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Manhunt Ends; Compromise for Hickox; Virgin Galactic Suffers Anomaly

Aired October 31, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Happy Friday to you.

And, my goodness, finally we begin with this wonderful news for the people of Pennsylvania. This 48-day nightmare is over for folks in northeast Pennsylvania who no longer fear the a man described as peer evil is lurking in the woods outside of their homes. Eric Matthew Frein, this survivalist and alleged cop killer, was cornered last night and police say he was taken in without a fight. We do have a picture of him and you have to see, I mean, wounds on his nose, on his cheeks, on his forehead. Apparently, here you go, the mug shot, apparently happened before police showed up. He was shackled with the very same handcuffs that belong to the state trooper he is accused of killing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coward!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You low life!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eric, did you kill that trooper?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wouldn't make it in the military!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear the people shouting at him from within that community, not holding back. The jeers, the insults, as he is walked into court to hear the list of charges that could send him to death row if and when convicted. A huge sense of relief for the people in and around Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania, who have been living in so much fear, they had even canceled Halloween.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just exciting and we're happy. You know, we were - we didn't go out of school for weeks for recess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It actually felt like I was in the war zone a couple of weeks ago and it was hard to sleep for a few nights worrying about where is he at and, you know, where his whereabouts are. But it actually is a good thing now that he is caught and now we can finally rest again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Susan Candiotti.

You had all the scoop last night. You're here with me now to talk a little bit more about this. And, I mean, can you blame the people in this community living absolutely on edge. They had no clue where this guy was for seven weeks. What are we learning about how they found him?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I know. Well, he simply ran out of time, didn't he? He managed to evade the police all that time.

Well, what happened was is that they were re-canvassing an area. This is the U.S. marshals special ops group.

BALDWIN: OK.

CANDIOTTI: They had been there before and they had previously searched the area. It was an abandoned airport. And they go back and they seem him standing there. So they had the element of surprise working for them. They said that he wasn't even looking. They came up on him, got him down on the ground, made him identify himself, he did, and they put the cuffs on him. The very same cuffs that, as you said, belong to the officer who -- the state trooper who was killed and rode him off in the very same squad car as well.

So those photographs we've seen as well that show the blood on his face.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: Authorities insist that he had those injuries before they put the cuffs on him. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: There was no struggle with law enforcement. He has talked to us about some things that occurred to him while he made his way through the woods and so forth over that 40-plus day period. But that was an injury that occurred to him at some point in his flight.

I've characterized his actions in the past as pure evil and I would stand by that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, surprisingly, this all ended in a whimper because so many people thought that when he was caught -

BALDWIN: There would be a shoot-out. CANDIOTTI: Oh, absolutely, that he'd take himself out or he would take out officers with him as well because of his avowed hatred for police. But it didn't happen that way.

BALDWIN: The fact that he was even found in this abandoned location, you know, just talking to all these survivalists, assuming he was out in the woods -

CANDIOTTI: That's right.

BALDWIN: Had all these cache of goods and -

CANDIOTTI: And it was about 40 miles away from where the shooting all began September 12th.

BALDWIN: Ah. What did they find on him? What was he saying when he was apprehended? What about back at the campsite?

CANDIOTTI: We'd really like to know exactly what he said at that moment in time. We're still working on that. Although authorities are saying that he made statements -- or our sources are telling us that he made statements implicating himself in the shooting back on September 12th. And they found there a diary, what they believe to be his diary. Also located, a sniper rifle, as well as a pistol. Of course, they're doing ballistics work on that to find out whether that is the same rifle that was the murder weapon.

BANFIELD: Eric Frein caught. Susan Candiotti, thank you so much. Stick around, we're going to have a bigger conversation now.

It took nearly seven weeks, as we mentioned, to capture this guy, to capture Eric Frein, but within a week of this deadly attack he allegedly committed, investigators found what may really be - turn out to be this slam dunk evidence if this case goes to trial. This note that was found at his campsite that according to state police say, you know, Frein had abandoned and in it Frein allegedly describes shooting and killing Corporal Brian Dixon, who is on the left side of your screen, father of two, and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass. Investigators read an excerpt of it to reporters earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Friday, September 12th, got a shot around 11:00 p.m. and took it. He dropped. I was surprised at how quick. I took a follow-up shot on his head, neck area. He was still and quiet after that. Another cop approached the one I just shot. As he went to kneel, I took a shot at him and jumped in the door. His legs were visible and still.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that is what they had found earlier in addition to what Susan was just talking about.

Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining me now as well here to begin with me. Once this whole thing went down last night, all of a sudden hearing

from prosecutors, death penalty.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, this is a kind of case where you say, if this doesn't get the death penalty, what does, you know?

