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NFL Player Embroiled in Murder Case; Six Women to Judge George Zimmerman

Aired June 21, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Another breaking story to tell you about as well. A plane has crashed as Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township. These are live pictures via our affiliate WDIV, WDIV. Again, a plane crash, this is about 45 minutes northwest of Detroit, Sky 4 video. This is live pictures, right? On the scene, it shows a plane down in the grass with several emergency crews surrounding it.

You can see right in the middle of your screen an ambulance and a medical helicopter on the scene as well. Working on getting more information on you. And we're going to pass it along as soon as we get it. But there you see the horrific scene. As soon as we get more, we will bring it to you. So stand by. Lots of news here.

Now to the homicide of a young man in Boston and the star New England Patriots player entangled in that investigation. Aaron Hernandez spent much of yesterday trying to avoid the media horde which swarmed him after police searched his home and questioned him over the death of Odin Lloyd. He's 27 years old, Odin Lloyd.

A law enforcement source says Lloyd died of a gunshot wound on Monday. His body was found at an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home. Hernandez has not said anything publicly. He has not been seen out since yesterday. And police have not named him as a suspect in the killing. Investigation now taking a financial toll on Hernandez.

We are learning the makers of the energy drink Muscle Milk today issued a statement saying they have terminated an endorsement contract they had with him.

So, let's a little bit dig deeper into this whole story, who Aaron Hernandez really is.

And for that, I want to bring in a reporter who has been a staple, a staple of the Boston sports scene for decades. Now, his name is Bob Ryan.

Bob, thank you so much for joining us today.

BOB RYAN, COLUMNIST, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": You're welcome.

LEMON: You know, you have covered Aaron Hernandez for a while. You have met Aaron Hernandez. What can you tell us about him as a person? RYAN: All we knew about Aaron Hernandez, the person, as opposed to the player, from what we see, is he's an affable and cooperative and just a routine interview subject.

There have been no problems. He's not noted for being particularly glib, nor for being particularly evasive. All we knew about him away from the field was that while at the University of Florida, he had some issues with marijuana. There was a suspension thing. There was a character issue at the time of the NFL draft that resulted in some teams shying away from him, and the Patriots having what they felt and everyone felt was the good fortune of getting him lower than he should have gone by -- on the virtues of -- basis of talent.

They got him in the fourth round. He's turned out to be a far superior player than that. We did not know until all these revelations over the last couple of days about the nature of his friendships at home in Connecticut, the nature of the people who visited him at Florida, which put off the authorities in Florida. They did not like these characters he was associated with. We did not know his real reputation inside the locker room.

LEMON: Hey, Bob, Bob, Bob...

(CROSSTALK)

RYAN: ... somewhat standoffishness. We didn't know any of this.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let me jump in here. What do you mean the nature of the relationships, the characters he hung out with in Florida? What are you talking about?

RYAN: We're talking about people that are not unfamiliar with the police. We're talking about not Boy Scouts. We're talking about questionable characters that make teams nervous when they see them and make schools nervous. He had a bad -- hung out with a bad crowd. That's what we're now learning. Put it that way.

LEMON: Yes, OK. OK.

So then let's talk about this, since you opened that door. There are reports that when he was down in Florida, that he was questioned about another shooting, a shooting -- I believe it was three individuals in a car. He has not commented about that. What do you know about that?

RYAN: Well, we know -- we know very little. We knew nothing about it. We didn't even know about the fact that someone had been shot in the face outside a strip club and that there were -- they failed to name the assailant. And now it's coming back with a civil suit naming the assailant as Aaron Hernandez.

LEMON: Yes.

RYAN: These are all tumbling out now as this thing unfolds. LEMON: Yes. So, that was -- you're talking -- listen, the one I'm talking about is 2007. Right? That happened in Florida. The one that you're talking about is from January where allegedly he shot the person in the car he was riding with in the arm.

RYAN: Right.

LEMON: And then it went into his eye. That person lost his eye. He had to get -- he has a prosthetic eye in now. And then now he has -- doesn't have use of his arm anymore. But Aaron Hernandez was never even named in the -- listed in the police report.

