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Winter Weather Affecting Travel; Newlywed Kills for Thrill of it; World Pays Tribute to Nelson Mandela; Fans Honor Paul Walker

Aired December 08, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A look at our top stories this hour.

A dangerous ice storms is moving across the country and temperatures are falling. We'll show you who needs to bundle up for the deep freeze.

And with all the congressional gridlock in Washington, what did lawmakers actual accomplish this year? Here's a hint, not much, say many.

And police are investigating a bizarre murder in Pennsylvania. They say a newlywed couple killed a man just for the fun of it. We've uncovered their alleged plot.

Millions of people are in the path of that dangerous storm. I want to start by showing you this video from Wisconsin. Witnesses say 50 cars were in this snowy pile-up near Milwaukee. It happened on I-94 late this morning. No word on injuries.

Tory Dunnan is staying on top of the road conditions as the storm moves across the country, particularly in the mid Atlantic. She's in Roanoke right now, Virginia. Well, it doesn't look like you have a whole lot of pedestrians out there, but you do have parked cars so people are getting on the roads, aren't they?

TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. I mean, there are people out and about. But Let me just say I'm going to Hawaii for Christmas.

WHITFIELD: Just rub it in.

DUNNAN: And being out here is making me appreciate that fact. Yes, it's making me appreciate that fact because it's cold here.

WHITFIELD: That's it. I appreciate that. Period. Good weather or not.

DUNNAN: But anyways, yes, it is cold here and we are seeing people kind of come out, but not as many people as you might see on a Sunday and that's because they're decided to cancel some of the church services here in Roanoke. People are being told to really stay off of the roadways.

I want to show you this. It's kind of a good example of what we're seeing because it's not necessarily sleeting right now or raining or anything like that, but just left over ice from this morning when we did see those kinds of effects and you know, the Department of Transportation officials are afraid of this happening later on this evening, that some of the roadways might ice over, so they're telling drivers to avoid the roadways later on this evening and to tonight for that very fact.

Also having to do with ice, once we start seeing more of the sleet a little bit later on, they're afraid that that will be on power lines as well as trees and so obviously that causes power outages but pretty much right now it's just cold out here. People are kind of uneasy about what may come a little bit later on wondering how the Monday morning commute is going to go, but you know, they're used to the weather here in Roanoke maybe not in some other parts of the country that have seen it over the past few days or so, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, hopefully, the morning commute isn't too nasty and we're going to fine out a little bit more about the forecast coming up. Thanks so much. Tory.

Let's find out about travelers who are hitting to the skies and find out what's happening at the airports across the country. This wintery weather is already causing a lot of delays and cancellations for today. Dallas' Airport is still operating on a limited schedule with hundreds of passengers stranded as you see in the terminals getting their naps in.

Oh, boy, CNN's Erin McPike is keeping an eye on airports across the country, live for us now at Reagan National Airport in D.C., so it looks like is it still kind of a ground stop there or are there flights that are taking off?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredericka what I can tell you is in the last hour or so it's gotten a lot worse out here. The temperature has certainly dropped and we got a ton of freezing rain and icicles actually all over our cameras, but the runways, if you can see out there a little bit are not that bad. There have been snow crews at the D.C. area airports over the last couple of hours taking care of that; however, it's the airlines that have canceled a number of flights in the last two hours.

U.S. Airways has cancelled a number of flights out of Reagan National Airport. It's worse in Philadelphia where the delay average is about an hour and 43 minutes right now. It's really hitting the mid Atlantic right now and also the inbound flights, we're seeing a lot of delays in the arrival times at the airports that are servicing the Newark area, so that's La Guardia, Newark and JFK.