BALDWIN: What does?

TOOBIN: The magnitude of this crime, the premeditation, the target, the unrepentant apparent nature of it certainly all adds up to, if a state is going to have a death penalty, it seems inevitable that they are going to seek it. And they apparently are seeking it in this case.

BALDWIN: Explain to me, because I had red only three people in the state of Pennsylvania have been executed since 1976. You have to prove aggravating circumstance. What does that mean?

TOOBIN: Well, they're -- each state that has the death penalty has a list of aggravating circumstances that a jury must find in addition to simply that the murder took place. The list varies somewhat. Pennsylvania is fairly typical, in that is, in the commission of another crime, premeditation, killing a law enforcement officer, all of them are aggravating circumstances that could allow a jury to impose the death penalty. But, you know, Pennsylvania, as you point out, executions have become very rare there. I mean executions have become rare in much of the country. The death penalty in both terms of death sentences and execution is significantly down. But, I mean, this case, if you believe in the death penalty, certainly cries out for it.

BALDWIN: So, to your point, and all of your points about the journals, what we've learned he has apparently at least written about, what we will learn that he said when he was caught, the planning, the alluding the police, how could defense attorneys, if they say insanity, how will that work?

TOOBIN: Well -

CANDIOTTI: Well, that's pretty difficult to prove.

TOOBIN: Well, the problem with insanity in a circumstance like this is, you know, insanity, as we all know, is very hard to define in the legal context.

CANDIOTTI: Yes.

TOOBIN: But basically what it means is, you don't know what you're doing. You really think you are killing a watermelon, not a person. That's insanity. He clearly knew if this evidence is all as it turns out to be that he was killing a person and intended to do that.

BALDWIN: Yes.

TOOBIN: Now, obviously, the defense is going to have to do a very thorough investigation of his background, see what happened to him, did he have any brain injury, any traumatic experience that might slightly give a jury a reason not to impose the death penalty, but the facts look very bad for him.

BALDWIN: You know the facts. You agree.

CANDIOTTI: And it's also interesting to see how personal this case has become. Officers going out of their way to preserve and use, if they could, and they did, the handcuffs that belonged to the slain officer, the slain trooper, as well as using the same squad car. The big contingent at the initial hearing today in court, not all that unusual, but nevertheless, they have a big stake in the outcome here.

TOOBIN: The risk, though, is when it becomes this personal for law enforcement.

CANDIOTTI: Right.

TOOBIN: They sometimes make mistakes. And that's just something to be aware of as this case unfolds. But certainly you can understand -

BALDWIN: You can understand.

TOOBIN: Why they feel as passionately as they do.

BALDWIN: One of their own.

TOOBIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Jeff Toobin and Susan Candiotti, thank you both very much.

Coming up here on CNN, we will talk about the statement we are expecting from Kaci Hickox. Remember, she was the nurse, she had worked with Doctors Without Borders over in West Africa, had come back through New Jersey on her way home to Maine last Friday. Will she, won't she leave? What will she do? Despite what the governor of Maine has said, she apparently might be making a statement any minute. We'll bring it to you live if and when that happens.

Plus, news on the battle against ISIS in Iraq. Word that American military advisers are making plans to head to the volatile Anbar province near Baghdad. What does this mean for President Obama's quote/unquote "no boots on the ground" statement? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, some breaking news, as promised. These are live pictures. This is Kaci Hickox standing outside of her home here in Maine. So much focus on her. Remember, she is the nurse who came over from West Africa, initially was quarantined by the state of New Jersey when she flew through Newark. She was in that tent. It frustrated her. She talked a lot to CNN about what had happened. She feels that she is asymptomatic. She is not contagious. She's now gone to Maine. She's speaking out about her situation. And, most importantly, she is talking about the judge ruling today, temporarily lifting the quarantine on her. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KACI HICKOX: I am humbled today by the judge's decision and even more humbled by the support that we have received from the town of Fort Kent, the state of Maine, across the U.S. and even across the globe. I know that Ebola is a scary disease. I have seen it face to face. And I know that we are nowhere near winning this battle. We will only win this battle as we continue this discussion, as we gain a better collective understanding about Ebola and public health, as we overcome the fear and, most importantly, as we end the outbreak that is still ongoing in West Africa today.

To my fellow healthcare workers in West Africa, both national and international staff risking their lives to fight this disease today, my thoughts, prayers and gratitude remain with you. It has been a privilege to work with you and I know that as a global community we can end Ebola.

Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Kaci, the state says that your roommate in Sierra Leone has Ebola. Is that true and what does it mean for you?

HICKOX: That is incorrect and I guess it happens sometimes. There's incorrect information. But I don't want to focus on that today. I want to focus on the fact that we have a really good decision that offers human treatment to healthcare workers coming back after working to fight this terrible disease.

