sex tales, cop-outs and confessions are now deciding if she's going to face execution.

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": And I'm John Berman live in Moore, Oklahoma, where there are so many stories of survival, so many stories of determination, so many stories of hope as this town begins the process -- and it will be long -- of rebuilding after this disastrous tornado that simply devastated and flattened this town.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning. We are going to start with this recovery effort.

Overnight, officials here saying it has shifted from the rescue phase of the operation to a recovery phase. They haven't given up hope. As they pick through the rubble, they're still looking for the possibility that someone could be buried underneath. But right now, it is a recovery effort.

They say that 24 people have died. They do not believe that number will change. Nine of those were children. More than 200 people had been injured in this devastation.

We're covering this story from every angle, again as the scenes here, you can still see the rubble, still see the devastation, but as the American flag is flying in so many places, you still see these messages of hope.

Let's go right now to Nick Valencia. He's covering the victims' angle for us right now. Again, 24 people dead, what do we know about them?

Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, this is a disaster that's not just impacting residents in the state of Oklahoma. This is something that's having an effect on residents throughout the United States.

Yesterday, I spoke to a woman in Gleason, Tennessee, by phone who says she hasn't been able to get in touch with her sister since the storm hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ERICA SANDOVAL, SISTER OF MISSING WOMAN (via telephone): My mind is everywhere. I was -- my boss actually pulled up the site, and she did that for me because I can't think straight.

And I'm kind of in a fog. I just -- I don't want to believe that. I don't.

But if -- you know, I can't reach her, I can't find her, I don't know where she is. And I don't know if she can get to me or get a hold of me or anything to let me know that she's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now for people like Erica Sandoval, of course, there is a possibility that here loved couldn't -- are not missing and they could very well be in a shelter.

John, as you know from being here, the cell phone towers are down, no lines of communication. It's been very difficult for loved ones to reach out to family members who they believe are missing.

BERMAN: It is hard to get through to people here, the cell phones only spotty.

We've been talk to get fire chief and other rescue officials here. They tell us, if you know you have family members that are looking for you, find some way to contact them if you can.

Tell everyone you know you're OK if you can reach them, but it is so hard to do.

Nick, I also know you've spoken to the mayor here. What's he been telling you?

VALENCIA: Yes, I spoke to Mayor Glenn Lewis, exclusively. He told me off-camera in an interview that just as soon as the cleanup is done here, he plans to propose an ordinance in the city of Moore that would require every new housing development to have either a safe room or a shelter.

He was, coincidentally, the mayor back in 1999. He did the same thing then. And for the houses that went through that 1999 tornado, John, they suffered the brunt of the damage and they are still standing, he told us.

Now the community that was devastated and shredded by this tornado that came through here on Monday, it was an older community. It didn't have the same housing standards and that could explain why it was flattened and leveled by those severe and intense winds, John.

BERMAN: Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

You know, Nick just mentioned the other tornadoes that have blown through here, 1999 infamous, May 3rd, 1999, people here still talking about it. But in some ways that hardened this community. They know how to recover from situations like this, and there's a steely resolve amongst the people here.

Stephanie Elam in a hard hit area this morning, what are you seeing, Stephanie?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, that is so true. In fact, I talked to one resident where -- you were out there with me.

We were walking around, you could see these homes, and they just looked like they had just been ripped apart, literally. And this one man did say that this is one good thing that's going to come out of this is that the city is going to have to rebuild. And that means people who couldn't find jobs will now find jobs.

And this is the same thing that happened the last time there was that devastating tornado. So that's the one good thing that he was already looking forward to. He says, the people here in Moore in Oklahoma, this is what we do -- we rebuild and we help each other out.

If you look out behind me, there is a crane out there that is -- it's kind of far now. You can't really see it. They've moved it since I turned around, but that is where we did know the location of the Park Plaza Tower Elementary School is.

And so a lot of the efforts today moving towards recovery, and that's what a lot of people are doing now, trying to figure out, making sure that they can get their lives back together. Get their kids back together and talking to them.

There's counseling available throughout the counties here to let people talk to people if they need it, as they're also trying to rebuild.

And one other thing that I want to talk to you about, John, and this is good news that I'm happy to share with you. I got a text message from Dana. She's the woman that I was showing this morning, looking for their dog, Sugar.