RYAN: No. I know that.

And now this person, this victim, has come back and chosen to identify him as the -- as the person who pulled the trigger. And this is all an unfolding story. But what I'm trying to get at is, all this was unknown until this recent development with this homicide of this person whose relationship with him we are still trying to and the police are still trying to establish.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK. So -- and I should say, alleged, because if he's not on the police report, he wasn't charged in the incident. That person is making these accusations, so, allegedly.

RYAN: Right.

LEMON: So, listen, let's talk about this incident now, Odin Lloyd found, his body found less than a half-mile away from Hernandez's home.

According to reports, these are just -- these are reports. And, again, this is not CNN reporting. There was some shady business allegedly with the surveillance camera at his home, with his cell phone evidence, and other things like that. What do you know?

RYAN: Well, there -- what we know is what we -- this, we do know.

We know that the cell phone that he turned over, that was turned over to police was in "pieces" -- quote, unquote. We have been told that this home surveillance equipment was destroyed. We have been told that on Monday of this week, before everything exploded in the public awareness, that he had a professional cleaning service come and fine- tooth-comb clean his home.

Therefore -- with the inference, obviously, all being that there was an attempt to eradicate evidence of some sort.

LEMON: OK.

RYAN: It's highly circumstantial, but very questionably interesting circumstantial evidence and incriminating evidence, these activities.

This all -- these are out there. He has said nothing. His lawyer, of course, have said nothing. But he's lawyered up with the most famous law firm in Boston.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Yes. And this is all circumstantial, right? Because, again, if it -- all this evidence, supposed evidence is, indeed, true, this is all circumstantial. And he has so far not been charged with anything. And as far as we know, no arrest warrant has been issued for him. This is all circumstantial at this point?

RYAN: No. But within the last hour-and-a-half or so, reports are out there that a warrant will be issued in very short order.

LEMON: OK.

RYAN: That's the latest hot piece of news, is that the warrant supposedly is coming, will be served. That's what we last heard.

LEMON: OK. I got to ask you before I let you go, Bob, where do you see -- you have been doing this for a long time. You have been covering, you know, sports figures, professional sports figures. Where do you see this going?

RYAN: It doesn't sound and feel good. It looks highly incriminating on the surface, once again, allegations, lots of things not known. But it doesn't look very good. It doesn't feel very good. And the whole package of who he was before, who he is, who he hangs out with, and this whole thing, it doesn't look good. But, naturally, the other side has not been heard from. He has not been heard from.

And we will have to wait to see. But, certainly, it is a very, very disturbing set of circumstances.

LEMON: Bob Ryan knows his stuff. And we appreciate it, Bob. Thank you very much.

RYAN: You're welcome.

LEMON: All right.

Within the past hour, we hope you watched along with us. President Obama unveiled his choice to succeed Bob Mueller as head of the FBI. James Comey is a long-time lawman, a former federal prosecutor, and deputy attorney general under George W. Bush. That's Comey there on the left.

And in his brief remarks today, he paid tribute to Bob Mueller, FBI director since just before 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE: I must be out of my mind to be following Bob Mueller. I don't know whether I can fill those shoes, but I know that, however I do, I will be standing truly on the shoulders of a giant, someone who has made a remarkable difference in the life of this country.

I can promise you, Mr. President and Mr. Director, that I will do my very best to honor and protect that legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: James Comey is a registered Republican who supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 election. He is married with five children. In addition to deputy attorney general under George W. Bush, as a U.S. attorney, he prosecuted Martha Stewart and he's one among the most prominent Republicans who support gay marriage. OK. That's it.

Now let's get to Florida and new developments in the trial of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. An all-female jury will decide Zimmerman's fate. Opening statements will be Monday in the second-degree murder trial. The judge issued her ruling on what prosecutors can and cannot say just a short time ago. And we're waiting for her written order on a 911 tape.

She will decide if prosecutors can play the tape in court from the night Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. Zimmerman says he fired at Martin in self-defense in February of last year.

