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Aboard USS Sampson; Is There Enough Focus on Unapproved Flight?; Stocks Plunging on Falling Oil; NYPD Officers Shot While Attempting Arrest; Hometown Rallies Around Crash Survivor; Inside Boston Bombing Jury Selection Process

Aired January 06, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: Good morning, I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello. Thank you for being here.

We are following breaking news this morning in the search for missing AirAsia Flight 8501. We are now getting our first look at how Americans are helping with the search effort from on board the USS Sampson.

And I want to go to CNN's David Molko joining us live from Surabaya. David, walk us through the new video we just got in.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, hello from Surabaya. Let's get straight to those pictures from the search zone giving us really another close look at what conditions look like.

This is an American chopper that flu the head of Indonesia's armed forces out to the search zone, that's General Moeldoko. You can see visibility not great, conditions on the water not great, a little bit hazy, a little bit choppy. The general went out there, we're told, to the USS Sampson, the destroyer, to meet with American officials, thank them for their efforts. He also visited an Indonesian ship. We have some pictures, too, of him meeting with the captain of the USS Sampson, Captain Foley.

Ana, this is really an international effort. You know, we're going to day 11 of the search, the United States, the USS Sampson, USS Fort Worth, along with a lot of other countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, all involved in search and recovery effort.

The weather, again, putting a big damper on things. It is really deciding the pace of the search at this point. These pictures give you a better idea of just exactly what search teams are up against -- Ana.

CABRERA: And David, what about the investigation into how this flight took off without the proper licensing or permits on Sunday?

MOLKO: Yes, Ana, so the licensing issue, they had a license to fly the route, Surabaya to Singapore. It only covered four days of the week. Sunday wasn't there. The Transportation Ministry says AirAsia basically rearranged its schedule. And the head of Civil Aviation saying hey, had they come to me and asked for the schedule change to fly on Sunday it would have been a simple paperwork issue.

So this investigation is ongoing and what we're hearing now from the airport authority is four officers, four officers from the airport authority have actually been reassigned during this investigation. These aren't controllers but they're officers somewhere in the administration of the authority.

Very clear to note, the Civil Aviation Office says look, this is a separate investigation into -- separate, completely separate from the investigation into Flight 8501. Still it doesn't bode well for AirAsia when they're called out having a serious violation of their license. Again, we'll see how this investigation goes, maybe a week or two before there's an outcome and some results -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right, David Molko reporting in Surabaya this morning. Thanks for the update.

Let's discuss more about the investigation now with Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and the former inspect-general of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mary, good to see you. Does it surprise you that Indonesia's government has not said more about this focus of the investigation, the fact that this AirAsia flight took off without the proper credentials?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: No, it doesn't surprise me, because they can be very tight-lipped. In 2007, actually, January 1, 2007, another Indonesia carrier went down, Adam Air, and there were discrepancies and the great questions about the safety of not just that carrier, but of Indonesian oversight of its carriers and that led to the United States downgrading the safety rating of Indonesia.

So I'm not surprised that they're tight-lipped here in the wake of this terrible tragedy finding out that not everything was up to snuff regulatorily speaking.

CABRERA: And the skies over Southeast Asia we know are considered pretty crowded so anything that adds to the sheer volume without prior permission would seem an undue risk.

How important is it to determine if this was a system-wide failure that allowed 8501 to take off or something else?

SCHIAVO: Well, it's important on many different levels. First of all, it's a carrier who is not following the law. Whenever that happens, be it something, they're calling a paperwork issue. Well, whether or not you have, you know, good engines and inspected plane or permission to fly, those are all considered paperwork issues but they're all very important to safety.

The second is flow control and really how many aircraft are up in the sky. Now granted they don't have a lot of private aviation over there, but commercial aviation are assigned to very specific flight levels, you know, and they're up there in the altitudes where these planes were all operating, I mean, at 30,000 feet and above, and it can get crowded up there so that was an important thing.

And then finally, agreements among nations also dictate how many planes can go from one nation to another, and so they also risk messing up a lot of these treaties among nations that allow the world to be, you know, full of aircraft from all different nations.