It's also impacting Chicago's O'Hare Airport which is the United hub. The average delay there for arrivals is about an hour and as the storm gets worse, we're expecting more delays and more cancellations and that's obviously going to slow down the Monday morning commute. So we might see a later start than usual to business during the workweek on Monday. Also the Dallas Airport has gotten hit the hardest and now things are starting to get back to normal there but there's still an average of abut 35-minute delay wait time there, Fred. WHITFIELD: Oh wow. OK. Thanks so much, Erin. You talked about Philadelphia being hard hit - well, we got some new images to show just how hard they're being hit, the lions and the eagles playing. Oh, yes, playing snowball, three to six inches falling there and more is expected tonight. Let's check in with meteorologist Alexandra Steele. Oh my gosh, what an - it's a beautiful picture but it's also crazy looking.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like Wisconsin pictures, right/

WHITFIELD: Yes.

STEELE: Yes. All right. We'll show you - here's a live look of Washington, D.C., and the cars are moving, the snow accumulating a little bit on the grassy surfaces and the snow is coming down. But you can see also in the mid Atlantic, just the back edge of this already coming in. So the snow, we've got it in Washington.

Philadelphia is kind of seeing the bull's-eye of the snow. You can see where it's the brightest white color and that's where we're seeing the heaviest of snow. Visibility is between Baltimore and Philadelphia has been down to about a quarter of a mile or so. New York City just the observations here in Central Park is that moistening of the atmosphere yet enough to kind of see that snow begin to fall. But we will, a little bit we'll make it move in.

So here's where we are, Sunday, you can see here, a bit of snow to through the mid Atlantic, a lot in Pennsylvania and then by tonight as you move this forward, you can see we're going to watch this move farther north to New York, into Boston, and then overnight it all becomes a rainmaker, and you can even see by tomorrow morning it's just rained around because the temperatures will be in the 40s. So unlike the ice storm of Dallas and Memphis a few days ago this really will be a different animal. So Washington, D.C., the advisories are posted, snow now, changing over to sleet and then this is the caveat with it all.

During the overnight hours it's going to go from freezing rain to rain. So on the whole, maybe one to two inches of snow and sleet, maybe two-tenths of an inch advice in Washington. Philadelphia will see the greatest in the accumulation and maybe three to six inches of snow and sleet. Again, right now it's snow, changing over to sleet, mixing in tonight, overnight and becoming a rain game and the same deal in New York City, again the snow yet to move in, kind of slowly encroaching but finally will moisten up and move in a little bit. Overnight, we're going to watch it all change over the rain and potentially less than an inch, maybe half an inch to an inch of snow and sleet, especially north and west of the city. And then Monday, (INAUDIBLE) for them as well. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Bottom line though tomorrow morning's commute is not going to be very pretty.

STEELE: No. Wet. Yes.

WHITFIELD: In many of these places you mentioned.

STEELE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alexandra, thanks so much.

All right. Let's go to Pennsylvania for something else. An investigation under way. Police a say newlywed couple killed a man just for the thrill of it. Investigators say the couple confessed to plotting and killing a 42-year-old man. They're facing several charges including homicide.

Alexandra Field now joining us from Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Tell us more about this motive and the reason why they did this allegedly?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, a really bizarre case and after a few weeks police believe they put it together. They tell us that a young newlywed couple, we're talking about Miranda Barbour and her husband, Elyette Barbour. They had just moved to Pennsylvania and police say they met a man there accused of killing after he responded to an add on Craigslist in which the couple advertised paid companionship services.

Troy Laferrara, he's a 42-year-old married man, he was found on November 12, left in a (INAUDIBLE) yard. He had been stabbed to death 20 times. Three weeks later, police arrested Miranda Barbour. They say that she confessed to stabbing Laferrara repeatedly in her car after they had arranged to meet at a mall. She says they went for a drive and he started to touch her and then she stabbed him. At the time her newlywed husband, her husband of just three weeks Elyette Barbour, he came out and spoke in an interview in her defense. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELYETTE BARBOUR, CHARGED WITH MURDER: This was malicious whatsoever. I believe that she was attacked and that under those circumstances she took the necessary measures to defend herself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: So Miranda Barbour was arrested first and charged with criminal homicide and then police arrested her husband Elytte Barbour. They also charged him with criminal homicide. They now say that he was in the back seat of that car hiding and that he had put a rope around Laferrara's neck to keep his head from moving while his wife stabbed him.