QUESTION: Kaci, the judge asked if you'd be sensitive to the fears in the community. What does that mean to you?

HICKOX: You know, I completely understand that and I am sensitive. This is one of the reasons I'm saying this battle isn't over. We still need to continue this discussion. We still need to continue educating ourselves. And I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I think so far Ted and I have shown a lot of respect to this community. We care about the community. I -- you know, I'm a nurse and a public health worker. I don't want to make people uncomfortable.

QUESTION: How was your pizza?

HICKOX: But it was amazing. In fact, I just had another piece this morning.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) go out into the community.

HICKOX: This is a good question. I am taking things minute by minute. Tonight, I am going to try to convince Ted to make me my favorite Japanese meal and I think we're going to watch a scary movie since it's Halloween.

QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the decision by the judge today?

HICKOX: I am very satisfied with the decision. You know, these - the three points that he is still recommending that I abide by are three points that I believe is part of this good compromise that we can make. I have been compliant with the direct active monitoring that the CDC recommends. I will continue to be compliant. And, yes, it's just a good - a good day.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) saying you haven't been acting smart, you're riling people up?

HICKOX: You know, I don't really have a comment for Governor LePage. Not right now.

QUESTION: Are you going to go back to West Africa?

HICKOX: We will see. I hope so. I love working overseas. It's been a large part of my life since 2006. And there's just probably never going to be a time in my life that I would say I wouldn't go back.

QUESTION: Do you have any travel plans to go into town or anything like that or (INAUDIBLE)?

HICKOX: Like I said, I'm taking things minute by minute. Thank you though.

QUESTION: Are you expecting trick-or-treaters?

HICKOX: Well, we don't have any candy currently because we haven't been shopping for a while. But, thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. And Happy Halloween.

QUESTION: Thank you for your patience.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Good Luck.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: My goodness. What a past couple days for this young woman, this young nurse, who had gone over to Sierra Leone to treat these Ebola victims, comes home, a lot of cameras outside of her home and for news worthy reasons. The state of Maine says one thing, CDC says another. What does she do? She is Kaci Hickox.

Let's go to Jean Casarez. She is there outside her home. I also have Jeffrey Toobin, who was good enough to stick around with me as well. We'll talk about the legalities of this whole thing in a minute.

But, Jean, let me take you back to the point where she said, this is all, of course, in reaction to this judge overturning this temporary - temporarily overturning this quarantine imposed by the state of Maine. And she mentioned three points she will abide by. This good compromise she has reached. What are those three points?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, number one, direct active monitoring, which means that once a day a Maine CDC official, a health worker, and we saw it happen yesterday, comes to the home, asks her questions about how she feels, most likely takes her temperature and just observes her. That will need to continue for the remainder of the 21 days. She also - if she is going to travel at all in public transportation, she has to alert and work it out with the public health authorities here in the state. And, number three, if she gets any symptoms at all or feels anything, she must immediately contact the health officials in Maine. But I've got to tell you, I was standing here minutes ago when she spoke, and she was so extremely gracious in person as you watched her talk and she was very, I think, humbled by today and by the judge's decision.

BALDWIN: OK, Jean, stay with me.

Jeff Toobin, just weighing in on this whole thing. What do you think?

TOOBIN: Moral of the story -

BALDWIN: Yes.

TOOBIN: Do not mess with Kaci Hickox.

BALDWIN: With Kaci Hickox.

TOOBIN: This is one impressive woman.

BALDWIN: She's a tough cookie.

TOOBIN: I mean she said, I want this decision to be made on the basis of science, not on the basis of fear. The state of Maine said, we are going to insist on you being quarantined. And she said, oh, yes, and she went to court or her interests were represented in court -

BALDWIN: Yes.

TOOBIN: And the judge said, you know what, we are going to do this on the basis of science. We are not going to do this on the basis of fear and hysteria. And now there seems to be a reasonable compromise where, you know, she is not going to provoke people. Yes, under the law today she could get on the New York City subway, she could travel on a plane. She's not going to do that. She's going to behave in a restrained and responsible way.

BALDWIN: Right.

TOOBIN: But she's also not going to be told by a bunch of politicians where she can and can't go.

BALDWIN: She's following what we've heard from Dr. Frieden at the CDC based on science, Dr. Fauci at NIH, and even the president of the United States.

TOOBIN: Well, and, remember, she is as - she has been as exposed to Ebola as people who met with the president.

BALDWIN: Correct.

TOOBIN: They're safe enough to meet with the president, they're safe enough to live in a house in Maine.

BALDWIN: And there you have it. Jeff Toobin, thank you very much. Jean Casarez, thank you, for me in Maine.