I want you to take a listen to the tape.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Does he look hurt to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't see him. I don't want to go out there. I don't know what's going on. They're sending...

911 OPERATOR: So you think he's yelling help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: All right, what is your...

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN legal correspondent Jean Casarez joins us now following this story from the very beginning.

Jean, the defense doesn't want an expert to give an opinion on who was actually screaming. Why?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they say that it's not reliable, that scientifically, it's just speculative. It's not based on general accepted principle in the audio engineering forensic community. And it's going to confuse the jury.

What the defense wants -- and, remember, what we're waiting for right now is not whether the 911 call will be played before the jury. That 911 call will come into this courtroom. People will sit in silence and hear that scream and hear that shot. The question is, should the jury just look at all the rest of the evidence and decide for themselves who is about to die on that recording, or should experts come in and say that their software and their spectral analysis is telling them that it's Trayvon Martin, speculatively? No one conclusively is saying it's Trayvon.

LEMON: OK. Jean, thank you. We're going to get back to you. It's a very busy day here because we have breaking news here on CNN.

And it involves Paula Deen, one of the most well known figures, celebrity chefs, in the country. Remember, she's accused of using the N-word in a videotaped deposition? She was supposed to appear on "The Today Show" this morning, backed out of that. And now she has released a statement online, a video online.

The Deen office, though, is not confirming that this is it. But this is her explanation in its entirety as it appears on the YouTube page. Here it is. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA DEEN, CELEBRITY CHEF: I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I have done. I want to learn and grow from this inappropriate, hurtful language. It's totally, totally unacceptable.

I have made plenty of mistakes along the way. But I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I have made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. That is that in its entirety.

So I want to bring in now some people who are going to help me along the way with this.

I want to bring in Eric Dezenhall. Keli Goff is here as well. And I also want to bring in Alina Machado, who has been covering this story for us for CNN. Of course, Keli is a political analyst, and crisis management expert Eric Dezenhall.

So, Alina, give us some background on this particular story. Her company or she is being sued or she is being sued by a former employee who's alleging harassment and discrimination, correct?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct.

That employee, Lisa Jackson, filed a civil lawsuit last year. And she was deposed for that civil lawsuit. Paula Deen was deposed for that civil lawsuit last month. It was a videotaped deposition. We got ahold of a transcript of that videotaped deposition.

Several other people also got ahold of that transcript earlier this week. And that's when this controversy really took off, because in that transcript of the video deposition, Paula Deen admits to having used the N-word in conversations, and particularly in one conversation with her husband about something that happened to her years earlier.

So people -- this story really took off online, Twitter, social media, and a lot of people firing back, very upset by -- by Paula Deen's admission that she used this racial slur in conversation. And since then, we really hadn't heard much from her camp beyond a statement that her attorney released basically saying that his client does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable and that she was looking forward to her day in court.

And now we just got this apparent statement from Paula Deen. And I say apparent, because we have calls into her office. And we have not received official confirmation yet. But, as you can see, that statement is Paula Deen talking and apologizing, apparently, for what's happened.

LEMON: OK. Eric, crisis management here. It's -- on the surface, it appears to be a nightmare. Is it? How do you handle it? Did she handle it well when you looked at that video?

ERIC DEZENHALL, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDING PARTNER, DEZENHALL RESOURCES: Well, it is a nightmare. Racial incidents are notoriously difficult to recover from.

And just because of the history in this country with those issues, it's very, very difficult to extricate yourself. And what usually ends up happening to people of this situation is, they often lose their jobs and end up having to go away for a while and returning to a much smaller format.

In terms of the apology, you know, whenever somebody does an apology, it is always declared to have been mis-executed, too little, too late. The problem is, an apology, regardless of how it's done, is just the price of entry. Nobody -- you know, even though the P.R. world loves the idea that apologies are the answer, in this culture when we are doing what we're doing now and analyzing the apology, it's always considered to be substandard.