Police say that Elytte Barbour has also said that he and his wife just wanted to kill. They had tried before, and they had not been able to, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Those are horrible details. And so this couple - is there any sort of track record or is this a first-time offense? Do we know anything about whether there are other investigations involving them? FIELD: Well, Fred, we know that they were new to the area. They had just moved here from North Carolina a few weeks ago. Police are focused on the investigation here in Pennsylvania right now, but we do know that Miranda Barbour has a one-year-old child. The father of that child is deceased and there's now an investigation surrounding that death as well, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Alexandra Field, thanks so much.

All right. Across the world for that matter, millions of people are celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. All part of a special day of prayer particularly today in South Africa. Coming up, we'll take you to Johannesburg where some of the biggest services were held.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Millions across South Africa celebrated the life of Nelson Mandela in a day of prayer today. Services were held across the country. They were the part of several events in honor of the former president. CNN's Erroll Barnett joins us now from Johannesburg where the services took place. What have you seen?

ERROLL BARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we've seen a number of events at various churches throughout the country on this third of 10 days of mourning. This being a national day of prayer. Current president Jacob Zuma was seated next to Nelson Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela, and Nelson Mandela's eldest grandson, Mandla, at one Methodist Church.

But you know what? It didn't have to be in the house of the lord to hear people praying and singing for Nelson Mandela. Here outside of his home in Houghton, an upscale suburb of Johannesburg where he passed away late Thursday. There was a growing memorial wall, you can call it of flowers, candles and well wishes and people singing in a kind of euphoric embrace, but make no mistake, Fred, the week ahead is going to be a massive logistical challenge for the government here.

They've announced today that there are some 59 dignitaries who are confirmed to attend including U.S. President Barack Obama, a number of former presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, former President Carter as well as the head of the U.N. and many others. This will be a massive issue for the government to make this next week run smoothly.

Also you've got the millions of South Africans who want to take part in bidding Nelson Mandela a farewell and Tuesday, we'll see the formal memorial service at FNB Stadium and you may remember this from the World Cup, it was Soccer City at that point. It seats 95,000 but they will have three overflow stadiums. The transportation industry has announced that 41 trains will be allowing people to transport to these stadiums for free on Tuesday and there will be some 90 big screen monitors all over the country allowing people to watch that service.

That precedes the lying in state of Nelson Mandela, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. His body will go in a procession from the mortuary to the Union Building, the capital building here in Pretoria, each morning publicizing the route allowing as many as South Africans as possible to take part in that and all of this, Fred, precedes the final funeral this next weekend, on Saturday in Qunu, the ancestral region where Nelson Mandela is from.

There will be a traditional funeral on Saturday and a formal state funeral to wrap up these 10 days next week on Sunday. So what you're seeing is really all South Africans pulling together for the man who in a way pulled them together 20 years ago.

WHITFIELD: All right. Erroll Barnett, thank you so much. An incredible week of tribute for Nelson Mandela.

All right. It's remarkable enough that a young Massachusetts woman made it to the finals of the "Arab's Got Talent" reality show. In the end the 23-year-old Jennifer Grout who barely speaks Arabic did not win. Critics say an American shouldn't have been allowed to compete in the first place, still, she made many viewers of the popular Arab TV show stand up and take notice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GROUT, FINALIST: I feel really good. I'm really happy I was in the top three and it was such a good experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A Syrian -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARYL GROUT, JENNIFER'S FATHER: Every parent wants of their kid.

SUSAN GROUT, JENNIFER'S MOTHER: I think she'll definitely continue to do that, you know? It doesn't end with a talent show. The opportunity continue to explore Arabic music could take her an entire lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Spoken by proud parents there.

A Syrian dance troupe actually won that competition.

All right. You've heard this phrase before, do-nothing Congress. This year we're crunching the numbers to find out just how little they've gotten done this session and it's not pretty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: They showed up to work, but they're gotten very little done. We're talking about the Congress this year. Some are calling the House and Senate the do-nothing Congress. Less than 60 bills have been signed into law this year. Our CNN analysis shows this Congress could end up the least productive in four decades.