CABRERA: If you had to guess, Mary, was this a systemic failure or maybe a breakdown on only the level of a few air traffic controllers involved?

SCHIAVO: Well, since our own Federal Aviation Administration says Indonesia's just a handful of aviation nations of the world, you know, out of over 100, Indonesia is one of about six that fails to meet the safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, my guess is it's systemic and that the regulations aren't really enforced and we've -- and the FAA has already determined long ago that they really don't have an inspection force to really go out and thoroughly inspect the carriers.

CABRERA: So who needs to be held accountable then?

SCHIAVO: Well, on two levels, the carrier needs to be held accountable and already they don't fly here so there isn't much that the U.S. can do in that regard but they need to have a very thorough scrub-down from the inspectors in the country, and then as far as the other nations of the world that allow Indonesian carriers to travel to their countries, ours included, we need to make sure that Indonesia is providing proper oversight.

You know, in this case, since there weren't any Americans on board, the NTSB will play a small role but we do have an interest because almost anywhere in the world Americans are traveling. So we need to see and watch what Indonesia does for proper oversight of the carriers.

CABRERA: Right. The world's eyes are on Indonesia so there is increased pressure in that country.

Mary Schiavo, thanks so much for your expertise.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

CABRERA: Investors waiting anxiously for the market's Opening Bell this morning. It was ugly on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow plunged more than 300 points. The S&P fell about 2 percent, and the main reason is crude oil. It fell below $50 a barrel.

So how significant is that? Well, it's the lowest price we've seen since April of 2009.

CNN business correspondent Cristina Alesci is joining me now for more. Cristina, gas prices are way down, just $1.42 for a gallon of gas in

Indiana yesterday. I know it sounds like good news for most of us, but big picture, why is cheap oil such a bad thing.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right. It should be a good thing but at this point prices have fallen too far too fast, and that is ugly for three major reasons. One, it's a direct impact on the major oil companies, we saw them take a major hit yesterday down 4 percent for those companies alone, dragging the rest of the market down with them.

Also, oil is seen as a gauge of economic activity. So when demand for it isn't very high, investors start to question global growth prospects. You know, oil is used in everything from manufacturing to construction, to transportation, so there's some global growth concerns when you see a declining oil price.

Also, producing nations haven't stopped producing. So we have a glut in addition to a potential pullback in demand. Also you really have to take a look at the countries that depend on oil for a source of revenue, places like Russia and Venezuela, when you have falling oil prices like this, it could have a destabilizing impact in those countries and that is something investors want to see.

CABRERA: And over the past few weeks we've really seen a rollercoaster on Wall Street.

What do experts think will happen when the Opening Bell rings on Wall Street later this hour?

ALESCI: Well, it's really tough to tell right now because futures are indicating a pretty flat open but most traders and investors that I speak to say get ready for these wild swings in the market. They're here to stay and that's really a reflection of diverging opinions about global growth. But investors are going to have a lot to digest over these next couple of days. We're going to get some more information out of the Fed on interest rates.

We're going to get a view on jobless claims, and also investors aren't just focused here in the U.S. They're looking globally. They're looking at the eurozone. Still major concerns there. We have elections in Greece that U.S. investors are paying attention to. And also, stock investors are looking to the bond market and they're seeing a major flight to safety, and that actually could have major concerns for a lot of investors in stocks.

CABRERA: All right, Cristina Alesci, thanks for that.

Two New York police officers are recovering in the hospital this morning after they were shot last night. Now this is a very different scenario than the ambush of Officers Ramos and Liu just a couple of weeks ago.

Here's what happened here. The plain-clothed officers were near the end of their shift. Then they responded to a call about a robbery at a grocery store in the Bronx. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: The officers were traveling all together in one vehicle, observed two possible suspects. As they approached them, one of the suspects entered the Chinese restaurant on Tiebout Avenue, while the other suspect remained outside on the street. As two of the officers approached the male on the street, the other suspect inside of the store came out and fired on the officers. The officers returned fire and during the exchange, two anti-crime officers were wounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now there is surveillance video you see here showing one of those suspects inside the Chinese food store, as police arrived, and moments later the man in this video, he pulls a gun, runs to the door, and begins firing at those officers as described.