So she's at the very beginning of this, not the end of it. And I think that there's something to be said after the apology for some sort of recognition of the substance of what she did, because based on what you played, I only heard the terms apology, as opposed to an acknowledgment of why this type of thing is wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK. OK. Hold it right there. Producers, if you can, cue it up. It's a short video. I want to play it again for our viewers before I bring Keli in. And let me know when you have it. OK. We have got it? Go ahead. Let's listen to it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEEN: I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I have done. I want to learn and grow from this inappropriate, hurtful language. It's totally, totally unacceptable.

I have made plenty of mistakes along the way. But I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I have made.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: OK. Keli Goff here. Keli is in New York, both together here in New York.

Keli, nobody's perfect, right, not that I'm saying that, you know, I'm making excuses for Paula Deen. But she did say, you know, she's apologized. What do you make of her apology?

KELI GOFF, BLOGGER/POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think that obviously using the N-word is problematic. And I'm an African- American who feels strongly that it's problematic, regardless of race.

And the thing -- I'm sorry. I'm a little distracted.

LEMON: No.

(CROSSTALK)

GOFF: OK, sorry.

So, I believe it's problematic regardless of who uses it. But I will be candid. As a white woman of a certain age from the South, it's not entirely surprising that she used the word.

LEMON: Right.

GOFF: And for me, this is sort of reminiscent of the Mark Fuhrman disaster from the O.J. Simpson trial, which is the fact that he used the N-word was actually far less problematic than lying about it.

And while Paula Deen didn't lie about it in the initial days, I think that the silence, the silence spoke volumes. And that's what I actually think her fan base is having a tougher time recovering from, because just as you said, Don, we have all made mistakes, right? But it's how you handle it afterwards.

And I think that there's a little bit of questions in terms of the authenticity of the apology that the first reaction was to kind of go to her team of people, hide out for a few days, cancel interviews and then when it starts hurting her bottom line, come out a couple days later and say I'm really sorry for what had happened, which is a little bit of what this sounds like, which to me is Chris Brown territory for my lawyers don't want me to really say what I did.

Then how are we supposed to accept a genuine apology for being genuinely sorry if a person can't even articulate what they did and why what they did was wrong, and it took them several days to even say I'm sorry for -- quote -- "what happened."

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK. Here's this thing. Have you seen -- there's a "TIME" magazine article here that I read. And I want to read a quote from it, Keli.

It says: "Deen made a pile of money off a certain idea of old-school Southern culture. In return, she had an obligation to that culture, an obligation not to embody its worst, most shameful history and attitudes. Instead, in one swoop, fairly or not, she single-handedly affirmed people's worst suspicions of people who talk and eat like her along with glibly insulting minorities. She slurred many of the very fans who made her successful. She made it that much harder to say that Confederate bean soup is just a recipe."

There's a lot in that quote. What do you make of it?

GOFF: And that's the one thing I kind of wanted to -- I agree with everything that Eric said, because he's a genius in terms of crisis management.

But I do think that there's a distinction to be made in terms of when apologies work and when they don't. And it depends on the audience. Let's be really candid. There's certain people like a Rush Limbaugh, if Rush Limbaugh had made a comment like this, where an apology would be enough, right?

LEMON: Right.

GOFF: Because his fan base is not going to be as outraged about this type of language. He's someone who uses racial innuendo to fuel his fan base and fire up his fan base.

But when your fan base is Middle Americans who like to think of themselves as good people, and we live in a country where today using the N-word does not denote any longer you're a good person. That's problematic.

LEMON: Yes. There's a lot to discuss with this. And we will be discussing it here on CNN. But for now, our time is up with this one.

Eric Dezenhall, Keli Goff, Alina Machado, thanks to all of you. More to come, as I said, on CNN.

And coming up this hour on NEWSROOM, a case of brutal hazing at Washington State high school -- at a Washington State high school. And so far no charges have been filed. Why? Because the teens volunteered for it. This is a shocking story. And we have to warn you ahead of time, ahead of time, that the images are very graphic -- that story right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We warned you before the break. We're going to warn you again ahead of time. This next story contains graphic images which may be disturbing to some viewers.