A CNN poll of polls shows Congress with an approval rating of only 10 percent while 85 percent disapprove of how Congress is handling or not handling their jobs. Ron Brownstein is CNN's political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal." So House Speaker John Boehner blamed Senate Democrats. The Democrats blamed the House Republicans. So who is at fault here, Ron?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What's really - I mean, you know, you can - the question for the blame is even the right word. The fundamental reality is we have two coalitions reflected in the majority, the democratic majority in the Senate and the White House and the Republican majority in the House that have really antithetical views about what the government should be doing and really what the country should look like and they have proven unwilling or unable to bridge their differences and that is the fundamental divide we are facing and there is no sign it's going to end any time soon.

You talked about the number of bills and talk about bills of substance. There may be only a single one, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that was approved earlier this year and even that passed with opposition from a majority of House Republicans so we are looking at very, very low levels of productivity.

WHITFIELD: And then, of course, upcoming we got the deadline to reach a new budget and that would be Friday. John Boehner said "You know what? Come Friday at the end of our session, we're out of here, done." Does this give you any encouragement that this Congress, these negotiators will come to terms this week and hammer something out so that when they leave for that Christmas break Friday there will be a budget the president can soon sign?

BROWNSTEIN: I think there is going to be a budget deal. You know, the Republicans took enormous hit from the government shutdown and the flirting with the default. They have since felt that they have moved back into the driver's seat and looking forward to the election of 2014 with all of the controversy and difficulty over the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and I cannot imagine they want to open themselves up to the vulnerability of any potential shutdown. So I think there's a lot of incentive for them to reach an agreement.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then recently, we talked about and we heard our own Dana Bash in her reporting a show that the GOP is instructing one another on how to, you know, woo women voters and how to talk to women leaders, et cetera. At the same time, is there a feeling that Democrats are taking women voters for granted?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, I look at this as sort of within the context of the broader reality that we face. House Republicans have largely barricaded themselves into very homogenously conservative districts. They are predominantly white, 80 percent of them are more white than the national average. There's not a lot of diversity. They tend to be leaning very much to the right and that basically allows them to pursue a politics that allows them to keep the house but does nothing to deal with the broader challenges in the electorate that have prevented them from winning the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections.

So many of these questions about insensitivity to women really parallel the same issues that we're seeing, for example, on immigration. Or House Republicans feel no incentive to get things done because so few of them are in the district with large Hispanic population, but the party overall recognizes that it has to get this, wants to get this off the table for 2016. The issues is with women are really exactly the same.

You know, having said that, Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama by 14 points among white women. So Democrats, they're not immune to challenges in that part of the electorate especially as the economy has struggled.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ron Brownstein, thanks so much. Always good to see you. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And a heartfelt good-bye to actor Paul Walker. Fans are gathering in Southern California right now to honor him. We'll take you to their special tribute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Here are four stories crossing the CNN news desk right now. Nuclear inspectors are in Iran today for their third visit to a heavy water reactor. The site is being carefully monitored because it could, in theory, be a source of plutonium. That's one of the two possible elements along with highly enriched uranium that could be used as fuel for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies that it is trying to build a bomb.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters in Kiev knocked down the statue of a former Soviet hero. They are upset the Ukranian president called off talks with the European Union about making the Ukraine an official part of Europe. Protesters say the integration would open up trade, but some say it would hurt the country's relationship with Russia.

There won't be any Heart at Seaworld. The music group canceled its February show at Seaworld because of the controversial CNN documentary "Black fish." The film raises questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping killer whales in captivity. Seaworld has not responded to CNN's request for comments about that cancellation.

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has announced she suffers from Asperger's Syndrome which is a form of autism. The singer told the "Observer" newspaper that she was relieved to actually find that out because she had been diagnosed incorrectly as a child. The 52-year-old singer became famous overnight after her audition for "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009, amazing people around the world who saw it on the show and on the internet, her ability to sing.

In Southern California, fans of "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker are honoring his life in a very special way right now. They organized this tribute to him and his friend Roger Rodas in Santa Clarita. Fans have been pouring in by the hour paying their respects in so many ways. Walker and Rodas died last week after a Porsche Rodas was driving crashed into a light pole and then burst into flames.