Within an hour of the dog showing up at the shelter, people were calling her because they had seen the pictures on Facebook and what we've been showing here on CNN and also on HLN.

And because of that, they were reunited with their dog who is perfectly fine. She just had some debris that messed with one of her eyes, but otherwise, she's safe and back with the family and they are beyond thrilled, John.

BERMAN: That is so great. That is great news.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for that report and so much for that news.

You know, there's so many instances of great news in this town. There are so many strong people and there are heroes, frankly, everywhere you look. And a lot of these heroes are the teachers who found ways to save the students lives in these schools.

One of these teachers was Tammy Glasgow. She was a second-grade teacher at the Briarwood School. And it was here quick thinking that helped her entire classroom survive.

She saw this tornado coming and she crammed about 20 students into a closet in a bathroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY GLASGOW, BRIARWOOD ELEMENTARY TEACHER: Before I shut the doors, because the bathrooms have doors. I said, I'm going to shut the doors, and I said, I love you.

The boys looked at me a little strange. I walked in the girls, and I said I love you. And they all said, I love you back.

I just told them to pray and then that's what we did the whole time in the closet, just prayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We're going to speak to this hero-teacher much more extensively. We'll hear much more of what she had to say and hear about her heroism a little later in this hour.

So many people looking for ways to help this community from around the state and around the country. One of the best ways you can help, go to our website, CNN.com/impact.

We have all kinds of connections there for you. You can send your money. You can send your aid to these organizations that so badly need it.

There's a lot going on in the world, not just here in Moore, Oklahoma. The Jodi Arias trial, all the twists and turns, the jury determining her fate. Will she live? Will she die?

We'll get to that right when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The very strange twists and turns in the Jodi Arias trial just keep coming, it seems, until the very bitter end as the jurors are finally deciding if she should get death or life in prison for killing Travis Alexander in a most cruel way.

The convicted murderer spoke in court for nearly 20 minutes yesterday, a strange beg for mercy, so to speak. She was showing family pictures. She was showing some of her own artwork as well, telling the jurors all about the good causes that she'd like to actually do in prison, if she's there for life, to help others in the prison and help others outside the prison.

All of this in an effort to convince jurors that she should spare her life, adding that she never imagined that she could do something like she did. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: When I took the stand, I was obligated to answer the question posed to me. And if you'll remember, many times I was quick to defend him in the same breath. I loved Travis, and I looked up to him. At one point, he was the world to me.

This is the worst mistake of my life. It's the worst thing I've ever done. It's the worst thing I ever could see myself doing. In fact, I couldn't see myself doing it.

Before that day I wouldn't even want to harm a spider. To this day, I hardly believe that I was capable of such violence, but I know that I was. And for that, I'm going to be sorry for the rest of my life, probably longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So now that's it. There are no more words to be said, except for what's being said very, very quietly in secret in a jury deliberation room. And we know now that there's been at least an hour and a half of deliberations on whether Jodi should live or die. It's that simple.

Our Casey Wian has been following this today, joins me live now. So what about today, the jury? Are they just literally returning to court and right back into that room, or do we expect any other bombshells like we've been getting every other day?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, as you alluded to, the one thing that we have come to expect in this case is to expect the unexpected.

No, we do expect the jury to go directly into the deliberation room and resume their deliberations today. We don't know how long those deliberations are going to go.

Jodi Arias, as you know, gave a series of interviews to media last night, and during one of those interviews with the "Arizona Republic," she apparently said that her defense attorneys believe this is going to happen quickly.

She, in fact, said she's already moved her items out of the county jail in preparation for transfer after this decision by the jury, whether it's either going to be life in prison or the death penalty.

We can gather some clues, though, about how this jury operates from its previous deliberations. It took less than three days of deliberation time after a four-plus month trial to render a guilt verdict.

The actual aggravation phase deliberations went very, very quickly as well. If I recall correctly, that was about an hour and a half.

So this jury tends to deliberate very quickly. We'll have to see if that's what happens today, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And they had a what, a 20-minute statement that they need to deliberate, but then those closings which were very impassioned by both the prosecutor and the defense attorney.

Casey Wian, let us know when you see those jurors return if we do get to see them. Thank you for that, Casey Wian reporting live here in Phoenix.