Seven teens were reportedly blindfolded and led into the woods in a rural area outside Seattle. They were beaten. They were burned. And they were urinated on. This video shows one teen's injuries after Monday's brutal hazing. He says a burning cigar was mashed into his shoulder. Why did the teens volunteer for horrible beatings? So they could join a club that cheers during football games.

The beatings are part of the club's hazing rituals. And so far, no charges have been filed.

CNN's Sara Ganim has more on the fallout from this brutal hazing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call themselves the Naked Vikes, an exclusive club at a high school just north of Seattle.

Sara Walvatne's son was eager to be one of them.

SARA WALVATNE, MOTHER: He wanted to be a Naked Vike. I mean, that was -- it's like a badge of honor for these kids.

GANIM: But to join, this is what he had to endure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They used the PVC pipes, the headless clubs and flour and maple syrup. They peed on us and stuff.

GANIM: Walvatne says he and six other juniors were blindfolded, taken to a wooded area and beaten. Here's where a lit cigar was put out on his skin.

WALVATNE: Every time I look at that, I just want to cry. It's not right. These kids need to be stopped.

GANIM: You would think this is all authorities would need to take action. But it's not that simple. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office told CNN none of the seven, including James, are cooperating with police. Until they do, there may never be an arrest.

Here's what an investigator told me -- quote -- "We can't make a person a victim if they don't want to be. The ones who are assaulted have said, I don't want any part in this prosecution. The kids who are beat up have said, we agreed to do it."

The school system told CNN the Naked Vikes were a nonsanctioned group already advised about appropriate behavior. The district says those involved in the beating have now graduated and are banned from returning to the school, including sporting events. And the school says next year, there will be no Naked Vikes at Inglemoor High. So that initiation was for nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: My goodness.

Sara Ganim, she's in Atlanta. There she is.

So, Sara, you spoke with sheriff's deputies there. Why are they not pursuing charges?

GANIM: Don, I want to start with the sheriff told me they are not, not closing this case. What they're hoping for is that some of these kids involved are going to change their minds and come forward to testify. The school district is also trying to convince them to cooperate with police. But I got to tell you, what I find most interesting here, the lieutenant investigating this case told me he's double-checking state laws to see if there's anything more he can do without cooperative victims. But he believes, this is the lieutenant investigating believes, that hazing laws in the state of Washington only apply to colleges and universities and not at the high school level -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Sara, thank you for that, for your reporting.

I want to bring in CNN legal analyst now Sunny Hostin.

Sunny, the school says it did not sanction this group called Naked Vikes. But the group did appear at school functions, football games. Does the school have any legal responsibility here?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, no question about it. The school has legal exposure. The school can certainly be charged civilly for negligent supervision and criminally as well.

I have got to tell you, I was listening to Sara and sitting here thinking, well, we try cases as prosecutors all the time without the cooperation of victims, without the cooperation of witnesses. I can't begin, Don, to tell you how many domestic violence cases I tried when the woman who had been beaten viciously refused to get on the witness stand.

LEMON: Yes.

HOSTIN: These legal, you know, authorities have these pictures that we have been showing, which are gruesome. They have the parents. They certainly have enough information to go forward, perhaps not under a hazing statute, but what about assault? What about battery? What about criminal negligence?

And so there I think is sort of this huge basket of potential charges in a case like this that just really should be brought. And I'm shocked that they are saying that they won't bring any charges.

LEMON: All right, Sunny Hostin.

HOSTIN: Maybe they need me there. Maybe they need me there, Don.

LEMON: It sounds like you're pretty fired up about it. Thank you, Sunny Hostin.

Up next, news on everyone and everything, including -- I can't believe I'm reading this -- Kim Kardashian and Kanye West choosing a direction for their child's name. It's so odd. So, I guess we should report it.

Protests in Brazil are heating up, reports of more than 300,000 people demonstrating in Rio de Janeiro alone. We're going to go live to Sao Paulo.

And you might be able to play games on your electronic gadget during takeoffs and landings, finally -- all that and more coming up in the power block.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)