CNN's Paul Vercammen is near the crash scene where it was filled with lots of people who are paying tribute to this actor.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Well over a thousand people have gathered here today in Santa Clarita. One part of this tribute is a lot of very nice cars behind me and a lot of them are gunning their engines.

Let's look at the memorial scene and the crash site, it just keeps growing by the minute. Not just with candles and notes and flowers, but a sign of the times they put up a Christmas tree right now and they began decorating it and all of it in honor of Paul Walker and his good friend and his business partner, Roger Rodas here in Santa Clarita.

People have driven a long way, I mean, not only from Southern California and Northern California, but we've run into these guys and they're from Arizona. Tell us really quickly, what did Paul Walker mean to you. Why would you drive this far to pay tribute to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he was as big as racing, not only to me but to like, all the people here, nor only through "Fast & Furious" movies but the other ones as well. I actually have a Mitsubishi as "Fast and the Furious 2," and for me to get that car was a huge inspiration.

VERCAMMEN: What about for yourself?

JUAN RUVACA, PAUL WALKER FAN: Growing up with him and seeing the movies and racing and all, it's a thrill, un, watching him act and doing what he does and, you know, we're going miss him dearly.

VERCAMMEN: A lot of fans choked up. You brought a license plate, I see.

RUVACA: We brought a license plate and we all -- our crew, right here, we all signed it. AZ love, you will be remembered and missed to Paul and Roger.

FRANCISCO GOVAR, PAUL WALKER FAN: A lot of love from the Valley of the Sun coming out to represent and show that we also have love out there. We also support what's going on here. Not only we came, but we love Paul and people from Texas came down and we met up with them and we all got here and it just really inspired us, not only me, but look, everybody. Yes. It touched our hearts when we heard the news that he actually passed away, we just couldn't believe it. We had to look up CNN, everybody, and we still couldn't believe it. To this day I'm still looking that the and -- can't even say the words that, you know, still can't believe it. Words cannot describe.

VERCAMMEN: We appreciate your sharing your memories of Paul Walker with us. You got a sense for, Fred; people have come from far and wide to be part of this ever-growing memorial that stretches far down this block from the crash scene and a lot of fans leaving mementos and taking picture, just trying to remember Paul Walker in their own personal ways.

Back to you. WHITFIELD: Wow. Some heartfelt comments from the fans there and their show of love for the actor and his business partner. Now what about the investigation? Is there anything new being revealed about exactly what caused this crash?

VERCAMMEN: Well, the day of the investigation the word came out that they thought that speed might have been a factor that might be self- evident. Don't forget that Porsche GT an extremely difficult car to drive, basically a 600-horsepower engine, so again they're looking at speed.

They don't think anybody was racing, but this whole office park area forms a natural oval. Look at it as sort of a lopsided NASCAR track and it's well known that people like to test the performance cars around here and so again they're looking at speed as the main factor in this accident, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Vercammen, thanks so much for that update.

All right. Let's move to the east coast and South Carolina where a sheriff in a county there refuses to lower the U.S. flag in honor of Nelson Mandela. Why is he doing that? Nick Valencia is joining me now.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the argument is that he's not an American citizen and that's why he's not doing it. Just in the last hour we're learning he might not be alone. We are checking on reports now that the State Capital in North Carolina the neighboring state of South Carolina they may not be doing it as well. They have their flag at half-staff they say but only to commemorate the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, not Nelson Mandela.

But getting back to the sheriff in Pickens County, Fred, he is saying that this should be reserved as an honor that should be reserved for American citizens and he laid out his case for affiliate WHNS.

SHERIFF RICK CLARK, PICKENS COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: To show a sign of respect for what Nelson Mandela has done I have no problem with lowering it in South Africa and their country, but for our country it should be the people, in my opinion, who have sacrificed for our country.