Now police are still looking for the two men who managed to get away after they hijacked or carjacked a vehicle. Police have found that car. It had a black revolver inside, but still no suspects.

Both wounded officers are expected to survive their injuries, thank goodness.

With me now is CNN's Miguel Marquez.

OK, Miguel, despite some similarities, again, two New York City police officers shot in this case, very different picture than what we saw with Officer Liu and Officer Ramos. That being said, what remains is this big rift between the police department and the mayor who, again, spoke out last night regarding these new shootings.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and he was quick to the scene there as well as the police commissioner which is typical for the politicians and the police commissioner here to go to these sort of scenes.

A very serious situation with two more police officers being shot here. There you see the surveillance video. It is worth underscoring that these individuals were on duty. They were responding to a robbery. They were not ambushed or assassinated or they weren't targeted in I any way like Officers Ramos and Liu were earlier -- late last year. The mayor speaking last night spoke about these two officers' bravery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: First, I want to say that these officers did something that was extraordinarily brave this evening, and they did it as part of their commitment. These officers had come off their shift upon hearing this call. Went back out in search of these criminals, and the work they do, this anti-crime work is so profoundly important, but this instance where they went above and beyond the call, as is absolutely the case of officers going above and beyond the call to protect their fellow New Yorkers. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now because these officers were getting off duty, they may not have had their protective vests on. One was shot in the arm and the back, the other in the arm and the chest. Both are expected to survive.

The reward for these individuals has gone up now from $10,000 to $12,000 they are now offering. Police really want to catch these individuals. One of them may already be under investigation or in custody. Someone checked into a Manhattan hospital with a gunshot wound. NYPD is checking into that to see if there's any connection -- Ana.

CABRERA: When we're listening to what the mayor had to say there, it almost sounded like he was really trying to reinforce the message he wants all police officers in New York to hear, given this thrift between the two parties, when he talked about their bravery, his appreciation for their work, and really trying to lift them up.

Is this helping?

MARQUEZ: It's the only play he really has. I mean, there was a long press conference at the police headquarters here yesterday in which the mayor and the police commissioner spoke about the crime numbers across the city for the entire year last year. He -- time and again, he could not say it enough how appreciative he is, how thankful he is, and what a great police force NYPD is.

He has a long way to go, as we saw in both those funerals and when he showed up to the hospital when both those officers, Liu and Ramos, were killed a few weeks ago police turned their backs and the hundreds and the thousands perhaps at the funerals, not a good sign and there's a lot of tension still with beat cops out there and this mayor.

CABRERA: All right. The story is not over yet.

Miguel Marquez, thanks for being here.

It is a snowy commute today causing travel problems across the mid- Atlantic, places like Washington and Philadelphia, seeing a few inches of snow today. New York could also see a little dusting.

The snow won't be enough, though, to stop lawmakers from returning to work today, for the first time in 2015, although we hear traffic in D.C. is a nightmare this morning.

OK, bigger picture, the fast-moving clipper could also back up air traffic. That same system will bring with it very cold air, dropping temperatures some 35 degrees below average.

Still to come, she is the lone survivor of a plane crash that claimed the lives of several relatives, including her parents. Now 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler is back home.

George Howell is there -- George. GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is an amazing story of survival

but at the same time, this community is dealing with a horrific loss.

We'll give you a mood -- the sense of the mood here in Nashville, Illinois, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: This morning, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler is back with loved ones, staying with members of her extended family. Sailor, as you know, was the lone survivor of a plane crash this weekend that killed her parents, her sister and a cousin. Her family has established this Web site now in a bid to raise some funds for what they say is the emotion, the physical and the educational support Sailor will need moving forward.

A family spokesman saying the focus is to protect this little girl and that as a result, no more details about her will be released to the public.