Did Jodi Arias actually succeed in doing what she was trying to do, get the sympathy of the jury for mercy? I'm going to bring in our CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor as well, Paul Callan.

Paul, I think, you know, if you ask a lot of people and there are a lot of people who watched that live, they were astounded. Most people said they were astounded that it was such a matter of fact presentation from a woman who effectively should have been begging for mercy, but instead, sort of presented a PowerPoint, complete with props, pictures and a T-shirt.

How do you assess what you saw happen in the courtroom yesterday?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it was Jodi Arias being Jodi Arias. Those who saw her testify over that very extensive period of time -- what was it, 17, 18 days on the stand -- saw someone who is cold, calculating, deliberate, flashes of intelligent, very bright, a planner.

And in the end, when you expect an emotional plea for life, to see her being cold and calculating, and, you know, she kind of reeled off all of the things that she had just found out about prison, and why prison would be a good place for her.

You know, not the kind of thing you want to say to a jury that's deliberating on death. She holds up this "survivor" T-shirt which, you know, reminds the jury that her claim was that she was a victim of domestic abuse, a claim that they unanimously rejected. I think a slap in their face to say, I'm a survivor and I'm going to make this T-shirt and support these domestic abuse programs.

So my own view is that it's going to backfire on her. She made prison, Ashleigh, almost look like a trip to Disney World. You know, we're going to have language lessons and book clubs. I'm going to grow my hair and donate it to cancer victims and it's going to be wonderful. Now, usually people say, "I don't want to give her the death penalty because life in prison would be the worst punishment for somebody like this." But Jodi Arias has managed to turn that on its head and make prison sound like a very nice place.

So it doesn't sound like a good thing to say to a jury, but this is the death penalty, and people have individual views about this, as do these 12 jurors. So it's hard to make a prediction in the end.

BANFIELD: Well, and let's not forget that this is a non-sequestered jury. They go home to their families. They walk by newsstands. They're not supposed to engage in any conversation or media on what's happened But it's everywhere. It's almost impossible to not hear someone. I've heard three or four conversations in the last 24 hours in restaurants about people angry over what's going on. So, you know, the fact that she asked for death to a reporter only days ago, and then asked for life in front of them yesterday, who knows if they know anything about that.

Paul, hold on if you would, we have a lot more to discuss in terms of what's happening in this dynamic that's playing out behind me. Later this hour, Jodi Arias still talking, still giving interviews, Once again granting interviews after walking out of the courtroom. This time to a local affiliate. You're going to hear from here yet again. Stay with us on that.

We have more than 200 people who were hurt when that monster EF-5 storm hit Moore, Oklahoma. And one woman had the job to make sure that all of them got medical treatment. You're going to hear her story and just what a monumental task that was, given the circumstances she herself was in. Live from Moore, Oklahoma, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY KEITH, MOORE, OKLAHOMA NATIVE: Everybody that lives here goes through it. I understand everybody needs blankets and places to stay and transportation and water and supplies. So everybody just pitches in and gets it done. But it will be -- this is going to take a little while. This is a pretty bad one here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's country music star Toby Keith, a Moore resident, talking about the people in this town, how they know how to respond to a disaster like this. There were so many examples of quick thinking and quick action that saved lives.

One of those examples happened right behind me at the Moore Medical Center here which I think you can see here was simply destroyed by this storm. There was a tornado warning, the sirens went off, and emergency room director Dr. Stephanie Barger, she takes quick action. She manages to move all the patients to a safe place, and amazingly, no one in this medical center was hurt.

This doctor spoke to our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You were the E.R. doc on call in a hospital that was in the middle of one of the biggest tornadoes in U.S. history. And everybody did well inside your hospital. How are you feeling about that today?

DR. STEPHANIE BARNHART, ER DOCTDR, OU MEDICAL CENTER: I don't think it's hit me, really. And I just can't feel like I can take any credit for that. Like I said, I was just doing my job and knew what I it to do but I can't even imagine. I can't -- it's very emotional because I'm like, wow, everybody was -- did get out. Yes, words can't even describe how I feel and I do keep getting a lot of thank yous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta with me here right now. There's no questions she saved lives, countless lives, and yet she's so humble.