VALENCIA: Some may say that Rick Clark is being very stubborn about not lowering the flag at half-staff, but he's receiving an overwhelming amount of support on his facebook page when he came out with his position. Take a look at some of these comments left on his facebook page this one from Cheryl Miller Johnson, "Proud to have you in office, Rick. Thank you for all that you do." Another comment as well left on his page, just supporting the sheriff saying "I appreciate working for you knowing that you're not a 'yes man'. This country was founded with strong backbones and seems a lot of folks have lost sight of this, Thank you Sheriff." So Dana Kelly there weighing in with her argument.

He's saying he has no problem with the South African Embassy, and the U.S. Embassy in South Africa lowering the flag there, but it shouldn't be done here. WHITFIELD: No response coming from any other corner?

VALENCIA: No. We have reached out to the Governor's office to see if he would be reprimanded for this. But there is no legal ramifications this sheriff is facing. He's well within his jurisdiction to do this and this order by the president is more of a guideline than it is a mandate and it's been done before, Fred, just to give precedent here.

It's been done three times before that we know of, George W. Bush doing it for Pope John Paul II and Bill Clinton doing it for then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Lyndon Johnson it in 1965 for then Prime Minister of U.K. Winston Churchill. So there is precedent here in the United States, but as far as Rick Clark is concerned he has no place for it in Pickens County, South Carolina.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Valencia thank you so much.

All right. Preventing gun violence in America. Can the U.S. learn anything on gun control from other countries? CNN's Fareed Zakaria investigates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's no secret America has seen far too many mass shootings that have taken so many innocent lives, but after so many tragic deaths some feel Washington still hasn't done enough to prevent gun violence. It's an issue that our Fareed Zakaria is investigating in a special airing tonight. Here is a preview?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frederick the debate on gun control in America is deadlocked so I decided to look at what other countries are doing to prevent gun violence. I want to show you just one example from my new report, global lessons on guns. Even mobsters in Japan stay away from guns. Why? They call it the nuclear option. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAKARIA (voice-over): Known as the Yakuza and often recognized for their full-body tattoos, Japanese organized crime doesn't lack for muscle. They've reportedly had enormous reach in business and politics. Once described as the largest private equity group in Japan by Morgan Stanley, but many don't like conducting business with a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE(via Translator): Guns are like nuclear weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE(via Translator): Weapons that the Yakuza has, but won't use.

ZAKARIA: A former Yakuza boss sat down with us to give us his take on the mob's attitude. He insisted on wearing a mask, but showed us his tattoos and his partially missing finger, another Yakuza trademark to prove his identity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE(via Translator): Guns are kept and controlled by strict regulations within the Yakuza organization so it's prohibited for members to take the gun out and use it. ZAKARIA: That's because punishments for gun infractions are very high in Japan, he says. Simply firing a gun can get you life in prison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAKARIA: Now I'm not saying we should become like Japan or we could, but consider one fact, there were four gun homicides in Japan in 2012, just four. They've made it really difficult for people to buy guns and that seems to work for them. Watch my program Sunday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern "Global Lessons on Guns." We don't look just at Japan. We look at Colombia, Switzerland, Australia, all over the world.

Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much Fareed, we'll be watching tonight at 7:00 Eastern Time.

All right. People post a lot of personal stuff on facebook, but a murder confession and a picture of your wife's dead body? That's what Florida police say this man did. Our legal ladies are on the case next.

"Impact Your World" team is honoring Nelson Mandela's charitable legacy on CNN.com/impact. We have included links to his charitable organizations along with suggestions on ways that you can help carry on his good work. We'll continue to update CNN.com/impact and our social media platforms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man spent 25 years in jail for murdering his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A jury found Michael Morton guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His only son disowned him. The only thing is he didn't do it. And the authorities knew he could be innocent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are at these peoples mercy. "An Unreal Dream" tonight at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A man accused of killing his wife and then posting pictures of her body on facebook has pleaded not guilty to a first- degree murder charge. Derick Medina said he was acting in self-defense when he shot his wife last August.

Glena Millburg of affiliate WPLG has details.