Let's move along, shall we, because we do have some more breaking news this afternoon. We are getting reports of what is being called a flight anomaly. A flight anomaly. This apparently took place with Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2 spacecraft. We're getting more information. We'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. More on that story right after this quick commercial break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here's the breaking news we're just learning, and we don't have a lot, but this is what we have from Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2. It experienced - and this is - this is sort of the nebulous part. This is what we're working to figure out what this means. This in flight anomaly. It experienced an inflight anomaly during a test flight today. This is according to the company. Details on what exactly an in-flight anomaly means in this situation, we don't know yet. We're working to get some more details for you.

But we know that Virgin Galactic, we've talked to Richard Branson about this on the show, you know, they have planned for years to sell these trips in which this Space Ship 2 will take passengers, Richard Branson included, about 62 miles above earth, the beginning of outer space, and allow them to experience those few minutes of weightlessness and that sense of awe that far out before returning back to ground. So Friday's test, as this is all based in the Mojave Desert in California, that's where this happened. This is - you know, keep in mind, what we saw earlier in the week. Obviously not connected whatsoever. But as far as space is concerned, this is incident number two in a single week. Remember the rocket that exploded six seconds after liftoff.

Say it again, Bish (ph). All right, Les Abend, I have you, one of our aviation analysts, on the phone with me.

And, Les, what the heck does an inflight anomaly mean?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST (via telephone): Hi, Brooke. We were just discussing that with your producers. It could be almost anything. It could be a computer glitch. It could be some sort of trajectory issue, a flight control issue. An anomaly is really a general term for something that normally doesn't happen and can't really be explained. It's not something we normally associate that with computer based issues on the airplane.

BALDWIN: And what more do we know about these different test flights? I mean this is something I know Richard Branson and his crew has been working on for quite a long time. He's allowed some of our CNN crews out there to see exactly what this will entail. I mean a lot of excitement surrounding the notion of this Space Ship 2 taking these passengers, going up sort of to the periphery of space. This is something they've been working on for a while.

ABEND: They have and, you know, it's a lot of innovation both in aerodynamics and just in the concept alone to take, you know, just the average every day passenger up into, you know, what qualifies as space. And (INAUDIBLE), you know, they've been around for a long time with very interesting and innovative aerodynamic designs. And they've been -

BALDWIN: We're looking -

ABEND: They've had quite a bit of experience at it. So, you know, what it could be at this point in time, Brooke, it's - you know, it's really hard to say. I think we kind of have to kind of hold our breaths for a little bit and see what exactly occurred.

BALDWIN: Wait for the fast to unfold. That's exactly right. I 100 percent agree with you, Les. And you're just looking - we've been looking at pictures of what this Space Ship 2, sort of these images of what it would look like.

Again, we're working to get in contact with Virgin Galactic folks to try to explain exactly what happened here. Again, if you're just joining us, we know that this Space Ship 2, right, this is all part of this Virgin Galactic, this notion that in some time they want to take this group of passengers, who I'm sure will be paying, you know, a pretty penny to get on this Space Ship 2, to travel about 62 miles above earth, that's just the beginning of outer space, and allow these people to experience what it must be like to head that far out, to be weightless, before coming back home. So, again, they've experienced some sort of in-flight anomaly.

Stephanie Elam, one of our correspondents, is also joining me now.

Stephanie, what more are you learning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning that obviously this anomaly, what the idea of that is and what they've tweeted out, we're still trying to get behind what exactly has happened there and whether or not there are any - whether or not there is any loss of life. We're seeing reports, but it's not confirmed at this point.

This is happening out in the Mojave Desert, so it's about 100 miles northeast of where we are here in Los Angeles. And what we do know about this Space Ship 2 is that it is supposed to have six passengers on it when it's actually up and operating and two pilots. And during these test runs, that's where we're trying to find out is, if there were two pilots on hear, what was going on. That's what we're still looking for.

But it's a combination of a rocket and a glider. The idea, like you were saying, take people up to just the edge of space and then find their way back down to earth. That's the whole idea here that we've heard about for a few years now. This is Sir Richard Branson's brain child. This is something he's been really high on and he's been behind here. Obviously the Virgin name lets you know that.

But we're still looking, Brooke, for more information on exactly what happened with this anomaly and we're going to keep looking into it.

BALDWIN: Let's -- we're hoping to get some more information, let the facts unfold as we get them from Virgin Galactic. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much, in Los Angeles for me.

Les Abend, thank you as well.

Let's get a quick break in. We will talk to Miles O'Brien, one of our other CNN aviation analysts, on the other side of the break. Stay with me. More on the breaking news from Virgin Galactic, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)