GUPTA: Yes, you learn about these things theoretically, I think, throughout your medical training. But obviously, she had never been through anything quite like this. So she rose to the occasion. I mean it was just clear, she just had about ten minute notice, she said. She was watching TV all day, then they have a Code Black, which basically means it's time to do your thing.

Which, some of it's obvious, move patients to the center of the hospital. Staff as well. But then taking mattresses and covering people's heads because the shrapnel injuries can be a significant concern -- you want to protect the head and the brain obviously. And not a scratch.

Again, John, we've been out here for a couple days. I mean, it's just hard to believe. I was with some storm assessment people yesterday and they said the same thing, they cannot believe that no one was injured there.

BERMAN: They kept saying no one was injured in this medical center. And I frankly did not believe it. I didn't think it could possibly be true.

You talk about injuries. What kind of injuries are they seeing here?

GUPTA: Well, there's sort of three waves of injury. The primary wave is from the force of the storm itself. That's the first thing that happens. The secondary wave is the shrapnel. Anything can become shrapnel in a situation like this. They've seen impalements. They've seen broken buses, crushed bones. They've seen a couple of spiral cord injuries which typically occur from the third wave, either something falling on somebody, or the bodies, the patients themselves, moving against something that's not a wall or something like that.

So those are the type of injuries they're seeing. They're not seeing many brain or head injuries. And I was just listening to the sound from Toby Keith and people here kind of know tornadoes. And if one thing they know, to protect their heads, use the mattresses and blankets to try and prevent those injuries which, I think, thankfully, seems paid off here.

BERMAN: You know, it is interesting, the lack of those more serious head injuries. Also, the number of fatalities, 24. It's a horrible number. One is too many but 24 is a lot lower than a lot of people thought there would be based on the destruction here. And it's a lot lower - a lot fewer killed than was actually reported at one point. We were saying 51; we were told by the medical examiner's office 51. How could they make a mistake like that? GUPTA: You know, this is going to sound almost too simplistic, John, but this is almost an issue of double counting. Fifty-one is just three more than twice 24, you know, 48 would have been double counting exactly. What happens is the M.E.'s office is responsible for this. But what they'll do sometimes, funeral homes will also be calling in numbers and sometimes they don't realize they're actually counting the same person. It's a bit macabre to think about and oftentimes the numbers go the other way. In this case, again, thankfully they were a lot lower than expected.

BERMAN: It is chaos. These moments are chaos. (INAUDIBLE) so fast. It's understandable mistakes are made.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much for being with us.

A lot of people looking to help here, those hurt, those injured, those people who lost their homes here. One of the great ways to find out how you can help is visit our Web site, Impact Your World at CNN.com/impact. All kinds of information about how you can help there.

You know, we were just talking to Sanjay about the hero doctors, people who saved lives in this building behind us. There are also teachers who saved countless lives, and one of these teachers is a second grade teacher named Tammy Glasgo in a school . Her quick thinking no doubt saved lives as she got kids into the bathrooms and closets. Let's listen to what she says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY GLASGOW, BRIARWOOD ELEMENTARY TEACHER: They were all singing the national anthem. We were about to have a program in two days. We were going to perform the national anthem so they were practicing, they were just trying to forget what was actually happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We will hear more of her truly amazing story a little later this hour. We'll have more from Moore, Oklahoma. Also more news from around the world when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We are getting breaking news on the Boston Marathon bombing investigation. And the information is not just coming from Massachusetts; it's coming from Florida as well. Because the FBI is now saying publicly that a man who was killed this morning in a shoot- out with Orlando officers, an FBI agent in fact in Orlando, that man was being investigated for links to the Boston bombing suspects.

And it goes beyond that. That FBI officer wasn't alone. Apparently, there were officers from Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Police Force. Two officers from the state police in Massachusetts were down in Florida and they were conducting interviews with this individual in connection with the marathon bombing investigation. Apparently, a violent confrontation, according to the FBI -- and we're just getting this information now -- a violent confrontation was initiated by this individual. During the confrontation, the individual was killed. The agent, the FBI agent who was involved, also sustained injuries, non-life threatening, we're told. The incident is now under review. The FBI is not commenting further but this does open a whole host of other questions with regard to who this person down in Florida was, and also what his connection to the bombers was.