JUDGE YVONNE COLODNY, MIAMI DADE CIRCUIT COURT: Mr. Medina, an indictment has been returned charging you with first-degree murder. GLENA MILLBURG, WPLG: Another chance for Derek Medina to plead not guilty after his attorney he did this time to first-degree premeditated murder for which a Miami-Dade grand jury found enough to indict him last week. His apparently tortured relationship with his wife Jennifer Alfonso went shockingly public last August when Medina posted on facebook this photo of her shot dead in their kitchen, status, I'm going prison or death sentence for killing my wife.

SCOTT DUNN, PROSECUTOR: Just received some records from facebook as a result of the subpoena we issued and that was tendered to the defense.

MILLBURG: Facebook records are a large part of evidence in this case as is Medina's videotaped statement to detectives that he shot an unarmed Alfonso in self-defense because she was the violent one and that's something his father who was in court today had told us last summer.

SAAM ZANGENEH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We recently received the facebook evidence which is thousands -- I would say, close to 7,000 or 8,000 documents that we're going need to review.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Glena Millburg of WPLG. So I am joined now by our legal ladies, Mo Ivory is an attorney and host of the "Mo Ivory Show" and Carrie Hackett is a criminal defense attorney.

OK. Let me begin with you. So self-defense. He is now saying I didn't do this even after the facebook posting. So how will his -- I guess, attorneys defend him on that?

MO IVORY, ATTORNEY: I think they'll have a hard time. I think they'll try to build the story that they had a very contentious relationship which I believe they do if you read the transcript and a lot of the details. She did brandish a knife that night, but she was also kneeling and shot eight times at point-blank range after he left her and came back with a gun. So I think they'll have a very hard time proving self-defense and that's why I do believe that the charges were up graded from second to first degree because you do see clearly premeditation in his actions.

WHITFIELD: It seems as though, Carrie, he's undermined his defense by those facebook images. I could go to jail for this and maybe spend the rest of my life in prison.

CARRIE HACKETT, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. And from a practical stand point that's one of the worst things for a lawyer to have to deal with, the defense lawyer are facebook posts that incriminate your client. Where they admit fault, so that is a big burden to overcome. I think I agree with Mo that, yes, you can see heat of passion here. You can see premeditation and they're going to have an uphill battle.

WHITFIELD: And these days there's certainly a greater pattern, is there not, with people using social media and text messaging all of that either in their defense or for prosecutors to land someone in jail.

IVORY: Sure. He has posted before that he was an actor on one little episode of "Burn Notice" and he was definitely someone who was seeking the validation that social media sites give to you and people sort of know what you're doing. So I mean I think he was following a pattern of behavior that you could see he had problems all of the way through.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's move on to another case and this one rather strange. Employees alleging as white men that they are being discriminated against because their boss is using rather strong language to describe them. It's a center of a lawsuit that has been filed by white male employees at Archie Comics. They sued their female boss for gender discrimination. They're accusing her of among other things referring to them by their genitals. But her lawyer said that she can't be guilty of discrimination because of her view white men aren't a protected class. OK. So Carrie, how does this case proceed?

HACKETT: I think that's interesting because the way the complaint was actually filed it's not filed as a violation of federal law and protected class, that's generally a federal law issue there. So they filed as violating New York State Law and interference. So I think that they actually do perhaps have a cause of action here.

WHITFIELD: Really?

You agree, Mo?

IVORY: I do think they're a class. I mean I think historically we think of a class, and we think of a class who has been discriminated against for a long time, women, minorities, but any time you have one group that is all together the same based on one thing they are a class. I actually think this is more about a battle of power. If you read all of the stuff that's going they have a lot of issues at Archie Comics and they're going through a lot of stuff and they just want her gone. This is just one method to go through the back door to get it done.

WHITFIELD: And very interesting, because the history, I guess, a, that you've got this woman who is the boss, you know, and you're talking about Archie Comics and people are thinking jovial, great, creative environment.

IVORY: Right.

HACKETT: Right.

WHITFIELD: And forward thinking especially since you have a woman who is in charge.

IVORY: And she used to be a teacher. So she has a very sort of like double personality.

WHITFIELD: And now she is teaching them a lesson.