Joining me from Nashville, Illinois, the hometown of Sailor Gutzler is CNN's George Howell.

George, how is the community reacting there?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, good day to you.

You know, it really is a mix of emotions here. On one hand, people are thankful, they're grateful that Sailor survived this crash, that she managed to get through the brush to find help. They're thankful that she's alive.

But at the same time, this community is dealing with a big loss of the Gutzler family, and the fact that Sailor must now grow up without them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heartbreaking. It really is.

HOWELL (voice-over): Exactly how 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler managed to walk away from this deadly plane crash, while four others in her family died in the wreckage. Many are saying feels like nothing short of a miracle. Sailor crawled out of the mangled aircraft and then walked nearly a mile through the dark Kentucky woods, wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, with temperatures hovering in the 30s.

TRAVIS VOLTZ, GUTZLER FAMILY FRIEND: When I heard it, I was surprised in the sense that anybody could do that, under the circumstances, but then I thought about it and I said well, Sailor, that probably makes sense. She's a scrappy kid.

HOWELL: Here in her small hometown of Nashville, a community struggles to cope with such a horrific loss, coming so soon after the holidays.

PASTOR MATTHEW WIETFELDT, TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH: Our community could never, ever prepare for something like this.

HOWELL: At the church that Sailor's father attended, Pastor Matthew Wietfeldt says the family meant a lot to this community and this church.

WIETFELDT: This is a blow to us.

HOWELL: Aboard the twin engine plane where Sailor's mother and father, Marty and Kimberly Gutzler, her 9-year-old sister Piper and 14-year-old cousin Sierra Wilder. Sierra's grieving mother spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

JAMI SMITH LANE, SIERRA WILDER'S MOTHER: Sierra was so kind to everybody. Thank God I got to hug her and kiss her before she left.

HOWELL: A family spokesman says Sailor is now being raised by relatives, but that no more details will be released. The spokesman saying, quote, "Our total focus is protecting her."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: It's a very difficult situation and a tough mood here in this town as they prepare for funeral services. Sierra Wilder services are set for Wednesday and for Sailor's mother, father and sister set for Friday.

Ana, the family also asking that these services remain private.

CABRERA: We can only hope the strength and the courage being displayed right after the plane crash will really carry her through this difficult time moving forward.

George Howell, thanks for that update. We appreciate it.

Still to come, they are now the men and women who could decide the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man accused in the Boston marathon bombing. But before they hear any evidence, the potential jurors will be put through a very strict set of questioning by both sets of attorneys.

So, what could disqualify them? Our legal panel discusses next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Over the next couple of days, an estimated 1,200 people will file through a Massachusetts courthouse as attorneys try to seat a jury in the Boston marathon bombing trial. And as that group is trimmed down to just 12 jurors and six alternates, we're getting some insight into this process, almost all of the potential jurors are reportedly older than the man accused of these attacks, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who is now 21.

The majority of potential jurors are white. Tsarnaev is a Russian immigrant who grew up Muslim.

And there's not much time to whittle down this jury pool. In just three weeks, opening statements are set to begin.

Here to discuss, HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. Also joining us, jury consultant, Richard Gabriel, the author of the book "Acquittal."

Richard, I want to start with you. I know you have counseled the defense in a lot of high-profile cases, including the O.J. Simpson case, the Casey Anthony trial, cases that saw trials in the same jurisdictions where these crimes were committed. Can Tsarnaev get a fair trial in Boston?

RICHARD GABRIEL, JURY CONSULTANT: Well, as we know, these high-from profile trials challenge the justice system in ways that sometimes they're unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with. The truth is that the Constitution actually doesn't even guarantee us a fair trial, but it does give an impartial jury.

And impartiality is the key. In the Boston area, as we all know, the defense has made a change of venue motion. But because this venue was so affected by these bombings, not only because they participated in the marathon, but the manhunt afterwards, and some even were tweeting because of the investigation, jurors have very fixed opinions about what happened here, and were profoundly affected by that.