IVORY: About a lot of things.

HACKETT: She's trying to.

WHITFIELD: But maybe it's backfiring. Where might this go?

HACKETT: I think that this could go in a lot of directions. I think that there very well could be a settlement. If they want to save the company, probably the best bet would be to settle with these gentlemen, maybe. I sense that she'll not take herself off the front burner as head of this corporation, but I think that it would go a long way for her to do so.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Fascinating stuff. All right. Thanks so much. Mo, Carrie always good to see you.

IVORY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: You always have rather intriguing cases. Kind of eccentric ones, too. We like those, don't we? Good to see you.

All right. We want to remind you about an amazing story that does air tonight. An unreal dream tells the story of Michael Morton who was robbed of 25 years of his life. You ladies have heard about this, right? The day after Morton's 32nd birthday, the year, 1986. Morton's wife was attacked and killed in their Texas home. Michael Morton was at work at the time and had no motive, yet he was charged, tried and convicted of murder. Now freed with help from the Innocence Project, watch "An Unreal Dream" tonight at 9:00 Eastern right here at CNN.

A memento of history of one of Jesse Owens' 1936 gold medals won in Berlin has been sold at auction. Next, who bought it and for how much?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Former San Diego mayor and Congressman Bob Filner will be sentenced on criminal charges involving sexual harassment against three women and that's where we start our look at the week ahead.

Tomorrow ex-mayor Bob Filner will be sentenced to three months of home confinement and three years' probation. Those are the terms of a plea deal he accepted in October. Filner resigned in August after more than a dozen women accused him of making unwanted advances toward them.

A newlywed bride accused of pushing her husband off a cliff to his death in Glacier National Park goes on trial tomorrow. Jordin Graham is charged with murder. Graham was married to Cody Johnson for just eight days and admits pushing him off the cliff in July. She claims she did it in self-defense.

On Thursday nominations will be announced for the 71st Golden Globes Awards. If you loved former SNL stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler when they hosted the awards show earlier this year, well you'll be happy to know they'll be back to host next year's show in January.

And finally, a big deadline Friday on Capitol Hill. Congressional negotiators must reach a deal to fund the government for 2014. The pressure is on for them to do it to avoid another federal shutdown. Another world record-setting performance for Jesse Owens. Ron Burkle, the co-owner of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins bought the Olympic champ's 1936 gold medal. The price, more than $1.4 million. That's the highest price ever paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia. Jesse Owens was just 23 years old when he shocked the world in 1936 winning four gold medals in track and field. His win disproved Hitler's claims of Arianne superiority and broke barriers for generations to come. I talked with Owens' daughter about the medal which Owens gave to his friend Bill "Bo Jangles" Robinson years ago and was auctioned off by the Robinson estate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice over): What does that make you feel that one of your dad's four gold medals is on the auction block? Does it bother you at all or is that just the way it goes?

BEVERLY OWENS PRATHER, JESSE OWENS' DAUGHTER: Well, it is disturbing that his medal is being auctioned off. We, as a family, just hope that it -- if whoever gets it puts it on display and holds it in high esteem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It looks like that's likely to happen. A fortune of the proceeds from the sale of the medal will be donated to the Jesse Owens Foundation. Burkle released this statement saying, "Jesse Owens is the quintessential American hero, the son of a sharecropper who stood up to injustice abroad and at home and did it with grace and poise that may not be equaled in sports history, to be able to share this piece of history with the public is an honor."

And Burkle plans to take the medal on an educational tour along with the Faulkner Nobel Prize for literature which he also owns.

That's going to do it for me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Much more straight ahead of THE NEWSROOM with Deb Feyerick in New York. A very inspirational -- it was heartfelt that this item was being put up for auction at least according to Jesse Owens' daughter but then hearing that, it seems as though the Penguins' owner is greatly appreciative of the history that comes with that medal and so maybe that kind of -- I guess, puts the family at ease to a degree.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: He'll keep it in the right historical context and treat it with respect that it definitely deserves. Great interview, by the way, Fredericka. Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: Have a great evening. See you in a bit.