The difficulty and the challenge in finding a jury is how jurors will be able to separate themselves and what they already know about this case from the evidence they're actually going to be hearing from the witnesses in that stand. It's not going to be easy by any means.

CABRERA: Joey, your thoughts about the fair trial?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I don't have to tell you, Ana.

It's going to be problematic for the following reason. You have a terrorist act that affected an entire community. Obviously, it affected the nation, but you have people who are so directly impacted by this, and you look at the people whose lives were lost. You say it's three people.

You look at the 260 people who were injured. You look at the 16 amputees. You look at the fact that the community was on lockdown for five days as the police attempted to bring this under control. And so, the argument is, is that everyone was impacted as this.

Of course, the country as a whole grieves and feels for the Boston area, but you talk about Boston Strong. You talk about something that brought that community together and devastated the community. I think it's very problematic.

Obviously, Ana, the other side to it is, look, there's 1200 prospective jurors that will be evaluated and interviewed. Can we not get 1 percent and 12 percent for the alternate jurors and six alternates who could come forward? I think even that's a challenge.

CABRERA: So, Joey, I'm going to go back to you. This is a death penalty case that's what this is all about in the trial, maybe not so much about establishing guilt. If you are a juror who does not believe in the death penalty, period, you are automatically disqualified from serving on this jury.

JACKSON: Yes.

CABRERA: So, what is the defense looking for in these interviews with potential jurors and what else are they trying to exclude?

JACKSON: You know, great points, Ana. The first thing is this. We know that Massachusetts as a state does not have the death penalty. And as a result of that, I think that's telling as to the feelings of the people in the community, those who there are many other states that do have the death penalty, 32.

But the reality is, is that it's a federal trial and as a result of that, you're governed by federal rules. Now, having said that, I think that you can make the argument that, look, maybe people in Massachusetts are predisposed not to give the death penalty. But as you mentioned, those people who are pre-disposed not to, will not be serving on that jury, because if you're not -- it's not about your personal views, Ana. It's about whether you can put them aside and do what you think is proper and appropriate under the law. So, that's going to be the issue.

But the defense is going to argue, as a mitigating factor, not as a defense, but as what we call a lessening factor. They're going to say that he was so under control of his brother, that his brother so influenced him, that his brother so led him to do that, that it's not his evilness, it's not his lack of humanity. He was really pushed to do this by his brother.

Will that work to save his life? Because I don't think this is a case about guilt or innocence. Most people would agree based upon the compelling facts and circumstances, he's guilty. The issue for the defense, could they spare his life? In the event that they made that argument, and it's compelling, they have a chance. But I think it's a slim chance. This affected so many people, Ana.

CABRERA: Indeed. Richard, what would the defense be looking for and how might that differ from the prosecution in terms of the jury selection process?

GABRIEL: Well, the prosecution's looking for very black and white jurors. There's a lot of jurors who come to death penalty cases who say once we get past the guilt phase, then it's sort of an automatic application of the death penalty. Obviously, those people shouldn't be included but they oftentimes are.

The defense is looking for people who are more willing to accept psychological explanations for behavior. They as Joey said are looking for people who will say he can be influenced by his brother. There are some, because of the way he grew up at his parents and the ethnic strife in the country were toward the extremist attitudes. And if you can have jurors accept those, they can then apply what they call mitigating circumstances to it and spare his life. The other thing is that he doesn't look like a killer. So sometimes

his appearance by itself can actually work in favor for him and allow jurors to think that he was unduly influenced by his brother.

RICHARD GABRIEL (ph): Circumstances to it and spare his life. The other thing is that he doesn't look like a killer. So sometimes his appearance by itself can actually work in favor for him and allow jurors to think that he was unduly influenced by his brother.

CABRERA: And we know he was there in person for that first day of jury selection in the process as it got underway yesterday.

Joey Jackson and Richard Gabriel, wish we had more time, lots more to discuss, but we'll be doing that throughout the coming weeks and months. Thank you.

JACKSON: A pleasure, Ana, thank you.

CABRERA: Bottom of the hour. Thanks again for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Carol Costello.